Very Quiet Pellet Trap / Backstop

[stealthy1 3,964]

 

Hay bail, £3 a bail, stick your target on it, and your off

 

I appreciate all the replies, but I need something that 1) retains pellets and 2) is attachable to the fence.

 

Space is severely limited in my garden, its just about 10m long and that's if I shoot from inside the house out of the patio door.

 

I don't want pellets all over the grass nor jumping off over the fence to next door.

 

 

A hay stack will retain your pellets, and you'll only loose 2ft of your distance, and its quiet, your neighbours will still here your gun no mater how quiet you think it is in such a small garden, and every time you get a flier hit your pellet trap, your whole street will hear it, and if you get a flier hit your fence and pass through it at a toddlers height, your call

[dangerousdan 16]

Ill try and post a picture later of the location. Haystack is definately out as the fence is directly behind a fish pond. A haystack doesnt sound very dense to me wont the pellet pass straight through?

 

Is carpet dense enough if hung from the fence like a drape?

 

Box full of old rags sounds good but again is it dense enough. I had a pellet punch straight through 6mm plywood yesterday needless to say I didnt shoot it again.

 

Zero risk of punching through the fence is of absolute importance to me hence why im asking. I need to cover enough fence area at the rear to allow for scope zeroing activity.

Edited September 23, 2013 by dangerousdan

[Daz39 962]

Make a wood, metal, rubber, carpet sandwich!!!

 

Serisously!

 

Get a metal magnetic notice board from IKEA, line it with rubber matting, then a sheet MDF, then a sheet of THICK dense carpet or carpet tiles.

 

You have a quiet front material and a good solid metal "catch all" backing!!

[Daz39 962]

And yes, I did this...... saddo I know.

[Mister Gain 1,764]

Dangerousdan

 

I have just made a pellet catcher as the commercial ones have shortcomings for the likes of me and you. My garden is short and I can only shoot up to 12 yards. I have all but blown the back out of the thin commercial pellet catcher at this range, with my rifle putting out 11.8 ft lbs. I packed it with 1" thick white oak and it still destroyed that after about 100 shots. It is obviously very noisy as well. In anything other than a slight breeze the card targets would work their way out of the wire guides, and with the vibration impact of the pellet it wasn't long befor they left the pelletcatcher altogether.

I have had quite a few severe ricochets, one bouncing back and landing by the front door of my house, so it went past me about 30 feet. Not good.

 

I made up a wooden box out of some old scraps of decking and some 18mm mdf offcut. The front of the target is 1ft x 1ft 1/4" steel plate, with a 5" aperture, and 2 rapesco clip board clips to hold the targets. The back is 18mm mdf with a 6" x 6" piece of 1/4" plate attached. The cavity is stuffed with strips of carpet (concertina). I think it worked out about 27 thicknesses, and was a job to get the back on. All parts are screwed on for easy removal/replacement if needed, except the clips which are held on by small nuts and bolts. The steel plate was an given to me by my neighbour, and just needed cutting with an angle grinder, and cleaning up and a coat of hammerite.

 

So far I have put about 300 shots into it and it hasn't (yet) destroyed the carpet. It is nice and quiet, sounds just like the thump you get when you shoot a rabbit. When it does eventually destroy the carpet, it's just a case of unscrewing the back and re-zigzagging the carpet and repacking, and putting the back on again.

 

 

commercial pellet catcher

 

 

home made pellet catcher

 

 

With 17 cm card target, but ideal for printed paper targets.

[dangerousdan 16]

Mister gain that looks ideal thanks.

 

Do all of your pellets just embed themselves into the carpet?

 

For scope zeroing what kind of area would I need to cover to be completely safe at 10m. Ie would a non zerod scope completely miss that box?

[Daz39 962]

When I zero, I tend to use A2 size paper, I have NEVER missed something that size. I guess it depends on how you fit the scope....

[Mister Gain 1,764]

Dangerousdan

 

Yes mate, the pellets just stay embedded in the carpet, admittedly the 1/4" plate is a bit 'overkill', but it will stop the pellet and flatten it at that range. Also, 1ft x 1ft should be OK at that range for zeroing, but to be 'safe' I would suggest getting hold of some boards and joining them together (or plywood), of a size you are comfortable with (possibly 4ft x 4ft), you can remove it after you are zeroed.

You can get the clips on Ebay (item 190908024327) or alternatively buy a clipboard or two and remove the clips.

Sourcing the plate is best done locally as postage costs would be hefty due to the weight. (scour through skips).

 

HTH.

[dangerousdan 16]

Wont pellets bounce off the metal?

 

I might go with a complete carpet front and pin the targets on.

[Craig Fosse 286]

Pellets should just hit the metal and fall off mate or just inbed, air rifle pellets don't tend to ricochet as bad as most stuff, although they still do, the lead tends to compress and then fall off, that's why spinning targets are ok to use .

[Mister Gain 1,764]

Wont pellets bounce off the metal?

 

I might go with a complete carpet front and pin the targets on.

 

As Craig says, the pellets just flatten and fall to the floor if they hit 1/4" steel. The 1/4" steel doesn't move, unlike a commercial pellet trap where the steel stretches. I did try it out and here is the result, which landed just 1" from the steel.

 

 

Bear in mind that the top of this flattened pellet is actually the skirt side, AA Field .22 - 5.52, which shows that pretty much all the energy is dissipated into the immovable steel on impact, the underside (dome end) is just flat and smooth.

[dangerousdan 16]

Dont know if i'll be lucky enough to find any steel plate like that. In any case im going for silence so I might be able to get some 500x500mm carpet tiles which would make a nice size. Just need some way of keeping the carpet tiles in the box when positioned vertically.

 

Have you been able to guage how deep the pellets are penetrating into the carpet?

Edited September 23, 2013 by dangerousdan

[DenBell 149]

Haven'y read all the posts mate so don't know if its already been suggested but i use a bag of bark from b&q that i had left over from a job. no pellet makes it through and it is silent. i'm in the same position my garden is pretty surrounded and don't want to create more of a disturbance than needs be. i suppose sand will be the same.

[dangerousdan 16]

Surely the problem with that is after a few shots the bag will be decimated and all the bark/sand will fall out everywhere.

[dangerousdan 16]

Here is my garden. The bit of wood against the fence panel at the back is the only possible location for a target.

 

 

And a view from upstairs so you can see the pond more clearly.