Bullet trap ideas for recycling lead

[grumman581]

On the streaks, I thought maybe I would see more of a spiral effect with the bullets going down the pipe. It looks like the go around a few times then drop into the bucket.

I suspect that they are still spiraling down to the bottom, but by the time they lose enough speed to overcome the friction between the bullet and the inside of the pipe and spiral down, they are slow enough that they are also not losing lead along the side of the pipe. If the pipe was at a slight angle vertically to your shooting, you might get more of a spiraling deposit of lead on the inside of the pipe.

[UtopiaTexasG19]

For a bullet trap/backstop I mount a thin piece of plywood on the side of a old freezer or refrigerator and hang my paper targets on the plywood. I first fill the freezer with scrap 4x4 and 2x4 boards placed flat and tight together where I literally end up with a 3' by 3' by 6' block of solid wood to shoot into. I've never had any round go all the way through the unit or even 1/3 of the way into the pieces of wood including a 30-06 at 50 yards to .44 magnum pistols at 30 feet. The interior scraps of wood are taken out and refreshed once a year and I collect all the lead inside for re-melting...

[Jim_Fleming]

What a good idea! Effective! Relatively cheap! Easy to collect the lead! And best of all easy to reclaim the lead!

Utopia, how, exactly please, do you actually separate the lead from the wood, sir?

For a bullet trap/backstop I mount a thin piece of plywood on the side of a old freezer or refrigerator and hang my paper targets on the plywood. I first fill the freezer with scrap 4x4 and 2x4 boards placed flat and tight together where I literally end up with a 3' by 3' by 6' block of solid wood to shoot into. I've never had any round go all the way through the unit or even 1/3 of the way into the pieces of wood including a 30-06 at 50 yards to .44 magnum pistols at 30 feet. The interior scraps of wood are taken out and refreshed once a year and I collect all the lead inside for re-melting...

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[UtopiaTexasG19]

If you place your targets in the same place and are a relatively good shot all the lead will hit the wood inside the freezer in a 6"- 8" area. The initial rounds appear to imbed themselves into the wood but once saturated in an area the following rounds hit and most drop in one form or another down to the bottom of the freezer. I assume how hard one packs the wood initially, whether you are using hard cast vs jacketed bullets and what type of wood is used will probably make a difference in how the actual slugs end up but I have never paid much attention. The wood near the target zone will be very splintered and some lead will have to be pried from the wood but the good news is that 100% will be inside the freezer and not contaminating the surrounding soil. If someone had more time to experiment I guess they could fill the freezer with all kinds of media including sand, rubber, soil etc. to see what could be used to reclaim the lead the best but this works for me and the splintered wood chips do not try to flow back out between the wall and plywood board. I fill the freezer and place the scrap lumber inside with it lying on it's back, close the door and lock, then stand upright. A heavier media inside might make it harder to tip upright when filled but the possibilities are endless. I've used the same freezer for 2 years now, using the same initial side, and considering one could mount targets on all four sides and have years and years more use from this one unit. Like I said before I just replace the plywood piece on the outside occassionally where I tack on the paper targets. A few weeks back I tried some one ounce TruBall slugs from my 12 gauge at 50 yards and am curious as to how the 1 ounce slugs will turn out when I recover them in a few months!

[rbertalotto]

I would think a 55 gal steel drum, with a piece of 1/2" HR500 steel in the bottom, laying on its side. Shooting into the open end with a piece of replaceable cardboard to hold the target. All the lead would splatter onto the walls of the steel drum and land on the bottom. No?

[161]

After 21 years of being a cop I had a couple old bullet proof vests sitting around. They get replaced every 7 to 10 years. I thought if I get a 30 gallon plastic tub put 4 layers of kevlar at one end and fill the rest with cedar chips it might work. My thought was the chips would slow the boolit down enough that the vest would just catch it without penetrating the vest. Ya right Marlin 357 with Lee 158-SWC-TL a PB gas check over 13 gr. of 2400 shredded the top layer of kevlar. Didn't pass into the second but it's a pain digging boolits out of the fibers. So I thought what the heck try the 45-70 GG 15 gr. Unique and a 405 Suter's cast boolit. Didn't penetrate the first layer of kevlar but it pushed all four layers out the back of the tub.

[slim1836]

I use a 12"- 90 degree cast iron bend I salvaged from a construction site as a boolit trap. It just sits on the ground atop a large rock. Mount a target (I cut a piece of masonite and use a stick-on target), shoot, tip over the bend, and salvage the lead. Primarilly shoot round ball at it, never jacketed as it is cast iron. Has held up with no problems yet. Just have to replace the masonite as needed.

Slim

[Sonnypie]

I only use 100% Natural Recycled Cedar Stumps.
Cut em open when you start shooting through the back. Rule of thumb a full house 44 mag round at 1500 fps can go through 14 inches of Cedar. This one has about 700 rounds in it and only 2 fragments of lead fell out with the sawdust. Must be a ball of lead inside, can't wait!

Hey!
No fair fluxing the lead BEFORE it is in the pot!

[mc_1_2_3]

I guess I should explain that I don't make cast boolits as most of you do. I just happened on this thread through a google search for bullet traps. I will be shooting alot of FMJ 5.56 out of my AR15, so I needed something that could handle thousands of them. And alot of 30-06, 270, and 300 Win Mag. I should have very easy clean up, just get some of the target material that comes with the bullets. And of course an occasional coat of Rustoleum.

