Going to try my hand at building a "Box o' Truth" type contraption.

[kevthebassman]

I was at work today doing some rather dull busywork, and got to thinking about shooting.  I've always enjoyed reading about the guys who do the The Box of Truth testing.  I started thinking about trying to do some similar testing using some of the 5 gallon buckets we had laying around, but we only had a couple of them so I couldn't have done much testing....

I've thought about some of the problems associated with these kinds of home-built ballistic testing devices;  one of the main ones being a dependence on milk jugs to hold the water.  When you're out of milk jugs, you're done testing.  Another problem is the wood frame being destroyed by errant rounds.

Then, I had an idea.  We've got lots of scrap lengths of 6 inch schedule 10 stainless steel pipe.  I'm going to cut this pipe into 12 inch (or maybe 6 inch, depending on how many decent sized pieces I can dig out of the scrap bin) lengths, then put a small ring about 1 inch from each end of the pipe.  I'm going to put a piece of thick plastic sheeting (the painter's dropcloth stuff) over each end and tie it down in the ring to prevent the water inside the pipe from leaking out. 

I'm going to use some 1X2 and build a cradle to lay these pipes end to end.

If this works like I think it will, these pipes will solve both of the above problems.  The pipes will act as a reusable water container, needing only cheap plastic sheeting replaced to be refilled and reused.  Since the pipes don't require a frame to hold them in place, you won't have to worry about the occasional errant bullet destroying the entire operation.  If a bullet hits a pipe, simply discard it and replace with an extra.  If a bullet hits the cradle, you'll be out of operation for the day, but since it's no more complicated than a sawhorse and only built of cheap 1X2, it's not going to require great effort to repair.

Any thoughts? 

[beemanbeme]

I've also read about a deal where the guy built a three sided trough and used water filled plastic freezer bags.  Wouldn't match the "excitment" of the milk jugs however. Especially if you add a little red food colouring to the water.

[kevthebassman]

BTW,,,I should have mentioned instead of water test I have used 5 gallon pail test, good for many shots, and filled with clean dry sand.. I can check penetration and bullet intergrity/shape at the same time as we can most often find the bullet. A little duck tape and magic marker is all you need for an afternoon of tests.

But back to water tests....wouldn't it be easier to construct a frame that could hold a series of 4, 5, or 6 quart plastic bags filled with water, and no outside chance of a richochet from hitting pipes?   And easier too....just a couple of hundred plastic bags.


..TM7

The sand bucket doesn't sound like a bad idea for checking how a bullet holds together.  A frame with plastics bags wouldn't be a bad idea, just a bit pricey to build and plastic freezer bags aren't as cheap to replace as painter's plastic.  As is, the only thing I'll be paying for is the 1X2 for the cradle and plastic sheeting.

I've also decided to use spray on rubber coating around the end of the pipe instead of putting a ring in it on the lathe.  A hose clamp will hold the plastic down.

I hadn't thought about ricochet.  The pipe is only schedule 10, so it's not overly thick-walled.  Considering that I'll be shooting at it straight-on, I think that the probability of a ricochet is low with anything but a rimfire, but if one were to happen, the range where I shoot has safety berms on three sides.  Still, I think I'll skip shooting rimfire at it.