# How can I make a catchbox?



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

i want to make a catchbox how can i make a catchbox


----------



## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

slinger2016 said:


> i want to make a catchbox how can i make a catchbox


There are many examples on YouTube some by our members. The simplest way is to get a cardboard box you think is big enough around and at least a foot deep. Hang a towel inside of it with enough room for it to give. Cut a hole in the front and shoot through there you can hang a paper Target or a can on a string Etc.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

thanks but i want something that is more durable


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

by the way how to hang the towl


----------



## BC-Slinger (Jan 6, 2013)

The way I make mine is I use a cardboard box on the ground as a catch box and get a clothing hanger and some either old tea shirts or blankets that act as a stopper. I belive Charles has a really solid video on this if you can dig it up. I will go and take a few shots of my not so pretty one and post it for you.

Cheers

Matt.K.M aka BC-Slinger


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

thanks men i appreciate it very much


----------



## BC-Slinger (Jan 6, 2013)

Ok so the 2nd pic posted is the actual frame of the clothing hanger with no blankets on it It gives you a tall and very open place to hang whatever material you are going to use as a stop. The box isn't that strong so I use it as a catching device but other objects can be used as well, like a large bucket or bowl or anything really that will store the ammo while you shoot. The first pic shows everything from the blanket on the clothing hanger frame to the box under a small rock to prop it up and the way I attach my targets. Which is two pine steaks my wife uses for her garden. I then zap strapped them to the box and tied some bank line(tar covered cotton string) to them to hold my targets. I drape the blankets which I cut up a bit to give it more of the affect as the guys using tea shirts get. Just into the box and it seems to catch all my ammo all the time. The only bounce outs I get is when my leather target flings them slowly up in the air if i hit the dead center of the target which is kind of funny.

Here are the pics I hope this helps with the building process for you a bit.  

This video by Bill Hays is awesome as well and should answer a million of your questions. Right off the bat he covers the catch box 




Hope this helps you my freind.

Cheers

Matt.K.M Aka BC-Slinger


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

thanks men


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

how did you make the hanger


----------



## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

One of the guys that posts here designed an awesome one that even gathers up all the ammo for you neatly in one spot. He knows a seamstress who will make one for you but it seems simple enough if you want a really nice permanent one that is also portable.

I can't remember his name but I'll look it up later.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk


----------



## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

This is the best design I've seen in my opinion if you can do a little sewing or want to buy one.






Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk


----------



## Peter Recuas (Mar 6, 2014)

http://slingshotforum.com/gallery/image/23931-catchbox3/


----------



## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

I have seen some really good ones here and some pitiful ones but they all stop ammo and that's the object. I made mine out of thick wood boards, it's big for many targets strung inside it, about a yard wide and about 5 ft. high, the opening is a yard by a yard.

Directions...
Obtain some boards. Get a saw and hammer. Make the catch box.

Plastic barrels cut out, plastic tubs set on end, I made one from a washing machine body given to me...but the catch box was for the friend (who gave me an old washer for the motor and pump and other neat stuff inside).

Alfie the slingshot eater and Chuck for scale.

I suggest a large one for your home range and a take along made out of a plastic rectangular tub or a squareish trash can to portable use. In the tub you can put all sorts of things to take along such as a sixpack of your favorite beverage, your slingshot stuff, and so on. Tubs about 2 feet by 1.5 feet and maybe 1.5 feet deep are cool. Make sure the catch cloth is well away from the back and that you put a piece of plastic down in front of the catch box and under the forward edge to catch bounce outs.

Suspend the catch cloth from a thick cord or wire strung from side to side and make sure there is some clearance from the target to the catch cloth if you want twirly gig rubber inner tube targets like shown in the pic below so they twirl when hit and stuff.

I'll add on edit, the guys who make the most beautiful slingshots and are the best shots often have the absolute ugliest raggiest catch boxes. So if you want fame and fortune on the forum, make a really buttugly catchbox.


----------



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Here are a couple of ideas:






Cheers ..... Charles


----------



## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

Something I just sketched, yes I'll keep my day job, LOL


----------



## Blue Raja (Feb 10, 2016)

I am currently using an old hard-sided suitcase.

