Want to have a bullet stop for inside my home. Something I probably should have done a long time ago.

How much sand would be needed for typical handgun calibers? Is 5-6 inches in a gallon bucket sufficient?

Appreciate your ideas.

You mean like a clearing station? Or like I’m gonna make a range in my basement?

Cause in 1. A five gallon bucket of sand will stop a round if the gun is not cleared properly.

But in number 2s scenario, you might want to clear it thru the wife before you put three layers of sand bags against the far wall. Just saying.

quote:

But in number 2s scenario, you might want to clear it thru the wife before you put three layers of sand bags against the far wall. Just saying.

Guys who ask questions like these are NOT married or are divorced. Just kidding!

Just a clearing station, should have been more explicit.

Thanks for the reply.

I studied this when our range made a silly rule about misfires. 5-6" is marginal. There is actually lots of data due to the military building stuff using sand bags to protect against incoming rounds. But in any case I'd use a 5gal bucket and get about 12". You can get some sense of it by one of my favorite websites...
https://www.theboxotruth.com/t...7-the-sands-o-truth/

Thanks for the reply and the interesting link, hrcjon.

Go outside and try it.

Bob

Something like this?

http://www.safedirection.com/safe-direction.html Ouch... not cheap, a lot more money than sand.

I'd worry a gallon can was too narrow.

How about a 2 or 2.5 gallon bucket with a plate at the bottom, some sand over that?

quote:

Originally posted by Redhookbklyn:
Is 5-6 inches in a gallon bucket sufficient?

Probably for most handgun cartridges, but the prudent thing to do is to test it.

I once did part of a crime reenactment by firing a revolver indoors and 5 inches of sand caught the bullet with no problem. That was, however, a low-powered 148 grain 38 Special wadcutter from a 4 inch barrel. For “knockdown” power demonstrations I have collected a few boxes that give me about 6.5 inches of sandy gravel to shoot into. One of those will handily stop a 45 ACP bullet from a P220, but a 12 gauge slug will go through.

Have you considered the shredded rubber mulch instead of sand?
I have an old standup propane tank, approx 5' tall & 30" dia, that I cut off the top. I then mounted it horizontally on an old small boat trailer, welded in a slanted shelf (to help defect bullets down & hold some rubber up higher) and poured in about 2 or 3 bags of the rubber mulch.
I use it mainly to test reloads but have done plinking also. .22 thru .44 mag and no apparent signs of bullets being able to dent the tank even once.


Edit to add:My point is that the shredded rubber seems to be very effective at stopping power.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gjgalligan,

sand is heavy,
my cop neighbor put 4-5 inches of sand , each in four ,five gallon buckets,
and set it in his hallway closet with saran wrap over the top.

he lived on the second floor

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
sand is heavy,
my cop neighbor put 4-5 inches of sand , each in four ,five gallon buckets,
and set it in his hallway closet with saran wrap over the top.

he lived on the second floor

why did he do this ?

----------------------------

I guess to clear guns , without worrying the about shooting the guy down stairs

I've long thought about filling a 5 ga. bucket with sand and creating a cradle for it to bring it a bit down from vertical to give me a safe place to aim when chambering a round when (re)loading a handgun or my AR.

The Army told us that you need 18" of packed earth to stop rifle small arms fire. I have a bucked with about 14" of kitty litter that I use to function test 22lr, but nothing more.

quote:

I've long thought about filling a 5 ga. bucket with sand

just curious , how much does a five gallon bucket weigh when it is 3/4 full of sand ?

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:
The Army told us that you need 18" of packed earth to stop rifle small arms fire.

I have always wondered about such figures. I have some old Army engineer data books that provide the capability of other materials to stop various projectiles and they always seemed very high. I suspect that they are based on what’s absolutely, positively necessary to stop sustained fire, not just a single shot.

Another of my tests was to fire a 175 grain 7mm Remington Magnum bullet into a printer box of sandy gravel. It was an expanding bullet and penetrated no more than about 6 inches. An FMJ bullet might have penetrated farther, but probably not too much.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:

quote:

I've long thought about filling a 5 ga. bucket with sand

just curious , how much does a five gallon bucket weigh when it is 3/4 full of sand ?

One cubic foot of sand weighs approx 100#.

According to the below calculator, 5 gallons of dry beach sand weighs about 64 pounds. Three-quarters would be 3.75 gallons, or about 48 pounds.

https://www.traditionaloven.co...d-beach-sand-lb.html

thats why the neighbor used four buckets ( one inside the other )

it was much easier to haul the four up