Poor man's bullet trap, phase I

[Blackfeet]

Lead prices have forced me to start contemplating the salvage of my lead ball and bullets for reuse. I have designed a box that has replacement cardbord faces that you fill with sand and empty  from a bottom drain into a shaker sieve at the end of each shooting session

To prove the theory out, I cut a window in the side of a 5 gallon pail, slid in a cardboard sheet, and filled the pail with sand.
I taped the target over the opening and fired away. After about 30 shots, i shoveled the sand out over another pail and salvage the bulk of the lead as seen in the photos. Keep in mind that this was with a 36 and a 45 cal shooting PRB. One problem is that for you William Tells out there, not me , you will hit your own lead if the unit is not emptied often enough. The key is having finer sand and a smaller mesh than this prototype. Enjoy

[William]

Could you use some kind of fine powder in place of or in addition to the sand, like talc?  Just thinking off the top of my head (cause there's no hair left to keep my thoughts inside my skull!) 

[Tim Burns]

(cause there's no hair left to keep my thoughts inside my skull!)  - Thanks William - Your comment has me laughing out loud!

[roundball]

"...a 5 gallon pail..."

Another approach is to fill the bucket with sand, but instead of cutting an opening in a side, just use the normal top opening of the bucket, with the bucket laying on it's side.

Get an old inner tube out of a huge tractor tire, and cut a section of tube rubber large enough to cover the mouth of the bucket with a couple inches draped over the sides all around, then cinch a small rope around the bucket to pinch/hold the rubber in place.

When a ball goes through the rubber it seals itself shut...when finished, remove the rubber, pour the contents through a seive into a spare bucket and set up again.

[William]

(cause there's no hair left to keep my thoughts inside my skull!)  - Thanks William - Your comment has me laughing out loud!

Glad I could help!

[Blackfeet]

"...a 5 gallon pail..."

Another approach is to fill the bucket with sand, but instead of cutting an opening in a side, just use the normal top opening of the bucket, with the bucket laying on it's side.

Get an old inner tube out of a huge tractor tire, and cut a section of tube rubber large enough to cover the mouth of the bucket with a couple inches draped over the sides all around, then cinch a small rope around the bucket to pinch/hold the rubber in place.

When a ball goes through the rubber it seals itself shut...when finished, remove the rubber, pour the contents through a seive into a spare bucket and set up again.

That does give a little more target space  How long do you figure the rubber would hold up?

Eventually it will be a wooden box with a dump. The target size will be just under a sheet of paper and any scrap cardboard will be used as the sand baffle with a slot to contain it.

[crazell]

Nice idea guys. may have to try it out.

[Hammerhead]

our targets at our local modern shooting range are really heavy steel so i just go out there every once in awhile and pick up chunks of lead

[Red Badger]

Ok I will weigh in with my own little contraption - I took a 30 gal metal barrel and cut the top out of it.... then made a frame of wood to fit over it and filled it with the rubber planters mulch I bought from Lowes.  I staple a piece of cardboard to the frame and attach my targets to the cardboard... (I'll take pictures of it tomorrow and post them to this thread)  I then simply remove the frame and can empty the rubber into bucket topped with chicken wire I had laying around the wire holdes the rubber and the lead collects in the bucket. - total cost was 18.00 for the rubber the rest was laying around the homestead.

I have shot "Patience" with a 110 gr load of 3F at 25 ft with no  problems into it.

[Hawken50]

  Cant beleive i missed this oh so long ago.GREAT IDEA......But the way ive been shootin lately.....anybody got a 300 gallon bucket they wants ta git rid of?   

[Wild Ed]

Will the sand fall out when you melt the lead?  I would hate to shoot abrasive round balls down my barrels.  I was thinking of using plate steel to build a bullet trap like a the small portable .22 bullet traps just extra heavy.  

[William]

Ed, the sand will float to the top of the hot lead, just skim it off with the rest of the dross.