TargetTalk

Does anyone have plans for a bb/pellet trap design?
I am looking for something that is cheap and easy to build.
Suitable to make around 20 copies for tournament use.
Of course they must be adjustable or tall enough to enable attachement of the targets at the legal target heights for 4 position BB and 3 position air. They should be easy to store. And finally, retain most if not all bb's and pellets fired into them.
Thanks!

Take a look at this website: www.targets.ca
then look under "Miscellaneous"
These are highly transportable, set-up, take-down is easy. They are used at the Canadian Air Gun Grand Prix - to which some of your National Team members come to every year. This whole range, of about 100 positions is portable & all or parts of it are transported all over Ontario for various events.
I have them at my club, mounted on 2 x 4's, then stuck in slots in the ceiling & floor. Mounted the hand crank on some wood that just hand-screws into the shooting table. Run the string to the shooting position & ready to go. I put 7 of them up & take down in just a few minutes, every week. My "kids" that I coach (ages 8 - 18) put them up & take down easily - even the 8 year-old.
The only thing they don't do is trap the pellets, but after the pellet is spent, from hitting the rubber-covered back, they just drop to the floor & are swept up.
Sounds really close to what you want.

Helen,
Thanks for the reply!
Unfortunately I can't get past the general description on the website.
What am I doing wrong?
How can I see more detail?
Thanks!

I don't think there is more than a general description on his website. The next step would be to buy one. I know this may not be in your plans, but if you bought one, then see what the components are, how you could produce something yourself. I think they're around $125.00 Cdn. That's the crank, back-stop, air pistol/rifle target carrier, with counter-weights, bumpers, string etc.
Yes, the dealer is a friend of mine, but besides that, I still think it is the easiest to operate, set-up, take-down, adjust to different lengths (for your home range?), with virtually nothing that can get wrecked - you might need new string 3 or 4 years down the road!
If you mount them on 2 x 4's, like we did, then if your lighting isn't the best, you can even mount a goose-neck lamp on the board & bend it down to put some light on the target.
I'll try to find some better pictures of it.
Hope that helps.

Helen,
Once again thanks!
I am now involved in a city bb/air gun program.
We shoot on an old '50s era government range that is great but only has 5 firing points.
What I hope to do is move into one of the city recreation centers that has gymnasiums. I am starting from scratch on trap design and construction. I have a very limited budget...read that as -0-!
I need to be able to construct/acquire 20+ if we are to move our tournaments.
Perhaps your friend would like to donate a sample :-)
Thanks again!
JLK

I've passed your info. & problem/dilemma on to a couple of friends. Not sure if they can come up with any ideas, but maybe.
Best I can do for now.
Keep working at it.

John

I think for low velocity BB a few layers of scrap carpet, separated by a few inches between each should be sufficient. Test it out just to be safe. You should be able to get scrap carpet from most any carpet dealer. Tell them what it is for, and they might donate it to you rather than charge you for it.

Based on what Hellen said, sounds like a box open on the front (for the shooter) and open at the top (for the carpet backstop) is all you need. The carpet pieces hang from the top of the box (you get to figure out how to hold up the carpet. Maybe stapled to 1x2 strips that are inserted from the top of the box.) The BBs hit the carpet drop to the bottom of the box and you retreive and dispose of the used BBs. You just have to rig something to hold the target.

One thing is you need to do periodic inspection of the carpet to determine when to replace them as they get shot up. If the shooters are accurate, repeated hits in the same place will chew it up. For BBs, I think truck mud flaps will also work. I would stil have carpet as the first backstop, as it is less likely to bounce the BB back at the shooter.

Word of advice, the side of the box facing the shooter should be lined with carpet, even the edges. Why...cuz sooner or later someone will shoot the front of the box and the BB will come bouncing back at the shooter. Unlikely you might say...well I did that to my pellet trap at 5meters, and I got hit in the face by pellet fragments. I was sure glad I wear safety glasses.

gud luk
Gary

Hi

One of our instructors build a bunch of pellet traps like the ones that Daisy sells but our mount on a square aluminum rod. The rod hangs on an aluminum framed tarp backstop. We hang tarp on the backstop which depletes the energy in the pellet assuming that someone misses. Mostly they don't miss anyway. The drawback is that we have to setup and tear down every week.

