Wondering how many people use bullet traps either on their own range or at public/private ranges you shoot at. I'd like your input on what you like and dislike about any particular desing you've used.

I've built several but never have come up with a design I really like. The first one didn't work so well, wrong idea on the bottom which became evident when one came back towards me....definitely not an activity I'd suggest to anyone else! Cured the problem easily and changed the whole thing on every one I have built thus far trying to come up with the perfect form & function for all bullets. All have been square/rectangular and now I'm wondering if I shouldn't look at going round now?

Somewhere a long time ago I saw some pictures of an indoor range's bullet trap. The back was sloped downward at about a 45 degree angle and continued down into a circular bottom and curled to almost a full circle. When you shot a bullet into the backstop it would travel down along the backstop and then make loops untill it ran out of steam. Seemed like a slick setup and made recovery and clean up of lead a snap.

alot of those backstops are filled with water as well

Trying to get away from sand/water filled. Water breaks are ok to a point but need constant attention, made two with water stops and while they worked, they were a pain in the butt.

The rubber granuals and strips are a super pain in the butt....never again!

There's a lot of the 55 gal plastic drums out there that can be had for next to nothing. The ones at my shooting club are 'Dillon' blue and used to hold soy sauce. My club uses them for IDPA and IPSC scenarios, not full of sand.
Any way, wouldn't those work, if they were filled with sand or dirt? Three drums deep full of sand or dirt would stop most anything, and they would be fairly self sealing.
Depending on your requirements three drums wide, four drums behind the front ones to cover the spaces between the front drums and four drums behind those to cover those spaces.
Jim

Drums would work but I'm looking to keep the size as small as possible and make spent bullet recovery as easy as possible too. That's why the sand/water filled traps become a PITA.

The bullet could be directed into a series of four plates set at 45 degrees to one another, so that the energy is expended and the bullet drops out the bottom.
Think of it as a flat sided spiril.
Jim

i designed a bullet trap last yr for shooting my 1022 into... i learned a few things.. like be sure you build it heavy enough... have the sloping angles right.. things like that... my brother is a steel fabricater so he built it for me according to my plans... unfortunetly the foreman at the plant wasn't too keen on it... liabilty and all you know the old b.s. it did work pretty much as planned and every one who has seen it likes it really well..... i had thought s of patents but found out quick that it takes money to make money.......so the bairtrap is destind to be my own toy .........

I'm working on a trap made out of 5 gallon plastic pails. I fill the pail with shredded paper from the shredders at work and then add water. The paper gets soft and then you add more until you can't stuff anymore in. Add water to top it off and then you put the top on. I pail works good for most pistol ammo that expands, and you get to recover the bullet and measure/weigh to your hearts content. One word of caution. Higher weight rounds, fmj's, etc. penetrate, so make sure that you have a good back stop.....little hint, your garage door is not a good back stop....gonna have to explain that to the wife in the morning. LIV

http://www.snailtraps.com/

The problem with most "angled plates" traps I have seen is that with any FMJ rounds, sooner or later the plate will get a slight "dent" somewhere. Subsequent hits in the same place will make the dent more pronounced and pretty soon you no longer have a 45 deg. angle at that point and something can come back at you.
Of course, the heavier plate, the less chance of this happening. The club I shoot at has outlawed FMJ's, Magnums and .17 HMR's, ( I guess those little suckers are like drills) on the 50ft. indoor range.

Dean