Homemade Pellet Trap

Steve N · Post by **Steve N** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:48 pm

I built my own pellet trap for 10M air rifle. I made a box from 3/4" plywood, with an opening about 8 1/2" wide x 16" high. I put a groove in the front inside edges to accept a legal size masonite clipboard. I cut out the clipboard so there is an opening the size of a target paper.

I first tried plumbers putty as the backstop, about 1" thick. I had many bounce-outs due to new pellets hitting old pellets in the putty (after only 20 or so shots.) I was going to get a piece of sheet steel from work, but first I tried the following.

I cut a piece of 1/4" UHMW 8 1/2" wide x 15" high. The UHMW sits at an angle of 25 degrees from vertical, and the top is held in place by a screw-in strip. When the pellet hits the UHMW, it deforms completely into a round-head mass. Just the opening of the skirt is not deformed. The deformed pellets are deflected down into the bottom of the trap. At first, the pellets would hit hard enough to dent the plywood, and about every 10th pellet would bounce out. I took an old hand towel, folded it in thirds and put it on the bottom of the trap. Now there are no bounce-outs. The UHMW does get dented, and I'm sure it won't last forever, but it does stop the pellet safely, and is not noisy.

Bill177 · Post by **Bill177** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:09 am

Here is a great design that can easily be copied. http://www.archerairguns.com/trap.html

The back is filled with 1 1/2 inches of Duct Seal (over kill at AP velocities) - a product available at Home Depot. Only use Duct Seal - other sealers and putty products will not work. No noise at all.

I have never had bounce back and only clean the pellets out of the sealer about every thousand shots. Just use a spoon and dig out the glob of pellets and push in a little wad of new Duct Seal as a replacement for what you dug out.

Really on the cheap - I saw one trap made from a five-gallon paint bucked tipped on its side and filled as above.

Steve N · Post by **Steve N** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:55 am

Mine is very similar to the one shown at archerairguns. Sounds like I didn't use enough of the correct putty.

Shootin' Double E · Post by **Shootin' Double E** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:21 am

A friend and I just made 10 traps for our club. Ours are just a 1x4 frame with a piece of sheet metal on the back backed up by some 1/4" masonite. The back is verticle, but there is no bouce out. When the pellets hit the hard verticle surface, they just flatten and fall.

We put some 1/4" corrigated in a slot on the front to pin the targets to.

There are plans for a similar design on the CMP site, but ours are not as complex.

1100 pelets fired in the last two weeks, and not a single one on the floor.

TWP · Post by **TWP** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:40 pm

We use trap similar to these plans on the CMP web site

http://www.odcmp.com/Coaching/Construct ... tStand.pdf

Been shooting into them for 5 or 6 years, maybe more and they are still holding up well.

joe4702 · Post by **joe4702** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:08 pm

The Gehmann traps sold by our host and others (check Ebay) are well-made, light weight and relatively quiet. Not silent, but the spring-mounted steel plate does the reduce the sound compared to a non-moving backing. I live in a condo and the little bit of impact noise is not bothersome. These traps are sized for the Edelmann/Cibles size targets, not the American B-40 sold by National Target, etc. I got rid of my putty-based trap as it was heavy and messy.