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Think inside the box

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This report covers:

  • Guest blog
  • Rubber mulch
  • How many rounds?
  • It works for BBs, too
  • Line the box?
  • Quiet
  • This one is best
  • Because…
  • Why Part 1?
  • Summary

This report tells you how to make a great pellet and BB trap for under $10. We have seen this before, but there are lots of new readers who may not do the research in the Search box, so let’s dive in!

Guest blog

This trap was first shown in a guest blog in April of 2015. Reader Rod took us through all the things he had done to make a successful pellet trap and ended up with what I am going to show you today. Not only did it stop pellets from powerful airguns, it also stopped ten .22 long rifle bullets and five 55-grain bullets from a .223 Remington (the civilian version of the 5.56mm military round). The range master forced him to place the box out at 50 yards, but Rod was sure the box would stop the long rifle bullets even closer.

We don’t want to make a bullet trap. A pellet trap is our goal, and this one stops pellets and 40-grain bullets from the long rifle in about three inches, when it’s 50 yards away. Pellets stop in three inches from 30 yards.

box
It’s a 12x12x10-inch box. You can buy them for 86 cents, or you can just recycle one you find around the house.

Rubber mulch

Fill the box with rubber mulch that can be bought at your local home center. One bag fills this box exactly. A 0.8 cubic-foot bag (a common size) costs $5.00 to $7.00. Except for tape to seal the flaps of the box — that’s it!

Rubber mulch is made of tires that have been ground up into small pieces. Sometimes they are colored and sometimes not. But those particles are very tough and they stop pellets, BBs and even bullets fast.

rubber mulch
Rubber mulch.

Reader Rod recommended putting a terrycloth towel on the back seam of the box so nothing would get through the taped seam. That towel stopped one 55-grain bullet from a .223 from exiting the box when it was shot. The other four didn’t make it even that far.

How many rounds?

As good as it is, eventually the box will be so shot up that it has to be replaced. According to Rod, that’s after thousands of rounds have been stopped by it. Changing boxes is a one-minute drill with no added expense.

It works for BBs, too

One of the best features of this trap is it also works for BBs. In fact, that is my primary use for it. Remember a couple months ago when I was training the Royal Rangers gun safety and how to shoot? Well, I made two of these traps and as long as the kids hit them, the BBs stayed inside. At 5 meters I would have said the boxes couldn’t be missed, but that was a lesson in “Never say never.”

I reckon each box will stop tens of thousands of BBs over the next 10-15 years. I probably won’t be around when the boxes need to be changed.

Shop Outdoor Gear

Line the box?

Is it advisable to line the box with a large plastic bag? I don’t know. Rod didn’t do it and I made two of these and didn’t line either one. I think lining is an extra step that isn’t necessary, but if you want to, by all means do so.

Quiet

Another benefit of this trap is it is totally quiet. The only noise it makes is when the cardboard is penetrated. And the noise of the discharge masks that. So in essence, this trap is silent.

This one is best

Over the years I have had several BB traps. One that Daisy sold was made of white foam and had a steel plate inside. Plastic wrap kept the foam inside.

Daisy target cube
Daisy’s target cube was white foam with a steel; plate inside. It was wrapped in plastic to keep the foam from crumbling.

The best one was imported from China by Crosman. They called it their model 850. It had ballistic cloth screens that slowed the BBs as they entered the trap, and a thin steel plate angled in the back stopped them. Most BBs then rebounded off the steel to hit the same curtains as they tried to exit the trap. If the front of the trap was elevated a little, about 95 percent of BBs were stopped by this trap. The rest bounced out the front and went on the floor. But this trap was light and it worked well most of the time.

Crosman BB trap
The Crosman model 850 BB trap worked well enough.

UTG copied the Crosman BB trap, and when Crosman stopped selling it years ago, UTG was the only game in town. But there apparently isn’t much money in BB traps, because UTG finally ran the curtain down (pun intended) a few years ago. Why?

Because…

BB traps don’t sell because people don’t think there is a need. And maybe for a dad who wants to shoot BB guns with his kids one time, there isn’t. For him the old standby of a box full of crumpled up newspaper works fine. Maybe they will shoot 150 BBs into that trap before they move on to building a Hot Wheels racetrack.

