I hate Brass Rats,,,

brickeyee said:

The only brass I willingly leave is so used it would NOT be a good idea to reload it.

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I sometimes wonder about this when I'm picking up brass that someone else left.

Its still worth bucks at the scrap yard. I know people who collect .22 rimfire to turn in, and yes its worth it.

On the other hand...I went to my local range, there was only one guy there. He had his brass spread out six ways from Sunday. I was shooting at the other end of the range and when I went to get the brass mower, he got all indignant and told me not to gather his brass. I was just trying to clean my dirty station about 30 feet down the line but his brass was in about a 15 foot circle, hundreds of rounds. I could not push the brass mower from the side of the hutch without picking up a few of his errant shells. His shells covered about 4 stations past his and all the way off the cement pad that is 20 feet wide. It looked like he had been there a long time. I did my best not to pick up his shells but I think I scooped up a few because there was no way to get the mower without pushing past his scattered shells.
So a little range courtesy would have worked if he had policed up his mess from time to time and left a walkway back to the hutch. He was pretty much just pretending he was the only user of the entire range.

I go to a private indoor range which is by no means cheap.
One day I brought a 1911 and some mags to do some reliability testing.
I had 8 blue MTM boxes full of .45 ACP sitting in my stall.
I loaded up all my mags and began shooting. After emptying all 6 mags I turned around to pick up my brass to see 2 20 something guys, who were shooting 9mm a couple of stalls down, picking it up!!!

I guess the look on my face said everything so one of the guys then asks "will you be keeping these?"

My reply was does it look like I'm shooting factory ammo?

They just dropped everything and walked back to their stall.

I am guessing the old man in the original post felt as though most people would stop him or try to get physical with a 70 year old man. One of the public ranges in the Dover PA area had a woman like this who would take brass. She started asking permission after some people called the game warden and the police.

This is why I have a 9 x 12 heavy canvas painters tarp in my shooting kit. Put it down every time I shoot. I originally did it to make brass pickup easy but now it marks my shooting space. Anyone who violates I will raise holy hell with. If someone wants to come after a 62 yo man who has had cerebral palsy from birth who almost died at birth and who is also permanently disabled after working from the time he was 8 to 50 yo has another think coming. I don't initiate trouble but I haven't gotten this far in life by backing down either.

Man, intentionally leaving worn-out brass for someone else to blow himself up with is just cold and inconsiderate. If you KNOW it's no good, take it home to your scrap bucket.

Common courtesy would dictate to ask someone shooting if they want their brass. Even if a shooter doesn't want their brass courtesy would dictate that you wait until the shooter is done shooting before starting to pick up their brass. If someone starts lurking behind me be it indoor or outdoor range, grabbing my brass we are going to have issues.

At my indoor range they stay on top of the brass and when brass is left by a shooter it is swept under the stall gates and down range. Shooters who want their brass simply pick it up.

Brass I no longer want I generally police up and dispose of in the trash containers left for that purpose. That being at my outdoor range. If a brass rat ask I tell them it has been reloaded and fired X times and I no longer want or trust it for another loading.

Personally I don't generally pick up brass other than my own unless I happen to know the shooter and they tell me they don't reload and if I want their once fired brass then help myself. Even then I wait till they are done shooting.

Ron

jim243 said:

As to the old gentleman that was taking your brass, I do feel sorry for him since it would appear that he was doing it to supplement his income. If he was shooting and recovering his own brass, I might say he was a reloader. But since this appears to be the only activity he was doing, I would say he was doing it to produce income. Being a softy that I am, I would have asked him to wait till I was finished shooting and that he could have all the brass that was laying on the ground.

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What he was doing was stealing, plain & simple. Would you be so forgiving if he was breaking into cars or robbing the gas station to supplement his income?

Man, intentionally leaving worn-out brass for someone else to blow himself up with is just cold and inconsiderate.

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If you use range pick up brass without a good visual inspection, you're asking for trouble. It doesn't take much to see if a case is dangerously worn out. If the neck isn't split and there's no ring around the base, shoot it. If there is, scrap bucket.

I am sure he went to picking up cans when asked to leave the range. That just sounds like a passive aggressive old codger. Too bad that's where this administration has gotten us to.