Nathan at Simple-Shot has a video on using a cooler.


----------



## Cross886 (Apr 10, 2016)

Just what I was looking for after spending the last hour trying to find around 40 3/8 steel balls in my yard. I was shooting at 2 thick cardboard boxes with some shipping materials inside... Over half my shots went through both boxes and out into the yard, not to mention the times I missed the target. After an hour in my yard with a 150lb magnent I found 12 and recover around another 12 from my boxes. So still another 16ish MIA, not looking forward to the guy coming to cut my grass.

Anyone have any ideas how to find 3/8 steel balls in roughly 3in grass?? should all be in a 10 ft area (some went just above the target). The 150lb magnet has to land directly on top of one to pick it up and thats a lot of ground for a 1.5x1.5in magnet...


----------



## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

Ammo is pretty cheap actually. If you can't find it with that huge magent I doubt you wll have much additional luck. My archery target is a large cardboard box with plastic wrap like what palates of stuff come to big box stores wrapped in (they gave it to me) packed fairly densely inside....it stops any arrow, broadhead or field/target point...best I've found and of course it works for SS ammo too but the devil to separate from the plastic wrap...so all of us use a limp cloth of some sort...old bluejean legs is my fav and a few others use them too, hung on a steel rod in the back third of the catch box. They are about 10 inches in front of the actual back of my box.

About 9 inches or more to the front of that is my target rod, a steel rod on which are my targets, hung with steel wire wrapped around the rod so it twirls when hit.

And that is about 9 or 10 inches inside the box.

So reviewing from back to front

Cloth is about 10 inches from the back of the box

In front of the cloth about 9 inches is my target rod on which are suspended targets.

The actual opening of the box is about 10 inches in front of the target rod.

10 inches + 9 inches + 10 inches is 29 inches, let's say an even 30 inches total depth of the box. That's a pretty big box but it works for me the best. I've hung an old blanket over a rope line when I was a kid, in the basement to practice on rainy days but the balls rolled all over the place and I didn't shoot that much indoors anyway.


----------



## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

I think before you get buried in a catch box project it would be wise to make a simple PVC setup like Charles recommended for now, I like the one on the right with a tub to catch the fallen ammo. it won't prevent bounce outs when you hit an impervious target and the ammo bounces out to the front a ways. Aso highly recommended is using a large plastic tub as I said above as a container for the catch box guts. See if you can find a very deep squareish/rectangular plastic box with as straight a side as possible. Drill a set of holes about 5 inches from the back and install a rod, broom handle etc. From that hang your targets.


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

thanks guys


----------



## Genoa Slingshot (Oct 29, 2015)

The mine is a common banana's box




















And here a little video about how it can works:





Edit:
Question for who know it:
Why when I post vertical pictures, they appear in horizontal? How can I fix this issue?
Thanks


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

here is what i came up with


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

here is what i came up with


----------



## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

Cool man! I want to build one of the portable ones so I can use it inside and out. Thinking about making one of the models that uses an old insulated soft sided bag.

Anyways. Your's turned out great

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk


----------



## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

Somewhere last year I saw a portable catch box made of nylon like backpacks are made of...can't remember the details but I believe it came from a big box store...wasn't originally designed to be used for that but it was a great idea. I think one of the rod frame companies has them, was it Daisy?

A shallow catch box is fine but you get more bounce outs when the ammo doesn't go through the target...so you'd use targets which are easily penetrated.

I had designed but never built a shallow portable catch box about a foot deep made out of a nice thick plastic tub with pop off lid. It could carry spare target material and spare bands etc.like a "kit". The cloth was about 9 inches from the back, a couple inches from the opening of the tub, so indeed it would stop the round but not bang against the back causing a bounce out. or damaging the tub. The opening would be covered by cardboard inserted into alligator clamps fastened to the sides of the tub with pop rivets and washers, on which I could tape targets. The round would penetrate the cardboard but couldn't bounce out because the cardboard prevented it from doing so since the bounce out direction isn't the same as the entry direction, the cardboard would stop it. Changing the cardboard, say, every 200 shots or so or as needed would assure no bounce outs thru a hole eaten into the cardboard and moving the targets to "clean" areas would prolong the cardboard's life. There would be no target rod to hang targets since the whole idea is to eliminate bounce outs with a not too deep portable box. Just cardboard from any box would do, cut to size. A good sized washing machine box would furnish cardboard for at least 1500 rounds of use. This would have had a handle pop riveted onto one side to carry it like luggage.