But for people who shoot hundreds and even thousands of BBs, a good trap is a must. I have worn out the curtains in my UTG trap twice already and the tests keep coming.

Today’s idea is so good that I made one of these traps for myself for use at home. It’s heavy, but it stops anything I shoot at it — pellets or BBs. Nothing bounces out to get on the floor and that is something I can’t even say about my steel bullet traps when I use them for pellets. Even they allow a little lead to splash out. But not this one.

Why Part 1?

This trap is simple enough to make. Why is this a Part 1? Well, a Part 2 is coming. What will it be?

Part 2 will be a penetration test of this trap. I think I will shoot it with powerful airguns and also with .22 long rifle cartridges — from just a few feet away! That will be a real test of the stopping power of this trap.

Summary

Today you have read about a pellet and BB trap you can make for very little money, and it’s one that surpasses most of the others. If you shoot, this one could be for you.

author avatar
Tom Gaylord (B.B. Pelletier)
Tom Gaylord, also known as B.B. Pelletier, provides expert insights to airgunners all over the world on behalf of Pyramyd AIR. He has earned the title The Godfather of Airguns™ for his contributions to the industry, spending many years with AirForce Airguns and starting magazines dedicated to the sport such as Airgun Illustrated.
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114 thoughts on “Think inside the box”

  1. B.B.

    Don’t get a new box when this one’s front is all shot up, just tape a new front piece on, repeat.
    I also take pizza boxes and fill them with 20 pieces of cut to size cardboard. After plastics, cardboard is next…

    -Y

        • Accurally pellet trap is about 10 pizza boxes each with 10-15 pieces of cardboard, then a hanging 1/4 rubber mat(the kind they use in horse stalls) with a 1/2″ of aluminum plate angled down behind that.
          Plus a “drawer” where the lead falls into. I hang a paper target on the front. When the front gets shot out, I just rearrange pizza boxes.
          Only once, from my 16 fpe Diana 340 N-Tec have I heard the clink of a pellet striking the aluminum plate.

          -Y

      • Don’t know if they are still in business, but there used to be a company from Pennsylvania that made archery targets out of bundled window screens inside burlap sacks. Stopped arrows from compound bows. Don’t know how the rubber mulch would affect the tip of the arrow.

      • I remember in Scouts a looong time ago our archery teacher had a 3’x3’x6” wooden box filled with sand. To demonstrate the difference between an arrow and a bullet he would shoot each; fiberglass arrow from 40# recurve and an ’06 soft point, into the box. The ’06 would stop in the sand but the arrow point would penetrate through both sides of the box.

  4. BB,

    I was just thinking about a new pellet trap for shooting indoors this winter.

    Does the mulch-trap loose much of the fill or is it fairly clean to use? Guess that you could just keep on adding a new cardboard fronts as needed.

    Expect thar it should be fairly easy to separate the lead from the mulch for recycling into slingshot pellets and fishing sinkers. That would be a bonus!

    OFF TOPIC QUESTION
    I need to replace my barrel cleaning rod and wanted to get away from the multi-piece aluminum or brass ones. Seems that the two choices are carbon fiber and stainless steel. Which do you prefer/recommend?

    Hank

    • Hank,

      From what Yogi says, taping on a new cardboard face seems the easiest way to go. I have done it with other traps, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work here.

      As for the mulch, my experience is you don’t lose any. I haven’t cleaned a trap yet, so I can’t comment on that.

      Cleaning rod — definitely stainless steel.

      BB

      • I am a big fan of the rubber mulch trap. I have one small box that is about 5″ thick and about 8” x 8″ that has absorbed aver 750 shots from my low-power Umarex Embark .177 target rifle, without penetrating. That’s backed up by a FedEx box (a new size) which is about 8″ deep and about 9″x11″ big. Behind that is my original version, which is an entire bag of mulch sitting inside a box that 10 reams of copypaper comes in. The .177 pellets have all been shot more or less in the center of the first box and what happens is a cavern is created that you can put your finger into, but mulch eventually falls into that cavern, or you can open up the box periodically to mix things up.

