Thread: Building a test fire tube / bullet trap

Now that I am doing more gunsmithing work, I am finding myself with the need of a test tube for function testing rifles and also reloads without having to make a trip to the range. I want to be able to fire anything up to a 338LM and have it be safe.

I cant find much info online about these, so have made up a plan based on what little I could find.

My idea is to use a length of 200x200x9 square hollow section as the body, 1200-1400mm long. Weld a 20mm thick plate to the bottom. Then drop a layer of conveyor belting to the bottom with a piece of AR500 plate sitting on top of that. Then fill with about 600mm of sand (or rubber mulch, but I cant find a source), and have another layer or two of conveyor belting sitting on top of that to reduce the sand flying everywhere and sandblasting barrels. The idea is that if anything makes it through the sand, it will hit the AR500 plate, which has some cushion due to the conveyor belt under it. It would have about 500-600mm of free space before the sand for the muzzle to be placed and have room for a suppressor. The top lid would be a heavy rubber layer that would seal tightly around the barrel, with a steel door with a cutout to allow barrels through that can latch down. The whole thing would likely be wrapped in carpet or something to reduce the ring.

The idea is to have it as quiet as possible so I dont piss off the Mrs or the neighbors. I am on the outskirts of town, but still have close neighbors and the workshop is right beside the house.

Have any of our resident Gunsmiths (or anyone else) build one themselves and have any recommendations? I have taken a guess at what will work, but haven't dealt with this type of thing before, so its a fairly uneducated guess.