GTA
All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => Air Gun Gate => Topic started by: TDK on November 03, 2014, 03:26:04 AM
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My first rubber mulch pellet trap was a ~14" cube of overkill that took about 1.5 bags of rubber mulch and weighed so much I dreaded moving it. The wood front splintered and sent chunks flying after just a few shots, and patching it with tape didn't work very well since it was a splintery mess.
I came up with a new design that I think is the "just right" size, and also solves the problem of the wood front. Apologies to international readers for the US standard measurements - thats just how lumber and tape measures come around here.
Features:
- Easily replaceable, self-healing front cover made from vinyl floor runner mat - cheap and no splintery mess!
**UPDATE - no longer using vinyl, switched to coroplast. Vinyl goes bad after about 6 months. See http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=77524.msg824929#msg824929 (http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=77524.msg824929#msg824929).
- 26lbs, easy to move - uses just under 1 bag of rubber mulch
- will accept a full 8.5"x11" sheet of paper in the target area
- 9.25" depth - Quick high power penetration test results: Stopped 3 .22lr CCI velocitors(40gr 183ft-lbs) @25yds with the bullets stopping no deeper than 7" depth
- 1x10 boards mean less cutting than plywood - you could build it with a drill and hand-saw if that was all you had.
Just to be safe, I suggest more extensive penetration testing if you are going to use it on an air rifle bigger than .25, or plan on using it for rimfire. I think it would be fine anything up to and including .22lr, but ammo is too hard to get right now for me to test further. You can also put a steel plate or some polycarbonate sheet at the back for some extra security. At 33 yds, most of the pellets from my .22 Marauder stack up in the first inch or two, with lots visible right behind the clear front cover. I went with 9.25" depth for potential .22lr use, but I suspect a 7.25" or 5.5" depth (1x8 or 1x6 boards) would be sufficient for dedicated small bore air rifle use, and would be a lot lighter.
The vinyl floor runner front panel is great. It is very resilient and you have to shoot a lot in one spot to eat a hole in it. When that happens, you can either tape it up, or throw the latches open and swap in a new panel in seconds. Cost was around $2.25 per foot from the local home improvement store, and I get 2 panels per foot. I also tried some thicker foam rubber "no fatigue" mat, but it didn't perform as well and was twice the cost. It is hard to see in the pictures, but as you would expect, there is a slight 0.5-1" bulge in the front cover when the trap is stood upright. I haven't found this to be a problem. Packing the mulch in tight helps to minimize any gap at the top.
Pictures:
(http://i62.tinypic.com/2cgejb4.jpg)
(http://i62.tinypic.com/o70efb.jpg)
(http://i59.tinypic.com/2jadl6p.jpg)
(http://i57.tinypic.com/1564sqb.jpg)
Gallery Link on GTA (same pictures): http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?action=media;sa=album;in=293 (http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?action=media;sa=album;in=293)
Detailed Design Description:
I made a box out of 1x10 board segments with the front opening inside dimensions of 9"x11.5". This means the depth is 9.25" (the width of a 1x10 board). I had an extra piece of hardwood plywood laying around, so I used that for the back, but a piece of 1x10 would just cover the back if you wanted to keep it real simple and make the whole thing from 1x10s. Under the bottom, across the front and back, I attached a 12" wide piece of 2x4 to stand it off the ground 3.5". These feet are flush with the front and back of the box, and the front is also where the hinges mount for the front cover. Next, I made a frame with the exact same 9"x11.5" inside dimensions out of 2x2s. Around the inside of the frame, where they would make contact with the front face of the box, I screwed 1-5/8" screws through (pilot drill to prevent splitting). The 1/8" screw stick-though on the backside grips the vinyl mat which will serve as the front cover. Clear vinyl floor mat (or runner) is a common item at home improvement stores and is sold by the foot. The stuff I used was around 27" wide, and was perforated every 12", which means I only had to cut it once to get a bunch of covers! I laid one of these covers across the front, put the frame over that and pushed down hard to penetrate the vinyl. I held the frame firmly in place with a couple of wood clamps while I mounted the two hinges across the bottom of the frame. At the top sides, I mounted two pull-latches to hold the frame closed, and on the front of the frame I screwed down a standard office binder clip to hold targets. Lastly, I mounted a carry handle to the top, oriented parallel to the front so that the back is against your leg when you carry it.
I hope this is useful to others out there. Enjoy!
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Nice!
Cheers,
Smoketown
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that's bad butt .
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Beautifully done.