        As far as the mess, the front of the box is a gaping, ragged hole the size of my fist. However, as needed, I flip the box on its back, fill in any gaps with a handful of new mulch or just mix it up so it re settles and tape a fresh piece of cardboard over the front and stand it back up until the next shooting session. Takes a minute. There is sometimes some crumbs that fall out, but it’s easy to sweep them up, and most fall into the lid of a case of copy paper that sits in front of the target.

        However, I now have a Beeman R9 in .22, and 10 shots blew through the 5 inches of rubber mulch and made holes in the FedEx box behind it. So for more powerful guns, you will definitely want a box like B.B.’s that is much thicker.

        B.B. I would suggest you put a slice or two of cardboard in your box to make two or more compartments filled with mulch. You will then easily see how far your pellets are penetrating by pulling those dividers out and checking for holes. Digging down through black colored mulch to find a pellet is not going to give you very scientific results.

        For my setup, the only sound is the initial smack of the pellet hitting fresh cardboard. Once you start getting tight groups, the trap is quiet. But I noticed that when the .22 pellets penetrated through the first box and into the second, the sound changed and I went to investigate. So now I think I like my setup even more because I have a way to know when it is time to redistribute the mulch.

        I also have a heavy duty plastic tote from Lowes that I filled with rubber mulch and cut a hole out of the lid. It has locking handles, so I can slip a few layers of cardboard under the hole and lock the lid down firmly on it. I can stand it on its side and shoot away. It is about 12″ deep and I can take it in or out. The hole is big enough to tape one of the 5 bullseye targets to it. The .22 R9 has not penetrated that one.

        I guess I’m a fan of the rubber mulch.

          • I thought of that because I intend to put a couple of shallower boxes back to back. When the front box starts to let pellets through, they will be stopped by the second box, and you will know when to redistribute mulch in the front box. Or, you could take a piece of metal that would be 100% certain to stop your projectiles and slide it in the back of the box behind all the mulch, The other idea I had is to make a box out of stacked shallower boxes filled with mulch, but with the front open, then hanging ballistic nylon curtains in the opening for an airsoft target trap. Sometimes airsoft penetrates cardboard, and sometimes not.

            Finally, B.B., remember that reader who used an aluminum box fell of melted lead as his silent pellet trap? That was an intriguing idea.

        • Correction: my experimental rubber mulch box was only 4″ deep, and 8″ x 8″. Behind that is a FedEx box that is about 6″ deep and 16″ x 16″. Here is the setup (note the lid to catch any shreds that might escape the front of the box):

    • Hank,

      Now is the time to think outside the box. 😉 For my airguns I have purchased this.

      /product/patchworm-multi-caliber-pocket-field-cleaning-kit-20-cal-50-cal?a=9112

      I also have the .177 version.

      I used to use an Otis cleaning kit similar to this for firearms. This one gives you the brush option and should work with any caliber brush or swab that will screw on the end.

      /product/umarex-airgun-cleaning-kit-177-cal-22-cal?a=5106

      I really like the flexible coated cable which is still stiff enough for push/pull. There are all kinds of Otis kits these days, from the little pocket kit to quite an elaborate collection.

    • Hank,

      Regarding Cleaning Rods, look at the Dewey Cleaning rods. They’re one piece, steel and have a nylon coating to protect rifling.

      They come in a variety of sizes but for airguns I’d suggest a .177 caliber in no longer than 36″. You can get a screw in adapter for the end of the rod that accepts all standard .22 caliber jags, loops, brushes, etc. One rod that can do it all if you get the adapter. I think I got mine from brownells years ago.

      • Please let me know how that goes Roamin!

        I have several pounds of lead in my ductseal trap, still trying to figure out an easy to separate the two! My first idea is to use my 6 ton log splitter to squeeze out the ductseal 🙂

        Hank

        • I don’t know what duct seal is made of, and I would not remember enough chemistry to suggest how to break it down. I know that it is generally not water soluble, but I don’t know if it melts at high temperature or if there is some solvent that would dissolve it. That’s why I am intrigued by Shootski’s wax trap medium as an alternative.

