Catching Bullets Without Damage

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  • Last Post 22 February 2016
John Alexander posted this 14 January 2016

Last year I came into a free supply of loose wool and since there was mention on the internet of using “fibers” for stopping bullet without damage for examination I tried it.

I built a plywood box similar to Mann and Martin.  I glued it together and got a metal detector.  The wool stopped the bullets and the metal detector located them pretty well but they were still hard to find -- 22 bullets of course.

However, all gas checks were off and the bullets were too badly damaged to be of use.

My contribution -- don't bother to try wool.

John

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nimrod posted this 14 January 2016

I had a friend that was obsessed with catching bullets and looking at them after many experiments we ended up with a box made out a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood cut length wise and made into a box about one foot square 8 feet long. The sides were screwed together with a long piano hinge on the lid. On the end where we shot into a piece of old tire inner tube was nailed over the end. The very best medium to shoot into was old tires that were ground up to be recycled. The worse part of this stuff was that they ground up the steel belts in the tires along with the rubber. If you took the time to remove the chunks of steel belts it makes for a very good bullet catcher. No damage to the bullet at all and after experimenting for a while we found that a 4 foot long box was plenty and we shot some heavy cast bullet loads into that box. 45-100 loads with 550 grain bullets very few traveled more than 2' most stopped with in a foot of the front of the box.

I saw some recycled rubber that is used to surface running tracks and tennis courts that is cut into long strands if a guy could find a cheap source of that I think that it would make an excellent bullet catcher.

Good luck!

RB

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Paul Pollard posted this 14 January 2016

Rubber landscaping mulch is available without wire belts. Home Depot and Lowe's have it in bags. We've used it in our pellet traps to help keep them in the traps. Never looked for deformation.

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2coldhere posted this 14 January 2016

My failed attempt at catching bullets went like this. Thought I would shoot into a water filled plastic barrel from a 10' high deck. First shot: Water sprayed higher than the gun and bullet went thru bottom of barrel (40"). Plugged hole, put newspaper in bottom and refilled. Second shot: Caught the bullet but the barrel split lengthways. Will try the rubber mulch now.

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OU812 posted this 14 January 2016

John Alexander wrote: However, all gas checks were off and the bullets were too badly damaged to be of use.

  John

My Chroni has been peppered by loose flying gas checks. Gas Checks falling off is one problem I need to solve.

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frnkeore posted this 14 January 2016

nimrod wrote: I had a friend that was obsessed with catching bullets and looking at them after many experiments we ended up with a box made out a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood cut length wise and made into a box about one foot square 8 feet long. The sides were screwed together with a long piano hinge on the lid. On the end where we shot into a piece of old tire inner tube was nailed over the end. The very best medium to shoot into was old tires that were ground up to be recycled. The worse part of this stuff was that they ground up the steel belts in the tires along with the rubber. If you took the time to remove the chunks of steel belts it makes for a very good bullet catcher. No damage to the bullet at all and after experimenting for a while we found that a 4 foot long box was plenty and we shot some heavy cast bullet loads into that box. 45-100 loads with 550 grain bullets very few traveled more than 2' most stopped with in a foot of the front of the box.

I saw some recycled rubber that is used to surface running tracks and tennis courts that is cut into long strands if a guy could find a cheap source of that I think that it would make an excellent bullet catcher.

Good luck!

RBTwo questions about your testing: 1. Was the rubber treated at all, such as oiling it? 2. It seems like that stopping a 2000 fps bullet in 2 or less feet, would cause such G-force loads that it would be deformed in some way. What did they look like and did you measure them? With that info, it doesn't sound like it would cost much at all to build one. I was thinking of using a tarp to cover it, just to keep it in. Frank

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joeb33050 posted this 14 January 2016

Why not photograph the bullet instead of catching it? We did that 50 years ago, in a photog's cellar.

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nimrod posted this 14 January 2016

Frank, I don't know if we actually had a 2000 fps load but probably close and there was no deformed bullets at all. The ones we were mainly concerned with were the black powder loads in 40-65, 45-70, and I was shooting a 45-100 at the time all shot with an alloy of 20/1 again no deformed bullets. It was really surprising to us how much the nose of the black powder loads were engraved and that the bullets were actually shorter than they were before they were fired.

It sounds like the rubber landscaping mulch would be the way to go. A tarp would probably work just fine we were afraid that we would blow the rubber stuff every where so we fixed a lid that would lock down but after playing with it for a while we would simply close the lid and not even lock it down.

There was no oil on the recycled rubber we used it dry.

