Free Range Brass - is that so rare?

my range said, you can pick up whatevers around you, and that’s so you don’t get into a fight with the other brass troll (me)

or

Buy range brass at scrap market price

champ0608 said:

I live in Arizona, where most gun owners are sloths. They haul their junk into the desert, shoot at it from close range, pack up quickly leaving their garbage behind for someone else to deal with. Absolutely no discipline or respect.

The upside is they leave behind mountains of brass. A few years ago I watched two guys shoot two spam cans of M2 ball from their M1s over the course of about an hour. I waited in the distance, and when they sped off I pounced. I found all 384 pieces of HXP brass. That's really good stuff. I'm still working with them today in my 03a4s.

Most everything else I pick up, sort, process and sell to pay myself back for all the toilets and TVs I pick up and haul off to the dump on behalf of my disgusting fellow shooters.

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I miss public Sloth Ranges!

take a small backhoe put all the trash in a pile and light on fire. What’s what they did back in the days.

We can pick up our own brass, anyone else’s who gives you theirs or any unclaimed brass on the ground…

I’m amazed at how much brass is simply abandoned/left behind…

Bayou52

champ0608 said:

I live in Arizona, where most gun owners are sloths. They haul their junk into the desert, shoot at it from close range, pack up quickly leaving their garbage behind for someone else to deal with. Absolutely no discipline or respect.

The upside is they leave behind mountains of brass. A few years ago I watched two guys shoot two spam cans of M2 ball from their M1s over the course of about an hour. I waited in the distance, and when they sped off I pounced. I found all 384 pieces of HXP brass. That's really good stuff. I'm still working with them today in my 03a4s.

Most everything else I pick up, sort, process and sell to pay myself back for all the toilets and TVs I pick up and haul off to the dump on behalf of my disgusting fellow shooters.

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Thank you for fighting the good fight against the inconsiderate idiots. When I’m elected supreme dictator littering will be a capital offense. Few things make me more angry than people towing junk out to the desert, shooting it to pieces, and leaving it there.

I did worry what the brass policy would be when the indoor range opened here.
I figured that if they gave me any static about my empties, it would be a lot of revolver and .22.shooting.

No one wants the brass (or hulls) at my range...the RM calls me to come and get it about every six months or he throws it in the dumpster. Biggest issue is all the rim fire and steel/aluminum case stuff.

Edit - It is fenced and locked, so folks cannot just wander in and shoot, so it stays fairly clean and maintained.

Ive been picking up my own, and brass all around me, and have never had issues. I use the scoop provided to round it all up, and make the process quick and efficient. The ranges do profit from the scrapping of their brass, and profit dictates cost and thus the fees they charge. My local range is and always has been reasonable in their rates. I visit the range often, and am friendly with the staff. They are friendly with me. This may or may not help my brass collecting situation. Also, since Im at the range so often, I pick up small quantities each visit.
By small, thats usually 100-200 pcs of pistol brass
Or 50-100 rifle.

Last thought is, brass pickers like us are definitely a minority when compared to the rest, so picking brass if you reload your own is not YET a big issue.
Brass hoarding from ranges in extreme quantity for individuals looking to profit from it is an obvious problem, and I agree to banning brass hoarding.

I guess it all depends on the situation.

1KPerDay said:

Thank you for fighting the good fight against the inconsiderate idiots. When I’m elected supreme dictator littering will be a capital offense. Few things make me more angry than people towing junk out to the desert, shooting it to pieces, and leaving it there.

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Burn it, then Bury it! Best way to destroy blight

The range I go to has someone that picks up the brass, but I did ask before snatching up any. They told me that while it is spoken for they don't mind if I snatch some up. I usually fill up a freezer bag before I leave.

I pick up my brass at the range when I go. I also pick up anything on the ground that I can load. Yesterday was so hot I left my 50 PCs of .45 ACP on the ground…

KentM said:

My range allows us to pick up all the brass we want, our own and the guys before us. The only brass I've ever had to buy is 300BLK, because nobody here seems to shoot it (or if they do, they police their brass).

But I see so many posts about BUYING range brass, I just wondered, is my range the exception?

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I bought some brass when I got into reloading back in November... a total waste of money in my case.

My "club" is several hundred acres of land that a local doctor owns. It is his private playground, and he is very selective with who he allows to join in his fun (perhaps 120 members - many of who are there for the hunting and fishing rights, and don't shoot on the ranges). As a result, the pistol and rifle ranges see relatively little action. If the shooters don't reload themselves, they leave the brass in yellow buckets by each station (and occasionally on the ground - Boooo!). Just by occasionally checking the buckets, I have picked up enough brass in the calibers that I load to last me through the next three Zombie Apocalypses!

Saluki91 said:

I bought some brass when I got into reloading back in November... a total waste of money in my case.

