Pellet Traps

[TCooper]

It's been quite a few years since I lasted posted a pic of my old pellet trap.

Here is a duct seal pellet trap that I have been using in my basement for almost 18 years. Most of the duct seal is from when I first made the trap. Whenever I get around to digging out the shot pellets, I patch the big holes with bits of fresh putty. I have only added a few one pound bars over the 18 years. When cleaning out the trap this afternoon I tried a heatgun after the pellets were removed and it made the "smoothing out" process a lot easier.

The duct seal in this trap is about 1 1/4" thick and I regularly use it for airguns up to 800fps. The trap has seen over 60,000 pellets and the putty stays semi-soft. I made the trap from some scrap wood that I had lying around. The opening is 10" x 8 1/2" and works great for regular printer paper. The trap has a reservoir area at the bottom to catch bits of target paper and cardboard target backer. It works well for this.

Beeman once sold a "Silent Pellet Trap" that was a duct seal trap. It's great for indoors because it eliminates the dangerous airborn lead dust. The trap is also quiet.

You can get duct seal in the electrical section of stores like Home Depot of from specialized electrical retailers. I bought mine in 1 pound bars but I think it's also available in 5-pounders. The stuff is non-toxic, odorless and never seems to dry out.

The 1kg coffee can in the pic is almost half full of spent pellets and currently weighs 12 pounds. Over the years I have filled about 6 cans with a total weight of over 100 pounds of lead. I sometimes give the lead to blackpowder shooters or use it to cast slingshot ammo.

Cheers,
Todd

[lleader]

How do you go about getting the pellets out? Any 'tricks' to share?

[leadslinger]

How do you go about getting the pellets out? Any 'tricks' to share?

Only method is digging them out.

[megiddo65]

I use a needle nose plier to get the pellets out.

[TCooper]

How do you go about getting the pellets out? Any 'tricks' to share?

I popped them out with a small slotted screwdriver. I lay the trap on my knee, on an angle, and the pellets roll to the bottom when popped out. I scoop them from the bottom reservoir with my fingers and dump into can.

Pellets from a <500fps airgun only penetrate flush with the duct seal so they pop out easily. An 800fps pellet digs in deeper.

[lleader]

Thanks for the replies re: removing pellets.

[Theo98]

Thanks for sharing Todd...Need to make me one of these!

Ted

[ten-ring]

I have duct seal covering the inside back of a small desk drawer. I hang targets from the front edge of the drawer about 2 to 3 inches from the duct seal surface. When shooting a few 10 shot targets in one session, I move each target up down or sideways a little so that not many pellets are stacked and more difficult to dig out with pliers causing small chunks of seal to be removed.I attach the target to a clamp on bottom of thin wood rod like a skewer and let it hang down from the top lip of the drawer to the area I need.