| Background: |
Geeks With Guns is a Chicagoland based
Airsoft skirmish team. The 2 founders have long been interested
in Practical Pistol shooting using GBBs. Early last year they
made a very crude practical range in a 2 car garage, but shier
original target traps were crude at best and very flimsy. Then
mid summer this year, they conceived, designed and built the
following target traps. They are inexpensive and simple to build,
with materials that can be found at any home improvement store.
The Bill of Materials listed below will give you enough material
to build 5 complete target traps. |
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| Bill of Materials: |
The following materials were purchased
at a home improvement store called Home Depot , but they should
be able to be found at any home improvement store. |
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5 moving boxes, 18X18X24 |
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1 roll of Duct Tape |
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1 sheet of Owens Corning Extruded
Polystyrene Insulating Foam (4X8 foot) |
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Hot glue sticks |
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1 can of fast drying flat black or
OD spraypaint (optional) |
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Approximate cost of the above
materials: less than $30 |
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| Required Tools: |
Utility knife |
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Hot glue gun |
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A yard stick |
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| Material Preparation: |
Using the yard stick, mark off five
18" by 4' sections on the foam board. Using the utility
knife and the yard stick as a straight edge, cut the sheet into
these 18" X 4' sections. You will have a 6" by 4'
section left, don't discard it. When cutting the foam, you can
cut through one side, then fold the piece up to snap it through
the rest of the way. The clear mylar film that is covering each
side, will still be attached on the back side, use the utility
knife to score it. Make sure the Mylar film does not get removed,
this will be important in the trap's effectiveness. |
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Now out of each of the 18" X
4' pieces, measure out and cut a 18" X 20" and an
18" X 28" section. This should give you five 18X20
and five 18X28 pieces. |
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Now using the extra piece,
cut out five 18"X3" pieces. |
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Assemble the moving boxes using the
duct tape. Leave one end open, and cut ONE flap off the top
of the box. |
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| Assembly: |
Using the hot glue gun, glue the 18x20 piece of foam to the
inside of the box, on the side with the cut flap, making sure
that the top edge of the foam is at least 1/8" lower
than the top edge of the box. This is the secondary trap,
and the back of the box.
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Fold the front flap in, then fold the 2 side flaps over that.
Use the duct tape to seal the top of the box. Put a strip
of tape across the front AND back, and one down the middle
(optional)
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On top of the box, measure and mark
a line 4 inches in front of the back of the box, all the way
across. Using the utility knife, cut a slot at that line, make
the slot just wide enough so that the 18X28 sheet (the Primary
Trap) can slide into the box.
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Mark out a rectangle in the center of the front face of the
box. The hole should be approximately 11" X 18"
or just smaller than the paper targets you will be using.
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Take the 18X3 foam piece and glue
it to the inside of the front of the box, just above the top
of the hole. This will provide a backing to hold push pins or
small nails to hold the paper targets to the front of the box.
(I'm sorry I don't have a picture of this part) |
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Using a push pin or a nail, attach
your paper target to the front of the box and insert the removable
piece of foam till it hits the bottom inside the box.
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Now you can opt to paint your trap(s)
using spray paint. If making all 5 traps, 1 can of spray paint
can paint the front and more than half of both sides for each. |
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| Finished
Product: |
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| Performance: |
When shooting with Airsoft guns at less than 350 fps, the
first layer of foam will usually trap the bb by itself. Below
are picture of the entrance and exit sides (respectively)
of the removable foam trap.
Notice that the mylar film has just stopped the bb's just
before exiting. This may not happen when shooting a gun over
350 fps. That is what the permanent foam (secondary trap)
is for. Using guns under 350 the secondary foam will usually
not be damaged
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High FPS guns can be used. We have
tested this trap design using a 550 fps sniper rifle. It managed
to stop each shot just as they exited the secondary trap into
the cardboard back. |
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Ricochets are practically Nil until
enough bbs get trapped and the Primary Trap is beginning to
wear out. The bbs will begin to ricochet off of trapped bbs.
However if you always use fresh targets of the right size, the
target paper itself will prevent these ricochets from coming
back out of the trap. |
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Replacement of the Primary Trap layers
will have to be done occasionally, as a hole gets cut through
it. During our testing session. It was found that the primary
trap could withstand approximately 1000 focused full auto shots
before it ripped a hole through the Primary Trap. Based on this
test, it is recommended that you do not use these traps for
extensive full auto shooting. It was after all designed for
GBB competition. |
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The permanent Secondary Trap layer
will rarely need replacement/bolstering, as long as you keep
up with replacement of the Primary Layer. If you forget to check
and replace the Primary Layer, and the Secondary gets worn out,
you can either try to remove and replace, or just add a new
Secondary layer over the old one. |
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The 4X8 foam sheets are fairly inexpensive,
so getting replacement sheets wont set you back much. Alternatively,
if you only intend to make one target trap, you will have plenty
of leftover foam to replace the Primary Trap. |
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