Yet another pellet trap

[George Schmermund]

The pellet trap that I've been using for the ballistic tests is small enough to fit on the test bench, but still have unusually good stopping power for any of the pellets/guns I'm using. Now that I'm doing some target shooting with the pistols and carbines I wanted to put together another design that is larger and more useful at some distance. The plan was to make the box's inside dimension 12" X 12" so that it will hold an official NRA 50' target with a bezel in place. The overall thickness of the box is 4-1/2". When finished the trap weighs 26-1/2 lbs. It's very stable in its upright position and the handle makes it ease to move around. I'll have to spend more time on how to stain and finish wood, but my wife says that it looks rustic, bless her heart.

I thought that it might be of some interest to see how it went together. The concept was to design a fairly compact silent type trap that can be used indoors. The choice of materials was 13 ply ~3/4" Baltic birch" (BB) plywood for the main box and 9 ply ~1/2" BB for the bezel. The cutout for the bezel is then glued to the inside back of the box and adds to the overall thickness of the back. The area around the cutout is filled with duct seal and made flush.

A 12" square piece of .100" steel plate is then pressed into place on top of the duct seal and cutout. A thin layer of duct seal is then pressed flat against the steel plate to act as an adhesive to firmly hold a 3/8" thick, 12" x 12" experimental polymer flak vest tile. After this, another layer of  3/4" duct seal is pressed onto the tile.

A 12" x 12" piece of 1" thick closed-cell foam is then placed on top of the duct seal and the bezel is screwed into place. The advantages of the foam front are that the target can be attached with push pins and the foam won't disintegrate into shreds and make a mess like cardboard does. The foam can withstand well over a thousand shots across it's surface before needing to be replaced.

I've tested this trap design using CCI "Quiet 22" LR bullets at point blank range. This is a tough test for any trap designed for short range indoor airgun shooting. I'll post test results when I get them organized.

[MarkTX]

If you want to sell one PM the price, it looks and sounds cool. I am not happy with what I find on Amazon. I need one that is QUIET at .177 though. For the yard.

[Mackado]

Nice, you just reminded me that I've been meaning to built a similar simpler one just using electricians duct seal and maybe a piece of cut-to- size +/-1/4" aluminum backing removed from an old door's kick plate, that should be enough for my air rifles, maybe double layer of duct seal if it doesn't get too heavy.  good idea on the foam, avoids the need of the cut out clip board for the targets.

in the meantime for testing with duct seal I rigged one layer of the duct seal placed inside a one gallon ziploc bag, hanging and centering that on a small piece of plywood just in case and using push pins to attach the target directly on the seal, one thing I don't like about duct seal, after many shots in the same spot, the pellets begin to pile up and get pushed deep inside, which requires to spend considerable time digging all the pellets out and reshaping the duct seal by hand in the area, but other than that , duct seal is perfect for building a quiet compact trap..

[2L8]

George, I can't believe you used you Trident 8" Chef Knife to cut  that duct seal !!!!

Send me your Knife and I will replace it with a cheaper "Chicago Cutlery" 10" that will do a fine job on any future "pellet trap" ideas you have........

BTW, That is a mighty fine looking trap my friend.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Great job... I thought my latest one was nice but just raised the bar!