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Pretty slick
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;D Nicely done I think I will do that for my basement range
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Like the idea of the plastic runner. I had gone to that pink hard insulating sheets and they are pretty good about "self-sealing" until you get a bunch of shots and then you have rubber mulch and pink foam coming out. I might just try adding a piece of the vinyl to the front of mine.
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that is very nice. I think I know what I am going to do when I chew threw the current cardboard box I have taped together!
Thank you for sharing.
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Great Idea!! Nice 8)
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Nice very well thought out!! 8)
Joseph
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These types of traps are great for indoor and outdoor shooting of air guns. I also built one this summer that will hold a full bag of mulch and it is probably over-kill as far as the depth goes. I'm only shooting break barrel .22 guns,, but haven't found a pellet much deeper than 3 inches when cleaning the old pellets out.
Like the idea of the vinyl matting ;).
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You could also fill the box with scraps of deep pile carpet. I drape a 5ftx5ft over a saw horse as a backer. the carpet gives as the pellet hits and is very good at stopping the pellets. If I shoot a fast PCP I just throw another piece of rug on the horse then it has to go thru 4 sides of the rug
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I like your vinal covering idea and whole design. Another good product to use is cloroplast. It's like plastic cardboard. I use politicians signs/cloroplast after voting day and go gather a bunch. They can be shot up a zillion times before replacement is needed.
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I like your vinal covering idea and whole design. Another good product to use is cloroplast. It's like plastic cardboard. I use politicians signs/cloroplast after voting day and go gather a bunch. They can be shot up a zillion times before replacement is needed.
I never thought about coroplast. I don't know if I've ever seen it outside of signs. Performance should be similar due to the plastic nature. You could probably use it with this design as long as you had it in place when you mounted the hinges (to set the right spacing).
It also might give you a flatter and less bulging target surface if it is stiff enough.
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Nice build, and good ideas..... thanks
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I like your device. Shooting at a boxful of old Phone Books is only any good until the pellets shred everything which a Diana 460 does , and the pellets start going right through ,,,,,,,,,and into the electrical feeder in the wall . ooops.
My missus went berserk at me ,, she hates any sort of rifles and I didnt do myself much good by shooting the power out .
Regards Supaflee
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;D ;D When I first got back into this hobby last year MY D460 ate through a Gamo pellet trap then I built a stronger one using 4" of duct seal sitting on top of a double layer of 16 gauge sheet metal and 1/2" lexan . No more holes in the sheet rock to fix unless I completely miss the target
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Hi,
awesome design! I will have to try this :)
I have a question: What is the advantage of using the rubber mulch versus duct seal compound?
I have built several pellet traps using the duct seal compound as backing (www dot lowes com com/pd_13591-1781-DS-110_0__)
It is self supporting so no need for "containment" on the front. The traps can be made shallow (just 4 inches deep)
Have you ever tried it?
Cheers
Chris
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I have a question: What is the advantage of using the rubber mulch versus duct seal compound?
COST - I think I paid $4 for a bag of rubber mulch - that much Duct Seal would have likely been $50
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;D $50 for the duct seal is a fair approximate cost for a 10"x 12" trap
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Ok, I can see that.
I think my 10x12 though was more like $25 for the seal. But definitely not the $4 for the mulch bag :)
Cool, thanks guys. I will look into this.
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Really nice workmanship and well thought out. I use a .22LR metal trap and it is loud.. Louder than any of my air guns being shot..
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My first trap was a brief case from Goodwill with duct seal, built in handel and cheep. Because my only option for indoor distance is 10 meters from the den through the dinning room into the living room I wanted something that looked a bit nicer. So back to Goodwill and the purchase of a decent night stand. I think it was about $10.00. Put the duct seal in the top drawer with old towels and a cardboard face. I sit the drawer on top of the night stand when in use and when done I put the drawer back into the night stand. The other drawers are a nifty place to store targets spot light etc. FWIW
Judd
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Wow, a night stand from Goodwill!
What a great solution! Already built and ready to go!
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i really like the use of the vinyl self healing matt. I use card board which I have to replace often. I'm going to get some of that matt and try it out. My trap is only 5 inches deep with a steel plate as backing. The much stops my .25 shooting at 60fpe with no problem.
here is my trap
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5345/9776441666_54eeefc68d_b.jpg)
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I have a question: What is the advantage of using the rubber mulch versus duct seal compound?
Another big plus for mulch is the weight, especially if you have to move it around quite a bit. Duct seal and a lot of pellets gets really heavy fast.
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I Think these are the pros of using rubber mulch:
Weight of the box
Initial cost and replacement
Much easier to clean
Easier to pack the first time and in later uses.
