Crosman 0853 Collapsible Pellet Target Trap,Black

When I was a kid, I had the luxury of going out to neighboring farmland to practice target shooting with my grandfathers air rifle. As an adult, I live in a populated residential area close to a busy street, so plinking out in the yard with an air rifle is a little frowned upon. However, I still have my grandfather's Crosman air rifle and want to pass on the joy and safety of shooting and a respect for guns to my children. My 10 year old son has been dying to learn how to shoot, so I turned to Amazon to find a safe solution for shooting a pellet gun in our unfinished basement. This Crosman collapsible pellet trap seemed to have really good reviews, so I took a shot (pun intended) and bought it for him as a Christmas present. We assembled it in about 10 minutes and set it up about 25ft away in our basement and started plinking away. We give the old Crosman about three pumps and use .177 wadcutter pellets and this thing works like a charm. The assortment of targets that it comes with is great; my son likes the zombie targets in particular. We've put a hundred pellets or so into it so far and it's holding up great. The curtains perform their intended function of stopping the pellets. It's not intended for use with bb's and I probably would not use pointed pellets with it either (at least indoors). I ensure that my son wears eye protection, and we put a bunch of big pillows around the target in the event of a stray pellet. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for target practice indoors or out.

All though it says "on the box" not to be used with BBs it works great with them. The curtains act as a buffer between the metal back plate the cardboard. If you do not use the curtains I would not shot BBs at it. The cardboard which will need to be replaced after a lot of use may not stop BBs from coming back out. The whole purpose I can see for the cardboard is it acts as the BB/pellet trap part of the system other than that it is just a more solid backing to the targets. If you do hit the top and bottom edges they will break as mine after two uses have chunks taken out and what ever you are shooting, BBs or pellets may ricochet back. My biggest issue is in the target attachment pins. They are plastic and I have already shattered one and you only get 4. I'm sure they are easily replace but I just used something I found lying around and it works fine. I give 4 stars due to the fact you only get 4 pins and they will shatter if hit. Other than that it is an awesome indoor shooting trap for the price I paid, get it. And it appears targets are easily available when you run out and if you use the cardboard you can use the adhesive type as well.

Crossman Collapsible Pellet Trap - A handy, reasonably well made indoor pellet gun range system. The durability of the folding design seems questionable at first but works very well. The pellet deceleration curtains inside the hood can be augmented with common household material such as thick catalogs or smaller phone books (who uses those things anymore?). I've fashioned and/or adapted aftermarket bull's-eye paper targets for use with this trap and so far have been satisfied with it's utility and durability. Of course, one must use caution and avoid use of magnum velocity air guns or steel pellets with this trap at close indoor distances for fear of over penetration and ricochet. I recommend this item for the indoor low-velocity pellet gun enthusiast.

Perfect for indoor practice.This pellet trap is actually a good bit more sturdy than it looks in the photos posted and unfolds into a solid frame, especially when you consider its light weight. One other thing that isn't clear in the description is that there is a rigid steel plate in the back which is more than strong enough to absorb pellets from an air pistol, but also seems to muffle the impact to where I can use it in my apartment without disturbing the neighbors. No high-pitched "ping" here. Another advantage this has over other models is that it has a series of flaps that hang down from the top of the trap that help slow down the pellets considerably inside the trap. The first red vinyl layer has been chewed up pretty thoroughly, but the thicker white layers behind it are holding up nicely. Great value for the money.

Inside pellet blanket does NOT stay in place

I use this at the other end of my room when I want to fire off some BBs without getting my lazy self outside. This is useful especially when impatiently waiting for a game or video to load, or if I simply want to shoot at a target when the weather is less than ideal. I have had this for over a year and the curtains are looking a little beat up. I will probably use some old towels or clothes for replacements at some point. The targets and cardboard are easy to replace: just print new targets or buy new ones, and you can easily cut new pieces of cardboard from cereal boxes. The pins are different. My dad messed with my pellet trap a long time ago and somehow made me lose 2 of my pins. A remedy is to just use wooden golf tees shortened with a pencil sharpener and these will not only keep your target in place, but also puncture holes in new cardboards and targets. I have not collapsed this thing since I got it so I cannot attest to its portability, but it seems very light and portable. Overall this is a great product for your room when you're bored or not wanting to go outside. When plinking outside, just use some cans or an old hard drive.

The fact that this trap collapses down to a nice compact size, that the targers mount very easy to it , and traps the BB's well, is why i gave it 5 stars. All the other models i have seen similar to this one have been rigid in its sides and not collapssible when finished with them. The instructions could be made a little bit more informative and simpler concerning the stop cloth inside the trap and the positioning of the stop cloths when inserting into the top of the trap. Other than that , this is a great little trap for the weekend target shooter of pellets and BB's. I also liked that is came with samples of various targets to use with the trap.