Big Brass Score at the Range Today

I used to trade used brass for reloading stuff at gun shows and I really went to the range several times a week just to pick up brass and shoot a little. The best time was starting a week or 2 before the start of deer gun season, I used to leave with a 5 gal bucket or 2 full of once fired factory brass with boxes if I wanted, haven't had to buy any brass in a long time.

I was at the range and 2 guys blew off 5 boxes of WWB 45 ACP. They swept it up and were headed to the garbage can when I said "s'cuze me, if you're gonna dump it I'll take it."

Oh yeah, I LOVE brass scores! Even if I don't use that caliber, I can sell or trade it. And it doesn't have to be brass to make my day, I arrived at my club range one day and found this little pile some kind soul had left for me! Such a nice feller.....

Yep - I visit the local range all the time scrounging for brass. I've gotten countless 9mm cases from there. Even though I don't load them I've got a lot of .40S&W and .45ACP saved up too. I figure if I ever do start loading those I might as well have the brass ready to go .

Yep this is the time of year for rifle brass.

Yeah, I do the same thing also. I make at least one trip/week if I can. The last 3 times I have even scored 100+ .223s, which is rare for around here.

I always get excited about finding brass I can use at the range. This year it has gotten hard just keeping my own brass. I guess it''s the economy, but there are whole families out sweeping up everything toward the end of the day. I've had to ask to have my brass left most times as they would start cleaning up even in your area while you were shooting.

Once in a while I find 25-50 .45LC. Makes my day.

A month or so back I found about 180 10mm brass. That was the first time I had found any 10mm brass. Made my month...especially considering my 10mm throws my brass into Low Earth orbit, resulting in a 20-30%+ loss rate.

I hand load for each of them, so it's like finding gold nuggets.

At the pistol range I gather my brass, and if I can't find all I shot then I just make up the difference from the bucket. I'm shooting mixed headstamps anyway, and the brass I'm getting from the bucket is newer than the brass I'm shooting. I never take more than I shot because the range sells it later and that helps keep membership prices reasonable. Well maybe a few more. Once or twice.

My shooting friends say I must be part crow. I will see a shine and pounce on it. I swear I can smell used brass a half a mile away. I average a 2 gallon bucket full most days if I have the time to look. No one else bothers to save it and that's a darn shame. Well I can't just let it sit there and corrode can I??

My range has a one way in brass depository. Then they actually go through it and weed out the bad stuff, sort it by headstamp, and then sell it for a pretty good deal. The money goes to fund junior shooting programs.

Today, this guy's AR was ejecting next to me, I picked it up to return it and noticed the loads he was firing were loaded using new LC brass. He didn't want it and I got a bunch of that.

Still waiting on the score of Grendel brass. It is out there somewhere, somebody shoots one and doesn't reload somewhere, I have to go shooting with that guy!

I reload and shoot a lot of 9mm luger.
I prefer WIN cases. At a recent trip to the range , a guy near me shot over 100 out of the value pack boxes. He said he didn't want the cases, so I got those. Another guy walks up and said he overheard my question, and that he just shot 100 wins two tables down that I was welcome to pick up.
I picked up 500 9mm casesthat day and about 350 were WIN cases, most once fired!

I had a big smile all the way home.

rondog said:

Oh yeah, I LOVE brass scores! Even if I don't use that caliber, I can sell or trade it. And it doesn't have to be brass to make my day, I arrived at my club range one day and found this little pile some kind soul had left for me! Such a nice feller.....

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Nice find! Someone didn't want their magazines!!

Doc Savage said:

I always get excited about finding brass I can use at the range. This year it has gotten hard just keeping my own brass. I guess it''s the economy, but there are whole families out sweeping up everything toward the end of the day. I've had to ask to have my brass left most times as they would start cleaning up even in your area while you were shooting.

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That right there sir would make me. I have a AR15 in 6.8SPC and it's hard enough finding once fired brass before someone else snatches it up before you get a chance to buy it.

Best day to shoot is Monday. Early in the morning, before the "clean up" crew arrives. All the Sunday Matches, Public shooters, and just regular discarded brass is all sitting there to be scavenged. In fairness I arrive with a bag of old worn out brass to discard so the Club doesn't loose the revenue.

I won't have to buy any brass for my firearms for the rest of my life.

You guys are no fun

A guy calls clips, magazines, and no one gives me the speech?!?

We can't pick up brass at my range besides "what you brought"

In 2010 some guy was leaving the country, so he took 300 pieces of 270 brass to the range to recycle it.

I pulled it out of the recycling bin.

It was all once fired and dirty.

It kept my two vibrators running for a while.

It kept my two vibrators running for a while.

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I hope you meant, "tumblers."

Does anyone else get excited about stuff like this?

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I used to spend more time scrounging than shooting, so yes. I'd pick up brass until my back started to hurt.

Sometimes I feel like I must look like a chicken hunting and pecking out in the yard...

Every now and then I can haul in a nice amount, but lately I've been just missing out. Either someone has cleand up already or as I'm packing it in to leave new shooters have just arrived and leaving it all lay for the next... yard bird.

A week ago I ran into an interesting situation. One shooter discarded a couple hundred oieces of .223/5.56mm brass. It was all once fired as it still had the military crimped primers. Evidently he didn't like the idea of anyone getting some good brass for reloading because he "squashed" every piece with a pair of pliers right in the shoulder area so there was no chance one could re-use it.

It was good LC Brass to boot:banghead::banghead:

I scrounge all I can at the range, but a lot of other people do also. I still end up with about 100 9mm and 50 45ACP per week. I have never had to buy 9mm, and I don't believe I ever will.

Hey, if you went someplace and saw dozens or hundreds of nickles and dimes laying on the ground, wouldn't you pick them up? Brass is the same thing to me. If you buy used brass you're gonna pay 5-10 cents apiece for them, maybe more, depending on what they are. Even if I don't reload that caliber, somebody does. I'll happily trade with someone, but I've also been known to give away LOTS of brass to guys looking for something that I just happen to have a few dozen of. It's good karma.