Ian
Notorious member
I've run the gamut of bullet traps from sandboxes to crumb rubber in boxes, barrels, buckets, steel contraptions, you name it. They all had major disadvantages, either being ridonculously expensive and/or heavy, or just flat too maintenance-intensive.
Solved it. Guy on utoob had the basic idea and I refined it with better materials and containment.
Feast eyes:
Back side, showing plate, needs another insert made of mudflap material between the back of the plate and the tire bead to contain all the spatter going out when the plate swings.
The bucket is a field expedient for testing that went on yesterday, the asphalt board-covered box is a sand trap I built but never hauled sand up there to fill.
What I did was cut the bead out of the "front" side of a 15" tire to let the sidewall relax outward and also to get rid of the bead wire for safety. I cut a disc out of an old truck mud flap and bolted it in the hole. Then I chained a 1/2" x 12" AR-500 plate behind it. The plate ended up letting some lead spatter out the back, so (not in photo) I tucked a scrap of mud flap behind it at the bottom, covering about half the hole on the back and it kept 99% of the scrap in and dampened the plate's swing at the same time. Lead, gas checks, and bullet jackets collect in the bottom in small fragments where they can be scooped out. Some jackets stick in the inside of the tire, but nothing penetrates and it isn't really a big deal to scoop the lead out with a tuna can or similar to keep from getting fingers sliced up. Lead fragments don't stick in the rubber, and some I shot at it from 100 yards away were going 2500 +fps at the muzzle and enough to make a mark on the plate. The front mud flap cover makes an excellent paper target backer, and is self healing. My boss has a mud flap on a frame that has many thousands of rounds through it and it hasn't given up yet. 30 and 22 cal rifle makes small holes and this one should last even longer being mostly a rifle bullet trap.
The whole thing is light enough to pack around, especially with a small dolly. It's a pain cutting the rubber with a jig saw and drilling the holes just right so it can be bolted together, but it should last a while and boy does it make recycling a breeze!!
Solved it. Guy on utoob had the basic idea and I refined it with better materials and containment.
Feast eyes:
Back side, showing plate, needs another insert made of mudflap material between the back of the plate and the tire bead to contain all the spatter going out when the plate swings.
The bucket is a field expedient for testing that went on yesterday, the asphalt board-covered box is a sand trap I built but never hauled sand up there to fill.
What I did was cut the bead out of the "front" side of a 15" tire to let the sidewall relax outward and also to get rid of the bead wire for safety. I cut a disc out of an old truck mud flap and bolted it in the hole. Then I chained a 1/2" x 12" AR-500 plate behind it. The plate ended up letting some lead spatter out the back, so (not in photo) I tucked a scrap of mud flap behind it at the bottom, covering about half the hole on the back and it kept 99% of the scrap in and dampened the plate's swing at the same time. Lead, gas checks, and bullet jackets collect in the bottom in small fragments where they can be scooped out. Some jackets stick in the inside of the tire, but nothing penetrates and it isn't really a big deal to scoop the lead out with a tuna can or similar to keep from getting fingers sliced up. Lead fragments don't stick in the rubber, and some I shot at it from 100 yards away were going 2500 +fps at the muzzle and enough to make a mark on the plate. The front mud flap cover makes an excellent paper target backer, and is self healing. My boss has a mud flap on a frame that has many thousands of rounds through it and it hasn't given up yet. 30 and 22 cal rifle makes small holes and this one should last even longer being mostly a rifle bullet trap.
The whole thing is light enough to pack around, especially with a small dolly. It's a pain cutting the rubber with a jig saw and drilling the holes just right so it can be bolted together, but it should last a while and boy does it make recycling a breeze!!
Last edited: