Let me first start out by saying I shoot a lot. I cast my own bullets too, so I need to save the soft lead for making ammo for my blackpowder rifle, and the harder lead from .22s and cast pistol bullets for making... well... pistol bullets. I was at the salvage yard a couple weeks ago and saw this big 60 pound hunk of steel that was literally calling to me to make a bullet trap out of. So at first it looked like this:
The Remington New Model Army is for size comparison. It's no pocket pistol either. It's is about 14 or so inches long so I hope that gives you an idea of how big this hunk of steel is.
The main problem being that if I shoot that sucker the lead will get turned to fragments and just go right into the ground. So I made some supports for it with some extra lumber and a trap for the lead. so I boosted this trap up, and put a lead trap made from an ammo can underneath it.
After I did that I tested it with an air rifle, it caught the lead fragments quite well! Then I got anxious to see what it would stop and shot it with some CCI BB caps from my .22 rifle. It stopped them well. Here's a picture of the ammo can trap, I filled it with kitty litter to catch the spray and I put an angled piece of 4X4 on there to hold it at an angle.
The ammo can will actually close, and the O ring will engage the lip of the can so my lead gets sealed inside the can. The cool part is when I'm packing up at the range and getting ready to go home I can just snap the lid on and I don't need to worry about lead and kitty litter getting all over the trunk of the car. Or worse, all over my guns and into my possibles bag.
I tested it at the range a while ago, it stopped literally everything that I threw at it. Everything from my Crossman Quest in .177 (it shoots around 1000 FPS) to my .22s, and then I finally decided to bring out the big guns. I shot it with my New Model Army (the one in the top picture) and my .50 caliber muzzleloader loaded with a patched ball going about 1500 FPS. I was shooting some pretty hot loads into that thing from only 50 feet and never did I catch the slightest bit of lead splatter. I also shot it with a Lee improved Minnie ball under 85 grains of Triple Seven FFFG powder, not the slightest dent after about 10 hits from those .50 caliber slugs. How delightful! The kitty litter trap worked well too, nothing even made it to the bottom. In fact most the Minnie ball fragments stayed in the middle of the can. I would say they had about the same energy as a high power .177 airgun. The soft lead mushroomed out too, so none got too deep inside the ammo can.
Overall this is a great solution for someone who wants a good backstop to catch their lead! It's affordable and works well! I figure it should last given I only shoot it with soft nosed and cast bullets.
