Alpha Bullet ~ Pellet Trap

[ThomasT]

Hello everyone,

I have just completed building the Alpha Bullet ~ Pellet Trap, as I am calling it. After I had designed the Big Bang Pellet Trap a number of Forum members asked about making a larger and stronger Trap. Several weeks ago more members brought the topic up again and stated they would be interested in a Trap that would handle USARB and N50 size targets which are 11x17 inches. After talking with @Str8tshooter I called Pete ( @Pellet trap man ) and ask him if he would be interested in building some larger Traps if I came up with a new design and he said he would but it would be after the first of the year.

So I created this new design made out of all metal so that it could not only handle the larger pellets but also .22LR at 50-yards. Of course it can be shot at closer distance with Pellets. The basis that I used to establish the design parameters was a maximum of 107.5 FPE at the muzzel, using 1100 FPS with a 40gr projectile ( 22LR Standard rimfire bullet ). The frontal opening is 13" wide by 19" high which will accommodate any size target up to the 11 x 17 USARB / N50 or equal. I added 1-inch angle along each vertical side to allow the cardboard backing to be easily clamped in place to tape the Paper Target on. The Sides and Bottom material are .135" thick A36 and the Back is .1875" (3/16") thick A36 slopped at 60 degrees. I designed it so that it can be un-bolted / disassembled to reduce the overall size for shipping and reducing the cost to ship. Unassembled it will fit into a heavy duty cardboard shipping box 24x14x4.

I was curious about the unit so I ordered the material to be laser cut and bent to shape per my drawings and spent several days welding, drilling holes and painting to get the first completed Alpha Bullet ~ Pellet Trap, see attached photos. Then I took it over to my friends farm, Delbert, where we set it up on a 50-yard range and shot it with my competition .22LR rifle using Standard 22LR (1070fps). We shot it mutable times and at the impact area it did remove some of the paint from the back plate, other than that it remains as “new”, the steel back plate smooth with no damage. This is one heavy duty beast and weighs in at 46+ pounds, ( less the frame with wheels ). I later shot it at 10-Meters with my .22 caliber Airacuda rifle with both 18.1 and 25.4gr pellets ( 41.2 fpe ) and obviously it didn’t do any damage at all. If you are shooting a .30 caliber, 50gr at 1,000fps that would be equivalent to a .22LR.

This turned out to be a lot of work but surely worth the effort.
ThomasT

 

[bdzjlz]

Great job. One improvement would be a lip or plate on the bottom front edge extending vertically an inch or two to hold the pellet fragments and dust wtihin the trap.

 

[ThomasT]

Hello @bdzjlz

1) Your cardboard backing holds in all of the spent pellet material and shredded paper.
2) A welded in lip would make it hard to sweep out.
3) A lip would also be exposed to a stray shot.

ThomasT

 

[Str8tshooter]

I am now the proud owner of the Alpha Bullet-Pellet Trap.

Wow, this is some heavy duty piece of kit.

ThomasT, thanks for making this specialty competition pellet trap easily attainable. Having double the space also means double the shooting time and less walking to change out targets My range is only accessible by snowshoe atm, and temps getting down to the single digits at night. but next week the forecast is for some warmer temps and I will be using the AB.

 

[ThomasT]

I am now the proud owner of the Alpha Bullet-Pellet Trap.

Wow, this is some heavy duty piece of kit.

ThomasT, thanks for making this specialty competition pellet trap easily attainable. Having double the space also means double the shooting time and less walking to change out targets My range is only accessible by snowshoe atm, and temps getting down to the single digits at night. but next week the forecast is for some warmer temps and I will be using the AB.

Hello @Str8tshooter

Glad you received the Trap OK and hope you are able to use it real soon.

ThomasT

 

[rc4fun]

Hello Thomas T, does this mean that @Pellettrapman is going to make a kit for sale?

 

[ThomasT]

Hello Thomas T, does this mean that @Pellettrapman is going to make a kit for sale?

Hello @rc4fun

Pete said that he would consider making some if he can get caught up with orders for his Crawfish Cookers. I will contact him and get him reply here on the Forum.

ThomasT

 

[dgeesaman]

I am now the proud owner of the Alpha Bullet-Pellet Trap.

Wow, this is some heavy duty piece of kit.

