Rimfire Central Firearm Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

  • Whether you're a greenhorn or a seasoned veteran, your collection's next piece is at Bass Pro Shops. Shop Now.

    Advertisement

Homebrew "bullet trap" / deflector

Jump to Latest
8.8K views 26 replies 20 participants last post by  e=mc2  
N
#1 ·
Well I spent a few hours in the fabrication shop today. Here is what I whipped up from some scraps of 2" and 1.5" angle iron. It is not really a "trap" but more of a deflector. The bullets hit the 45* plates and are directed to the ground immediately behind this. I was thinking along the lines of saving the wooden (railroad ties) backstop that I will eventually be building. The plates can be unbolted to be replaced if need be in the future or upgraded to heavier plate if the need arises.

Kevin

Image


The plywood face is 22" x 32".

Here is a shot of what is hiding behind the plywood......

Image


Side shot....

Image


And here is an in progress shot at the shop...

Image
 
N
#5 ·
The plates are just some steel plates left over after a battery swap at work (telephone company). It will be used only for rimfire at this point but I could upgrade the plates to a heavier material if I wanted to in the future. I may change out the plywood face for a different system for hanging targets but for now the plywood will work. One other addition that may come in the future is to add a piece of 3" or 4" channel iron to the top in front. I could then add a cheap flourecent light for and iluminated night target :D

Kevin
 
1
#10 ·
I couldn't weld my way out of a paper bag but it sure looks like a nice, clean, strong job to me.

Not to be an idiot or a smart ***, but am I missing something? How do the plates deflect the bullets into the ground as was the stated design intent? Except for the lowest plate, wouldn't all the others just deflect any bullet down into the back of the plate below, which (assuming the bullet hasn't splattered or become competely spent by this point) would just redirect whatever's left of the battered and slowed down projectile into the area behind the deflector where it was heading in the first place?

This is not to say I think it won't work, I'm just asking what will happen and why.
 
N
#11 ·
A 22 will actually hit the plate and then follow along the plate surface. They do not reflect off and head straight down to the ground but will hit the ground at a 45* angle where the plate is pointing. Welding was one of the best classes I took in high school. Took a full 2 semesters. My wife bought me a stick welder for Christmas about 5 years ago. This project was the first time I have had a chance to MIG weld.......sooooo much nicer. Now I gotta save up my pennies for a MIG machine :bonk:

Kevin
 
P
#16 ·
Might you look around for some industrial conveyor belting and use it for a target holder? takes to bullet holes better than plywood or cardboard....great looking job. if the bullets skid down the shutters,,,you can always add a flat to the back of each slat to deflect it more downward.

i hope to do a box type soon.

i figure to collect the lead and recast it for black powder balls.
 
N
#17 ·
I was out today with my fire chief and his boy....12yrs old and just got his first 22 for Christmas. We put about 300 rounds at it. The bullets are fragmenting but do follow the plates at a 45 to the ground. The plywood is working out fine for now. There will only be a framework left to staple the targets to as behind the center of the target goes missing :D . I may try to work up a backing plate with a snail design decelerator at the bottom. Just something more to play with. We are still working on a knock down design at the shop that could be shipped easily.

Kevin
 
J
#21 ·
cadillo said:
The more that I look at this, the more that I think that it would work for recovering cast handgun bullets for recycling if it had a sandfilled tray on the ground behind it. If this comes to market, I would be interested. :t
Click to expand...
great looking bullet deflector!! i had the same thought about a sand container to catch the spent bullets in... what about one of those plastic totes with sand in it?? i designed a bullet trap a couple of years ago and my is a welder and metal fabricater... he built it for me but had stop refineing it when the guy he works for found out what it was:mad: .... mine had to be beefed up in some places as i was looking at useing the inside shape to make it work and didn't have heavy enough steel in the plans...... this is a neat design much different than mine though....... good luck with it!!:bthumb: :bthumb:

JJB
 
J
#22 ·
I like it. Have a few mental cogitations to share.

Need to protect the light from the back side, should someone mount one. The leading edge of the baffles, should they be impacted could splash up and fwd a bit.

Also, should someone more or less leave it in one position for quite a bit of shooting, the lead can build up and start splashing back. This I know as I have dug many a pound of lead out of our BE back stop with a round nosed shovel and long pry bar. When the tgts showed reverse shrapnel dings, it was time to clean her out.

Have contemplated buying a sheet of mild steel for lead only bullets to set up in my back yard. Had figured I needed to probably stack two railroad ties abt 2-3 feet in front of where the steel met the ground. Actually had planned on using ties running perpendicular to the base to keep it off the ground necessitating placing a tie slightly behind to keep escapees from zipping out the back.

FWIW, because projectiles, including jacketed types tend to skid along a hard surface because they deform, tactically, you are never to hug a wall if the threat is potentially at the end of same wall, all other conditions not overriding that principle. Same reason to take cover behind a tire's rim.

Not trying to hijack this thread, just some food for thought for long term placement.
 
C
#23 ·
I built one abut 10 years ago that uses a single 3/16" plate in a 2x4 frame with a sand bottom and it has maybe 5-6K rounds into it with no problems. I keep an old archery target in front of the plate to keep splatter from coming back at me. If I shoot super colibris they don't usually make it thru the archery target.

I use old plastic real estate signs for target backers and they work great. I set it up at one end of my shop under the exhaust fan and I can shoot rimfire stuff into it until my ear muffs start to squeeze my brains out my nose and there is no smoke or primer smell in the shop.

I recovered lead from the sand once and tried to mix it will wheel weights when I was casting bullets, but there is so much dirt and gunk in the lead that it wasn't worth it, so it becomes fishing weights instead. It is worth recycleing brass...a 5 gal bucket brings $40.

Shoot safe!!

CC
 
#24 ·
Years ago (late 70's) my younger brother built one in shop class for us out of a sewer lid. We only shot rimfires at it but it was super solid and had a sand pit at the bottom to catch lead. I'm sure it would have held up to any handgun rounds. Now don't everyone go out and take your neighborhoods sewer lids to make your own! :Modified_

APEXDUCK
 
K
#25 ·
That's a great design! Congrats on your backstop.

I have been considering building a range in my basement :rolleyes: and this might help convince me to do so. I would build it similar to yours but with quartered section of 10" steel pipe with 1/4" wall in place of the slats on yours. I'd probably add a sheet of 1/4" steel at the rear placed vertically.

Good work!:harry:
 
C
#26 ·
45 years ago, my father and I set up a 50' range in the crawl space of our house. My father brought home a big piece of armor plate from an explosive lab. We positioned it in a corner at 45 degrees. Worked well for years. It is still there. It was heavy enough that when I came home from the service, I fired a .45 with Super Vel stuff into it with no problems, except the noise drove my mother crazy.
 
Rimfire Central Firearm Forum
posts
6.9M
members
216K
Since
2002
A family friendly forum community dedicated to rimfire firearm owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion of all manner of rimfire pistols, rifles, optics, ammo, gunsmithing, customization, reviews, hunting, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
CZ / Brno Off Topic Lounge Open Rimfire .22 Ammunition (S-L-LR) Scopes, Sights, Rings, Mounts & Other Optics