FINALLY a bullet recyling trap that WORKS!!!

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:

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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.

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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!!
 
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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Nice to have a private range, isn't it?
That should work awful well for you.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Yes it is, Brad, but the trap is portable enough to use at any public range which would allow it (most probably won't, but some private clubs might). Eye bolts could be put through the top to hang the thing from ropes or a board could be screwed to the bottom to set it up in the open, and like I said, a light dolly makes it portable, assuming you can lift 50 lbs in to a pickup or SUV. If you could figure out a way to keep the plate from slapping around, or easily remove it altogether, it (being a tire.....) could just be rolled to location and assembled. Also, you don't NEED 1/2" plate unless shooting jacketed bullets, so some weight could be saved there, and a smaller tire could be used as well.

Finally found the video that inspired me in the first place, it only took me seven months to complete the idea (bought plates before Christmas). To give credit where due:

I found a couple others, but so far no one else that has a video up has covered the front to keep the lead splatter inside. If you want an exposed gong to bang away at, a small self-healing gong could be placed in front. Or cans, or crackers, or spoiled produce, whatever. Cans could be suspended by a wire out front for visual reaction, and bullets still collected.

It still needs adequate backstop for if you miss the 12" plate, so it still isn't perfect, but it's cheap and very effective.
 
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Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Sounds good. Given the I have shot about a million rounds on steel plates in IPSC over the decades,
I have seen clearly that at impact the lead is dispersed essentially straight out radially from the plate,
with some base disc bounceback. The front plate will stop the bounceback and the tire will catch
about 80% or more of the lead, my bet.

Great idea.

Bill
 

Ian

Notorious member
With a back cover it would catch 100% of what hit the plate, even the airborne dust. I need to make a better back cover, the scrap I used after the first test tucked in the back kept the plate from swinging back and most of the spatter was contained. You can see faint traces of light grey on the back side bead from the spatter escaping before I put the scrap of flap behind the plate. The plate is hung at an angle to improve longevity with HV rifle rounds.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Getting a piece of AR500 cut to match the tire hole and bolting it to the tire with ears
above the bead would fill the hole. Your front plate is the big improvement as a good
bit goes back uprange, although no doubt that most is radial, and with significant energy.

The range owner where we shoot IPSC on Friday nights had to add light steel cladding, about
3/16" thick to the first 10 ft or so back from the back stop because any steel (Colt speed plates, Pepper
poppers, etc) we put within about 5 or 6 ft of the side walls would just eat the hell out of the
concrete from the splatter.

Great idea, I will build one once I get my berm built.

Bill
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
My last go was a 21" circle of 1/2" crs inside a 245-55-R20 . Three or four 1/4" carriage bolts just outside the back bead and a piece of 1/2" plywood or a couple of 1x or 2x pieces to hook leaning posts to will do the job for a stop . Over 950 ftlb loads will poke holes right through 1/4" CRS and an inch of plywood . For the face I used 1/2" plywood and just ran drywall screws through about 6 points into the side wall . I'd guess I got about 30% of the rifle bullets back (that didn't exit) in useable metal and 90% of the pistol bullets . Plenty of sawdust for the melt pot too .
The bead was left in tact on mine but it is a hazard in recovery of the metal , hits there tend to leave heavy wire sticking out all over .
 

Ian

Notorious member
Getting a piece of AR500 cut to match the tire hole and bolting it to the tire with ears
above the bead would fill the hole.

...or a smaller tire.....:p

Yeah, I need to find a bigger plate. I got these on sale just for use as gongs, but then had this notion, so I was more or less proving the concept. 3' piece inside a tractor tire with conveyor belt material covering the front would be ideal...but expensive.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
The comment about the bead wire strands becoming a hazard when hit is interesting. I suppose the solution is
to cut out the bead (saber saw??) before you bolt in the steel plate, which will require a
smaller yet tire, or a larger yet steel plate.

Or cover the rear bead with the steel plate, and remove only the front bead.

Or never miss.....that would be my solution.:rofl:

Bill
 

Ian

Notorious member
I did cut the bead out of the front, royal PITA, took about 30 minutes with a B&D jigsaw. If both beads are cut out the tire collapses, so some other sort of support would be needed to hold up the weight of the plate.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
That would work, then remove the front bead. I wonder if bolting on some
angle iron on the sides or top to attach a plywood or OSB target board, which would
also direct bouce back into the tire would work. A top and bottom angle, bolted
to the tire at a convenient distance, say 24", would let you rip up a 4x8 ply sheet
into 8 target backers, wire them onto the angles with a bit of baling wire at the
corners. Replace when they are too shredded. Perhaps a hole in the bottom of the
tire, say 3-4" diam to sweep the lead debris into to recover. Would be a B**ch to
cut though, with steel cords.

Bill
 

Ian

Notorious member
My boss and I were discussing the self-emptying trapdoor yesterday. An abrasive cut off wheel is the only way to get through the hardened ss radial belts. Cut three sides, prop the flap open somehow, put bucket underneath.

Unless you want to deal with splatter collecting between the front outside and the wooden panel, I think it would best to keep the front panel on the inside of the tire. Either way would work, though. I particularly like the mud flap because it has high mass with low tension to soak up energy from the bullet fragments bouncing against it, it is self-healing, it is easy to pin or staple targets to, and the fragments tend not to stick in it like they do in wood.

Something else that would probably work well is a plywood box lined on all inside surfaces with conveyor belt material.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
My bullet trap catches everything. It is a berm at the club. I'm lucky because everyone else seems to use the same berm!

Ian, that is a heck of an idea. Tires are easy to find and durable as hell. That thing should last you for quite some time.