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All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => Air Gun Gate => Topic started by: steveoh on November 26, 2012, 01:09:33 AM

Title: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: steveoh on November 26, 2012, 01:09:33 AM
I've been wanting to make my own pellet trap for months. Finally made some sawdust today.

Used left over 2x lumber and two layers of duct seal. Thing weighs 23 pounds so far...

Started with one layer duct seal and my .177 QB79 just about went through and embedded itself in the 2x12 redwood back. So I added another layer. Haven't tried the .22 RWS 350 Magnum yet.

Still need to add a handle, and a clip for targets.

Steveoh
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(http://www.archerairrifles.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121125-163132.jpg)
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Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: HeadOfPoland on November 26, 2012, 01:16:13 AM
Nice! The Pellet trap I bought from Dicks Sporting goods is next tor destroyed from my Rem Summit haha. I'm sure this would work 10000x better
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: devdem on November 26, 2012, 05:58:17 AM
Heya Steveoh,

Very nice work!  I have the materials and am queued up to start working on mine.  Love the use of redwood.  Too bad you have to shot at it  ;)

Looks like we need to have a subway gathering at some point.  So many of us are within an hour or so from each other.

Dan
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: clip on November 26, 2012, 11:54:28 AM
  I put a double layer of duct seal in all 3 of my traps. So far, they've stopped every pellet I've fired. I figure if two layers will handle a 20 caliber RX2 and a D350 Mag in 22, I'm pretty well covered for anything else. I just finished a trap, using an electrical junction box.  It's 14 inches wide by 23 inches long which is long enough to hold 2 targets, side by side. It has over 50 pounds of duct seal in two layers. It's a bear to lift and move around but once it's set in place on my outdoor backstop, it's not gonna move.
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: PaperPunch1 on November 26, 2012, 01:24:35 PM
Last summer I made some "osb" (wood) targets that simply stand vertically on another piece of "osb" by way of a drywall screw up into the bottom end of the vertical piece. They are sized to get hit but stay upright. (Tipper)
When hit, the pellet sticks or goes through into the grass behind. I only have them set up every ten yards out to 70 yards....then I can make a cheat sheet for pest shooting by knowing my POI for each distance and wrote it on a small paper.
Anyway, I staple a target face on each "tipper" and when you shoot, you see and hear the THWAK!!!
 I also made some rough "starling" shaped "tippers" and painted them black.
Thay serve doubly as decoys as well as targets.
PaperPunch1
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: Petey on November 26, 2012, 08:34:51 PM
Heya Steveoh,

Very nice work!  I have the materials and am queued up to start working on mine.  Love the use of redwood.  Too bad you have to shot at it  ;)

Looks like we need to have a subway gathering at some point.  So many of us are within an hour or so from each other.

Dan

+1
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: Random Plinker on November 27, 2012, 11:04:32 PM
Sweet!  Those nice thick sides will shrug off any rare errant shots nicely!
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: steveoh on November 28, 2012, 01:03:58 AM
No one asked... I created a grid on the backstop to hopefully grip the duct seal and keep it from sagging. We'll see.

Also going to add a heavy duty picture frame hanger on the back. Will hang the pellet trap on back wall of shop, a 20' distance or through the door and on the apartment back wall for a forty foot length. Will be nice when it's at night or cool or raining.
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: HeadOfPoland on November 28, 2012, 01:12:06 AM
No one asked... I created a grid on the backstop to hopefully grip the duct seal and keep it from sagging. We'll see.

Also going to add a heavy duty picture frame hanger on the back. Will hang the pellet trap on back wall of shop, a 20' distance or through the door and on the apartment back wall for a forty foot length. Will be nice when it's at night or cool or raining.

Smart!
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: charlesdias on November 28, 2012, 06:45:27 AM
Will the duct seal be strong enough to protect the wood panel behind it for more than letīs say 100 shots?

Sometime ago I bough a steel and plexiglass pellet trap for 6.7 x 6.7 in paper targets ... itīs very efficient, has an angled back panel to avoid ricochet but is lound as *(&^ ... just like a bell when the pellet hits it!
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: dryanw on November 28, 2012, 02:49:20 PM
I also have a home made trap, and I've found that if you stuff an old pillow in front of the duct seal it will slow the pellets down enough that they can be brushed off the duct seal, making it last quite a bit longer. This would depend on your distance and FPS however...Also on mine I have a magnetic drawer catch screwed to the top so my targets can be held in place by that and a washer. Works great.
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: daddy b on November 28, 2012, 09:05:31 PM
That is looking nice!!!  Not to steal your thread but I use a 12 pack beer bottle box, and stack all your old magazine in it up right.  Hang target on till it gets too messy.  Tape up that side, with duct tape.  Turn box around and shoot up the other side.  Drink more beer, get a new box, more old magazines or phone books and start again. 
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: steveoh on November 28, 2012, 11:28:44 PM
I moved it around the shop this evening, and I have to say that it is heavy.  I messed my dominant arm up in Jujutsu, and am thinking I'll just set the thing up and leave it!

