Reducing noise of metal .22 trap

[Jack Milchanowski]

I have an Outers .22 metal trap set up in a barn. I am shooting free pistol from ten meters at a scaled down/reduced target face. I would like to lower the noise level from the inpact of the bullet against the metal plate. My wife can hear the impact from 100 yards away. The doors to the barn are shut. The concern is to avoid disruption to some animals.

Could I load fabric rags into the trap? Plumbers putty? Accoustical ceiling tiles framed up on each side and across the top a short distance from the trap? Any suggestions?

Come see us in the woods.
Jack

[david alaways]

I put a sock in it!

[Gwhite]

They sell a heavy rubber sheet material for sound dampening in car audio systems. I used some to good effect quieting a really noisy computer case. It should produce much more of a clunk than a CLANK if you coat the outside of the trap with it. The brand I used was "Dynamat".

[GaryN]

Try sticking some "duct seal" on the outside of the trap, behind where the bullet hits. The idea is to dampen the vibration of the metal when the bullet hits it. It will still be noisy, but the reverbation noise will be dampened.

[BobRI]

I have some rubber membrane roofing material left so I tried draping a couple of layers (60 mil per layer), behind the paper target inside the trap. Pellets shoot right through them but they do mute the sound quite a bit. Hardly any metallic clang now. The sheets hold up well because each pellet only punctures a small hole because the rubber stretches when hit, not the width of the pellet.

In my house, I use another idea posted by someone on the Yellow Forum, stuff old clothing inside cardboard box. Stops very well, even repeating shots with my 17 fpe .22 TX200. But I mostly use it with 10m guns.

I I didn't have the rubber membrane, I would've tried Dynamat, or its cheaper generic equivalents.

[Seamaster]

What you need is this:

http://silentcoating.com/how.html

This is a vesioelastic paint. Click on demonstration on the website.

This is the high-tech of high-tech sound dampening material.

I used it on my air conditioning fan (the outside unit). It went from loud to absolutely silent.

I used it for pellet trap. Coat the trap on the OUTSIDE. It makes the trap dead silent, absolutely vibration free.

[Jack Milchanowski]

I appreciate everyone's suggestions. They are great ideas.
Seamaster--I have a gallon of "silent running" on its way to me. I will apply it to my .22 trap and my Gehman metal pellet trap. I should have enough product left to do more.

Come see us in the woods.
Jack

[Philadelphia]

A couple of phone books or a thick layer of damp newspapers as the impact zone behind target also may work to quiet things down if the silent coating still isn't quiet enough.

[little_doodie]

I built my own pellet trap and behind the steel plate I put an inch or more of the spray foam crack filler (Great stuff) and my air gun is louder than the pellet impact.

[Rover]

I have the same trap. Philadelphia's idea is right on. I use a stack of old targets leaned against the back side. The sound is more of a "thud".

[e. dushkin]

Try ballistic putty. I use it on my 10-meter air pistol target and it really cuts down on the metallic clang. A 2-inch thick pancake of it should stop a .22 bullet very easily
elliott dushkin

[Jack Milchanowski]

The gallon of "silent running" coating has not yet arrived. I know it has been shipped and expect it any day now. I am going to apply it to the outside of the trap and see how it works first. I will report my results as soon as I can. I had a couple of people ask me about it in messages.

If the coating doesn't do the job I will try several of the other suggestions and then report on them. I might even try David's suggestion of putting a sock in it.

Come see us in the woods!
Jack

[Jack Milchanowski]

My gallon of "silent running" arrived last Thursday. It was too cold to apply. The directions suggested 60 degrees f as a minimum. On Sunday our temperature was in the low 70's and I put the first coats on both my pellet trap and my .22 trap. The "paint" is quite thick, light gray in color, and does clean up with soap and water. I put more coats on the traps on Monday afternoon as it was still warm.

Today I set up the pellet trap and shot. It certainly is quiet. The air pistol is much louder than the impact.

The directions for the paint said that it might take a week to cure. I am going to wait that long before shooting into my .22 trap. It has turned cold again. The traps are set up out in my metal barn. I do not want to shoot and damage the material on the .22 trap as that is the one I wanted to quiet in the first place. I did shoot one pellet from my air pistol into the .22 trap and it was a very dull thud just like the pellet trap. I anticipate it will be great.