I would like to go to a large backstop that can handle all 6 targets for a match, but these would be harder to store.

Mike
Wichita KS

I have plans for a large but portable backstop that was emailed to me I will email it too anyone who wants it but it is kind of large PM me if interested.

Christopher Moore
Roanoke VA 4-H Shooting Education Coordinator

JLK wrote:Does anyone have plans for a bb/pellet trap design?
I am looking for something that is cheap and easy to build.
Suitable to make around 20 copies for tournament use.
Of course they must be adjustable or tall enough to enable attachement of the targets at the legal target heights for 4 position BB and 3 position air. They should be easy to store. And finally, retain most if not all bb's and pellets fired into them.
Thanks!

Take a look at our traps on our website (www.aiac-airguns.org) in the Junior 3P section - are these what you are looking for?

Ours are the Leo Lujan design, with a few mods (removable legs, pellet catch tray), that I originally got through the CMP.

They have worked well for us. We have almost 20 of them, and break them down each session. They get stacked on a cart, with the feet removed, and covered each time. They use 14 ga steel, a half sheet of plywood, and a couple of 2x4s to construct. Cost is about $30-$40 ea, depending mostly on your cost for the steel.

Email me at jverg@att.net, and I arrange to get you a copy.


Jay V
IL

I too am looking for an easy design to implement and would like anyone who has a copy of diagrams to email them to me as soon as you can. We are hosting our first shoulder to shoulder invitational match on or about 23 November 08. We are intending on creating these boxes this summer and are willing to thank the party on our webpage and with a certificate.

I have the CMP design, but am willing to see another type as I am not convinced this is the best type. For those who would like a copy of the CMP design, the file is attached.

Thanks

HA Maison, Army Instructor
Montbello High School
Denver, CO 80239

I prefer the Lujan style traps for three main reasons:
1) Easy to fabricate. If you are making more than two, make a template
(CMP coaching resources has articles here:
http://www.odcmp.com/Coaching/target_stand_plans.htm)

2) Low cost

3) Using the basic design, you can EASILY hang all targets necessary for a 3x20 event. Using the "Camp Perry" style, you either have to make a lot of target box units, or move them for each postion

I'd suggest if you go for the Lujan style you modify the plans to use 24" wide cardboard. As I recall the plans are for 26" or so cardboard. Where I live, if I have to purchase cardboard, it comes in 4x8 sheets and it's real simple to just slice them in two .... no waste.

JayV turned me on to these almost 5 years ago, and ours are still going strong.

If you have a situation whre you don't have to tear down, the Lujans are perfect.

Drape a piece of carpet in front of the steel and you have a great BB trap too. Take the carpet out for Air Rifle ... the carpet keeps the steel BB's from bouncing back ... don't shoot the BB's with just the steel backer ... they will come right back out thru the cardboard

In the Gwinnett County 4H, each BB shooter made their own bullet trap from a (approx) 24x24x24 standard cardboard box. (Actually any size will work as long as one side is large enough to post a full size target.) The box is closed and completely taped shut. Then a 3/4 inch wide slot is cut across the full width of the top, near the middle. Into the slot you hang a standard hand towel, doubled over on a 1/4" wooden dowel, old curtain rod or something similar. The towel is allowed to hang loose inside the middle of the box. When the BB hits the towel, the towel swings freely absorbing all the BB's energy. And all your BB's are safely in the bottom of the box.

These are easy and cheap to make. Yes they get all shot out after a month of practicing, but you can make your second one in about 3 minutes. The best thing is this also encourages the shooters to take them home and keep practicing.


