Webbing material

[bladeracer]

One of our air pistol ranges has a backing "fabric" that we'd like to put on the other range, but we don't know what it is or where to get it. Considering how many decades it's been up there, and is still in perfect condition it seems made for the job of bouncing pellets away.

To my eye and feel it seems to be very similar to the webbing material used for the old WW1/WW2 British/Aussie webbing and packs. Except that it's a large sheet, probably two-meters wide. I was thinking maybe it was donated by one of our early members who may have procured it from military stores long, long ago. Anybody come across such a thing before?

[Wapiti]

Would the thick fibreglass woven welding blankets people can buy in different sizes be similar, if what you are looking for is unavailable?
Some a quite thick, and very strong. they're made for being able to lean on preheated steel fabrications so welders don't get burned, and also to keep heat in too. Not pellets... but there's an experiment.

[bladeracer]

Would the thick fibreglass woven welding blankets people can buy in different sizes be similar, if what you are looking for is unavailable?
Some a quite thick, and very strong. they're made for being able to lean on preheated steel fabrications so welders don't get burned, and also to keep heat in too. Not pellets... but there's an experiment.

Thanks for the idea. Not a fan of fibreglass generally, and wouldn't like the ranges filled with glass fibres. But it's an idea. I'll let the committee discuss it

[Wapiti]

Goog point BR, the fibres would be broken by the pellets for sure. Like kevlar vests I suppose, they are covered by layers of other materials to keep the fibres covered aren't they?

I saw a range on YouTube where the backstop was thick rubber sheet, the inner-belted kind, angled a little and leading into rows of interlocking tyres, a few tyres thick overlapping the gaps in between. All the bullets from the military rifles they were using were slowed and trapped by the faces of the tyres that were full of steel belts. By the time any bullet fragments reached the concrete back wall the FMJ,s they were using were trapped by an angled wall also.
Looked bloody simple.
The thick sheet in front stopped any remaining fragments from coming back, but the energy was already spent.

[bladeracer]

Goog point BR, the fibres would be broken by the pellets for sure. Like kevlar vests I suppose, they are covered by layers of other materials to keep the fibres covered aren't they?

I saw a range on YouTube where the backstop was thick rubber sheet, the inner-belted kind, angled a little and leading into rows of interlocking tyres, a few tyres thick overlapping the gaps in between. All the bullets from the military rifles they were using were slowed and trapped by the faces of the tyres that were full of steel belts. By the time any bullet fragments reached the concrete back wall the FMJ,s they were using were trapped by an angled wall also.
Looked bloody simple.
The thick sheet in front stopped any remaining fragments from coming back, but the energy was already spent.

Conveyor belt rubber is definitely my ideal. And because we're surrounded by coal mines there's plenty of rubber around. It does cost money and is heavy to work with, but it does away with the toxic lead dust as the bullets remain intact and can be recovered from the ground. I found that bullets of .35-cal and bigger are not so self-healing as smaller stuff. The big bullets punched chunks out of the rubber so it would eventually need replacing, particularly the sheets behind ISSF targets as they would get hammered, but that wouldn't be a huge maintenance issue, especially compared to the work involved in removing toxic soil from lead dust.

The SAS 360-degree kill house in Perth is rubber-lined, and I was told last week of a range here in Melbourne that is built similarly.