Easier to separate pellets from medium.
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Nice design. Clean, practical, portable.
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;D Rubber mulch gets my vote when I replace the duct seal in my basement back stop I will modify with the mat and a frame to hold the mat
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May I suggest a cheaper alternative for the front of your trap. The timing is perfect. Cheap (free) and readily available after today.
(http://)
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May I suggest a cheaper alternative for the front of your trap. The timing is perfect. Cheap (free) and readily available after today.
The signs around me already have bullet holes in them. ;D
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May I suggest a cheaper alternative for the front of your trap. The timing is perfect. Cheap (free) and readily available after today.
(http://)
Absolutely, I pull evey one out they put in my yard and apply it to my indoor pellet trap.. They make for nice little uniformed holes in paper targets. It's real fun to shoot the ones for the job of sheriff and such. Brings out the rebel in me.
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Im sold on the Duct Seal traps my self. I use old electric service panels for boxes. Also a note to anyone looking to build a duct seal trap don't buy it from a big box before checking at your local electric supply house. My local supply house has it much cheaper than the big boxes. last time I made a trap I cost me 42 bucks for 60 pounds, and they gave me a old 100 amp panel box they had around all I had to to is freshen up the paint.
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I love it, great little project for sure. I wonder if or should I say how much rubber mulch it would take to stop a Sam Yang .357 Big bore shooting at near 180 FPE? ???
I may just have to find out ;D
William
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The big advantage of rubber mulch over duct-seal, besides the others mentioned above, is that the rubber mulch is much more resistant to tunneling when shot in the same spot. The mulch essentially 'shuffles' itself each time it is shot. This means it is almost maintenance-free. I did a lot of reading before building my traps and mulch was the winner among users who tried both.
My trap is only 5 inches deep with a steel plate as backing. The much stops my .25 shooting at 60fpe with no problem.
Good to know I was close with my guess! If I build some dedicated small-bore airgun traps, I'll probably go with a box made from 1x6 boards. Should make a nice and light trap with 1/2 mulch bag per trap. Based on what your trap looks like (slide in cardboard sheets from the top?), you should also consider using coroplast signs talked about in this thread. That may be an easier retrofit than the vinyl mat and it sounds like the performance is similar.
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That nightstand idea is pretty awesome. I remember seeing one style somewhere that had only one small drawer at the top and then a big swing open door for the bottom part. With this style you could have it set up in the house, open the door and have a fully prepped trap inside ready to go. Then all you have to do is close the door real quick when the wife pulls up in the driveway.
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Coroplast is no longer used by the politico's in this area, they have gone to plastic sleeves over the wire frame. You can, however' get it at Wally World pretty cheap.
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How much rubber mulch comes in a bag? Do any of the pellets make it to be back of the box?? I'm thinking a Rubbermaid container filled with rubber mulch. Put the lid on and you good to go. Duck tape the lid has it gets shot up.
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Some excellent workmanship !!!
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wow! puts my cardboard box full of magazines in the basement to shame ;D
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So what is the best front end surface?
Is there a true self-healing material available similar to those bouncing targets that are now on the market?
A sheet of that foam would probably be a sweet match for this trap design.
Any other material or experiments you guys can report about?
Cheers
Chris
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Large traffic cones also make useful containers.
I place a sheet of 1" packing foam (polyethylene or foam rubber; not styrofoam) at the front of my targets. The foam is self healing, and prevents back ricochets. Cheap, and readily available. A piece of cardboard in front provides a flat surface for the target paper.
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How much rubber mulch comes in a bag? Do any of the pellets make it to be back of the box?? I'm thinking a Rubbermaid container filled with rubber mulch. Put the lid on and you good to go. Duck tape the lid has it gets shot up.
I'll summarize some of the ideas and feedback from this thread:
- A bag of rubber mulch contains enough to fill a 957 cu-in trap with just a little left over. (thats the volume of my trap shown in the first post). One bag also weighs around 17-20lbs.
- Based on feedback in this thread, it sounds like 5" of mulch will stop up to 60fpe .25 (please verify for yourself, this is just a guideline). Pellets from my 23fpe .22 Marauder stop within the first inch or two usually. When I shot a couple CCI velocitor .22lr into my trap, I found the bullets at 5" and 7", but I only tried 3 shots.
- The best self-healing front panel materials discovered so far are vinyl floor runner mat and coroplast (the 'plastic cardboard' used for signs and such). Basically, you want something that is a softer plastic as that will stretch without breaking as the pellet passes though. Foam type products, although better than wood, do not perform as well and will start chunking off as the shots rack up. That was my experience with the foam rubber mat I tried.
