Homemade Bullet Trap

I have searched all over the web looking on how to build a bullet trap and found only one that was about 2X2 in size. I am looking to build one about 5 feet wide. I know the mathematics for angles but I dont see any specs on steel thicknesses. (maybe liability issue?) I will only be shooting handguns from 22LR to a max of 357 mag, 45ACP and 45 LC. Has anyone honestly and safely built and used a home made trap out there? I can get 3/8ths in a 4X5 sheet or 4X8 sheet but we are talking 600 lbs and over $200.00. So that is why I want to know what is safe and the most bang for my buck or in my case the most bang for least buck. I am hoping thinner would work?

Thanks
Mike

The indoor range where I usually shoot is an older facility that uses a steel plate set at approximately 45 degrees to deflect the bullets down into a moat. I believe the owner told me the plate is 1 inch thick -- and even at that it's rated only for handgun cartridges. He allows pistol caliber carbines (9mm, .40 S&W, etc) but no rifles other than .22 rimfire. He doesn't even allow the new .17 caliber rimfire stuff.

I have a commercial bullet trap that's supposed to be good for up to .22LR. I think the actual deflector in it is 3/16" but I haven't looked at it for a long time, so that may not be correct. I know it's very heavy, even though the frontal area is only about 16 inches square.

I don't think 3/16" is nearly thick enough for for .357 Magnum or .40 S&W, or even .45 Auto. I don't think 3/8" is thick enough, either. The old steel plates on the range's plate rack were 1" thick. The new plates he bought recently are 1/2" thick, but they aren't mild steel. They were made and sold specifically as target plates for a plate rack, and they were made from some super-duper ballistic steel that's more resistant to cratering. And remember - the plates fall down when hit, they don't stand there and take it.

Great idea. I like using a bullet trap even for dry firing. I have a 18 x 18 piece of hardened steel plate and I put a thick stack of old magazines in front of it then a reduced IDPA target.

[QUOTE=Hawkmoon]...The indoor range where I usually shoot is an older facility that uses a steel plate set at approximately 45 degrees to deflect the bullets down into a moat...

My gunclub has adopted the same system (three rows of angled steel plates). just in front, we have lined huges strips of thick industrial rubber bands to stop eventual deflecting bits of jackets. Of course, with use they are periodically holed and then changed (we get them for free from a member).

The sand of the moat is sometimes combed to collect lead that is resold to a metal collector along with the spent cases. If a member wants some lead to mold his own bullets, so be it.

It is an outdoor, 25 meters pistol range but it has been tested before inaugurating with full power big caliber rifles.

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Originally Posted by Hawkmoon

And remember - the plates fall down when hit, they don't stand there and take it.

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That's an important point, apparently lost on a lot of people. Several poppers at our range (and others, I'm sure) have been put out of commission because someone decided to prop them up in one way or another, and dinged them to oblivion...

Action Targets state that they use AR500 or AR550 steel in their ranges. If someone knows more about that steel please post. They do make a portable bullet trap target using the same steel. Hope this helps.