        • Hank, I took my experimental 4″ x 8″ x 8″ box of rubber mulch and dumped it out into a shallow box that used to contain small water bottles. I piled the mulch up with my hands in the center like I was tossing salad and most of the pellets went to the bottom of the pile and I could grab the largest chunks of mulch and put them aside. After doing this in several batches, I had emptied the box and was left with a pile of pellets, and fine bits of mulch, and the paper and cardboard “holes.” Here’s a picture of step 1:

          • That didn’t take long at all. But the next part took a bit of time. I tilted the shallow box so all the pellets and junk would roll to the side or the corner and gave it a bunch of small shakes and the pellets settled to the bottom and the mulch bits “floated” to the top.

          • The last stage was to roll the pellets gently from one side of the box to the other. The pellets would roll and leave bits of paper and mulch in their wake, which I vacuumed out with my vacuum cleaner set on low suction to lessen the chance of sucking up stray pellets. I managed to get three pellets, but I found them in the twists and turns of the Dyson. After about 5 minutes or so of “panning” for lead, I had a pretty clean pile, which turned out to be a full tin and then some, which correlates to the approx 760 pellets absorbed by the box. If a few pellets got away, that’s OK, we’ll get ’em next time. This is another reason to have the smallest box as the main target with a larger box of mulch as the secondary, all in front of your backstop. Hope this was helpful.

          • Roamin,

            Thanks for the details and the pictures!

            That went pretty much as I expected it would. It’s great to be able to reclaim all that lead!

            Two thoughts (only two, it’s pre-coffee so give me a break eh 😉 ). I would make a pair of sieves (wood frames with 1/2″ and 1/4″ screening) to strain out the mulch and then try “windowing” (pouring the pellets, cardboard pieces and small mulch fragments past an air flow – fan or vacuum) to separate out the pellets.

            Hey! We could design a pellet reclaiming machine… a hopper, 1/2″ sieve, 1/4″ sieve with an agitator and a fan LOL!

            …Or maybe not – two wooden frames and a windy day. What ever works eh? 🙂

            Thanks for sharing Roamin! I have around 30 pounds of pellets in stock. It would be great to be able to reclaim them.

            Hank

        • Hank, the blog did not have a “reply” link after your last note, so I scrolled up to your previous message. I think you mean “winnowing”…spellchecker probably got you. I thought of the screens but I didn’t have suitably sized screens, and I figured a lot of the mulch would get through along with the pellets. Also, your device sounds like it might work, but honestly, separating 90% of the mulch was super easy, and the rest wasn’t difficult. Seems like there will always be some crumbs of stuff clinging to the pellets anyway until they are melted down.

          Question for you and B.B. and others with experience melting lead: I shot a bunch of non-lead and lead pellets into the same trap. Should I separate them from each other before melting them down? If so, from now on, I will have a separate trap for non-lead vs. Lead pellets.

          • Roamin,

            Non-lead pellets are made from tin. Tin is an expensive but wonderful alloy for amalgamating with lead.

            What you NEVER want to do is drop and aluminum into the lead pot. You’ll ened up with lead that won’t melt again until it is extrememly hot. It will also be as hard as a church bell.

            BB

          • Roamin,

            I had the same lack of “reply” link.

            As far as lead/non-lead pellets you could (possibly) separate them at the melting stage. Lead melts at a low temperature so the non- lead or alloy should float on top to be skimmed off (like the steel clips when melting tire balance weights).

            Don’t know what the temperature delta is between the pure lead and the alloy pellets so they might just melt together and make a new alloy 🙂

            For my applications (slingshot pellets, fishing sinkers, jigs and lures) the lead composition is not critical. If you were casting bullets then different hardness (from batch to batch) could be a concern.

            The simplest solution might be to have separate target boxes for lead and non-lead pellets.

            Hank

    • Hank,
      I use the Dewey system for my .22 rifles, but being a person who uses things that are on hand, I use Sullivan yellow inner pushrods for remote control models, The rods are plastic tubes that accept 4-40 threaded rod threaded into them. A quarter inch of 4-40 rod acts well enough as a jag for .177 barrels. The plastic rod is completely safe for any barrel and will not scratch. If you need the rod to be stiffer, you can insert thin coat hanger steel into it, though I haven’t needed this yet. Hit up one of your friends who makes R/C models and see if you can strike up a bargain.