ThomasT, thanks for making this specialty competition pellet trap easily attainable. Having double the space also means double the shooting time and less walking to change out targets My range is only accessible by snowshoe atm, and temps getting down to the single digits at night. but next week the forecast is for some warmer temps and I will be using the AB.

This means you evaluated the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature of the carbon steel.

 

[Str8tshooter]

This means you evaluated the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature of the carbon steel.

Never heard of that condition? And I think you are joking This Beast is built like a TANK. But incase you are not joking, the AB Pellet Trap sat outside for nearly a week in Artic conditions then brought inside for a rapid warm up. This is one of those nuke proof forever products.

 

[rc4fun]

I'm thinking of getting one. I may try to get it sprayed with "Line-X" to see if it dulls the sound and makes the outside weather proof.

 

[rc4fun]

This means you evaluated the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature of the carbon steel.

I guess if you shoot in tempatures in the -25's F it could be a concern.

 

[ThomasT]

I guess if you shoot in tempatures in the -25's F it could be a concern.

Hello @rc4fun

The only way that this material would be effected by low temperature would be somewhere in the below minus one -hundred ( -100 degree ) degree temperature for over a week. Even then a .22LR shot at 50-yards would have almost no effect .

ThomasT

 

[Str8tshooter]

I'm thinking of getting one. I may try to get it sprayed with "Line-X" to see if it dulls the sound and makes the outside weather proof.

This Tank and 2 others has been in the Pacific Ocean since the 40's. I think the AB Pellet Trap would last a very long time in the same conditons, but Line-X would look cool. I also think it would be easy to quiet down if necessary.

 

[dgeesaman]

Never heard of that condition? And I think you are joking This Beast is built like a TANK. But incase you are not joking, the AB Pellet Trap sat outside for nearly a week in Artic conditions then brought inside for a rapid warm up. This is one of those nuke proof forever products.

I was joking, but since you bit, tanks and battleships are exactly where this counts ('tanks' being vessels not mobile artillery)

Low carbon steels (1018, A-36) are designed with the assumption they will be ductile. The Liberty class warships taught us the importance: https://metallurgyandmaterials.wordpress.com/2015/12/25/liberty-ship-failures/

In the case of tanks and piping, ductility is regulated by code to prevent a minor overstress location from cracking the equipment like an eggshell. Low carbon steels are rated and/or impact tested for ductility at low temperatures to ensure that this won't happen in service. The low temperature is based on a one-day-mean temperature rating for the geographic location. (It's not a two-week issue). Most carbon steels used in fabrication have a low temp limit between 32F and -55F. (300 series stainless, for all of it's irritating quirks, is always ductile down cryogenic temps)

In a pellet trap, even a cold brittle steel structure of will absorb impact significant energy without cracking. When you push the energy levels above what it can really handle, where the plate will dent from the impact, at low temps it will crack instead of dent. Whatever it can just take at room temperature, it probably won't handle as much in bitter cold. So testing a pellet trap in very cold temperatures is not an entirely silly exercise.

 

[Peashooter]

Nice.

I feel like i would want to try and trap the lead in its original form or something close to it, the " powder " it turn into after having deflected on a steel plate are of course fine when you trap it.
Mind you this will make my trap heavier, and probably bigger too.

Just not entirely sure on how i will go about it, cuz stopping something fairly fragile in a short space that is a challenge, but at least now i have gotten some of the base materials in for a experiment.

Here is to a long and warm summer, i think i will need it with all of my plans.

 

[Max115]

Maybe add a layer of duct seal to damper the impact sounds and add a piece of wood at the bottom to trap the pellets from falling out.

Good pellet trap built.

 

[Str8tshooter]

When the weather warms up, I will put a coat of plastidip on the trap and experiment with some horse mat at differnt locations to make it as quiet as possible. I am going to try and reclaim all the spent pellets and take them to the recycle scrap yard. Then it will live outside as a free range pellet trap.

 

[ThomasT]

Hello everyone,

Just talked with Pete and he said that it will be at least 2 months before he can build any of the Alpha Bullet~Pellet Traps. He has his shop right now working 7-days a week filling contract orders for Crawfish Cookers.

ThomasT

 

[rc4fun]

Any updates on cost and availability?

 

[ThomasT]

Any updates on cost and availability?

Hello @rc4fun

Pete has been covered up with orders for Crawfish Cookers and not able to build any Alpha Traps so he does not have a cost. At this time he has no plans to build any.

ThomasT