Here again is a pic of my trap:

[Boolseye]

I guess I should explain that I don't make cast boolits as most of you do.

Not yet, you don't-give it time.

But seriously, that trap of yours is wicked cool! That thing must be a beast to tolerate those heavy-duty rifle rounds w/ j-words (jacketed bullets)

I took the bullet trap suggestion on M.D. Smith's reloading pages (reloadammo.com) which involved a piece of 3/8" steel 18" x 12" and a couple 2x4's. Very simple, then I screwed heavy horse barn type rubber matting, three widths of it, across the front to slow down the slugs. I tack my target on there. Last, it's mounted in a clay bank with another slab of steel flat beneath it to catch the slugs, which emerge more or less intact. If you don't slow 'em down somehow they just obliterate against the steel. My other catcher is a 5 gallon pail filled with clay, and with the top of a 20 gallon propane tank against the rear to catch the slugs that make it through (which they start to do fairly quickly!). It's the half of a propane tank that I don't smelt in. I shoot mainly target velocity .45, 9mm and .38, with some full house loads in each caliber, including .357 mag. Feels good to be reclaiming most of my lead. I'll get pics added when I get a chance
-jp

[R.M.]

I have a box that I built full of rubber chips. Works well, other than the front face is a pain to maintain. As you blow holes in it, the rubber leaks out. I've been thinking of getting some rubber matting, as has been mentioned. I have a bit of conveyor belting a friend gave me that came from a steel mill. This stuff is 7/16" thick, and corded. I put a small chunk on the front face and shot some .22s from a pistol into it from 25 yards. Well I never would have thought it, but only about half of them made it through the belting. That's some tough stuff. I'm thinking that should I look for some material to cover the front, it will need to be 3/8" at most. The majority of my shooting is .22 handgun. I'd sure be afraid to shoot some .38 full wadcutters at that 7/16" stuff. Probably bounce back at me.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
No, they will not bounce back at you. I have used 3/8" layers up to 3" thick on/in my steel trap , as I go up in cal./ power. 1,000's of rounds w/ no bounce back.

[w5pv]

With the price of lead going through the roof & wheel weights becoming hard to find, I decided that it was time for me to build a little bullet trap so that I can reuse my lead.

I’m toying around with a couple of different design ideas, but coming out of the gate, I decided to stay with a tried & true design. I basically copied the .22 rimfire traps that can be had commercially for about $50 & just made one out of heavier material. I used a piece of 3/8” A-36 steel plate at a 45 degree angle for the backstop. I took a couple of shots at it with a pellet rifle & the pellets ended up in the decelerator chamber, so I think that I have good geometry.

The next big question is how hard can I hit this thing without damaging the backstop. I’m going to try it out tomorrow. I’ll hit it with some 38s first & if that goes well, then I’ll move up to a .45acp. I’m a little shy about pointing a magnum at it, even with just 13BNH lead. Does anyone out there have any experience with a 3/8” soft steel plate backstop? Does anyone know how big of a slug I can throw at this thing & how fast before I bend it? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim

I use a 1/4" 4'x4' back up steel plate and have shot everything from 32,380,9mm and 45 at it for a year or so and so far no damage to the plate.The ww boolits that I use just splatter from about 25 yards no recover for the lead though.What I am trying to say these calibres do not bounce back at these distances.If I shoot at closer distances I shoot at about 45 degree angle but most of the boolits still just splatter on impact.

[markshere2]

What a good idea! Effective! Relatively cheap! Easy to collect the lead! And best of all easy to reclaim the lead!

Utopia, how, exactly please, do you actually separate the lead from the wood, sir?

My wood separation methods are still under development....
So far there's a large plastic tarp, lawn rake, flat blade shovel, box fan, and a bunch of big plastic tubs.

I rake the big hunks off to the side for re-use
I put the fan on the tarp and slowly wiggle a shovel full of dust / splinters/ lead in front of it

Heavy stuff gets shoveled into tubs for water separation.

drop 2 double handsfull into a half full 5 gal pail o water.
submerge and push around so lead drops to bottom
skim off splinters into another big tub
repeat and repeat.
use a "gold panning" technique to swirl splinters water and lead around, hen pour off the light stuff into another bucket and then dump the heavy stuff into your catch bucket

Lotsa diddling around but I reclaimed about 125 lbs from the original backstop.

[Bob.]

3/4 steel sides and 1/2 inch top and bottom, the pipe is actually a large gas cylinder that was shortened. The bottom was left on the cylinder.
Works great as long as you don't want it moved

[PatMarlin]

Run that out to 100 Bob ...

[Bob.]

Run that out to 100 Bob ...

[frankenfab]

Bob, that is a great looking trap. Did you have to weld a bunch of flat bar together for the bottom? At least you painted yours. Mine is still Rust-O-Coat-Leum!

[Bob.]

Thanks

The bottom piece was like that, looks like cast iron but its not.
Had some green barn paint left over.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Bob, could you post some dimensions on that beauty! Just curious the opening dimension and how deep it is before it tapers down to the cylinder. Thanks!