Bullet traps. Small, medium & large

[Mike_Lenardon]

Small is an Outers, 1995 vintage. I use this one alot indoors. Tens of thousands of pellets shot into this one.

Medium is a Detroit Bullet Trap. Was shot less than a dozen times. Even came with the instructions. Mid 60s era. Works great. Rapidly catching up to the small one in shot count. This is my main trap outside.

Large is from X-ring products. Made by Trams mfg co.in the mid 1930s. This is one of their centrifugal units sandblasted and repainted. I haven't used it yet but I'm pretty confident it'll work fine. Have the original tripod stand for it also. 

Well I have enough traps to last me many lifetimes. You all have a great Independence day.  I'm going to set these up and start shooting.

 

[DirtyDovi]

Very Nice!

I use the same style 'small' trap that you have, and they're Great! 
Capable of working just fine up to .22LR and .17HMR rounds, so they'll handle whatever we can dish out pellet-wise!
I grabbed mine from a seller on Amazon, and think I gave around $65 bucs for it.. Definitely money well spent.

Those other two that you have - Wow! Those things are no joke.. 
At first, I thought that they were wood chipper hoppers! haha

 

Sam -

 

[ironlion269]

Yeah, those two big ones look like they belong on the set of Fargo somewhere...

 

[bent]

Those outers type traps are ok, but I had quite a bit of lead spatter blowing back from the trap (about 5 feet typically) when shooting 22 pellets. I'd be really careful about using one indoors - try setting some sheets of clean cardboard in front of it next time you use it.

The better traps are the snail/centrifugal types, i.e. like #3 in your photo. I built a couple or 3 of these from some pieces of steel sheet and pipe, and my welder. Never had any shards kicking back from these, even in a several hundred round shooting session. 

 

[Metalmaniac]

Nice traps! I was wondering what is the measurements of the large red one? Large end of cone. Small end of cone. And length. I know the angle of the cone has to be right or projectile can dent metal. I have been meaning to build one for years.Thanks in advance. MM

 

[DirtyDovi]

bent,

Yup, same deal. I usually shoot indoors into rubber, so the pellets sink into the material.. 
When using the steel trap [from 10 meters distance] the pellets usually hit, break up, and turn into shrapnel.. 
I was able to remedy that a bit by hot-gluing some rubber stall mat to the inside of the trap. Much better now.

 

Sam -

 

[intenseaty22]

I’m coming over to shoot at your place, gonna bring my A1-Abrams. 

 

[Mike_Lenardon]

Those outers type traps are ok, but I had quite a bit of lead spatter blowing back from the trap (about 5 feet typically) when shooting 22 pellets. I'd be really careful about using one indoors - try setting some sheets of clean cardboard in front of it next time you use it.

The Outers trap had instructions telling you to tape cardboard to the face to seal up the trap. Then hang your target. Works great that way, everything stays inside.

Nice traps! I was wondering what is the measurements of the large red one? Large end of cone. Small end of cone. And length. I know the angle of the cone has to be right or projectile can dent metal. I have been meaning to build one for years.Thanks in advance. MM

Big end of the plate is 18.5''. 2'' on the small end & 24" long. Plate thickness is .345 just a tad over 5/16

 

[Mike_Lenardon]

Heck, I paid more for the Outers trap than I did for either of the 2 larger ones.

I built one to leave up north at the cabin. 20'' tall & 36" wide. AR 500 plate, Used for target shooting the long range powder burners. I dont want to build any more, way to expensive.

 

[CampFussell]

Beautiful traps Mike!

I started out with a home made wooden pellet trap filled with duct seal and that got old fast. Then I bought a $70 Champion Rimfire Bullet trap and liked it so good that I searched Craigslist for some used ones and found a guy that sold me 3 more bullet traps for $20 each. One of those was a Champion and the other two are the cheaper “Do- All” Rimfire bullet traps. I recommend spending the extra bucks for the Champion. Also have a custom made bullet trap for the larger 25 meter Bench Rest targets. One can never have enough bullet traps! Happy fourth!

Peace and Pellet Trap Grease

Fuss

 

[bent]

"The Outers trap had instructions telling you to tape cardboard to the face to seal up the trap. Then hang your target. Works great that way, everything stays inside."

It helps, until you shoot out the cardboard

I'm not certain now if mine is an outers or a do-all. One thing I noted with mine, is the bend from the angled plate into the trough was not smooth, it had a slight kink in it in a couple places. I surmised that kink (sharp bend) was causing the pellet shards to deflect occasionally. When I built my snail traps, I took the time to make sure the entry transition was a smooth curve (as much as possible).

 

[DirtyDovi]

The Outers trap had instructions telling you to tape cardboard to the face to seal up the trap. Then hang your target. Works great that way, everything stays inside.

Mike, 
My trap didn't come with instructions - advising using cardboard, but if that's all it takes, good deal! 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

Sam -

 

[Mike_Lenardon]

I also made up some swingers. Gets boring just shooting paper.