DIY Airsoft Trap

Airsoft is all about hitting your target, and in order to improve to the point where you hit more than you miss, you’ll have to practice with a bit of target shooting. Choosing a good location for a target requires more than the room to shoot, it also helps to have a target box that traps your BBs for reuse or easy disposal. Creating a DIY trap box can usually be completed in under an hour with commonly available materials, allowing you to get right to improving your shooting skill.

  1. Target box construction

    • Construct a target box that’s strong enough to prevent the Airsoft BBs from flying through. You can use a wooden cabinet shell, plastic container or even a cardboard box with reinforced sides and rear for your target box. Make the target box large enough to hold your target of choice, with room to spare beneath the target to place a lip on the box to prevent the trapped BBs from falling out. The target can be placed on the front of the target box by taping it into place or by placing clips on the box front and holding the target in place that way.

      When reinforcing the target box, use a material strong enough to resist penetration by the BBs but soft enough to absorb some of the force of the projectiles; this will slow the BBs enough to prevent them from escaping the box. Material such as extruded foam, bubble wrap or layered newspaper should be sufficient as a BB stop. Layer the material on all inner surfaces of the trap box so that the projectile is slowed regardless of the angle at which it hits your box.

      Set the box depth according to the distance from the shooting line the box is placed. The closer the shooting line, the more force from the projectiles when they hit, so you’ll need greater depth to the target box to prevent the projectiles from ricocheting out. Another ricochet preventative is to angle the inside of the box. Place boards or create the reinforcement material angled from the front of the trap box opening to the rear, angling towards the center of the box from all sides. This will keep projectiles from escaping in a direct ricochet towards you as well as guide the BBs towards the bottom front of the box, where the lip of the box will hold the BBs in place. The lip should be several inches in height and span the entire width of the bottom of the box. The bottom angled piece should only extend midway along the bottom, attached to the rear of the box by a hinge so that it can be lifted from the trap box it will be set into.

    Trap box

    • Create the trap box from an open box large enough to set inside the bottom of the target box. The height of the trap should be lower than that of the front lip of the target box. You should set the trap box inside the bottom of the target box, lifting the lower box angle board and placing the hinged board into the trap box. When BBs are shot into the target box they will hit the reinforcing materials, slowing and rolling down the bottom angled board into the trap box. When you’ve finished shooting, all you need do is lift the hinge and remove the trap box, recovering the BBs. Place the trap box back into the target box for further use.