backstop to salvage minie balls?

[Maillemaker]

So these 530 grain minie balls I'm casting burn through lead in a hurry.

Is it possible to build a backstop out of say 1" steel plate held at a 45 degree angle to deflect the rounds into the dirt for recovery? Or maybe into a bucket of water?

Steve

[RaiderANV]

Recovered lead works fine......long as your recovery system allows you to live through your session. :shock:

[Michael Bodner]

Doesn't really matter too much about the angle (45, 30...), all the lead will ride the plate and end up at the base. It will NOT reflect 90-degrees to the impact angle.

So basically, prop up the plate and put lots of sand at the point where the plate touches the ground.

-Mike

[rampa_room_artillery]

sounds like a great idea, i have thought of it myself, but here are the facts.
4x8 foot sheet of 1inch steel plate weighs 1305 lbs. ok at .30 cents a lb for scrap prices at the salvage yard if you can find the steel. is 390 dollars. and that is just on sheet of steel you will need at least 2 maybe 3. sheets. so we are up to 1200 dollars. well for 1200 dollars i can sell you 1200 lbs of soft lead. how long will it take you to shoot all of that? but if you have free steel, GO for it . i to can get steel almost free. adn have thought of it. i would like to see how well it worked.

rick bryan

[Michael Bodner]

1 inch!! What the heck are you shooting out of that musket!!! 1/4" will be fine for our types of guns. I just wouldn't shoot any modern centerfire at it.

I used a 1/8" sheet for years and shot at it with a .22 handgun. Literally thousands of rounds without issue. A few stray shots with lead .38's - But they left dings in the plate.

Go to the scrapyard and see what they have. 4 ft high x 4 ft wide would make for a nice backstop. When tilted at 45-degrees, the frame would be 34-inches tall - More than enough for 1 target. You might want to toss some sandbags on the back to keep it in place - 500+ grains of lead is a lot of momentum to stop...

-Mike

[Maillemaker]

I guess the weight is the biggest issue. I do all my shooting at a public range so whatever I made would have to be portable.

I was thinking something maybe a couple of feet square that could mount on a 2x4 frame about table-height, at a 45 degree angle to the ground, so that I could walk it down range and it would deflect the rounds into the ground, where I could recover them. But if it has to be like a 4x8 sheet of material I can't easily drag that down range and back. :)

I wonder if it would be feasible to make a wood-framed box with curtains of Kevlar hanging in it with weights on the bottom of the curtains, so that incoming rounds would get "wrapped up" in the curtains as the "floofed" around the incoming bullet. I know they put these inside the doors of "bullet proof" cars to soak up incoming rounds.

Steve

[Bill Weitz]

A few years back, a member posted how he built a trap that hung behind the target. It was a barrel full of sand or something like that. Unfortunatly it was on the general post so I can't refer the the post. Maybe the fella that made it could repost how he did it.
-Bill

[Michael Bodner]

Actually, a big pile of sand is VERY effective. It will stop just about everything because the energy is transferred into the slowly moving/expanding amount of sand and it disipates quickly. Sort of like a bullet-proof vest - It spread the energy over a larger area and can absorb the energy more easily.

At Picatinny, we used to shoot 155mm howitzer rounds into a 'tunnel' that was backed only by tons of sand. Firing took place from about 50-yards away.

Ever read about WW2 beach invasions and how bombs & mortars were less effective on the beach if they detonated upon impact? Turns out the sand absorbs so much of the energy that the 'explosion' is greatly diminished. Air burst are a different story, however....

-Mike

[MR. GADGET]

i remember some of those posts about the trap.
We made a plate of steel to shoot at for our shoot and it was 1" steel about 18" square. Most of the time there was a pile of lead at the base of it.
If you put the steel at 45 deg and say 1/4" steel you should be fine and have a pile of lead at the base.

[Maillemaker]

Do you set it on the ground, or can you set it on a stand to deflect shots into the ground?

Steve

[MR. GADGET]

I do not have one now but in the old days we used them, they were set on the ground. They were heavy, also shot 38 spec in them.

