Pellet traps

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.
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.
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Here a sketch showing the insides of my trap...
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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 guard20240114_154938.jpg20240114_155529.jpg20240129_201026.jpg20240217_170743.jpg20240114_154523.jpg20240114_154533.jpg, need to test it first before the box design.20240114_154634.jpg
 
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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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
 
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 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.

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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.
 
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.
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
 
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
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:

 
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