Tips on catching a rifle bullet to examine

Ink

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I am heading to the range for a test. I don't wanna have to dig a bullet out of the dirt and wonder if it's mine. Any tips? Wood? Rubber? How do i catch a 223 bullet? Would a mini steel trap ruin the bullet? I am thinking about bringing a big chunk of wood like 6x6 or 8x8.
 
Fill a few sandbags and just shoot them, and empty the last sandbag that has a hole in one side and not the other.

-Mike
 
Water may or may not work.... it tends to cause the bullets to do weird things.

I mean the absolute best way, is one of those forensic snail traps that Savage makes, but not everyone has one of those in their basement. [rofl]

-Mike
 
Shooting a big thick stack of water soaked old catalogs is a cheap and easy way to check bullet performance......
 
unload a mag into the sky, then check your neighbor's sun roofs on their outdoor cars in the morning. Find the one with a hole and check the insides of the car.


I kid. But this did happen to me in college in Flint, MI. Some thug's celebratory ForTay found my car's sunroof one night and the bullet was perfectly preserved in my seat.
 
Water jugs may work. Just throw some denim or thick clothing in them. I've seen that stop a few rounds. Not sure what a .223 would look like after the fact but it's worth a shot. That or shoot an old tree. I've shot .223 into thick trees and they've held them. 7.62x39... not so much.
 
I wouldn't use anything that could deform the bullet (steel... possibly wood), or anything that will make it a PITA to recover (digging the bullet out of the wood).

I'd go with the sandbag suggestion, or if using jugs of water, freeze them before hand.
 
Depending on where you are in the winter you can also use snow banks..... Some of the bullets are amazingly intact when recovered in the spring after being shot into deep snow.....
 
Dont try to catch it in your hand or use a net, both will fail miserably.

Get a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with rubber bouncy balls out of the gumball machine, shoot into it.
 
cardboard box filled with rubber landscape mulch. Pick a long skinny box and shoot the skinny end to use less material.
 
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