Home made bullet trap for indoors. Comments?

[DeltaM]

I built this out of scrap rough sawed lumber, oak and yellow pine.  I have a pallet jack and built it so I could move the target stand around inside my shed.  I mounted a roll of building paper at the top and pull down a fresh background to draw on when it gets full of holes.  Only thing I had to buy was a 5'X5' piece of 1/4" steel plate as the scrap metal yards didn't have anything big enough that wasn't bent.  The local steel fabrication shops had some small drop pieces but by the time I bought welding rods it would cost more than a new piece.  The oak stops most fired rounds before it hits metal but after a while the wood starts getting pretty chewed up and needs replacing. I have replaced the center section twice.  I am a contractor and wished I had kept the LVL (wood support beams built up with plys of wood under glue and pressure) scraps that I hauled to the dump. They would make great bullet catchers. If our economy ever lets me build again, I'll replace the boards with them.

My shed is 50'X55' and I can adequately get 45' from the target with the big door closed.  Most of the time I practice at 20' to 30'.  I'm not very good shooting while on the move so I practice that at 15+- feet.  The shed is about 99 feet from my house so I don't have to go far to shoot.  I'm a little afraid to shoot a high power rifle at this rinky setup.  Probably to short anyway.  We have to go outside for that.

The lower pictures are of two that got away.  It is deep woods, we are shooting down into rising terain and a long way before another house.  The two Huck-Oh holes in the back are from, will you know.  One by me trying to shoot on the move from 40 ft and the other by my son.  Made the mistake of having his finger inside of the trigger guard and wasn't ready to shoot. 

[MikeBjerum]

Backstop looks good.  Only advice would be "Becareful."  It is a little small for longer shots, and without solid walls in the shed things could get away from you.

We use two layers of 1/4" at the indoor range I shoot at, and it is holding up well.  I am also working at putting together an indoor range in one of our sheds.  The shed is only 56' long, so will take an addition to get the 50' distance I'm looking for.

[fightingquaker13]

Two pieces of advice. If you reload, make some VERY low powder rounds. My grandad used to this with .38s in his garage. They made cowboy action look like magnums, but still good for practice. Second, get a couple of dowels and drape two pieces of  heavy carpet over them, between the target and the steel. You would be amazed how much this slows down a projectile.
FQ13

[tombogan03884]

I would put another steel plate vertical behind the bottom planks to keep any ricochets from coming back at you and I don't think high power would be a good idea, at least not rifle.

[PegLeg45]

Two pieces of advice. If you reload, make some VERY low powder rounds. My grandad used to this with .38s in his garage. They made cowboy action look like magnums, but still good for practice. Second, get a couple of dowels and drape two pieces of  heavy carpet over them, between the target and the steel. You would be amazed how much this slows down a projectile.
FQ13

That's a good idea........
I know a guy who goes to a local diesel truck repair shop and they give him the old mud-flaps off semi trucks and trailers. he hangs them vertically in layers spaced about 6" apart and they stop projectiles well. They are very heavy stuff. He used to use a few layers of old truck bed mat but the mud-flaps are free.

[Sponsor]

[1911 Junkie]

How about old mine belt?

We used that to stick targets to when I was a kid (dad's a coal miner). Worked well and took forever to get shot up.

[m25operator]

Look at building baffles between the target face and the plate in the rear, and put 4 baffles, and you could use sheetrock, but filled in between with pea gravel, about 4" thick in between, rubber conveyer belt material on the face of the sheet rock in each panel would prevent leaking of the gravel and splash back. This is what action target company uses to build their 360degree, shoot houses. A good 1st try on your target stand.