This paper presents an improved specimen recovery method for the tensile split Hopkinson bar (TSHB) technique. The method is based on the trapping of residual stress waves with the use of momentum trap bars. As is well known, successful momentum trapping in TSHB is highly sensitive to experimental uncertainties, especially on the incident bar side of the set-up. However, as is demonstrated in this paper, significant improvement in the reliability of specimen recovery is obtained by using two momentum trap bars in contact with the incident bar. This makes the trapping of the reflected wave insensitive to striker speed and removes the need for a precision set gap between the incident bar and the momentum trap.