My "club" is several hundred acres of land that a local doctor owns. It is his private playground, and he is very selective with who he allows to join in his fun (perhaps 120 members - many of who are there for the hunting and fishing rights, and don't shoot on the ranges). As a result, the pistol and rifle ranges see relatively little action. If the shooters don't reload themselves, they leave the brass in yellow buckets by each station (and occasionally on the ground - Boooo!). Just by occasionally checking the buckets, I have picked up enough brass in the calibers that I load to last me through the next three Zombie Apocalypses!

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Sounds Fancy!

I quite my gun club because they kept yelling at me about this and that. I now shoot on Federal land, Free from Yelling

When picking up my own brass is prohibited, I’ll likely quit reloading because the economy and convenience will be no greater than buying ammo.

Mark_Mark said:

Sounds Fancy!

I quite my gun club because they kept yelling at me about this and that. I now shoot on Federal land, Free from Yelling

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What did they yell? “Hey, there aren’t going to be three primer factories?”

Our range allows us to pick up brass. I also pick up steel casings with a contractor's magnet just to clean up the range, and I collect a fair amount of aluminum casings. It is all worth recycling, and I reuse some of the brass casings for reloading as I come across my calibers.

The " range pick up " free cases can also
be a double edged sword.
I had some a while back that looked good
sized up just fine, loaded up fine, etc.
It would chamber just fine and there were
no problems firing.
BUT. . It would not eject at all. No way
no how, and I had to knock it out with a
rod . I smashed all the known cases
from the batch, and whatever cases I
find from those get smashed too.
Sometimes those great deals aren't
too awful great

Many ranges are dominated by reloads, so not much free brass.
Some calibers are just hard to find. I buy .380 sometimes because no one shoots it around here.
Most people who shoot 300AAC in quantity use .223 brass, and that, with 9mm are the easiest to find.

I pick up my brass, and whatever is left on the ground. Very few people reload around here and the range belongs to my family.
However, I have been collecting brass for almost 15 years, so I'm pretty good on what I shoot on a regular basis.

I use a private range with no restrictions on collecting brass. I typically bring home twice the amount of brass I started my trip with.

mjsdwash said:

Many ranges are dominated by reloads, so not much free brass.
Some calibers are just hard to find. I buy .380 sometimes because no one shoots it around here.
Most people who shoot 300AAC in quantity use .223 brass, and that, with 9mm are the easiest to find.

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There is a non-supervised outdoor county range by my house. Few people pickup their brass. You are correct that a lot of it is 223 and 9mm. I rarely shoot anything but my bolt rifles there, so no problem keeping my brass.

CQB45ACP said:

What did they yell? “Hey, there aren’t going to be three primer factories?”

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was that you??? I curse you with .45 ACP SPP brass!

KentM said:

My range allows us to pick up all the brass we want, our own and the guys before us. The only brass I've ever had to buy is 300BLK, because nobody here seems to shoot it (or if they do, they police their brass).

But I see so many posts about BUYING range brass, I just wondered, is my range the exception?

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I go to a free public range that is unmonitored - we always police up whatever brass if left behind if I can use it. The problem is the brass rats that come out to scarf up everything, NOT to reload, but to sell to the scrap yards for drug/booze money. I've even seen them go next door to the police range to do the same thing. Some days I come home with a ton of free brass, other days it's just whatever I took with me - the brass rats learned a long time ago to never ever touch my stuff.
Edit to add - when I worked at a Tucson indoor range 20 years ago, I would sweep barrels full of left over brass. I mean we had about 10+ 55 gallon drums full of brass behind the range back wall. I used to pull a barrel out and yell "Reloader special, come get a bag and get some brass!" And still I would have most of it left at the end. I wish i had taken a lot of it myself, because I did not reload at the time....dagnabbit...

armoredman said:

I go to a free public range that is unmonitored - we always police up whatever brass if left behind if I can use it. The problem is the brass rats that come out to scarf up everything, NOT to reload, but to sell to the scrap yards for drug/booze money. I've even seen them go next door to the police range to do the same thing. Some days I come home with a ton of free brass, other days it's just whatever I took with me - the brass rats learned a long time ago to never ever touch my stuff.
Edit to add - when I worked at a Tucson indoor range 20 years ago, I would sweep barrels full of left over brass. I mean we had about 10+ 55 gallon drums full of brass behind the range back wall. I used to pull a barrel out and yell "Reloader special, come get a bag and get some brass!" And still I would have most of it left at the end. I wish i had taken a lot of it myself, because I did not reload at the time....dagnabbit...

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Two types of people in this world, People who reload and People who don’t!

Mark_Mark said:

was that you??? I curse you with .45 ACP SPP brass!

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There’s a guy digging footers in a schoolyard down the street....wonder what’s up?

The commercial indoor ranges in my area will let you collect your brass, one even has an attendant that's back there sweeping constantly. he'll broom your brass in your direction if you ask him. but only the stuff that falls behind the shooting line. The rest is theirs..since the firing line never stops until the range is closed.

They do sell range pickup brass for a reasonable amount though. less than a few online places I've seen.