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What’s the cheapest pellet trap I can make?

Cardboard box (1” deep for every 10fpe of energy should be plenty) tightly packed with rubber mulch. You should have it weigh at least 5 lbs when done or with 80fpe you’ll be chasing it every time you shoot it. 
when you shoot up the face of the box, you can patch it with another piece of cardboard. This one has served me well for a few years.

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You need denim for 357 at 200fpe, I'm stopping stuff in the fourth old pants folded 3 times each, these are stuffed in a bucket with a cotton sweatshirt and three more denim pants.



Much more simple but ammo not as clean when you pull it out is bucket full of rubber mulch. One bag almost fills a bucket so put an inch or two of something in the bottom of the bucket to take up space. Cut lid out and add cardboard to hold the mulch in place. About 12-14 inches of mulch have stopped up to 185fpe.
 
I don't know about the 80 FPE part but one of those big buckets of generic kitty litter can probably be had for under $15. 

You could shoot up one side of it & then cut a rectangle out & slide in cardboard or whatever. 

Kitty litter is clay so I suspect it would work. 

There are certainly cheaper options but if you just want to grab something & start shooting I think this would work.
 
5 gallon buckets filled with rubber mulch. One bag of the rubber mulch can be had from WM for $8 and will perfectly fill a five gallon bucket all the way to the top and compressed down with the lid. Both are easily less than $15.

Lay the bucket on its side and tape your target onto the lid.

if you can find square five gallon buckets then stand them up and place targets on the sides. 


my own version of the rubber mulch buckets have proven to stop 30 cal pellets at 1K FPS easily.

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For about 15 € I made this bullet stopper. Lead plate 40x30 cm, 3 cm thick. I bought lead scraps from a junkyard and melted them in an old kitchen pan. At 5 meters it stops pellets cal. 25, 2.2 grams, shot at 280 meters a second ... 86J approx. Only drawback .... 25kg of weight. The shot does not bounce, but it gets stuck in the lead plate. No noise on impact. Ecological, no harmful metal is released into the environment.
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5 gallon buckets filled with rubber mulch. One bag of the rubber mulch can be had from WM for $8 and will perfectly fill a five gallon bucket all the way to the top and compressed down with the lid. Both are easily less than $15.

Lay the bucket on its side and tape your target onto the lid.

if you can find square five gallon buckets then stand them up and place targets on the sides. 


my own version of the rubber mulch buckets have proven to stop 30 cal pellets at 1K FPS easily.

36AF16D0-E4DD-4DD8-A9F1-1F3217F3429C.1649588848.jpeg
01E42B0E-1575-41BD-8740-6A946BB0BA3D.1649588849.jpeg
FE5D7D81-63B7-4AC5-9B81-F946C569E009.1649588851.jpeg



I did the same, just used 5 gal. Bucket. 1 bag of .8 cu ft. of rubber mulch fills the bucket perfectly. I can't use duct tape, I need that to keep the gun together. Lol.
 
I have two. My first was a Crosman plastic folding trap my kids gave me. Didn't last long. But I salvaged the metal back and made a trap about the same size out of 3/4 plywood. Filled it with rubber mulch. Works great until you shoot the plywood sides. It's pretty chewed up now but still works. I staple a piece of cardboard over the mulch and then use binder clips to put a 8.5x11 printed target to that.

My latest is mostly an old breaker box I found in my shed. It is thick steel, about 16 gauge. About 12x12 and 3.5 inches thick. I screwed wooden pieces to the top and bottom so I can attach a cardboard face and put a handle on it. It's enough bigger I should not shoot up the wood part. It is filled with rubber mulch. I don't know about 80 ft lbs but 48 didn't hurt it even when the mulch settled. My 48 fpe Avenger dented the back then but did not go through. It's nice to have a trap where a pellet hitting the sides doesn't damage it. But if you had to buy the breaker box it would be kind of expensive. Might get one cheap at the ReStore

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