Bullet Traps

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

I know some people may not think that this thread belongs here, but I am going to be creating a bullet trap to catch all my cast bullets. With WWs getting harder and harder to find for some people, I think that a bullet trap would pay for itself very quickly. Some people shoot into a mound of dirt and then "mine" it out...but I am going to create a portable bullet trap. I have been doing some research on the net and have seen many great ideas. I plan on keeping mine simple, light, and portable. This mean mostly wood and a little steel. I have seen some designs that are simply a wooden box filled with rubber mulch (+ a steel plate along the back for those higher power loads that go all the way thru the mulch). These designs pretty much give you 100% of your lead back. I may give this a try and see how it works. Being wood, it should be easy to replace the effects of any errant shots. Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[snuffy]

There was an extensive discussion over on cast boolits site months back, but they just installed their own new server. Search function is down as well as archives. When they have full function back, we can do a search to find that thread.

 

[GP100man]

when i was younger we had a barrel & filled it up past the 2/3 ring with dirt, then a peice of expanded metal for a grate to cook on , well as time went on & expanded metal disappeared or thrown away we took to shootin da barrel time passed & eventually the barrel had to be moved , i rolled the remainder of the dirt out & with it `bout 100lbs. lead .
the barrel was shot to peices near nuf but the bottom was holding the dirt there & what dirt washed away the lead stayed inside .

 

[DiscoRacing]

I C H.... we have a trap for our bullets.... we shoot at 13yds... with .40, .38spcl, .357. and 9mm.... ours is not portable...two layers of 2X6s, two layers of 3/4" plywood(one in front to staple targets to,one in back) then we have a 1/8 thick steel plate that is 3" behind wood,,,,it works very well....all bullets are retreived,,,,just fyi...and as i said...not portable. ... just like the idea of saving the lead,,,and not having as much lead layin round on the whole hillside.

 

[hornady]

I used sand bags and Rail road ties. Sand bags in front to slope the loose sand back to the ties. But I did see. A set up on wheels .it was all welded out of 3/8 steel plate. The opening. Was 3 foot by 3 foot. And tapered back to about 6 inches square . at the rear there was a 6 inch box and a piece angled down to drop the fired bullets on the ground. Nice looking out fit. He had a trailer hitch on it. And said he had used up to 44 Mag lead loads in it. He would just put a bucket under it, and most of the lead ended up in the bucket.

 

[jimkim]

I think you could probably use a 55 gallon drum with a 3/8" steel plate welded on the base. Make a cradle to hold it and turn it on it's side. Put a piece of thin plywood on the front on which to affix your targets. Leave the bottom of the drum intact. The piece of 3/8" steel is just to reinforce the thin bottom. If the bottom is allowed to give a little when the bullet hits it, it will be less likely to ricochet.

You can also use an old tractor tire and a piece of 3/8"or 1/2" steel plate. Hang the plate in the tire so it swings freely. The bullet will hit the plate, shatter and fall in the tire.