I am after a largish quantity of Plumbers Mait type material probably in the region of 20kgs. It needs to have the same sort of properties, high density, sticky, stays plastic and doesn't dry out or flow too much.
Can you buy the stuff in bulk rather than the tubs?
What is Mait anyway? Has anyone an alternative or recipe for an equivalent? Biggest I have seen is 1.5 kg tub, and, of course, cheaper would be excellent!
Or perhaps know someone who needs a whole lot of white plastic tubs marked Evostik?. Flowerpots??
OK as a backing for a Air rifle pellet trap. Angled steel plates are very noisy when the pellet strikes, I find wadding systems are messy and can easily get shot out. A 1-2 cm layer of Mait will stop and retain pellets with a dull thump, even a .22 at the legal power limit. I have tested this successfully with a small quantity in a plastic lunchbox and it is very effective. I would like to have this over the backstop to catch fliers, as well as behind a target, so i need more than 1 tub.
I have heard in the US that a product known as duct sealent is commonly used for this purpose, but have not been able to source it over here.
I am of course building this myself, so (just about) qualifies in U.K.Diy :-)
Lol, that'll be when I had an air rifle not too long ago and while setting it up the pellets went through the paper target, the cardboard sheet, the polystyrene block, cardboard box, and ended up inside my empty aluminium tool case after going through the side and the internal padding. ;-)
Further to the Plasticine idea, I want to cover a fair area so I will need quite a bit... I find a product from suppliers of GRP materials, I can get 10kg delivered at 3.20 a kg. Have to try a sample of the cheap shop route you suggest v this stuff. I see some very cheap kids plasticine on the web from China. Perhaps I should order a bulk pack...
Should be OK if they're thick enough, shouldn't they?
What would they use on an indoor range at your club, if you are a member of such? I could possibly find out if you aren't...
You could try ordinary linseed oil putty, about L.1/Kg, you can get it in 5Kg tubs. If it's too solid, mix in raw linseed oil. It will harden eventually, but will take ages!
That's another thing to use, yes. If it's only to stop the sound of the pinging against metal, then any cushion from an old chair or sofa would probably do. You're thinking to scientifically.
Needs to be repairable. Assuming you're hitting the thing, backstops take a pounding in the middle. You need to fix this, because lead on lead will ricochet !
I have seen metal plates fronte by a rubber(neoprene like) sheet hung in front.good to prevent backscatter but very noisy. Club uses a large pile of sand - quiet but large and a bit messy for home use. I have not tried loft insulation except in it's unrolled form, pellet will penetrate a long way before stopping. Insulation over a plate might work, to reduce the noise, however I find the problem with all the absorbers, wadded paper etc is that they are bulky and get shot out in a small area and can become messy. The putty approach is very quiet and slim.
Will see if I can get hold of a bit of linseed putty for a test.
OK, I did a couple of trials. As the weather was poor it was indoors with a co3 beretta fs92, using wadcutter pellets of a variety of makes.
I had a 500g lump of modellers plasticine in bright yellow!, which is shaped like a small brick. It seemed very solid and hard. I also had some fresh Sealcrete builders general purpose putty. Shot at both from point blank and about 8 yards in the garage. Temperature around
8 c.
I was amazed at the penetration into the plasticine. I had been thinking that a 1 cm layer would be sufficent to stop a pellet, but this was not the case. It took about 4 cm to do so. Interestingly the hole appeared to close up somewhat after the pellet had passed, so there must be some sort of elasticrecovery going on. Considering the thickness of the brick of plasticine I am sure no flat pellets from a pistol would go all the way through, but I have not tested pointed pellets, or used a 12 ft lb rifle. The plasticine performed much worse than the Plumbers Mait, which would only need a 1 cm layer, and the pellest were effectivly on the surface and could be picked off.
As I want to do the closer range pistol work as well as longer ranges, I am not confident that the thickness required in plasticine to stop a flat pellet at 8 yards is economic at all. also it would turn out very heavy.
The putty was better. First comment was that although it was a lot less dense than the plasticine, it was fresh and quite sticky. To avoid a mess I made up an equivalent brick sive to the plasticine wrapped in cling film. This was a lot better, stopping pellets in a couple of cm, I think it is the stickyness that does it. I also had fired directly into the tub of putty without the cling film with the same result.
I will test further outside with the rifles, pointed pells, but at present it seems the putty is better. A layer of cling film would stop the surface drying, I will let a bit dry and see if it makes a difference. Plumbers Mait seemed to be better again, with little real penetration, but is more expensive.
so far it looks like the putty/mait for a silent trap, no backscatter and it would also be weather resistant! Warm weather performance in the summer might also be interesting.
Eric: The stuff you want is call "duct seal" generically, but it is found in the electrical aisle at a hardware store, not the plumbers. Also may be found in the Air Conditioning section. It is a grey, oil-based putty used to seal electrical cable inlets on meter boxes from the weather. Also is formed into a bead and laid between sheet metal seams on Air conditioning ducts, since it stays pliable hot or cold. It is sold in about 2 lb (or 1k) bricks and can be molded into your backstop. I bought a whole case for US $20 and made two pellet traps out of some old stereo speaker boxes found at a junk shop for $5 a pair.
Thanks, I am aware of this, however to date I have not been able to find the equivalent here in the UK. Hence my search for the alternative. However, if anyone knows different, please shout!
Have you tried butyl putty? It's the stuff that double gaziers (used to?) use. You can thicken ordinary putty with cement or any powder such as talc or even sand. Why not just glue a layer of vinyl over the steel?
It would seem that sticky is more effective than density alone. How about a mixture of lard and clay?
I bought some "plumbers mait" from B&Q recently, I paid near nigh a fiver for approximately a litre size tub - very good it is too. If you can't get it from B&Q, then it would be worth trying Wickes or any good plumb shop?
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