Bullet trap

[Broadarrow]

Does anyone know of a manufacture / supplier of bullet traps/target holders that are suitable for 22 rim fire ? ( Subsonic)

I have been using off cuts of rail sleepers but having had rollockings for splintered wood all over the garden I think I need something to both hold a target and catch the bullets. even though there is plenty of backstop....into wifes very well manicured/ banked flower beds / plants which isn't an option

Looking to set up a few targets in my back garden for wife to use ( she doesn't like shooting live things . )

thanks in advance

 

[deerstalker.308]

With the ricochet risk from 22lr I hope you have a suitably large garden! Good height sand bank would be the best suggestion but I’d be being very cautious about the risk of ricochet regardless

 

[Broadarrow]

the intention is to put some sandbags around it and yes, the garden is over 100 foot long with field at back

but and and its a big but...its my wife pride and joy and the she doesn't want it to look like a Range

 

[deerstalker.308]

Personally I’d go down the route of getting an air rifle for garden use. Bullets to close to houses are asking for trouble..... if it’s just plinking fun, air rifle would be the simplest solution

 

[Broadarrow]

I had a small ''range'' in the back garden , mainly used for setting up 22lr rifles for myself, colleagues and friends ...and had a large banking as a backstop , with sand bags at the top and sides. ( with a 5 acre banked field at the rear ) ..Until ''she who shall not be named'' decided she wanted a proper garden so the ''range '' had to go...

If I can't source a suitable bullet trap etc I will defo' consider an air rifle ...possibly a pre charged type

 

[gonzo]

I can strongly recomend a rubber chip bullet catcher.

I have a wooden box about 3ft x 3ft x 18" deep, filled with what is basically shreaded tyres, without the metal. Sold for landscaping and horse trainning areas. The box has some rubber sheeting on the front, to hold the chips back, so I am shooting into a wall of chips. But it works equally well banked up, like a traditional sand trap. As long as there is the required depth in the line of fire.
It stops the bullets by slowing them rather than breaking them up. So there are no richochets, or lead conamination issues. On my last clean out, I found that 22LR standard velocity stop around 9" into the chips, almost un-deformed
The other benefit, there is almost no strike noise.

Make the box target area as small as you need. Could be small enough to carry away and store out of sight.

On a club target shooting range, using the same system, the NRA were happy to certified up to low velocity centrefire rifle (357magnum from an underlever). And the .38 bullets come out with so little deformation, you could load and shoot them again. (And I did just that to prove a point.)

Make it deeper, about 3ft is the spec, and you could use it for stopping full bore rifles (possibly not in a back garden in a built up area!) Could be ideal, just empty a bulk bag into a bit of a scrape in a bank in your zeroing field.
If shooting full bore into chips, it's a good idea to keep them a little damp. To avoid the risk of fire. Though the military range construction manuals warn about this as a risk, only in the case of sustained machine gun fire, I have heard of someone managing to get a smoulder with a bolt action 303.

 

[gonzo]

Rubber chip...... There may be issues with shooting low power airguns. The pellets may not have the power to penetrate and just bounce off the top layer of chips.

 

[paul o']

Used to use old phone books in tea chests with old Conveyor Belt in layers to spot slash back This held up to 308 as a that was the biggest tested but norm every day use was at point blank 45 acp 38 super 9mm 38 9x19 9x25 ..22 I still use phone books seem to remember they stop at letter H ?

 

[gonzo]

I used to use books and catalogues. But the shock of the impact turns them into confetti and it's a mess to clean up.
And once the paper shatters it is not much good.

 

[Andy-shooter]

I’ve built a 3’ deep 3’ wide 6’ tall U sectioned wall out of heavy concrete blocks (not breeze blocks) closed off the open side of the U with 18mm ply and filled it with sand, it even has a roof to keep the sand, ply and my targets dry if it rains. It sits embedded in a 5’ soil bank which runs up the edge of our paddock.

It’ll stop anything I shoot at it within the first 12-18” of sand.

I only pin targets to the lower half to minimise the likelihood of a badly zeroed rifle missing the bunker. Of course there is always the very small chance being more than 3’ off the point of aim and shooting over the bank but a lot would have to go wrong for that to happen and if it did the 90 acre arable field being would see the bullet drop to the ground unless the angle of the barrel was in the ND zone...

 

[snake_2586]

I knocked this up a few years ago, after spending a while looking for bullet traps, I like you were using cut off sleepers or tree stumps, but wanted something, I could move and put away easily after I had finished my 'play' secession.
I have put hundreds of rimfire rounds into this since I made it and it is showing no signs wear, I am sure it would take centre fire as well but I do not want to chance putting a hole in it. obviously it still requires a safe back stop but it also means I do not leave any lead behind, as I just put a catering size tin can under the pipe.

Im sure any one handy with a welder could knock one up for you, the funnel is 1/4" plate and the pipe is about 3.5", the opening was made so I could bulldog clip an A4 target sheet on the front, and the gap in the back of the funnel is about 3/8".
If you like the idea and require any more info just ask.

 

[Dodder]

I knocked this up a few years ago, after spending a while looking for bullet traps, I like you were using cut off sleepers or tree stumps, but wanted something, I could move and put away easily after I had finished my 'play' secession.
I have put hundreds of rimfire rounds into this since I made it and it is showing no signs wear, I am sure it would take centre fire as well but I do not want to chance putting a hole in it. obviously it still requires a safe back stop but it also means I do not leave any lead behind, as I just put a catering size tin can under the pipe.

Im sure any one handy with a welder could knock one up for you, the funnel is 1/4" plate and the pipe is about 3.5", the opening was made so I could bulldog clip an A4 target sheet on the front, and the gap in the back of the funnel is about 3/8".
If you like the idea and require any more info just ask.
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I like the look of this but am guessing it will clang a bit when hit with a .22 bullet? Also like the idea of the shredded tyre box - nice input gents and some sensible alternatives to using a large log section which is what I normally use (with a decent backstop of course).

 

[Border]

For 22LR I have used plastic 20ltr Aspen cans filled with sand or large cardboard boxes filled tight with newspapers/magazines and Gaffa taped all round.Then just tape or staple target to it. For fullbore/shotgun I use a 1000 ltr big bag filled with sand and have target on lower half.

 

[snake_2586]

I like the look of this but am guessing it will clang a bit when hit with a .22 bullet?.

Yes you do get an impact noise, but that is was not a concern of mine, but I do understand it maybe for others.

 

[gonzo]

I like the look of this but am guessing it will clang a bit when hit with a .22 bullet? Also like the idea of the shredded tyre box - nice input gents and some sensible alternatives to using a large log section which is what I normally use (with a decent backstop of course).

I really was astounded as to how well the rubber chip works.
I started by buying a 20kg bag of chips, from ebay. Put them in front of the backstop on a range and started plinking. As the bag was stuffed and presented a round profile, I started shooting at more of a tangent, so that there were less chips in the like of fire.
Even with CCI minimags, a few inches of chips would stop and capture them.

In a loose pile, the strikes tend to stir the chips, so you don't get any compacting of lead in the target centre. My own catcher started as 2x 20kg bags, in a box, set up as a banked pile, like a traditional sand trap. That probably took 3000rounds in the first year. After that I cleaned it ot and griddled the bullets from the chips. But I recon at that rate of useage, I could have left it for years without needing attention.

I've since made a bigger box and have a rubber sheet at the front, with the box filled to the top. To give me the option of using bigger stuff (not full-bore). And ordered a 1ton bag of chips (a ton bag, though not a ton of chips). That was about a hundred quid, on pallet delivery. Still have loads left.