Bullet Traps in The House!

[StrikeEagle]

How many of you have a bullet trap set up in an appropriate place in your house, perhaps the basement?

What kind do you have?

What calibers do you shoot in it?

How often do you use it?

I have one and I'm curious to know how normal/unusual that might be.

 

[cdrt]

It is illegal in most cities to discharge a firearm within the city limits. Where I live that includes air pistols, so I gave up trying to practice indoors and sold it.

And if you live in the country, why shoot indoors and have to deal with the lead in the air, ventilation systems, etc.?

 

[LotI]

I have a .17/.22 trap that I have used in the house...very rarely. I have created some light 5.56 loads with Titegroup and they have not shown any damage to the trap. ~1000fps with a 55gr FMJ that's more energy than any .22LR round.

 

[Fisherman_48768]

What do you bait the bullet traps with for best results?

 

[1911Tuner]

For indoor shooting...No. Lead in the air is the main concern. For a "Safety Trap" used to unload pistols, I suggest the equivalent of the sand-filled drum.
A 2-foot thick stack of dry newspaper will contain a full-house .44 Magnum nicely, and it doesn't take up a lot of space. Of course, care must be taken to insure that an errant bullet strikes it as dead perpendicularly as you can manage...but it does work.

 

[SeanSw]

.177 pellets at a cardboard box, backed with 16ga sheet metal. I'd be afraid of lead contamination from anything else.

 

[W.E.G.]

Towel in a box - Airsoft backstop.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

5 mm pneumatic only. And the "trap" was a cardboard box with several layers of carpet inside. Worked wonderfully for hours of fun. Problem was only about 20 feet or so.

 

[MCgunner]

What's a basement?

 

[Acera]

MCgunner it's called an indoor swimming pool in your (and my) part of Texas.

 

[tasco 74]

i shoot my air rifles in my basement all winter long..... it's a beeman air gun trap that i had to beef up with a little heavier piece of steel as my rws mod 34 was really putting a hurtin on it.. i always put an old rug or towel on the floor to set the trap on so i can hopefully get most of the lead dust on it and wash it out in the washer.... i did shoot my .22 trap in the basement once. ONCE.. the steel in back of trap wasn't heavy enough and three rounds went right through and hit the concrete wall behind it.. luckily they came apart on the wall and didn't come back at me.. needless to say i had it beefed up too! my good friend gave me a trap once for air guns that had a sheet of steel in a box with a spring behind it to dampen the pellet as it hit and let it drop into the bottom of the trap... it was a neat idea and worked really well..

 

[LAK Supply]

What do you bait the bullet traps with for best results?

If you leave a few pieces of brass there the bullets will come out to nibble.... once they're there the trap is sprung!

 

[LAK Supply]

Seriously..... you can shoot sub-sonic 22's into a trap all day and your neighbors will never know. Don't ask how I know.

 

[kir_kenix]

i had an old refrigerator i gutted completley out and filled with boxes and boxes of old books, cardboard and 1/2" ply board. i also put some 4x8' ply board on the wall behind it just in case. i mainly fired .22 shorts and lr in it. open cieling to unfished part of house and cieling fans/open doors to whisk away any dangerous fumes. worked pretty well during the cold months. improved my double action skills considerably.

 

[hemiram]

My neighbor across the street from me had a 50ft double lane (with electric return) shooting range in his basement. I knew the guy was a huge collector of all kinds of rifles and handguns, but only found out about the range just before he sold the house and the new owner removed it. I was talking to him about selling him a FEG HP clone I had, and he asked me if it shot ok, I said yes, and he takes me down in the basement ( I had never been down there before), and turns on this giant blower and opens a door, and there it was.

You could barely hear 44 mags being shot upstairs it sounded like a faraway subwoofer pounding when he cranked off six shots from an old S&W 29 he had. 9mm sounded like someone was tapping on their bed so their dog would jump up. I was kind of angry with him for never telling me about it, since I had known him like for 12 years, and it had been there for almost 30. I never would have stopped shooting if I had known I could have gone across the street to shoot instead of driving 12 miles and paying a lot!

The new owner said there was about a hundred pounds of lead they took out when they tore out the range. He almost kept it, but is related to someone who can shoot outside, so he thought he wanted the room back instead.

 

[jeepmor]

What do you bait the bullet traps with for best results?

Shoot-n-C targets

Seriously..... you can shoot sub-sonic 22's into a trap all day and your neighbors will never know. Don't ask how I know.

In Wyoming, they probably know, but in Wyoming, they're probably jealous and just afaid to ask for range time rather than miffed.

 

[DiN_BLiX]

What's a basement?

I think its some kind of magical tunnel where gnomes hide their gold and cookies. But IDK for sure, we dont have them in texas.

 

[snorko]

I bought my house (duplex) many years ago from a former LEO. He had built a 4' x 12' room at one end, covered the interior with egg crate foam, and cut out a 6" x 12" window. At the other end was a big ol bullet trap on a stand. Range from window to trap opening was approx 55'.

He had not lived there for some time and had rented it out. I too rent it out now and the first thing a new tenant asks is "what the heck is that creepy little soundproof room?"

 

[foghornl]

I blaze away in my Basement with the "Red Ryder" *** and my Crossman air pistol..a bolt action ss pistol, looks kinda like the Rem XP-100 pistol

***No, this kid has NOT shot his eye out

 

[MCgunner]

http://www.snailtraps.com/

Some flat steel and my welder and I think I could fab one. Don't know about the snail part, though.

 

[tasco 74]

the .22 bullet trap i had built for me is kinda along the lines of the snail trap i a much smaller simpler design...

 

[perpster]

He had built a 4' x 12' room at one end, covered the interior with egg crate foam, and cut out a 6" x 12" window. At the other end was a big ol bullet trap on a stand. Range from window to trap opening was approx 55'.

Probably lost in the typing translation, but how do you get 55' range to target in a 4'x12' room?

 

[StrikeEagle]

Probably lost in the typing translation, but how do you get 55' range to target in a 4'x12' room?

I think only the shooter was in the small room. But he fired out the window into a bullet trap 55 feet away. That's the way I took it when I read that, anyway.

 

[Kman]

bullet trap

Funny you should ask,, Just had a buddy build this for me, 1/4" or 3/8" plate with plywood sides to catch the splatter. Works like a charm, I've hit it with .22 and .22 mag. nothing else yet...Thats an exhaust blower on the wall above. I've got a three car garage with two in tandem, just close the inside door and fire away.

 

[JohnKSa]

It is illegal in most cities to discharge a firearm within the city limits. Where I live that includes air pistols, so I gave up trying to practice indoors and sold it.

Usually there are exceptions for facilities that completely contain all projectiles and do not violate the noise ordinances. Otherwise indoor ranges wouldn't be allowed to exist inside city limits.

Shooting firearms indoors requires very good ventilation to make sure that the lead from the priming compounds and vaporization from the rear of the bullet are exhausted properly. Otherwise you'll be turning your house into a toxic waste site.

Airguns are usually a better choice for indoor practice at home. They do not contaminate the air, as long as you contain the pellet (and any splatter) you're good to go.