  5. BB,

    Sadly, Mrs. RR will not let me shoot inside. She will not even let me shoot my Bug-A-Salt inside. She does not want salt everywhere.

    I cannot complain much though. She will let me shoot off of the kitchen porch where I have a ceiling fan, 10 and 25 yard ranges and all of the feral soda cans I can kill. If I want to shoot longer ranges, I can go out to my shooting bench where I have 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 yard markers through the woods. I do not need to worry about anything I am shooting leaving the property, so I do not concern myself with pellet traps. I will definitely file this away for future reference though.

    Now, like Bill I am curious as to whether it will stop a crossbow bolt. A large backstop in case I miss my target would be nice.

  6. If you could get a box made from Coroplast (the plastic that campaign signs are made from) it would be weatherproof and might last longer. I am surprised at how long a campaign sign target holder will last.
    David Enoch

  8. Made trap like this a few years ago for our b.b. guns. I found that the Gamo pellet trap we had worked fine with pellets, but the sloped metal back definitely caused b.b.’s to ricochet.
    Worked great with the boys Red Ryders and PPK’s.
    But then we bought a couple of the Steel Storms. Took ’em down, sighted them in on single shot and then switched to the full auto setting.
    For a child (at that time the boys were about 10) on full auto they were less than controllable.
    Spent the afternoon picking about 100 b.b.’s out of the drywall, which did an excellent job of controlling ricochets!!
    Made another trap about 3x the size of the first 🙂

  9. B.B.,

    I’m not surprised most people don’t think they need a trap for BBs, but I have long thought that a special trap is absolutely necesary for steel BBs, otherwise “you’ll shoot yer eye out, kid”! Another reason I use a BB trap, especially if I’m shooting expensive Daisy Match Grade Avanti Precision Ground Shot is that if you have a neodymium magnet, you can easily fish them out of the shredded fill and resuse them multiple times. :^) (Frugality is the true mother of invention.)

    Michael

  10. B.B.,

    Off-topic for this installment but a subject discussed in some previous blogs — I stumbled upon this video contrasting the volume of a 2012 Harley-Dividson 103 with baffle-less mufflers and an iconic heavy metal guitar amplifier: “WHAT’s LOUDER – Harley Davidson v. Randall Amp with Marshall Stack”? PARENTAL LANGUAGE ADVISORY: BRIEF VULGAR WORDS AT 0:16 AND 3:39.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpMv55HJPDI

    Michael

  11. BB and Readership,

    Rubber mulch is OK but the cleaning out the Lead is a pita!

    I fill my traps with bulk purchased candle wax/candles remnants is my go to fill for pellets, BB’s, as well as in heavy steel bullet traps. Cleanup and retrieval of all the Lead is a simple low temperature melt and pour through a proper sized sieve. Wax gets poured right back into a trap. Plastic window screen purchased by the roll cut to cover face of trap works to tame almost all bounce back; you can use hung sheets that may even stop BB s and light pelets before they even get to the wax. I shoot up to 500+ grain Lead bullets into steel traps at 800-1,000 FPS and the wax really makes the trap quiet.

    Depending on what you are shooting will determine how many inches of wax you will need. The 500+ grain .458 take 8″ of semi soft wax blend (bee’s wax stays soft even when COLD) to reliably stop before they hit steel back of trap.

    I use a primary trap, a secondary trap, and a tertiary trap each of which will reliably stop my projectile all by itself.

    Each of us has a different situation we need to be smart and safe in our approach to projectile containment.

    shootski

    • I would be interested in seeing pictures. It sounds like a great alternative to duct seal. Totally recyclable, too. And I love the smell of beeswax candles.

      Does the wax burn off when you melt down the lead or do you wash them in boiling water to get the wax off the reclaimed pellets? I would imagine you could put some boiling water over a pot of waxy pellets then put the pot in the freezer, then skim the remaining wax off the top.

      Does the wax fly out the front of the trap on impact and as the trap fills up with lead?

      What does the trap look like? What contains the wax after you melt it and cool it back down?

      All of our candle stubs at Church get sent to a convent where they recycle them into new candles. Where do you get the material?