Later on in pellets, the same type box was used, but we used a hanging piece of worn out wall-to-wall carpet. The back wall (and maybe even the sides walls) of the box are also covered with an additional piece of carpet and backed up with a piece of plywood just to make sure the pellets don't escape. The piece of wood is put on the outside back of the box, so you don't have to keep cutting the wood to the size of your box. Look behind any carpet installation company and you'll find enough used carpet scraps to last your shooters well into their 30's !!


I didn't buy a steel trap until my son took up small bore.

Hope this helps!

I'd suggest if you go for the Lujan style you modify the plans to use 24" wide cardboard. As I recall the plans are for 26" or so cardboard. Where I live, if I have to purchase cardboard, it comes in 4x8 sheets and it's real simple to just slice them in two .... no waste.

I built a Lujan stand over the weekend, and in doing so now understand the plans much better - I was very confused about them. I am posting here just for the aid of future builders. (so they can avoid my mistakes - I cut my steel based on the outside dimensions).

Somewhere in the plans it states the stand is 26.5" wide. That is because you have 2x4 side pieces, with 3/8" channels for the cardboard - That leaves a 24.25" slot for your cardboard (since my bulk cardboard comes in 5'x10' sheets - this is very efficient). Likewise - I highly suspect it was designed around also using 24" wide steel (conserving steel), as the inside dimensions (between the 2x4's) is 23.5". - unless I am still confused...
---
I just looked at the plans again - and yes, I am still confused. But changing that interior dimension from 24" to 23.5" makes the cardboard work out well, makes the slit dimensions work perfect, and pretty sure it would allow you to skimp down to 24" wide on your steel as well.
---
I have not tried posting 2 targets side by side on it yet. So perhaps that .5" is critical.

Mouse ...

I was in the same position you were and built my first 4 traps to the 26.5" dimension .... when it came to build out more, I reduced the width to accept 23.5" cardboard .... and re worked my original 4 to the same.

I buy cardboard that is 48" wide, so I can get two traps with one sheet.

You can easily hang 2 targets side by side on those

BB Box Plans

JLK wrote:Does anyone have plans for a bb/pellet trap design?
I am looking for something that is cheap and easy to build.
Suitable to make around 20 copies for tournament use.
Of course they must be adjustable or tall enough to enable attachement of the targets at the legal target heights for 4 position BB and 3 position air. They should be easy to store. And finally, retain most if not all bb's and pellets fired into them.
Thanks!

http://www.caes.uga.edu/extension/spald ... Stands.pdf

Ole Mill Target Stands
A few quick notes;
These stands were designed with the 3 x 20 Air Rifle event in mind. Six targets hung at one time. With that as our starting place, we found that you could also shoot Air Pistol as well as both Sporter and Precision Air Gun events on them. We have even had some success with BB, but that’s another matter for another day.

The basic materials list would include –
¾ inch sheet rock screws, 10 – 20 per stand, depending on your preference.
5-foot lengths of 2 inch, schedule 40 PVC Pipe. It’s usually easier to get a 10 footer and cut it in half. You’ll need 16 feet (each leg is 1 foot long, with a 20 inch piece across the back, on the ground) of 2 inch PVC per target stand.
I use two 90-degree elbows across the back to tighten the whole thing up, with the 20-inch connector across the back on the ground. The two “T”s are straight, and should not be anything else, such as clean outs, or “Y”s. This is the strength of your stand.

When you get the stand together, you may want to use up to 6 of the ¾ sheet rock screws to hold the PVC together in the elbows and “T”s. I chose to use PVC Cement on the legs into the “T”s and allow for the 5 foot sides and the 20 inch back cross to be removed for storage / transportation. It all folds into a very small package. I like the yellow pressure caps in the front legs to dress to project up a bit, they really don’t have a function other than esthetics. I added 4 sheet rock screws to the leg bottoms, outer edges, for leveling. We really don’t use this feature, but its there if we need it.
Galvanized 16-gage sheet steel. The top piece is 26 ¾ x 16, and the bottom is 26 ¾ x 30. I can’t emphases this enough, don’t use anything except Galvanized sheet steel. Anything else will rust and you’ll be very unhappy with the mess it will cause. If you want full coverage on the back of the stand, either go full coverage with the sheet steel (Ups the price significantly) or add ¾ inch plywood between the two and on the bottom if you think you need that much protection. We’ve been using this slightly open design for about 3 years and it’s been fine for us. You will want to pre drill the holes in the sheet steel (4 hole in the top, and 6 in the bottom) along the outer edge (We went with about 3/8 from the edges) and that can be a separate operation while you’re cutting the PVC. Plan on using a spring loaded center punch and breaking several drill bits. We made a jig to hole everything in place, but we were building 52 stands. For a smaller number, I might just lay two 2x4s on a table and drill there.