The only draw back is that I only used 1/5 of the gallon of material or less and it was expensive.

The material goes on very thick and dries that way. It will never win a beauty contest but it sure seems to work as advertised.

Come see us in the woods! Shoot with us or just enjoy the wildlife.

Jack

[Seamaster]

Glad to hear it worked well for you as it did for me.

It certainly cut the vibration shock on the trap down to almost nothing.

If you have that much paint left, paint it on your a/c or heater fan, boat engine compartment, etc, etc. Any thing that vibrates will be deaden. I, too, have too much paint left over that I don't know what to do with.

May be coat the trap the third, the fourth, fifth time ........

[tallahassee]

How did the "silent paint" work on your 0.22 trap?

How did it work on your 0.177 pellet trap?

What does this paint look like?

Does it work better than silent putty trap?

[Jack Milchanowski]

My sincere apologies for not reporting. I thought I had and now remembered it was via email with someone.

I am very pleased with the product and the silence of the 22lr bullet hitting the trap with only a very very dull thud sound. It is exactly what I was hoping for.

The paint goes on very thick. It is a light gray in hue. I do not know how it compares to silent putty since I have never used any. The silent putty is definitely cheaper and if I was only concerned with pellet trap noise I would have used the putty. I could live with the pellet trap noise. My concern was the larger 22lr trap that I have set up.

My Gehman metal pellet trap is also coated. My AP makes more noise than the pellet impact at the trap. If I wear ear plugs while shooting AP I can barely hear the AP fire and cannot hear the impact at the trap at all.

As I have mentioned; the only drawback is the cost of the product. I really had a specific need to quiet the 22LR trap and I cannot be happier with the outcome. I did not need to silence the pellet trap. Since I had so much product I coated it also and enjoy the new found silence.

Come see us in the woods.
Jack

[Tallahassee]

I am very interested in this silent paint.

What doe it look like?

Does it look like jello?

How thick is the paint when painted on?

When painted on, does come off when accidentally touched? I assume you painted it on the outside and not the inside of the trap, right?

How much did you pay for it? How much area would that cover?

[Jack Milchanowski]

I am very interested in this silent paint.

What doe it look like? It looks like very very thick latex paint.

Does it look like jello? No. It is thicker in consistancy and it is heavy.
How thick is the paint when painted on? This is hard for me to try to explain in writing. I used a brush. They suggest you do not "brush it out" as you would "normal" paint. They want it to go on thick. I would apply the paint via the brush in one stroke until there was no more material coming from the brush. I would then lay another stroke next to it. I guess it could be described as similar to a thicker than normal latex paint stroke thickness. You do not go back and forth over it. After the first coat dries you apply more. In my case I painted a second coat on after approximately 45 minutes. The next day I put another two coats on the traps using the idea that if a little is good a whole bunch is much better. It is thicker than several coats of latex paint. It has a rubbery feel to it. It has what can be described as rubbery lumps throughout. It is not a smooth, attractive finish as regular paint is.

When painted on, does come off when accidentally touched? Mine has not come off with the handling that I gave it which was to mount them onto a backstop that I built. I cannot imagine normal handling causing any paint removal. With my pellet trap I had to use screwdriver to try and remove some of the material that was placed in the slot where my target faces slip into. The material was stopping the faces from sliding nicely into place. It took quite a bit of work to clean out the slot.

I assume you painted it on the outside and not the inside of the trap, right? That is correct. I painted the material on the outside of the traps.

How much did you pay for it? Without going back to find the invoice; I believe it was $55 for a gallon.


How much area would that cover? As I mentioned above, I belive I only used 1/5 of the gallon or less to cover my Gehman pellet trap and the larger 22lr trap. I know I put on more than they would probably say was sufficient.

It works great! The largest negative is the cost of the material. They do not sell it in less than the gallon size. My "pot of gold" has a place of honor inside our house in a laundry room. The company doesn't want the material to freeze. At the price I paid I hope to find further use of the material. From my very limited understanding of how it works you might first try to place a piece of rubber mat on the back of the target trap. Both would stop vibrations. A thick rubber mat material may be less expensive.

Come see us in the woods.
Jack

[Jack Milchanowski]

Tallahassee

I think the name says it all but I thought I would ask; if you are in the north Texas or southern Oklahoma area I can meet you and put $5 worth of the material on your trap (s).