Air pistol backstop: ballistic nylon, or kevlar, or ?

[EdStevens]

I tried using a heavy landscaping fabric (4 layers) but the pellets managed to cut through it after only a few shots, so I'm thinking either ballistic nylon or kevlar fabric would work as a backstop behind target holders I had to create because the returning target systems got ruined at the range. I plan to have the fabric hang loosely about 3" behind the plasticore sheet that the targets are pinned to. The idea is that the fabric can move to absorb some of the impact.

Anybody have experience with these as a material to stop air pistol pellets that they can share?

[OTD]

My backstop is a cardboard box filled with two pair of old jeans.

[nglitz]

I've used several layers of old carpet scraps. One will stop the typical air pistol pellet and three or four will take a couple weeks of nightly shooting before they need to be replaced. Of course, the better shooters will put the pellets into a smaller spot, meaning their backer material will need to be replaced more often. That's a good thing. :)

[zanemoseley]

If you have any way of melting lead make your own lead backer. I have a lead disc cast into the back of my trap, it will last forever, its very quiet and lets me capture and reuse the lead.

[dulcmr-man]

I use a small, metal target backer I got from Nygord many years ago. It is sized to accommodate a standard Krueger air pistol target and the interior of the holder is slightly angled with a spring behind the steel plate to absorb the pellet's energy. Works great and the only down side is that I have to empty the catch tray on a regular basis. No big deal. I think our host sells one (pellet trap for pistol, $45) that's similar.

Dennis
Palmdale, CA

[Rover]

Kevlar. Make it big enough so you can move it around to minimize wear.

[holmqer]

Is there a reason your backdrop needs to be something flexible like cloth?

Homosote fiber boards should work nice

I use the Gehmann pellet trap sold by our hosts at home with a sheet of homosote behind it in case I miss the trap. So far I never have with 29K shots but anything can happen I suppose. We use homosote as target backers for power pistols and rifles at our outdoor range. They are good for en entire year of use at our club with 1000 members.

[Ricardo]

Ballistic nylon works like a charm. It will stop a pellet fired from an AP at three inches. It is important, as you noted, that the fabric hang loosely with a little room between it and the wall. The good stuff only comes in black, in my experience, so I covered mine with some lighter-colored fabric.

[EdStevens]

From OP:

To add some detail, the shooters have to shoot in relays since the single target return system is ruined. I have created a frame that attaches to the existing posts at the target end that can hold 2 targets on each side of the post at the correct height. There is a full ballistic curtain behind the posts currently that protects the Sprung Shelter that is the range from stray pellets. I don't want to rely on that entirely, however, so want something at the back of the frame to stop the pellets. There isn't room to have an angled piece of steel or similar as a deflector, unfortunately, since the curtain is too close.

It sounds like hanging either ballistic nylon or kevlar should work. Rover votes for kevlar and Ricardo votes for nylon.

Thanks!

Ed

[Gwhite]

We shoot air pistol in a 50 foot range, using the hand crank target carriers, but with an arrangement that stops the targets at 10 meters. The regular 50 foot backstop is Homosote (basically industrial cardboard ~1 cm thick). Pellets can bounce off the Homosote, and come flying back at the shooters, so for safety reasons, we hang "backers" behind the target carriers to stop he pellets.

The backers hook onto the carrier rod and have a steel plate bolted to a piece of heavy cotton canvas. The plate stops the pellets, and the canvas absorbs the energy imparted to the plate. This works well for shooters who can keep their shots in the scoring rings, except that with the high velocity PCP pistols, we occasionally have to hammer the plates flat again.



The downside is that these are used with beginning shooters who can't always hit the paper (note the pellets dents in the top piece of wood...). Over time, the canvas gets chewed up & has to be replaced. The latest planned upgrade is to put a layer of Kevlar on top of the canvas. I got a roll of Kevlar off eBay, and the special shears to cut it, but haven't had time to try it out yet.

[Andre]

My target traps for 3p air and air pistol are 1/8" steel (10 or 11 gauge) and they have worked out pretty good. Over time even they dish out and need to be hammered flat.

I can also shoot my 20 FPE spring air rifles into them, but they will dent slightly.

[Rover]

Just for your amusement:

I built a pellet trap with sheet steel surrounded by a frame of 2X4s. It was large enough to pin a 4 bull target to the front and used a sheet of cardboard to keep the trash in.

Eventually, the pellet splash cut through the two inches of wood.

[Ricardo]

Under 20 bucks a yard, 1050 Ballistic Denier nylon (the real thing) at http://www.ahh.biz/fabric/heavy/ballist ... denier.php

No special scissors needed.

[SamEEE]

At the Whangarei Pistol Club here in NZ we clad the rear wall in 3mm steel. It was quite a mission, but it worked out well.

We used to have fibreboard but that was bloody dangerous, tended to throw back the pellets almost as fast as you fired them at it!

Not a biggie when you're experienced - often don't miss the target frame. But the juniors need to be kept safe until they figure out mechanicals techniques.

Inside the target traps we have HDPE angled into the trap. Seems to work okay.

[scausi]

Lead

[mikeyj]

An old piece of carpet works well. If you use fabric, hang it loosely in folds. You want it to move when a pellet strikes it, so it can absorb the energy.

[Gwhite]

When I was growing up, we hung overlapping loose strips of dead blue jeans & inner tubes in a large wooden box. It was a bit bulky, but it was quiet & stopped the pellets with no problem. My dad made it a bit oversized so we could learn to shoot without worrying about the occasional stray shot. It was mostly shot with air rifle, and the targets (and impact areas) are a good bit bigger than pistol would require. When we decommissioned it after a decade of use, the inner tube material had holes, and occasional pellets stuck in the rubber. The jeans were pretty well shredded. Nothing ever made it to the 3/4 inch plywood back.

[JoeJackson]

Plywood, Gardner Bender Duct Seal Compound, Clip from clipboard, and lead. http://postimg.org/gallery/1ms2nbfp0/

[divingin]

Question is, is the OP talking about a primary pellet stop, or something behind that to stop a stray pellet?

For the primary stop:
I built a plywood box to fit an AP target, and hung either 4 or 6 (don't remember now) pieces of kevlar material, weighted at the bottom, but free to swing. It lasted about, oh, 500 shots or so (and I'm not all that consistent); the first 2 kevlar layers frayed completely through at the impact point.

The kevlar idea was scrapped as being too labor intensive (not to mention somewhat expensive) to repair; the box got a packing of duct seal for the primary stop. It would work well for anything not getting repeated shots in the same place, but is fairly expensive compared to other materials.

My $0.02;

jky

[Rover]

I guess that sometimes the old non-tech ways are best.

Use a cardboard box full of rags. I guarantee you will NEVER shoot through it. After 30 or 40 thousand shots, throw it away and make a new one.