Pellet traps

woogie_man said:

Rubber mulch in a heavy gauge steel box. Have shot my 22lr into it and nothing gets through.

Take the time and build something of quality. If you cheap out you will be paying more to keep rebuilding it and making repairs. Build something nice and spend more time shooting.

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Yep. Here's mine I built in 2007 and it's still holding up good, currently probably has 20 pounds, maybe more,of pellet fragments in the bottom..lol.
I haven't cleaned it out in way over a year or more.

Here a sketch showing the insides of my trap...


Can attach a wind flag on the right rear.

I have been using rubber mulch traps for outside summer. For indoor 10 meter I have had good results with Industrial conveyor belts, mining and woodchips.
I get some bounce back, but control that with poster board political signs, and use gorilla tape when the holes get big. I have as low of an angle as possible, but some still get bounced...? The belt was doing very well, but after 10k to 15k shots , it starts to get shot out, so I flipped it and got new spots to shoot at.

Next method to try is this gem I found on I93 off ramp. It is very hard plastic tractor trailer mud guard, need to test it first before the box design.

I agree with the rubber mulch trap. They aren't the lightest but they stop well and are on the quiter side. I did one in a Walmart tote and a 5gal bucket. The 5gal setup stopped a .357 at close range with no issues.

I use a small storage box with lid from Lowe’s filled with rubber mulch. I cut a rectangular hole in the lid about two inches in from the edges. I cut a piece of cardboard that is a slight press fit in the container to sort of hold the mulch in place. Then I put the lid on the bottom portion. I put another slight press fit piece of cardboard into the lid from the outside that the target gets taped to. I also have a piece of cardboard that I lay on the outer cardboard that has a rectangle cut in it. I just lay that on the outer cardboard and trace a rectangle with a pen or Sharpie onto the cardboard to identify where the cutout is in the plastic lid, that way I center the target over that rectangle so I don’t shoot into the plastic lid…hopefully. I stand the thing up on the narrow end and gravity keeps the mulch in place and the inner layer of cardboard (under the lid) keeps the mulch in place until pellets start cutting a big hole. I replace the cardboards as necessary to keep mulch from coming out.

Being an I.T. guy, I inherited a heavy steel computer chassis for my box. Filled with rubber mulch, installed aluminum channels on the side for easy front panel replacement and of course political signs for the front panel. Each panel can be patched with gorilla tape for longevity. It's probably the biggest contribution these local politicians have given back to the community. No problems with spill over. Been in play for 10+ years

rcs9250 said:

I use a small storage box with lid from Lowe’s filled with rubber mulch. I cut a rectangular hole in the lid about two inches in from the edges. I cut a piece of cardboard that is a slight press fit in the container to sort of hold the mulch in place. Then I put the lid on the bottom portion. I put another slight press fit piece of cardboard into the lid from the outside that the target gets taped to. I also have a piece of cardboard that I lay on the outer cardboard that has a rectangle cut in it. I just lay that on the outer cardboard and trace a rectangle with a pen or Sharpie onto the cardboard to identify where the cutout is in the plastic lid, that way I center the target over that rectangle so I don’t shoot into the plastic lid…hopefully. I stand the thing up on the narrow end and gravity keeps the mulch in place and the inner layer of cardboard (under the lid) keeps the mulch in place until pellets start cutting a big hole. I replace the cardboards as necessary to keep mulch from coming out.



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This is what I built. For about $19-20, it is hands-down the best trap I have ever had. Will stop a .22LR as well as a .30 PCP. Heck, might even stop a 9mm, but have never tried it.

I’m fairly new to pcp and was looking for something to shoot at in the back yard this will be the ticket

I designed one based on the 'standard' design. Here's a x-section and a pic. I tested for 'spatter' by placing tissue over the front and shooting with everything I had from lead-free (harder, prone to ricochet) in .177 to .25, low fpe to high fpe, changine the tissue at least every 10 shots and looking for anything coming out. This final design had none. (This was the result of iterating on a lot of ideas that didn't fully pan out.

