with a ballistic rubber curtain through which the bullet passes and is then stopped by a metal plate. The rubber curtains help reduce ricochet or bounce-back A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue, or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice, or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by military or law enforcement agencies, though the majority of ranges are privately owned by civilians and sporting clubs and cater mostly to recreational shooters. Eac Th…

initial impact, and bullets are expected to disintegrate upon impacting vertical plates to prevent dangerous backward ricochets. Shooter protection for firing A bullet trap (or pellet trap when used specifically for air guns) is a device to stop and collect projectiles fired at a shooting range to prevent overpenetrations and stray shots. Bullet traps typically use friction, impact or gradual deceleration to stop bullets. They can function as a backstop by themselves or be part of a larger backstop, e.g. placed in front of a thick rubber wall or a bay Impact-type bullet traps typically use vertical or angled 500 Brinell scale steel plate at least 3⁄8 in (9.5 mm) thick for centrefire cartridges. Plate thickness of 0.16–0.24 inches (4–6 mm) may be adequate for rimfire ammunition. Sloping plates deflect bullets downward into sand, water or some other capture material; but the plate angle is often steep enough to largely disintegrate the bullet upon initial impact, and bullets are expected to disintegrate upon impacting vertical plates to prevent dangerous backward ricochets. Shooter protection for firing positions within 25 metres (82 ft) of the impact plate may require an anti-splash curtain of self-healing material hung in front of the plate to contain any fragments of “back splash” as well as dust. Rifle bullets may be partially melted by the energy of bullet impact. The spray of molten metal may solidify as dust, and soft lead bullets often leave a smear of lead upon impacting the steel plate. Smeared metal may be converted to additional airborne dust by subsequent bullet impact. The popularity of vertical plate installations for indoor ranges is largely down to their minimal footprint compared with sand, granular or helical bullet traps and can consume less than 1 foot (30 cm) of a room's available length—comprising the thickness of the steel plate, the thickness of the anti-splash curtain and 10 to 11 inches of air gap between. However, sloping steel plates will tend to wear less quickly—particularly on precision target ranges where fixed targets result in fire being concentrated into small areas. In such cases, small sloping plates or sacrificial vertical wear plates may be placed behind the targets as the primary bullet trap, whilst a large vertical plate covers the remainder of the wall as the defence zone to catch errant shots. The small plates can be easily changed as frequently as necessary whilst the main back wall will need little maintenance from occasional scattered fire.