      • Roamin Greco,

        Most wax vaporizes in the 320+°F range my Lead Pot starts cooking Pb at 800+°F so the wax residue on the Lead projectile goes away quickly.
        The beauty of using wax is that you can pour melted wax into the back of almost any trap even a cardboard box trap; just like you can put duct seal into boxes. You can just remove the cardboard walls or peel the chunks of wax and pellets out/off if you are afraid that heating to 300+°F might start a cardboard fire. With the metal traps I have I use a heat gun or a torch to melt the wax out into another trap or a metal pail/can for later use.
        GOOGLE, BING (Your choice of search engines) “Bulk Recycled Candle Wax” Bee’s Wax is some of the most expensive wax but you don’t need much to soften Paraffin wax.

        Any metal trap will work that safely contains your choice of projectile and has room for the wax bed thickness needed to capture and silence the impact. If your trap has leak points even painters tape will contain the wax. I put it on the inside at the seams in the
        I don’t have a picture, not the most photogenic things, of one of my traps to share. I will try to remember to take some photographs next time I use one. A picture of any of my traps will just show an Steel AR500 black metal box with a black hole where the wax is.

        The PA .22 cal metal trap will work for most pellet guns but for powerful Big Bores there isn’t enough room for the layer of wax thickness needed to hush the impact.

        shootski

    • Shootski,

      I remember you mentioning wax backed pellet traps. Since then I collected quite a bit of parfin wax and a couple of bee’s wax toilet gasket rings.

      Guess that too soft and it will flow away too easily and too hard would break up. Can you describe the correct consistency for your “semi soft wax blend”.

      Thanks!
      Hank

      • Hank,

        “Guess that too soft and it will flow away too easily and too hard would break up.” Your guessing is spot on.

        The consistency (viscosity) that you need to get depends on the projectile’s Mass, Caliber, Form Factor (wad cutter, spire, hollow point, basically the Meplat) and Ke (Kinetic energy) at the wax face.
        For a starting point, at typical room temperature, the viscosity needs to be more like that wax toilet (Bee’s Wax) ring but much softer than a block of pure Paraffin.
        The consistency of Duct Seal is close for thin to medium depths (layer thickness) but for the 4-8+” depths it can be much softer since the penetration is much deeper and the wax will flow a bit to seal the projectile path.

        So in a nutshell you need to experiment a bit and find your most difficult projectile to contain. Remember the wax is not actually the total safety barrier; that is the function rest of the trap system construction. The wax certainly does some reduction of Ke but the main function is back splatter reduction/elimination and impact sound attenuation.

        I know you know most of this Hank. I wrote for the new to airgun ownership to understand that this is a serious matter; containing our projectiles effectively and safely.

        The key as you also know is one of energy management. Using a wax blend trap liner works for me since i cast my own and it makes the collection and recycling of Lead more efficient and effective.

        Lead is expensive and potentially toxic it deserves our respect and conservation.

        shootski

        • “Lead is expensive and potentially toxic it deserves our respect and conservation.”

          For sure!

          Shootski,

          I’m thinking about one of these wax-traps for indoor 10 meter shooting so power levels are relatively low.

          I used to have a pellet trap (sold it) I made with an angled heavy steel plate backed with sand. Used it for my FWB 124 (about 850 fps) and the impact sound was not bad. Just a bit of a “thwack”.

          To intercept the siding pellets and kill their energy I mounted a .093 thick shear-plate at an angle to the backing plate. The 45 degree splatology worked well. A cardboard target face stopped any lead fragments from exiting the trap.

          On my outdoor range I use 18″ of softwood (pine or cedar) log to catch the pellets. Works well and it is fairly easy to reclaim the lead as it is mostly clumped together.

          Hank

  12. OK! All of you folks that have been wondering whether a Williams FP-GR peep will fit an HW30S air rifle. The answer is yes. The FP-AG also fits, but if I am not mistaken the FP-GR will adjust higher.

    The TruGlo front globe sight also fits the HW30S well. It may be higher and this is why Hector recommended the FP-GR.

    For you folks who have been wanting to use clear iris sights in your HW front globe, you can use the FWB 18mm irises. They fit after a fashion and do work.

