Rubber Bullet Traps Do Not Catch Fire: Myth Busted

It is a common myth among people in general, that rubber bullet traps cannot catch fire since they are treated with some special fire resistant chemicals. The truth is actually far from that. It is a fact that most of the manufacturers treat their rubber with certain fire retardant substances to reduce the risk of fire, but it cannot resist the fire completely. One has to be really cautious and follow additional precautions to avoid a serious situation.

A number of people might have witnessed the demonstrations wherein a piece of rubber is introduced to direct flame or alternatively, would have read few unrealistic reports like the firing of tracer rounds without igniting the rubber. Such baseless statements are the sources which promote illusionary things and myths regarding various topics.

The fact is that on an actual shooting range, a full size trap can assemble a large amount of un-spent gunpowder and flammable debris of cardboard targets and paper. Also, the fired bullets can split open chunks of treated rubber thereby, exposing the untreated surfaces inside. Such issues are enough for a fire break out and in fact, the situation can worsen in case a tracer or some other incendiary round is fired into the trap hence, such acts should be avoided.

Recently, certain developments have been made with regard to curb down the potential fire hazard of rubber berm traps or rubber bullets. As per the innovation, if hydrated gel beads are mixed with chunks of chopped rubber then it can help a great deal in reducing the potential fire hazard. It says that the built up heat of rubber absorbed bullets would be cooled off by the gel. Though this particular research is still to prove its point, one should take the requisite precautions while working with or around rubber bullets and rubber bullet berms.