[Michael Bodner]

The shots will not 'deflect' off the plate at an angle. They will skid along the plate and always end up at the base. Hence, if the plate is off the ground, the bullet will follow the plate and then continue at that angle towards the ground. So in effect, the bullet will 'land' behind where the plate stands.

Its best if the plate contacts the ground. Steel is heavy and trying to hold it up in the air entirely (verses propped up) could be tricky.

-Mike

[macvcallsign]

Steve, since this is a public range I assume you will not be able to leave anything on the range after you are done? 1/4" or 3/8" is plenty for what we shoot. Unless you are a terrible shot, an 18" to 24" plate is all you will need, it will still be heavy but manageable. Drill holes in the top 2 corners and add a piece of steel cable with eyes so you can drag it out to 50yds. A 45 to 60 degree angle is fine. Will have to rig something to prop it up( maybe a couple pieces of angle iron welded to the sides, either fixed or movable?). The base should rest on the ground for best results. Drill holes into the legs and attach a piece of plywood or wood stingers to staple the targets to. That's my idea anyway? Good luck in the project.

Dennis Schuler(Brads Dad)
4th Kentucky Cavalry, CSA
1561V

[Bruce Cobb 1723V]

Try shooting into a sand filled metal coffee can. Shoot it while it is hanging and shoot at the plastic lid end. Hold the lid on with duck tape.

[Maillemaker]

Steve, since this is a public range I assume you will not be able to leave anything on the range after you are done? 1/4" or 3/8" is plenty for what we shoot. Unless you are a terrible shot, an 18" to 24" plate is all you will need, it will still be heavy but manageable. Drill holes in the top 2 corners and add a piece of steel cable with eyes so you can drag it out to 50yds. A 45 to 60 degree angle is fine. Will have to rig something to prop it up( maybe a couple pieces of angle iron welded to the sides, either fixed or movable?). The base should rest on the ground for best results. Drill holes into the legs and attach a piece of plywood or wood stingers to staple the targets to. That's my idea anyway? Good luck in the project.

Correct, I shoot at a public range, so I cannot leave anything there.


Try shooting into a sand filled metal coffee can. Shoot it while it is hanging and shoot at the plastic lid end. Hold the lid on with duck tape.

This is actually a good idea! Unfortunately, my musket is not holding that small a group at 100 yards yet! :) Still trying to find the right minnie ball for it.

Unfortunately I think after a few shots it would start to leak sand, and then the bullets would pass right through it.

Steve

[R. McAuley 3014V]

1. Get a 30 gallon plastic garbage container...

2. Insert a burlap sack inside container...

3. Fill the burlap sack in the container with chipped rubber (sized up to 1/4" thick by 3/4" square or thereabout) and tie off the sack to close...

4. Place container immediately behind target to catch the bullets fired into the target...

5. Take the container home and partially empty sack of some chipped rubber enough to remove any spent bullets...

Chipped rubber media is available from several sources and is the same type media used in granulated bullet traps like SuperTrap (see link below). Self-healing gum blankets like those used can be applied to close the portion exposed to gunfire (i.e. bullet-holes) to help retain rubber media. You could even modify the container to allow the bullets captured to collect at bottom of the container. Much the same type of hopper-filled bullet trap is also commercially available but is generally too bulky, and people who shoot tracers and incendiary bullets at public ranges tend to set the rubber bullet traps on fire. Same thing happened at a brand new $3 Million SOFT indoor range facility at Fort Bragg in 2003, the third day it was occupied. The rubber in the building burned for 3 weeks but there were fortunately no casualties. It could have been much worse. One of the nasty by-products of the combustion of rubber is cyanide gas. But there are ways to treat the rubber so that it won't burn (using Cor-gel).


http://www.supertrap.com/

http://www.meggitttrainingsystems.com/main.php?id=39

http://actiontargetbeta.com/site/

http://www.snailtraps.com/popups/rubberTraps.htm

ftp://ftp.crrel.usace.army.mil/pub/PERM ... 1Mar05.ppt (ftp://ftp.crrel.usace.army.mil/pub/PERM/.../Futuredesignsfinal_21Mar05.ppt)