Looks like you did a very good job on that one. I have the commercially available version and was thinking about putting a piece of the rubber truck mud flap (or similar) on it to cut down the noise. I did use plumber putty on it once upon a time but didn't like the results and scrapped it off. Not sure how I would mount the rubber though. Drilling 4 holes and using bolts would probably be the easiest.

Corvid_hunter said:

Looks like you did a very good job on that one. I have the commercially available version and was thinking about putting a piece of the rubber truck mud flap (or similar) on it to cut down the noise. I did use plumber putty on it once upon a time but didn't like the results and scrapped it off. Not sure how I would mount the rubber though. Drilling 4 holes and using bolts would probably be the easiest.

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This design pretty much relies on a hard back to ensure that pellets are directed to the slotted tube, rubber (at least on the inside) might defeat its pellet-trapping qualities. Of course for shooting paper, putting a cardboard backer over the front will help trap stuff inside. I wanted to shoot at knock down foam targets, some of the time, so closing the front was out for me. (and noise was not really a consideration.)

GsT

GeneT said:

This design pretty much relies on a hard back to ensure that pellets are directed to the slotted tube, rubber (at least on the inside) might defeat its pellet-trapping qualities. Of course for shooting paper, putting a cardboard backer over the front will help trap stuff inside. I wanted to shoot at knock down foam targets, some of the time, so closing the front was out for me. (and noise was not really a consideration.)

GsT

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First off, awesome design on your trap! I think that is one of the best designs I have seen to date. Way to go!

I think if he put the deadening material on the outside of the back of the trap, he would cut down on a lot of the twang.
Rubber self-adhesive tile underlayment might work, or something like this:

Treefrog said:

A box filled with rags backed by a piece of plywood has been my go-to for the last few years. It's dust-free and relatively quiet. It takes a couple of tins of pellets before needing to be cleaned. 6 inches deep by 16" wide and 18" tall.

J~

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I've built my pellet trap based on this. Relatively quiet, dust is just from paper / cardboard and have about 4 tins of pellets in it without any cleaning.
Shooting low power .22 PCP at 10 yards for six months and nothing made it to the back board.

You can see my MILs first ever trigger pull in the top right, and a VERY inaccurate .30 springer being sighted in top center of the board that holds the paper.

jzr said:

I've built my pellet trap based on this. Relatively quiet, dust is just from paper / cardboard and have about 4 tins of pellets in it without any cleaning.
Shooting low power .22 PCP at 10 yards for six months and nothing made it to the back board.

You can see my MILs first ever trigger pull in the top right, and a VERY inaccurate .30 springer being sighted in top center of the board that holds the paper.

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Nice work! It looks a LOT nicer than mine. Glad that it's working for ya!

Cheers,

J~

$ .02

I’ve done duct seal, all metal, plumbers putty, hanging curtains, and rubber mulch.

Duct seal was lovely quiet but getting the lead out was a real chore and the lead comes out in thousands of little pieces with duct seal bits clinging to each one. So I was a fan until the day I cleaned it out.

Plumbers putty was discussed a few times years ago and it doesn’t work. It’s too soft. One shot dug a big cavity. Duct seal is super expensive and heavy but it works well.

I’m definitely a fan of having a backstop plate of metal or industrial qualtiy HDPE in back in case of tunneling or some other mishap. No reason to ever shoot through a trap.

All metal traps are great but they are expensive and LOUD. And most designs are dirty. Genes design is quite interesting.

It goes without saying that lower power airguns only for regular indoor shooting. Higher power airguns do sling more lead dust and make more lead shrapnel.

My current trap is rubber mulch. The maintenance is minimal - just tape over and replace the cardboard front plate. The pellets sink to the bottom. If changing the cardboard is too much work to keep the pellets quietly contained and lead off of your floor, then maybe wait until spring.

Just back from FL. trip
Wonderful read and pictures everybody.