Recycle Lead With A Bullet Trap That Traps?

SweetMK

SweetMK

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I have been Googling and forum searching, and have not found a bullet trap that looks successful.

I would like to have a bullet trap for two reasons,

Stop stray bullets
and
Recycle the lead.

I do not currently cast bullets, but, having the lead available can not be a bad thing.

Most traps just deflect the bullets down with little concern about capture of the lead.

The only real successful method I have found is using a round bale of hay, then burn the remainder of the hay when it has rotted beyond use.

Any ideas on a successful trap, maybe something along the lines of the traps they sell for pellet guns?

44 Mag and rimfire are my shooting choices.

Thanks.
 
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Years ago I saw a design where a guy had bought a piece of armor plate from a scrap yard. It came from a ship. He built a shed, set the armor at about a 45 degree angle facing down and made a pit full of sand under it. It was totally home made and designed and I have no idea how it worked out. I suspect that in these days used armor is controlled and melted down if it even stays in the US. They probably send the ships to India to be broken up now.
 
Google "snail bullet trap"....

My friends and I shoot indoor .22s at a friends garage with a home made trap. It does catch all the lead but is basically a pellet gun trap made from heavier steel and is starting to wear out.

When we're finally in need (forced) to make a new trap, I'm going to use an oxygen cylinder, split lengthwise, with a funnel of sorts made from 3/8" plate.

With a small tray hung under the cut cylinder, lead should just fall into the tray.... Basically the bullet spins around the cylinder till it stops and falls out the bottom into the tray. We should also be able to shoot centerfire target loads at it. Not a real tough endeavor, just haven't really found a oxygen cyl. used yet.

Picture this as a side view. Of course it would have end plates to keep the bullet from spinning out.

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A few years ago in the Ameerican Rifleman they showed a simple to make trap that I made. It is apice of boiler plate cut in about a 17" dia circle and bolted in to a worn out rubber tire, size of plate depends on the tire you use the side walls of the tires give when the plate is hit, you get no flying splatter and you capture all lead pieces. The plate is bolted to the back inside the tire. Mine has worked for 30 years at least and I shoot cast 357, and 41, 44 pistols into it. Jeff
 
The snail Google brings up some good designs, I like the idea of using geometry to slow/stop the bullet.

The tire/plate concept might be a better answer for 44 Mag.

I doubt I have enough heavy steel laying around to make a magnum proof snail.

Hmmmmm,,,,,,,,,,:confused:
 
The Snail if I recall is just for testing guns, like a Gunsmith function test. Not for shooting at from 20 yards.

There was a thread on this forum about traps and some member actually worked for a company that makes the commercial ones. A search may find it there was homemade ones, I recall someone on a farm that built one and could drag it with a tractor.
 
Years ago I saw a design where a guy had bought a piece of armor plate from a scrap yard.
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If you decide to go this way, I would suggest you buy AR 500 steel plate. It is really tough stuff. You can get it from Wideners in precut shapes link. That is what I use for shooting steel and this is unbelievably tough plate. Just don't shoot it with steel core bullets.

When I was growing up, my Dad built a bullet trap to allow me to shoot in the basement. It had a 1/4" steel plate at an angle at the back, and steel frame with angle to allow 3/4" pine boards on the front. Sand in the bottom. Tens of thousands of 22's were shot into it. When I shot 22 magnum into it, it would leave pock marks in the steel back. This would work for your 22, but not the 44.

If you have access outdoors, a railroad tie base filled with sand and the AR 500 1/2" plate at an angle will capture most of your 44's. You cannot drill the AR 500 steel, so a frame would need to be build to hold it in position.

If either are interest to you, I could try and sketch up either an send it to you.
 
FINALLY got around to building mine.

I decided to stand the pipe vertically and put a hole in the side plate for the bullets to drop out of. Once I move it into its final resting place the round hole will be facing down with a catch container under it.

Initial testing with a .22 and a .38 Super 125gr LSWC @ 1000fps. With some newspaper taped over all the holes to see if anything exited.

It retained all debris/lead splatter successfully!!!!

This is made from 3/8" plate (it was a highway plate like they put over holes in the road) and a 9" diameter ductile iron pipe 5/16: wall.










 
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Recently, I saw a thread here from someone who had done testing on bullet penetration into sand. If I remember right, the deepest penetration was only 8" or so including rifle rounds. So if anyone has a wood target vertical surface and 12" of trapped sand behind it they should be good to go. Or a deflector plate and 12" of sand under it.

plywood>>[ 12"sand ]<< 2 layers plywood face<<paper target

You've seen thousands of pictures of GI's behind sand bags about 12-15" wide over several wars. They work.
 
boxes of old wet clothing does wonders here.

at 4 feet depth, my old setup stopped everything till we went out of our way to break it with a 50 BMG .... with the expected glorious results.
Short of this, it is up to your needs and then some
 
rwsmith said:
That's what they had at the old National Guard armory here. Seemed to work great. Use sandbox/builders sand, easy to sift.
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and would work great with FMJ.
we start getting into lead loss when we start smoking exposed lead into sand.

old wet clothes greatly reduces the fragmentation issue and works a whole lot better than most here might anticipate.
 
I made a trap using sand. The box is made out of wood and is 30" long by 12" square. I placed an old bullet proof vest in the back and filled it with about 80 pounds of sand. I put an old rubber mud flap over the opening. You have to replace the mud flap depending on the usage. I have fired 3-4K of .22's before replacing the sand. It is in my garage and I use it for testing handgun loads with my chronograph. I have fired cast rifle loads out of a 30-06 without any problems. Most bullets don't make it halfway into the sand. The only ones to make it to the vest are jacketed and cast .45 ACP and .45 Colt loads. There is something to be said for heavy and slow bullets for deep penetration. It is pretty easy to replace the sand and I use the spent lead to cast bullets.

I had one of the store bought .22 traps and the sound of the bullet hitting the trap was louder than the muzzle blast not to mention the lead dust.
 
We have three bullet traps we made out of 3/8 inch steel. Got the idea from the internet. They will handle anything from 22 cal to 44mag. Bullet spins out and drops in a coffee can below. Been shooting the same lead for two years. With lead and wheel weights getting scarce it sure helps to save what you have. I shoot about 100 to 200 rounds every week at about 5 cents a shot.
 
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The trap our group shoots at is similar to the photos "shovelwrench" posted. It has a plenum across the top that distributes coolant/water mixture that cascades down the ramp. Bullets fall into an old ammo can that is submerged in a tub with the sump pump.
All of the lead is contained and collected. No lead debris goes into the air. Coolant prevents lead galling on impact plate.
 
shoot back said:
We have three bullet traps we made out of 3/8 inch steel. Got the idea from the internet. They will handle anything from 22 cal to 44mag. Bullet spins out and drops in a coffee can below. Been shooting the same lead for two years. With lead and wheel weights getting scarce it sure helps to save what you have. I shoot about 100 to 200 rounds every week at about 5 cents a shot.
Click to expand...

Sure would like to see a picture of one of those. I would like to start recycling my lead.
 
fredj338 said:
Sloped steel plate with sand box at the bottom, simple, cheap.
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When I shoot my hanging steel plates, which are hung from behind the tops to angle them downward, the bullets flatten and hit the ground directly under the plates. I've actually been wondering if it's worth putting something down to catch them and collect the lead. I don't cast...but I saved brass for nearly 10 years before I started reloading. Trouble is, it all has to be portable enough for me to haul back and forth to the gun club in my car.
 
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