TargetTalk

I’m looking to build a backstop for my daughter to train against with her small bore competition rifle, what kind of a backstop will I need? Has anyone done this & what have you used? What was a successful design?

Naturally she will be hitting the same spots over & over & I don’t want any blow through. Currently her backstop for her air rifle is 3/16” galvanized steel 30”x50” sheet, but I’m not sure how that would hold up to Ammo.

Hello-

We have been shooting into a do all rack for years. No appreciable wear. We use a home made rack, with a double layer of railroad ties behind that, on the off chance of a stray round.

https://www.amazon.com/Do-All-Outdoors- ... ll+rimfire

Kind regards,
m1963

For .22, 4-6mm steel of 500 Brinell hardness should do the trick.

Depending on your range area or what's behind it, you'll obviously want a larger wall or berm behind/around the steel trap to contain any off-shots (NDs or mechanical failures). Ideally if you can vary the target position a little in front of the plate (couple of inches either way) then that will help spread the wear, since the shots should all be hammering into a relatively small diameter which could give localised pitting.

I have not done it myself, but a favorite of the air rifles crowd is a box of rubber "mulch" you can buy at the hardware store. I've read about some tests with 22LR (and larger caliber), and it only took 3-4 inches to stop the 22LR. The nice thing about it is you don't have to worry about drilling a hole through a hard backstop -- it appears to be 'self-repairing'.

marky-d

I have built a couple very similar to the one in the link above, but larger. I used a 3/8" piece of T1 for the angled piece in the back---and it's way more than needed. The trap works fine, but here are a couple of issues. First, you get some splatter---from the seams that are not sealed--mine is not welded solid and also a bit of splatter from the opening, even though I have cardboard hung over it. RTV or caulk for sealing the seams helps, but eventually wears, is shot out and the cardboard needs replacing frequently. Second, mine is very heavy and so I pretty much leave it at one height and only practice offhand. I also found shooting a 22 in my garage is very messy---lots of un-burned powder and quite a bit of smoke---so good ventilation is nice and also a nice concrete area to clean--sweep is good.
I've pretty much given up shooting 22 in my garage and only shoot air rifle---air rifle has a lot less splatter and no smoke--hopefully, HA! and no powder residue.
If I built a new one, I would try something like what was mentioned above---rubber or other material that stops and contains the bullet---this would at least eliminate the splatter, I think.
I stand mine in a decommissioned refrigerator---which will contain an errant air rifle shot and is easy to clean out and also sealed when I'm not using it.