Pellet trap

Rubber mulch works great! I chose to build a wooden box with slide-in front cardboard slot,,,, had some old tongue and groove flooring which made it fairly easy. Box dimensions - 16"H x 12" W x 7" depth - surprisingly holds one entire bag of mulch. Have never penetrated to rear wood shooting .22 pellets up to 1000fps in my basement range.

Rubber mulch nuggets in a 'Rubbermaid Commercial Products' 7 gallon trash can.

I normally only shoot it through 2 sides, but it could be shot through all 4 sides prior to replacement.

I glue a piece of foam (from an old anti-fatigue floor mat) onto the front of mine to help deaden sound a bit, and help keep the mulch in the trash can a little longer. I specifically use the Rubbermaid Commercial trash cans as they are not as brittle as cheaper ones I have tried, so they kind of 'self-heal' just a little bit after being shot, and can be shot for a longer period of time.

Using this set up I have never had pass-through at 50 yards, up to and including shooting an Impact M3 .357. These are the cans I use - I buy them by the dozen:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KHK9PEK/

Rubber mulch smells, well like rubber it's nasty. For my indoor shooting I use the 5lb bricks of duct seal. Used it in my nice oak box until I cracked the wood with repeated use of my 100fpe 9mm. So, then I just stood the bricks on end, and pushed them into the corner, and it werqs well that way. Outdoors the mulch would be fine.

My el cheapo trap is cardboard box stuffed with old clothes and rags. I wrap duct tape around the box after shooting enough holes through the cardboard that the next few shots will cause the target to rip if I don’t cover the large holes. It also helps to tape the targets to the box up, down, or over in relation to where the last target was placed so the pellet holes will be more likely to be offset. I also tape junk mail magazines to the face of the box after perforating it thoroughly. It’s a good idea to place a backstop behind it. For high powered PCPs I use a thick wooden or metal backstop behind it. If you shoot hole on hole in the same spot repeatedly pellets have a high probability of piercing through the back of the box.


It’s gained some weight as I have emptied tins into it. It does well with guns up to .30 caliber in my experience. Be careful when opening it because the clothes will be shredded to dust and some lead dust is in there from shooting pellets into pellets. It may be a good idea to cover your face when emptying it if you’re concerned about that sort of thing.

Mine are commercial traps from Super Target Systems. I have three - the one on left below is for my 25 cal and has 1” ballistic rubber face, filled with rubber mulch and AR500 backstop. I could shoot my glocks against that as well. The middle doesn't have rubber face, but is filled with rubber mulch. The 177 won't go through the ballistic rubber so I use 1/4” foam core board as face. The right one has 1/2” rubber face and is for 22 (which won't go through the 1” face). All this setup is in my basement.

Ezana's clothing advice with cardboard advice is great. Cardboard boxes are cheap. When all 4 sides get shot up just tape new cardboard over the old. I use plastic cardboard called Clorplast/vote for me sign material. I get lots for free the day after an election. Eventually I throw everything in the trash and make a new box of rags. I love free low tech solutions.

Best of all is no lead dust in the basement. I also have 2 boxes filled/stacked with National Geographic magazines. It works just fine and dandy too and is free.

I also use the el cheap cardboard box filled with rags/clothes (although I recently upgraded to an old plastic storage box). However, I shoot into the open side of the box and hold everything into the box with landscape fabric that covers the box on the open side and is duct taped to sides of box. This has two uses. Landscape fabric is basically silent and when it gets shot up, I just put another piece on. The second advantage is that I never shoot a hole in the box. 

The fabric costs almost nothing (in my case it was actually nothing since I found an old roll of it in garage and it will last me for many years.)

I screwed a bunch of 2 x 4 together and added some strips of wood around the outside, then stapled cardboard over the opening. I staple the targets to the cardboard. I will test what my holdover is by moving it from 10y to 60y. In .22 cal, the pellets do not go through, however .22lr will. When I make another one I will probable use 2x6 around the outside instead of the strips.



I was thinking of making an outdoor target stand out of a sandwich board frame. Hanging a piece of metal in the middle will keep the backside "fresh" until you’re ready to turn it around.

This is what I have. A scrapped HMI unit from my shop, filled with rubber mulch, compressed with choloroplast, then two layers of foam flooring. Able to stop my 25 rapid at 40ftlb from 2 feet away.

Attk, how long does the wood hold up before you think it's too compromised to do its job? I used to shoot pellet guns in a wide open area that didn't need a backstop but I am looking into some cost effective options to build a robust but transportable system for other people to use. I like the idea of having wood over just cardboard with whatever stuffed inside since I don't want too much debris to get all over the place. 

I wrap 4 to 6 inch stacks of magazines with duct tape, backed up with a bale of hay (outdoor). The only cost is for the tape which is really cheap from Harbor Freight.

Mine may be overbuilt by some standards but it suits my needs.

It's an old milk crate with a piece of 1'x1' square sheet steel (3/16" maybe) from one of the big box hardware stores mounted at an angle as the backer, a couple three pieces of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) board lining the sides and the front and a tray made from vinyl trim board with a mount on the front to hold the chrony so I can get accurate velocities at any distance. The tray is removable for emptying.

Hoffman elec. enclosure on wheels. filled wit

packing

material with a steel plate on back. 2nd one in process

for a friend

mine is about the same, but I put sand in the bottom

I really like the pellet trap shown by attk11. I plan to build the identical unit with a 1/2 inch metal plate in front of the wood backstop to save the wood from inbedded pellets and to possibly reclaim as much lead as possible.

Great idea. THANKS.

Attk, how long does the wood hold up before you think it's too compromised to do its job? I used to shoot pellet guns in a wide open area that didn't need a backstop but I am looking into some cost effective options to build a robust but transportable system for other people to use. I like the idea of having wood over just cardboard with whatever stuffed inside since I don't want too much debris to get all over the place.

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That first one lasted 2 or 3 summers with a .22 cal pellets. It might have lasted longer but I shot a 22lr at it and split all the 2x4's. I rebuilt it with 2x4's again because I already had them cut. I was also able to reuse the outer strips, top & bottom 2x4's and screws. I purposely build it for these targets:

I really like the pellet trap shown by attk11. I plan to build the identical unit with a 1/2 inch metal plate in front of the wood backstop to save the wood from inbedded pellets and to possibly reclaim as much lead as possible.

Great idea. THANKS.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I was thinking of putting a piece of metal in-front of the 2x4's but didn't want the pellets to ricochet and tear up the target paper from the backside. I always shoot at the same spots, in .22 the pellets made an indentation then protected the wood (stacking lead on lead eventually). 

I put a dot in the centre of 4 squares this gives me 36 2"x2" targets, if I don’t get the holdover or wind right the 2" square keeps me from interfering with the other targets.

Let me know how the metal backing plate works out. I'm always looking for ways to improve.

+1 on the rubber mulch. After shooting at a tote full of it for a couple of years I made three permanent ones out of one sheet of 3/4 plywood along with chicken wire, landscape fabric, one picket and some screws. Plus some of those “ new homes for sale” signs that are plastered along the road. Other than the plywood it was really what I could find at home. As you can see it’s made so that the plastic sign can be easily replaced once shot out and so can fabric and wire for that matter. If you go to lowes they sell busted bags for 1/2 off and each box has about 4 bags. Get the chunks not shredded. Plywood was ripped at 15 3/4 at the store.