Solid lead backer versus duct seal?

[zanemoseley]

I was planning to make a wall mounted pellet trap to practice 10m pistol in the basement. I was planning to use 1" or so of duct seal, the FAS 6004 I ordered only goes 400fps. However I just read where someone just poured a plate of lead into the back of the trap to let the pellets impact into. Is the lead idea very effective & safe? I have over 100 pounds of lead I could easily melt into a backer.

[beeser]

I went through all sorts of gyrations in researching pellet traps and after making much ado about nothing just took a cardboard box and stuffed it with pieces from another cardboard box. The box was only 4" thick so I put up a larger backboard made out of scrap plywood just in case. After firing about 200 pellets into it I can see this will last for at least a year before it needs replacing. The pellets barely penetrate the box. It's silent and cost practically nothing. Personally I think the lead backer or duct seal is a waste of time, effort and money for an air pistol.

[zanemoseley]

One thing I like about the idea of using a solid lead backer is it will keep foreign material to a minimum. That way I will be able to collect the scrap pellets and melt them down for my bullet casting. With the duct seal it will be pretty much trash plus I'll have to buy the duct seal which isn't the cheapest thing ever. I want it to be safe though so no ricochets. I also wouldn't image the impact would create fine enough lead to be a concern of lead dust, I would image it would be larger chunks. I'll also have cardboard that the target will affix to so it can contain most of the lead.

[wasatch]

I've used duct seal and it is very effective at quietly stopping pellets even from higher power PCP rifles. If you don't pick the pellets out you'll end up with a lead backer over time. I've also purchased different pieces of kevlar fabric. One piece was pretty loose weave and frayed quickly. Now it is mixed in with the duct seal making it more effective at stopping pellets. Another piece was a test sample of 35 layers of tightly woven fabric used for body armor. All of the above are messy and overkill for 10m AP but were good for higher power PCP rifles. For 10m AP i ended up buying a Gehmann box (http://goo.gl/qwgy14 or http://pilkguns.com/masprlist.htm#gehmannpistoltrap) and putting a piece of Dynamat behind the impact plate to reduce the ringing noise. I like it much better as it fits the 17cm x 17cm targets perfectly and the splattered pellets are nicely contained and easily disposed of.

[Rover]

Quick and dirty. A small cardboard box full of rags (you were wondering what to do with those old bell-bottom polyester disco pants).

Just keep shooting into it until the box falls down (many bricks of pellets). Throw it away and make another. Don't fill with paper.

Quiet, no cost, disposable.

[Gwhite]

A few other data points:

My dad made a trap about 50 years ago with hanging strips of old blue jeans & inner tube. It was a wooden box with a 3/4" plywood back, mostly used with a FWB 150 air rifle. It took a LONG time before the pellets chewed through the baffles. The problem with air rifle is the shots are are always hammering on pretty much the same spot unless you make a point of moving the target around a lot.

I have a commercial trap (no longer made) with a 0.1" thick steel plate mounted on 4 pieces of polyurethane foam. It makes a bit of a clank, but works OK. The pellets do fragment, and the bottom of the box has a fair amount of lead dust in it.

[flolo]

what also works very good are telephone-books in a box with some foam in front.

[beeser]

Quick and dirty. A small cardboard box full of rags (you were wondering what to do with those old bell-bottom polyester disco pants).

Just keep shooting into it until the box falls down (many bricks of pellets). Throw it away and make another. Don't fill with paper.

Quiet, no cost, disposable.

After shooting a few hundred more pellets into my cardboard stuffed cardboard box I would have to agree with Rover's idea of rag innards. The cardboard or paper eventually shreds and when the target is removed pieces fall out. I think the use of rags solves that problem. Also, I would cut a hole in the cardboard box the size of the target black to further limit paper shreds. Thanks to Amazon I have a steady supply of disposable targets.

[Rover]

Further, take a piece of cardboard wider than the box and bend into a "V" to hold the rags back and to leave a space for trash to fall into. Just clip a target to the face and the pellets will make their own hole. Smaller is better, right?

The rags will not "wear out" and a clump of lead will eventually form that will stop any pellet. The more you shoot, the better it works.

[zanemoseley]

So I guess I'm still wondering if a lead plate will work well? I have the equipment to quickly and easily melt lead and over 100 pounds on hand.

[Rover]

I would think it would work very well since lead seems to stick together. You might still have a paper "litter" problem.

Since you are well prepared to test this, let us know how well it actually works.

[Lenny]

Can someone post a link where I can purchase bell-bottom polyester disco pants? I want to give this a try.

[Andre]

Be careful how you mount the trap; if you never clean it it'll get heavier and heavier.

[Rover]

Lenny, you'll have to dig in the back of your closet; you know you have five or six pairs. Remember?....they were so cool you didn't wear any underwear!

Try humming a few bars of "Dancing Queen" to refresh your memory.

[scausi]

Yes it works , better than anything else, no noise, no bounce offs, once pellet hits the lead plate it is dead.
You can melt down old pellets , for black powder balls, cast projectiles when mixed with wheels weights or a bit of antimony to harden it up, or you can make sinkers for fishing.
100 per cent recycle.
what else can I say.
Cheers S

P.S when I 1st tried this 4 years ago , I filled a used pellet tin with melted lead ,big enough to cover out to 5/6 ring of target.
stuck inside a 3 side box that held the target.

[zanemoseley]

Scausi, that's some great info, I'm sold. How thick should I make the load plate?

[scausi]

MY lead plate is around 10mm thick, which is made from used pellets I collected from my club, you can use a small cake tin or a cheap metal camping dinner plate, biscuit tin lid ,anything really as a mold
Cheers S

[Gwhite]

For those of you without adequate lead to start with, you can buy sheet lead at home stores for flashing. The thickest I've seen is a few mm, so you may need a couple layers, or to back it with something.

You can even buy it from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Sheet-Lead-12-By- ... QGSBZG8GQY

[zanemoseley]

I made the trap today, I made it where I can slide in a piece of cardboard to attach targets, it's big enough to accommodate 8.5x11 pieces of paper should I ever want to print them out. I made a full back with a removable 3/4" insert that has the lead poured into it. That way I can swap out the insert should I want to freshen it up or go to duct seal.

I ended up making the lead 6" diameter, the inner 4" is 1/2" thick where the outer 2" is only 1/4" but will hopefully take few if any strikes.

[scausi]

Hey , forgot to mention my trap is made from ply wood , tube/box , sits at the regulation ISSF height ,there is a small rebate at top of box where target slides in and just sits there.
Pellets either stick to lead as can be seen in picture or they drop straight down to the removable tray , were they will eventually become lead balls for Black powder (soft lead ) or will be mixed with wheel weights made into projectiles for c/f match.
Cheers S