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Some Rubber mulch test results

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T

TDK

Member
Nov 3, 2015
319
92
United States
I recently did some marauder chrony strings with a .25 shooting 37 fpe. The backstop was my low profile rubber mulch box built from 1x6, which puts depth at 5.5". This was the first time I had the opportunity to put this many high FPE shots in the exact same spot on this box, so I wanted to see what would happen. The back of the box is 3/4" hardwood plywood.

The unfortunate part is that I more was focused on tuning than backstop testing, so I didn't keep very good track in the beginning. I think I shot 24 shots, then moved the whole testing setup and shot another 14 or so shots, potentially in almost the same spot. So either at ~14 shots, or ~38 shots, the back of the box blew out and a pellet plunked off my secondary backstop.

I then tried changing box impact position a few inches after every 8 shots, and did this 9 times for another 72 shots. No pellets penetrated the back, and I didn't notice any significant dents in the plywood back either. The mulch seems to like it when you move around. This is how I normally shoot anyway, using 6 -9 target spots on a piece of paper.

My next step is to add some 1/8" steel plate to the back for the best of both worlds (light AND chrony string durable).
 
I agree with the rubber mulch idea. I think your steel plate idea will serve you well. I too use rubber mulch and have adopted a policy of no more than 3 shots in the same hole, just to keep it from having a chance of punching thru. I have a box that is approx 9" deep and have had pellets blast thru when I have shot more that 5 into the same hole. I have been using the same mulch for over 2000 rounds, so it does hold up well. I will admit my box is getting a little heavy. :)
 
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Another good backstop idea that I use are 10 to 12 old magazines stacked and then wrapped with duct tape. I completely cover the stacke magazines with the tape so that you can no longer see the magazines. It very durable and cheap, after 300 or 400 shoots I will make another. Impact is very quiet and it cheap and easy to make with throwaway parts.
 
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I'm doing the mulch trap now, although the bag of "rubber mulch" I bought from Home Depot is in fact wood mulch, painted black. :mad:

I find it's enough to simply go and stir up the mulch about every 10 shots, so a cylindrical channel isn't cut through.

When I'm done with this box, it's going to be a hassle. I have to move the mulch to a new box, while trying not to also move the pellets.

The more I think of it, the more I think the box stuffed with old clothes in the front, and a stack of magazines in the back is better. Easier to shake the pellets out of old clothes for recycling than mulch. The clothes last an amazingly long time if you just stir them up once in a while. I haven't tried this with a lot of high power shooting, mostly 6 FPE .177. (as that's a good indoor power level) 

Outdoors, the trap doesn't have to be quite as good. I've been using log slices lately.
 
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I made a wooden box with 1/2" hardwood plywood on the top, bottom and sides with a 3/4" oak plywood back with a 1/8" steel plate screwed behind it. I left the front open and put a double thick cardboard tacked to it. It has a 2x4" frame and has 4 legs 24" high. The main body is 24" X 24" By 16" deep. I filled it with 5-6 bags of rubber mulch. Kind of an overkill but I can hang several targets at once, works fantastic. I have put many shots in a row through the same hole with no problem. I just shake the target every so often and use duct tape over an area where the cardboard starts getting soft. I compacted the mulch pretty good when I put it in. Even shooting the 135 Hatsan .30cal. hasn't been a problem. I figure my only maintenance will be replacing the cardboard occationally. I don't have a pcp gun but I imagine it should handle them too.
 
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I thought the rubber mulch was too expensive, so I just used the wood or bark mulch. The first box I used was only about 6" deep, and would occasionally let a pellet through (.22 at ~35ft-lbs muzzle energy). I changed to a larger box (~12" deep) and had no more problems. A single large $2 bag filled 2 boxes and has worked all summer with no problems. I just tilt the box back and forth a couple of times each time I change the target.
 
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Hi All,

I used an old cardboard box that had 12 bottles of wine in it at one stage, the top of the box fits an A4 sheet of paper and it is as deep as a standard wine bottle, this got wrapped in packing tape and filled with fine tyre shredding/mulch as I couldn't find chips or chunks.

I made sure to compact the shredding while filling so it's pretty dense. My A4 sheet has 144 individual 18 mm circles and my impact shoots 120 . 22 shots between recharges so I tape up the holes and replace the A4 when recharging.


I had 15000 pellets in this trap and I have shot 18 shot strings into the same place as well as my normal routine of moving to a new target for each shot and have never had a penitration.

Last week when it started to rain my girlfriend tried to bring the trap out of the storm, while rolling the box off its perch and onto the hand trolley it landed funny and ruptured, forcing me to build a new one.

I was amazed to find how well the fine shreds of rubber had held onto the thousands of pellets, none of the pellets had penetrated more than 20cm, seems as though the fine rubber continually filled the tiny gap left by the preceding shot.

I sifted out as many of the old shot as possible and reused most of the shreds in a new box, total cost was 35 dollars for 25kg bag of the rubber shreds and 12 dollars for a 6 pack of packing tape, good deal for 14000 shots and a second target...

My first gammo pellet trap disintegrated after about 700 shots and pinged like crazy, how stupid was I to not have read this site before buying it.
 
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Here's some boxes broken down and sat inside and capped with same type of boxes.
I shot 100 rounds into same area with none going completely through.:)
I'm shooting in the mid 850 fps with 7.9 grain .177 hollow points.
I do have a 1/4 inch 4x8 sheet of steel that's directly behind my shooting target in case one does make it through.:)
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