If you do build the jig, the stands are pretty uniform, and the process goes very fast.
NOTE – This will save you lots of time and aggravation.
Cutting the slot in the PVC for the cardboard was the missing link in this whole process. We went through about a dozen trial and error stands before we figured this one out. When you cut (Lengthwise) PVC, it contracts or shrinks. When you get ready to cut your side pieces, I recommend using a table saw with a fence, and either two blades, side by side, or a dado to cut the slot ¼ of an inch. You can make a 2 x 4 guide and screw it (Three screws seemed to work fine) to the PVC so that it holds is all slides evenly and straight (A crooked cut, means throw that side away and start over…) thru saw blade. Most PVC Pipe has lettering on it and surprisingly enough it’s straight enough to use
as a guide. Here’s the magic of the whole operation. Stop, read this then read it again! Do not cut the side all the way from end to end. Put a stop mark 6 inches from the bottom, or better yet, put a mechanical stop on your table saw so that the side only goes through 4 ½ feet. That along with the ¼ inch cut will allow the PVC to hold the cardboard firmly, but not too tight. If you cut completely from end to end, throw that side away…

A word on acquiring materials. Cost will vary from location to location as well as with your supporters. We paid for some of our Galvanized Sheet steel and got some donated. Over the course of a couple of years, as we grew, the price of 16 gage Galvanized Sheet Steel tripled in price. That’s one of the factors in the sizes we used, what could we cut out of a large sheet, with the best price we could get at the time we needed it. PVC Pipe and the Elbows and “T”s were mostly given to us by a friendly Plumbing Supply and Local Plumber. Free is hard to beat. We did go to Lowe’s and Home Depot for a few odds and ends and they would give us Wholesale, but that was it. Even if you pay cost to a Local Plumbing Supply, it’s about half of what’s marked at the big Home Care Stores. Just depends on your budget and number of stands. Don’t forget to mark your Target Heights per the Rule Book. You’ll note the black center marks in the photos. Center the two Sighter Bulls on the black marks and you should be legal.

5.5.4 Target Heights
Target holders on the range must facilitate the placement of the targets at the correct height. Correct target heights, when measured from the level of the firing point to the center of the target are:
Prone position 0.5 meters (19.7 in.) (± 10 cm. or 4 in.)
Standing position 1.4 meter (55 in.) (± 5 cm. or 2 in.)
Kneeling position 0.8 meters (31.5 in.) (± 10 cm. or 4 in.)

One more item of some interest and concern. Light, and how to get enough of it on the targets. After years of trial and error and experimentation, we’ve come to the conclusion that the only way to meet the 1000 lums is to have one, (300 – 500 watt light) shining on each target stand. If you use the long halogen bulbs, it’s best to have them vertical to the target stand. You get the best light dispersion on all the targets on the frame with the bulb at about 24 – 30 inches off the floor and between 5 and 7 feet away from the targets. You can place the Lights so that they are between firing points at the Targets and they will be completely out of the shooters line of sight. Light Meters are cheap and easy to come by. Measure your light in your facility and see what you have.

If you have any questions, I’d be only too happy to assist you.

Roy McClain
EODTNT1@aol.com
(678) 772-8185 cell
www.OleMillRange.org
Spalding County 4H - The Ole Mill Range Complex – Griffin GA