The tub I saw was HDPE as a candidate was about 30 inches X 25 inches and about 12 inches deep and had a nice pop off lid, used for storing stuff under a bed or whatever use for storage. I had figured out a folding easel type leg to attach to a hinge on the back with pop rivets and washers to prop the box up to keep it from falling over.

The material a catch box is made of is not particularly important however as you see, many use just a cardboard box with a catch cloth hung appropriately. Rounds don't go sideways to puncture the box's side or top/bottom surfaces except when using impenetrable targets that cause ricochets to the sides or up/down, so use of targets that are soft such as inner tube rubber disks like I use mostly, or light aluminum cans whuch the rounds can easily penetrate would work best.

As a cloth you could use a Tshirt given away by the politician campaigning whom you detest.


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

inconvenienc

thanks men


----------



## truthornothing (May 18, 2015)

Here is an excellent one my catchbox is a cheaper version of this one


----------



## Alfred E.M. (Jul 5, 2014)

*Ben Franklin's Apple ...*

*I no longer have the luxury of a yard with a permanent catcher. Now I do guerrilla stumpin' while banging around on my bike, and for BBs on the patio, I need something portable to move out of bad weather and and hide from disapproving apartment management. * :nono: * I've tried plastic tubs and buckets but those ricochets like to revisit me.*

*Apples are shipped to grocery produce departments in one bushel cardboard boxes that are great for moving, storage ... and catch boxes. And they're free, just ask nicely.*

*The fastest setup is just place the bottom inside the top (facing out), hang tee shirts and targets, and fire away. The tops are thinner cardboard so I like to use two bottoms - one is pulled apart at the tabs and becomes double walls for the other. Minimal trimming required and then kept in place with a little wood glue. Doubling the 5 walls along with 1 x 3 stringers top and bottom make the structure nicely rigid. Also, the bottom skirt helps to keep some of those incorrigible suckers from going off the reservation.*

*I use an awl to start the dowel holes and enlarge to 1/2 inch with a tapered drift. A folded towel hanging at the back goes forward to become the floor. Tee shirt strips hang on the middle dowel and targets hang by wire on the dowel in front. Fab time - under an hour.*

*These last quite awhile but when it's shot to heII, toss it and make another - it's not rocket surgery.*

*Happy shootin'.*


----------



## WindLvr (Jul 16, 2014)

Here is my portable catchbox. I made it from a plastic box. I cut 4 holes into the top of the box. This allowed me to put a dowel through to hang targets, and the other hole was to hang cotton t-shirts from to catch the ammo. I cut the lid to allow shooting into the box while still having an area high to prevent the ammo from coming out. It works very well for me both inside and outside. It's really cheap to build, and it's super easy to use. The idea was from someone else here on the forum, but at the moment I can't remember who. I am sure you will be able to find it through the search function though. Anyway, here it is:


----------



## slinger2016 (Apr 9, 2016)

Mr. Monkeynipples

is that cardboard or what it is


----------



## Alfred E.M. (Jul 5, 2014)

slinger2016 said:


> Mr. Monkeynipples
> 
> is that cardboard or what it is


*A double thickness of common box grade cardboard, white glued together.*


----------



## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

Mr. Monkeynipples said:


> *Ben Franklin's Apple ...*
> 
> *I no longer have the luxury of a yard with a permanent catcher. Now I do guerrilla stumpin' while banging around on my bike, and for BBs on the patio, I need something portable to move out of bad weather and and hide from disapproving apartment management. * :nono: * I've tried plastic tubs and buckets but those ricochets like to revisit me.*
> 
> ...


I like your idea. And if you are shooting bad you can just stab the target with the awl.

But seriously. I'm copying this. I have to be a stealthy shooter too.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk


----------