Pulled out the RWS 350 Magnum tonight and buried a few .22 pellets in it. Then I put the rifle away since my arm is mighty unhappy cocking that beast.  Pellets went to the second layer of duct seal, and that was about 33 feet away...

I think I'm going to limit myself to the QB79 for a while till my arm heals up.

Steveoh
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: ean on November 29, 2012, 12:47:29 AM
Nice looking trap.  Couple of thoughts. 
1.  Duct seal does not wear out.  Put multiple aim points on your target, 10 shots per aim point.  When you replace your targets, just use your fingers to "heal the holes in the putty".  It will literally last you a lifetime.  OK, after enough rounds, it will get too heavy to lift, then just have a beer, and pick out spent lead while watching tv.  :)

For my trap, I use 13 pounds of duct seal placed on edge in a 9"x13"x2" cake pan.  At 45 feet, my D 460 with 10 shots in one ragged hole has never done worse than barely dent the back of the cake pan.  The pan would hold about 15 pounds of putty, but I left the top inch to inch and a half of the pan empty.  It gives me a place to put my fingers to pick the trap up.
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: Coreman on November 30, 2012, 01:45:12 AM
OK, after enough rounds, it will get too heavy to lift, then just have a beer, and pick out spent lead while watching tv.  :)
I gave the kids a pair of pliers and they picked pellets out until they got bored.   ;D
Title: Re: Homemade Pellet Trap
Post by: Gertrude on November 30, 2012, 03:38:14 AM
very nice trap.


I've been experimenting with a couple of different "Quiet" pellet stopping materials.
 (Living in the city with "California Anti-gun neighbors" is not very compatible to high powered air gunning), hence the need for "Quiet" targets.  (as well as QUIET rifles).

I've built a small trap with the Duct seal.
 For single target set ups, it works very very well.... Almost silent.
 The problem that I have is, I would like to have a much larger "trap" to be able to hang more targets.
 (constantly walking the 50 yds to replace targets is getting old) haha.

I would like to have a QUIET trap about 2'X3' so that I could hang multiple targets.
 So that would mean I need to go buy about 10,000 lbs of duct seal and that stuff can get expensive.

I need a material that will do what ?

1- stop the pellet
1a- (and do it as quietly as possible)

2- be large enough to cover a 2'X3' target area (so I can hang lots of targets, and not "walk the range" so much)

3- be CHEAP to make and replace when needed.

so far I have made a "experimental" model, with some fabric I had left over from a re-roofing job on a large class A motorhome.
 Tthe fabric is some sort of coarse woven polyester, similar to fiberglass cloth, just not quite as thick.

I loosely folded it up with about 100 layers, and have it backed up with a sheet of 3/4" plywood, then a block wall behind that.
 I then use a 1" thick piece of styrofoam in front of the folded fabric, so that I have an easy way to "Pin" the targets up.
Here is a pic of my daughter showing off her marksmanship, but you can see the fabric behind the styrofoam, and the targets pinned to the styrofoam...

(http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n148/tri5ron/Benjamin%20Marauder/IMG_6135.jpg)


 It works very well, and the pellet hitting the target, is quieter than the muzzle report of my .22 Marauder with a 3" extended shroud. That's plenty quiet enough for my "very limited noise requirements".
 This experimental setup has swallowed well over 2500 .22 pellets, at 50 yds, fired from a pair of tuned Marauders.
 It still will take plenty more hits, before it needs total replacement. (the styrofoam gets replaced more often).

 At some point, I will run out of the roofing fabric, and I will need to figure out a cost effective replacement material.
 I have seen the "Movers Blankets" on sale at HF for just a few dollars.

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_11375.jpg (http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_11375.jpg)


 I am thinking that 3 or 4 or 5 of these dense fabric blankets,... folded up into multi-layers,... may be able to fit the bill.
 My thinking is that as they start getting ripped up a little bit, I could unfold/refold/re-stack them, to restore the multi-layers for longer useful lifespan. Sure they won't last forever either, But at least they wont cost anywhere near what a zillion tons of Duct Seal costs, LOL!

What do you guys think ?
Do you think the "Movers Blankets" would be an effective backstop material, while remaining quiet on impact ?
 I'm thinking this could be a cheap alternative to having a larger and still very quiet target area.

What are your thoughts ?