    • Love it, RidgeRunner. I’m interested to know how you like your new glowy thingy front sight. Do you thing the globe is very thick and would be too distracting or block too much for hunting or pesting? Also, does the Williams peep feel too far away from your eye? Is the aperature a bit larger than a target peep to compensate for that? And thanks for the note about the clear irises.

      • RG,

        The globe front sight gives you a big round sight to put on your target, with the glowy thing in the center. With the stock Williams peep you have a ghost ring rear sight that fits neatly around the front globe. This is on the HW30S,which I have not shot yet in this arrangement.

        It could really use an extension tube and a finer aperture to suit me, but I think this will work nicely for quick shots/plinking.

  13. Roamin Greco,

    We ran out of replies on our exchange HUMPF!

    Roamin Greco September 20, 2021 at 3:50 pm said;
    “Ridgerunner and Shootski, B.B.’s is under $10”

    That’s true Roamin! But RidgeRunner and I live in places where it rains a bit how many cardboard boxes hold up to shooting in the rain?

    shootski

  14. Just use a soda can. All I had ever used, other than zeroing purposes. My challange was how faraway I could shoot that can.

    Anyhow, this is a great blog in the name of inspiring in-home ranges. A $50 880 and this box, total of $60. All you need is a Daisy 5880 Shadow Kit from PA, comes with a scope, glasses, BBs and pellets. After discounts and coupons, she could be bought for $55. Plus $10 of this box, then you’re set for over thousand shots. The 880 in this kit doesn’t have the fiberoptic front sight either, another plus there; I’m guessing the fiberoptic front sight is going to take over all 880s, so time to buy before the inventories finish.

    I’ve come to the conclusion that 880 is the best cheapest air rifle in the market nowadays. Daisy should consider producing without the BBs, just as a single pellet shot. Still, perfect air rifle for in-home / basement fun, I think. 5 pumps, and it shoots 7 grain pellets at ~500fps.

    • It sure does not take much to keep us happy through the winter.

      I agree with Fish.

      But I would have one additional suggestion: make the inexpensive, single shot, pellet only, multi pump pneumatic with decent open sights (no fiber optic inserts) AND an adjustable length of pull, 10″ to 13″, for starting out the youngsters with adult supervision. Please, Crosman and Daisy? My son must have shorter than average arms. His head is too far back on the comb.

      • Like the Red Ryder, it can have two stock versions, one for adults and one for kids. The current LOP is a tad bit short for adults and long for kids.

        And I salute you for the fiber optic comment. No fiber optics please.
        PS: I better order that 880 kit, as possibly, it’ll be the last decent front sighted 880.

  15. Talking about in-home ranges, is it only me or anybody else also thinks a .177 Weihrauch springer with 500 FPS and same LOP as 30S would be a fantastic addition HWs. I bet it’ll sell.

  16. A question, what is the difference between 880 and Winchester 77XS – other than the scope? Is it the pump lever?

    I’m guessing 77 is a bit more powerful. I bet it soon will come with fiber optics!? Hmm? What else?

    • Fish-

      Daisy 880 vs Winchester 77 xs- internals and pump arm are the same.

      The 77xs has been discontinued (several years ago) and is replaced by the Winchester 1977xs. Major changes to the internals and a longer pump arm. These changes yield up to 1000 FPS speeds versus the 880s (and 77xs) 800 FPS.

      Unfortunately, many places still advertise the 77xs, even though it is discontinued. Check the description. If it says 1000 FPS, you’ll get the 1977xs. I love my 1977s despite a heavier trigger pull weight. A tube of silicone caulk in the butt stock helps the ‘heft’ and balance.

  19. With all the stuff we buy online this kind of stuff is perfect. We get big dog food bags delivered. They are only about 8 inches thick but I took that and filled it with cut to fit cardboard from all the other boxes that get shipped here. The result is a pretty light box that stops all the .177 I can shoot at it with a co2 pistol.

    I have a Marauder SAM on the way so we will see how it does with a .22 pcp and ~ 24fpe.

    Beauty is, once it’s done I can just dump out the lead and recycle the whole thing, rinse and repeat.

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