Gaucho Gringo said:

This is why I have a 9 x 12 heavy canvas painters tarp in my shooting kit. Put it down every time I shoot. I originally did it to make brass pickup easy but now it marks my shooting space. Anyone who violates I will raise holy hell with. If someone wants to come after a 62 yo man who has had cerebral palsy from birth who almost died at birth and who is also permanently disabled after working from the time he was 8 to 50 yo has another think coming. I don't initiate trouble but I haven't gotten this far in life by backing down either.

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Get em Gringo! I love it...

I gotta say, I don't pick up anyones brass until I know they've left, which means they don't want it. I would feel weird asking some dude if I could have his brass..

Typically I do as Gaucho Gringo does and use one of those blue nylon tarps to catch my brass. Makes finding and collecting it a whole lot easier and pretty effectively defines my area of operation as far as spent brass is concerned.

There's a brass rat who prowls my range here in Grand Junction, CO -- looks and soundsseveral bricks shy of a load, like maybe he took a round to the braincase at one time. "Are you keepin' da bullets?" he asks. One day at the range another guy was gathering brass and told me about an encounter with this retarded -- excuse me, mentally challenged -- brass rat, who seemed to think it was his private harvesting ground. "I'll shoot you!" he threatened. The guy reported him to the ranger, who eventually found the brass rat, who denied it all. So it was a he said/she said thing.

Kind of scary, a borderline moron with a gun threatening people gathering "his" brass.

Arkansas Paul said:

If you use range pick up brass without a good visual inspection, you're asking for trouble. It doesn't take much to see if a case is dangerously worn out. If the neck isn't split and there's no ring around the base, shoot it. If there is, scrap bucket.

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I have to agree with that. While rather than leave it lay I place it in the containers. I do see people digging in the containers. No clue if they want it for scrap brass or they are looking for reloadable brass. Regardless, any reloader with God given brains wil inspect the brass and know what to look for.

Just My Take
Ron

mines a private-card entry club. our rules are to police your mess:
most of us tend to leave it cleaner than when we got there.a great many re-loaders so as i shot some and than clean some. if i pick up others i put it on the table between us or behind us ( so as to not disturb their shooting). a good many will say 'keep it' and almost all will say 'thank you'
other than at friends with land and my club i haven't been to a public range in 5 years.

^ My range is much the same. You're issued a key to the gate and the lock is changed every January with new keys issued at the yearly meeting. It was stressed at the orientation that you must police your brass and if you're not going to keep it, put it in designated buckets where other members are encouraged to take what they need. I've only been a member for about 7 months, but it has been much like you described. I've never had a bad experience with anyone, and most of the time, had friendly conversation with folks. I don't think such nonsense would last long where I shoot.

There's a brass rat who prowls my range here in Grand Junction, CO -- looks and soundsseveral bricks shy of a load, like maybe he took a round to the braincase at one time. "Are you keepin' da bullets?" he asks. One day at the range another guy was gathering brass and told me about an encounter with this retarded -- excuse me, mentally challenged -- brass rat, who seemed to think it was his private harvesting ground. "I'll shoot you!" he threatened. The guy reported him to the ranger, who eventually found the brass rat, who denied it all. So it was a he said/she said thing.

Kind of scary, a borderline moron with a gun threatening people gathering "his" brass.

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Hah! Was that out at the Book Cliffs range north of the airport? I used to visit there once in awhile when I had work trips to Grand Junction, and I ran into a young guy kinda like that out there. I wouldn't really call him "challenged", but he sure was goofy. Had a woman and baby with him, and told me some outrageous numbers of how much he made selling brass. I was cordial and polite, and they eventually left. But I made sure one of my M1 carbines was ready to dance.

Some brass rats might be swagers. I plan on getting swaging dies to make .224 from .22LR cases and .40 from 9mm cases before the next shortage.




Mike

Well now, THAT'S interesting.....

Arizona_Mike said:

Some brass rats might be swagers. I plan on getting swaging dies to make .224 from .22LR cases and .40 from 9mm cases before the next shortage.

Mike

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Huh?

Brass catchers, folks. Buy a brass catcher, and end all dispute.

Or you can use Advanced Caseless Ammo, like I do.

People approaching a live round possessing line can find themselves in a very awkward dance from time to time.....

I'm glad you had a lot of restraint.

I'm a scavver too, but I at least wait till no one is around

Arizona_Mike said:

Some brass rats might be swagers. I plan on getting swaging dies to make .224 from .22LR cases and .40 from 9mm cases before the next shortage.

Mike

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You can do that?? I learn something new every day.

Do you need to use special load data? Does a brass case wear the riflings out faster than a copper jacket?