- Cheap used night stands make nice stealthy holders for indoor traps. ;D
- [from another thread] one of the best quick and easy traps if you don't want to construct a fancy one, is a square kitty litter bucket filled with mulch. A shorter round bucket like 3 or 4 gallon should work as well if that's all you could find. 5 gallon is a little deep.
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Coroplast is no longer used by the politico's in this area, they have gone to plastic sleeves over the wire frame. You can, however' get it at Wally World pretty cheap.
Not sold at Walmart unfortunately. He's a search I ran: http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=coroplast (http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=coroplast)
Anyone have another source for it?
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I like the idea, and it is a pretty trap by all means. I currently am still sold on duct seal. It may be a few more $$$, but its lighter over all when you can slap 10lbs of it ina cardboard box that weighs next to nothing if you wanted, or even just on the wall by itself. I personally have put 3-4 inch block up against a wall with no backer and fired a round at point blank range (didnt want to hit the wall lol) just to make sure my gun would still fire after a partial tear down. I do like the self healing, but i also dont mind smoothing over the duct seal once in a while and actually enjoy examining the wound cavity's and seeing how the pellet has deformed and depth of penetration. But as ive stated, you definitely got the job done done (and presented it nicely) at a lower cost out of pocket and covered lots of desirable functions in your design. Very well done and thought out. Thanks for sharing. Its always nice to learn a new method of doing things as im a big dyi guy myself and you work with what you have so the more ways you can say, make fire, the less the odds of you freezing are.
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Coroplast is no longer used by the politico's in this area, they have gone to plastic sleeves over the wire frame. You can, however' get it at Wally World pretty cheap.
Not sold at Walmart unfortunately. He's a search I ran: http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=coroplast (http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=coroplast)
Anyone have another source for it?
Just google it - lots of places sell it, but check your local regulations on signage on public property. Most likely, even though the politicians own the signs, they are illegal to be posted on public property a certain # of days past the election.
I have a neighbor who works for a billboard company and he "removes" illegally placed signs all the time, I asked him to drop off a few every now and then and I have what I need now
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This does put my cardboard box rubber mulch trap to shame, but I'm lazy and it took me 5 minutes to make it. Still don't need to duct tape repair yet.
If I get the time I'd love to do it. It does make me think I could make a duct tape handle. You can make anything out of duct tape. ;)
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This does put my cardboard box rubber mulch trap to shame, but I'm lazy and it took me 5 minutes to make it. Still don't need to duct tape repair yet.
If I get the time I'd love to do it. It does make me think I could make a duct tape handle. You can make anything out of duct tape. ;)
The cardboard box full of rubber mulch works fine, and that's what really matters.
In my case I just filled an empty 5 pound milk bone box with rubber mulch.
If the box wears out, well we've got 3 dogs ail over 100 pounds, so a new box is always available.
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This does put my cardboard box rubber mulch trap to shame, but I'm lazy and it took me 5 minutes to make it. Still don't need to duct tape repair yet.
If I get the time I'd love to do it. It does make me think I could make a duct tape handle. You can make anything out of duct tape. ;)
The cardboard box full of rubber mulch works fine, and that's what really matters.
In my case I just filled an empty 5 pound milk bone box with rubber mulch.
If the box wears out, well we've got 3 dogs ail over 100 pounds, so a new box is always available.
3 dogs over a 100 pounds....
LOL 5 pound wouldn't even be a snack...you should be able to build a rubber bunker fort in a week.... Sorry, laughing so hard I can't stand it, my one dog is around 70 pounds so I can just imagine how many boxes of milk bone treats you go through :o
William
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This does put my cardboard box rubber mulch trap to shame, but I'm lazy and it took me 5 minutes to make it. Still don't need to duct tape repair yet.
If I get the time I'd love to do it. It does make me think I could make a duct tape handle. You can make anything out of duct tape. ;)
The cardboard box full of rubber mulch works fine, and that's what really matters.
In my case I just filled an empty 5 pound milk bone box with rubber mulch.
If the box wears out, well we've got 3 dogs ail over 100 pounds, so a new box is always available.
3 dogs over a 100 pounds....
LOL 5 pound wouldn't even be a snack...you should be able to build a rubber bunker fort in a week.... Sorry, laughing so hard I can't stand it, my one dog is around 70 pounds so I can just imagine how many boxes of milk bone treats you go through :o
William
ROFL if I went that way me and my pup would both die of old age before the first box was empty a 15 lb bag of dog food lasts 3 to 4 months ;D ;D
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Great ideas, thanks for sharing. I'll have to get some rubber mulch and the vinyl runner. That sounds so much better than my splintered up plywood. I've got plenty of .070" steel sheet metal - I'll make a back of that.
