Catching lead from a BP revolver

[Al Cummins]

I had a friend of mine give me what he called pancakes, which are used in pipe fitting...anyway I thought they would make perfect gongs so we hung one in a tree and went at it. These things ring like a bell and are a ball to shoot, so after a couple of days of shooting we got to looking around and found several flattened balls laying around so I thought if we had something around the gong to catch the lead...maybe...so I bored a couple of holes and hung the gong inside the tire and it works like a charm. The stills are with a smaller gong inside which did not work as well.

http://youtu.be/vh-7-_GhcxE
Cheap way to save some lead, try it!

 

[Coot]

Neat! :thumbsup:

 

[necchi]

Kinda gotta be carefull with any metal gaong.
The lead ball doesn't stay as one peice, I've seen chards of lead spray sideways with plenty of velocity 20yrds to the side.
And there's plenty of videos out there with projectiles bouncing straight back.

My point is if the gong get's off at just a little angle, lead can be sent off in that angle.
Keep it safe man. :wink:

A peice of steel set at a 40 degree angle forces the majority of lead straight down.

 

[Al Cummins]

I just did a test, now mind you I had my drop in front of the target (the whole idea of the tire is to catch the lead coming off the gong in every direction)covering 9 feet wide and 20 feet out. This was to test to see if the tire or gong was sending lead out the front. I shot both and the only lead in front was directly below the tire(Flattened), all the balls shot into the tire went through and were inside the tire (mostly undamaged) With the weight of the gong(swinging)absorbing much of the energy.... the balls simply fall into the tire.
Edit, sorry load was 20 grains of powder from a .36 Colt and .36 Remmie at 25 yards.

 

[necchi]

Good test! :grin:

 

[Matt85]

a good idea, will have to try this in the future.

 

[Ray-Vigo]

Nice pictures- I actually did something very similar 2 weeks ago. I took an Uberti Colt Navy and shot a swinging steel plate at 25 yards. I shot .380 ball over a wad and 20 grains of FFF Goex. My results were almost the same as yours. I found shards underneath the target, but mine tended to be more fragmented. There was no indication of ricochets coming back my way, but I did notice that not all the lead was accounted for at the end.

I would suggest you keep the tire portion if it's catching stuff. I will say I probably had a couple minor ricochets since I could not account for all the lead (throwing in the missed shots too). Cowboy action shooters usually use a down-angled target (the Evil Roy model I think is a popular one) that just sends the bouncers into the ground. I actually like shooting steel more than paper for plinking, since you know you have your hit and don't worry so much about perfecting a grouping.

 

[Al Cummins]

Thanks Ray! After shooting it for a bit Ive found it doesnt catch them all but the majority of them will be in the tire or right below it. I am also going to bore a couple of holes at say 4 and 8 and attach something to keep it from rotating. You mentioned Evil Roy, I do like that style myself, Ive got some old springs off a rock rake I was thinking about doing something similar and just build a big sand pit to scatter them out in, that way youre not stuck in one spot.

 

[Gatofeo]

I created a design to catch cap and ball revolver projectiles about a dozen years ago. Cheap to make, and catches all the ball.
Took a large, cardboard box made for apples. The kind with the bottom portion that fits completely within the top portion.
Laid the bottom d
own and put a piece of 1/16" scrap steel, cut to fit inside the inner box, on the bottom. Added 2 or 3 inches of newspaper.
Then I put in a piece of 3/4" plywood in top of the newspaper, cut to fit just inside the innner box.
Alternated layers of newsapaper and 3/4" plywood. The final, top layer (facing the bullets) was another piece of plywood.
Throughout the process, as I'd add a layer of plywood, I'd stand on it to compress the newspaper.
When it could hold no more and was level with the top of the innner box, I slipped the top over the filled bottom and duct-taped the cover all the way around.
Then, I made three wraps of duct tape completely around the box, securing the top to the slip-bottom.
The 1/16" steel plate at the very rear is extra insurance. I've never found a dent in it.
It will take pounds of .44 and .36 balls and conical bullets from my guns, and .38 wadcutters as well.
Most projectiles are stopped in the first half.
The downside is that it weighs close to 30 pounds, and can't be left outside in the rain.
I stand it up in a folding nylon chair for a little height.
After about 300 shots, it requires a little patching on the front with duct tape. Hundreds or balls are later recovered from it, and remelted into new balls.
I wouldn't trust it to stop rifle balls, but pistols and their low velocity are stopped fine.