Ideas from the Minnesota DNR

 

Get a buddy, and find (a) 2' long section(s) of the largest diameter log you can find/haul, and shoot into it from an end.

It ought to last quite awhile, B4 you need to reverse it and/or replace it.

I used to use one to shoot in my urban cellar, B4 I could afford a snail bullet trap.

 

here's a recent post with an idea that i'd like to build for my own backyard

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209669

maybe you know someone who does steel work and could build you something similar...

 

backstop

This is what I have used for years:
Using 2X6 lumber make a frame that is 20" square. Nail on a 20x20 piece of 3/4 plywood. Fill this flush with small stones-no dirt. Now nail on a 1/4 20x20 piece of plywood. After so much use the 1/4 piece can be replaced. One man can handle this. Anything larger will get very heavey. Mine reside on small stout sawhorses. I have one at 50 yds. and on slightly offset at 100 yds. They can be moved around. I shoot .22s at paper targets only but they will stop anything.

 

I scrounge deck and landscape timbers from construction sites (saving them from the dumpster).

I nail together a stack with barn nails, usually 3'x3'. This will soak up a few thousand rounds. Then I wedge it apart and burn it up, saving the lead that flows out the bottom of the burn barrel.

I use these indoors and outdoors.

I used the large tree sections on edge before and that works just as well if you have a free big tree.

 

How bout surplus railroad ties.

Outfit I work for had trouble with a remote sensing station getting shot up from the road. I suggested building a barrier out of railroad ties to shield it. End of problem.

 

That's what I used



I used 2x4s to hold a stack of 6x6s and railroad ties together. Also used scrap wood to prop up the back because it fell over a few times. I used landscaping lumber cut in two foot sections across the bottom as a foundation.

 

If the hillside is yours, that's your backstop. Place the targets at the base of the hill, back off to the desired range, if possible elevate your shooting point. Never shoot at an upward angle. Make sure the center of the target is no more than 18" above the level ground.

 

This one has been in use for many years.It's about 36" wide x about 48" tall. The working part is 1/4" plate with an angle iron frame on three sides.It's hinged to fold for easy transport with any vehicle equipped with a trailer hitch.The carriage is 2" I beam welded to a utility trailer axle, the tongue is a section of the I beam fitted with the trailer coupler (not pictured). The paper target holder is a 18 wheeler mud flap held by turnbuckles. The wood butts provide a place to set plinking targets on and prevent back splash. We shoot rimfires,centerfire pistols,and muzzle loaders at it. It's just a bunch of scrap iron, the only items purchased new were the gate hinges,turnbuckles, and hitch coupler. It was a under $100 project in the mid 1980's. And looks it! Ugly isn't enough of a word by itself to describe it, but it works pretty well.

 

Thanks everybody.

 

i use wood chips from my local tree service that trims the power lines. they will dump a load or fifty wherever you want.

 

I too have been building traps at work with scrap steel.

The first one had an opening about 2'sq. with plates welded in at pretty steep angles to the back snail portion. Not knowing how strong to make it I built heavy, too heavy, but never had a problem. Passed that one on to my brother and I think he is now using it w/his mini 30.

The next trap was smaller about 1'sq opening to about 2 1/2' deep. This one was made with 12ga hot rolled steel, much lighter but required me to place it against something to keep it from moving backwards over time, so I added weight by welding heavy plate behind and below.

The next one up will be made using 16ga and I'll be bolting it together so that I can transport it easy enough. I'll post my progress with that one.

I would caution the use of a log. I believe that over time you will make a hot spot, all the lead will end up in a small area and may become hazardous I don't know how long it would take to get there But I would look at some thing else. I believe that dirt and sand traps also create the same potential problem.

Be careful and good luck, Todd

 

I'm using 1/4" steel plate built at the back of a frame made from 2x4's. The targets are mounted to either cardboard or thin plywood backing and slipped into a groove routed into the frames. Inside of the 2x4's are protected with more 1/4" steel plate, as the bullet fragments were tearing them up.

I've shot this extensively as close as 10yds - every round fragments on impact, with little to no noticeable damage to the plate. Eye protection seems like a good idea just in case anything flies back...

 

your mother in law

 

:hide: ^^^^

 

A 8 foot by 12 foot pile of sand will catch a lifetimes supply of rimfire lead. If not you can just sift it out every twenty years or so.
.....................20-250ai/Aric