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We've cut down on the food bill.
Now it's about 135 pounds a month, and 1 neighbor kid a week.
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Wonderful ideas. I have been looking for a cheap, easily portable, silent pellet trap for shooting around the house. And I think this is a great idea.
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UPDATE: I've switched over to coroplast. Vinyl floor runner didn't stand up to the test of time. All was well, then somewhere around 6 months of age the vinyl lost its resiliency and started cracking like crazy. Even new sheets that I had stored out of sunlight inside would only be good for a few shots until it was all cracked and falling apart. You would never know by handling them that anything had changed.
I found a stack of coroplast signs that were stored in a shed for about 7 years. These have been holding up well and have strength even after being filled with holes. The coroplast is also rigid and holds tightly packed rubber mulch in place much better. Almost no gap at the top now when you stand it up.
Everything else about the trap design has been working great, I just remounted the front frame to accommodate coroplast instead of vinyl. I also made a smaller trap out of 1x6 (5.5" deep). That one is really light and nice. I don't think you'd need anything thicker unless you are going bigger than .25 cal. It may sound weird, but it's such a clean and convenient solution, I enjoy swapping targets and changing the front panel almost as much as cocking the HW30.
Interesting related observation: Paper plates make the best windy day targets. They don't move, even with just the one clip at top.
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I've got a six pack cooler filled with rubber mulch and patch packing tape as necessary. Might try a piece of the vinyl on the inside. I have to use cardboard box with mulch for lower power guns.
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We've cut down on the food bill.
Now it's about 135 pounds a month, and 1 neighbor kid a week.
Actually if you tie this in with the "idiot neighbor" thread, and just use those instead of the kids. It's like "two birds, with one stone". Hehehe
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UPDATE: I've switched over to coroplast. Vinyl floor runner didn't stand up to the test of time. All was well, then somewhere around 6 months of age the vinyl lost its resiliency and started cracking like crazy. Even new sheets that I had stored out of sunlight inside would only be good for a few shots until it was all cracked and falling apart. You would never know by handling them that anything had changed.
I found a stack of coroplast signs that were stored in a shed for about 7 years. These have been holding up well and have strength even after being filled with holes. The coroplast is also rigid and holds tightly packed rubber mulch in place much better. Almost no gap at the top now when you stand it up.
Everything else about the trap design has been working great, I just remounted the front frame to accommodate coroplast instead of vinyl. I also made a smaller trap out of 1x6 (5.5" deep). That one is really light and nice. I don't think you'd need anything thicker unless you are going bigger than .25 cal. It may sound weird, but it's such a clean and convenient solution, I enjoy swapping targets and changing the front panel almost as much as cocking the HW30.
Interesting related observation: Paper plates make the best windy day targets. They don't move, even with just the one clip at top.
Thanks for the update - I was looking for a good material to keep the media (rubber mulch) in place.
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For me its Champion Trap, rubber mulch and all the yard signs I can gather...good luck
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For me its Champion Trap, rubber mulch and all the yard signs I can gather...good luck
TennX - I like that trap but am trying to figure out how to keep it quiet. I saw this video but don't know how well the duct seal will hold up at that angle after being shot for a while (video is longer than necessary, but you can see how he applies the duct seal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEiZ25QJg7M (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEiZ25QJg7M)
For the Champion trap, I'm guessing you place rubber mulch in the bottom of the trap and then use coroplast, yard signs or similar to keep the media / rubber mulch in place?
I'm just getting back into airgunning and for the next few years until retirement, I'll need a quiet trap for basement and indoor range use.
Thanks!
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I laid the champion on its back and stuffed it with mulch, top to bottom..then duct taped a piece of corrugated plastic sign across the front...all u can hear is the pellet hitting....when its perforated enough I patch the front with duct tape or new piece of plastic....I had a stainless steel baking pan full of duct seal for over a year, but for me it was a Pita....good luck
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There is a private Air rifle range in Oxnard,Ca and they use yellow coroplast and seems to hold several hundred shots every day before switching to a new one. I too am getting tired of taping a new card board infront of the rubber mulch after like 200 shots indoors for chrony work.
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Thanks for confirming TennX.
Trigger_Finger - that's good to know.
Once I get set up I'll post in a new thread for those who might be looking for current prices and / or suppliers.