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John Alexander posted this 14 January 2016

joeb33050 wrote: Why not photograph the bullet instead of catching it? We did that 50 years ago, in a photog's cellar. That is a hell of an idea Joe.  What do we need to do or buy short of bringing Doc Egerton back from the dead.  Anybody got a strobe light?

Seriously, how much would it cost for equipment? Sounds like it might beat  mucking around with oily sawdust much less loose wool mixed with sheep dung.

John

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waksupi posted this 15 January 2016

If you're not in a hurry, shoot into a snow bank, and pick them up in the spring.

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 15 January 2016

waksupi wrote: If you're not in a hurry, shoot into a snow bank, and pick them up in the spring. OR, when the river is frozen (like this time of year, North of the M-D Line); one can shoot parallel to the ice - it takes just a little snow to gradually slow the bullet down (.357Mag) and leave it sitting in plain sight.  Rifle velocities also can be done but one looses many and the distances are MUCH greater.

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admiral posted this 15 January 2016

OU812 wrote: John Alexander wrote: However, all gas checks were off and the bullets were too badly damaged to be of use.

  John

My Chroni has been peppered by loose flying gas checks. Gas Checks falling off is one problem I need to solve. i have a wood box I built that the chrony sits in when I shoot through it. I lost my first chrony to a flying gas check that smacked the LCD display. There is an errant gas check lodged in the front wood that covers the readout screen about a 1/4” deep. It would have been another chrony killer.

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joeb33050 posted this 15 January 2016

John Alexander wrote: joeb33050 wrote: Why not photograph the bullet instead of catching it? We did that 50 years ago, in a photog's cellar. That is a hell of an idea Joe.  What do we need to do or buy short of bringing Doc Egerton back from the dead.  Anybody got a strobe light?

Seriously, how much would it cost for equipment? Sounds like it might beat  mucking around with oily sawdust much less loose wool mixed with sheep dung.

JohnWe used a GR = General Radio Strobotach, a microphone and a Polaroid camera with asa 1000 film-commonly used on oscilloscopes at the time, long ago. And a gun, a 1917 Enfield with jacketed bullets, handloaded, and some logs. Rifle in a vise, microphone wired to trigger the Strobe, lights out and camera shutter open. Shoot the rifle, noise to microphone, microphone triggers strobe, flash, camera takes picture. The microphone distance from rifle determines when the strobe flashes. We took pictures for a company that invented a plastic for electrical insulators that wouldn't break like glass or ceramic when shot-a problem at the time. We got pictures as close as maybe 6” from the bullet insulator. I'd guess that today with digital cameras and flash tubes common, even on school buses, that this is easy and inexpensive. Dr. Edgerton was taking high speed photos early, before the war? I'm no photographer, but I'd bet that there are photographers here who know all about this stuff.

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joeb33050 posted this 15 January 2016

http://www.diyphotography.net/bullet-photography-at-home/

Look at that “camera axe", not a lot of money.

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John Alexander posted this 15 January 2016

Thanks Joe. It looks like  the hardest part will be finding a dark basement and enough ear protection to avoid losing what little hearing I have left.

John

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goodsteel posted this 15 January 2016

I am working on a bullet catcher right now. I have all the pieces lined up and I'm gathering them up. I started a few days ago by calling the local paper company. Took a few phone calls, but eventually, I was talking to the main man himself. I greeted him like a friend asking for a favor, :D and told him I was looking to get my pickup truck filled up with fine sawdust. He asked me what in the world I needed that for, and I explained that I am a gunsmith and I have learned how to shoot cast bullets at nearly 3000FPS, but with each twist rate, there's a very specific point past which accuracy is lost completely, and I want to catch the bullets and see if I can figure out what is going on. He said it was such a coincidence that I called him because he was looking for a gunsmith to remove a choke from his shotgun. I told him I can make that happen..> So, yesterday, I called on Lowes Home improvement warehouse and picked up supplies for the bullet catching box. I'll let the pictures do the talking: 

Here's my total cost so far. The box you see in the pictures cost only $28.02Cheap enough. 

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goodsteel posted this 15 January 2016

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gpidaho posted this 15 January 2016

Tim: lol, being a retired trim carpenter and some what OCD I just have to ask. Did you make those cuts with a hatchet? Not that it matters one iota, just made me chuckle. Enjoy the day. Gp

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goodsteel posted this 15 January 2016

Absolutely not! What do think I was born in a barn???? I used a bow saw. :coffee

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John Alexander posted this 15 January 2016

Your box looks quite a lot like my own.  It took nearly one bottle of glue.  Good luck.

John

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R. Dupraz posted this 15 January 2016

Pretty cool photo of your little helper there. All boys in this house But have a couple of granddaughters just about her size.

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