Not finding brass like I used to

I stopped as it's hunting season in my free time. But then I never left any brass anyways...

At the rifle range where I shoot, you have to log in & out. On logging out, you're asked how many rounds you fired. I've noticed recently that a lot of shooters register less than 10 rounds. Makes me wonder..........
Not enough rounds........Not enough time...........Too expensive............or just a bad day ??

It's been well over a year since anyone left any brass at my range. Pandemic, inflation, whatever. I don't see where I will be able to just expect my range to supply my brass, which they did for many years. For that I'm grateful. I don't think it will ever be the same again. People won't pick up a nickel but they'll pick up a dime.

2 ranges that I know of have attracted salvage guys who don't shoot, and have nothing to do with the sport. They just know that they get 50 bucks for a bucket of brass at the scrapper station. So unless your range controls who's picking up brass and when, the high price of brass at the recycler is getting non-shooters out policing it up. These guys don't care what the value of the brass might be for somebody who's reloading...they just get paid by the lb. Private ranges usually throw these guys out, as they have deals with guys who buy their brass, but public ranges can't really do anything about it, and in some cases, encourage it because then they don't have to pick it up at the end of the day. Last time I looked, scrap brass was 2.00/lb...if you're a non shooter and make a living scrapping and it takes you 20 minutes to police up 25lbs of brass...that looks pretty good. You'll see these guys sometimes, they know the best days to go. They pay their range fee, but don't have any guns, lol. They'll be wearing a landscaper bag, and just walk the range waiting for a lane to finish shooting, then they are right there policing up the brass. Maybe when the copper and zinc market comes back down, and brass loses it's scrap value again, it will start piling up at ranges again.

45 long said:

At the rifle range where I shoot, you have to log in & out. On logging out, you're asked how many rounds you fired. I've noticed recently that a lot of shooters register less than 10 rounds. Makes me wonder..........
Not enough rounds........Not enough time...........Too expensive............or just a bad day ??

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Hunters making sure their guns are sighted in may be a big part of that.

Or they just type 5 in while they actually shot 150.

There might also be some sticker shock. The only people who can afford to shoot would be handloaders... who police up their brass. Factory ammo is more and more available, but it's still expensive compared to what it was 2 or 3 years ago. And, then again, it just might be the brass buzzards picking everything up, too.

I shoot at a spot out in very southern NV, at an ad hoc range. Last time I was there (July) there was just as much brass laying all over as ever... and I know there is a guy that comes up almost every day to pick up brass.

In the last few weeks, I have picked up a fair amount of .223/5.56, 9mm and .40 S&W; haven't seen much else. I have also noticed a large increase in .22LR casings. I can understand that because I'm shooting a lot more of that myself these days.

Sadly, we have several people at my club who pick up ALL the brass they can to sell to the scrap dealer. Makes me mad that they will scrap brass that other members would have reloaded.

allisd17 said:

In the last few weeks, I have picked up a fair amount of .223/5.56, 9mm and .40 S&W; haven't seen much else. I have also noticed a large increase in .22LR casings. I can understand that because I'm shooting a lot more of that myself these days.

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Even at the police range I frequent I'm only seeing some 9mm, .223 and .22. Its almost like the guys are holding on to what they have.

CoalCrackerAl said:

Inflation maybe? People don't seam to be shooting as often the past month. Anyone else notice it too?

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Beats me. I haven’t been shooting in over a month.

I’ve noticed more reloaders catching brass on the first bounce or the old reloaders are getting more and more greedy. I even scrounged another magazine worth of 223 and a handful of 308 brass last trip.

I'm no longer finding the really cool stuff like 35 Whelen or 35 Remington or 45-70 but I could pickup as much Nato brass as I want. I only pick up select 308 cases of a brand I want.

CoalCrackerAl said:

I did find one 45 gap. That was a new to me one to find.

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Never seen one, and I pick up every 45acp I can find.

9mmepiphany said:

Nope. Attending Action Pistol matches there is plenty of brass on the ground.

Granted a match that use to draw 120 shooters is now lucky to get 80

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I was curious if those games were going to take a hit. Factory 9mm is way down in price lately every store I go to look for components dipping below 20 a box. No doubt you do but are most reloaders or are most using Factory???

45 long said:

At the rifle range where I shoot, you have to log in & out. On logging out, you're asked how many rounds you fired. I've noticed recently that a lot of shooters register less than 10 rounds. Makes me wonder..........
Not enough rounds........Not enough time...........Too expensive............or just a bad day ??

Click to expand...

Why the logging? I guess I do too by being a member and checking in & paying. Just sounds different to say logging in.

I stocked up wen it was available as pick ups
only thing short on is 38 spl for my wife's hand gun
not many shoot 38 spl any more

Mike

As has been said before, here in northern Virginia shooting is way down.

I shoot at just two ranges (both indoor).

One is at NRA HQ. Before the pandemic waiting lines up to an hour and they’d sell bagged brass (you could collect your own but not other’s) and that’s where I bought mine. 500 dirty 45ACP for $27.50. It was the only bargain of any type here in NOVA.

Then people quit shooting and NRA quit selling and still aren’t. For 45ACP, paying 75 cents a round was too much even for the granite countertop fiends here in government contractor land.

Business is now so slow they have cut their hours in half. They also have a labor shortage—not enough range officers. I think the two feed off each other. I quit going even though it’s very close to and feels like home.

The other range I visit is huge and is effectively subsidized by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies training so it’s open 9-9 seven days a week. Its so large there is plenty of room for the public but there are no where near as many civilians shooting now as there were a couple of years ago.

It’s hard to collect brass from the next lane (even on the sly) if there’s no one in the next lane.

I actually found a 357 Magnum case at the range. Just one…

I found a whole cylinder full of 38 Special. That was a good day.

CoalCrackerAl said:

Inflation maybe? People don't seam to be shooting as often the past month. Anyone else notice it too?

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I have noticed that too. At my range it's many causes first it's shooters realizing the value of the brass & picking up behind themselves. Then there is a large amount of aluminum cases being shot. Another one to just start lately is other shooters police the range for dropped brass. Then our local police that use the range for training have started using a large tarp laid out to catch brass. The police have found they can sell the brass to help pay for equipment.
I used to scrounge the range for brass & pick up a 5gal bucket full every trip but now I'm lucky to get a few pounds of brass.

BigBlue 94 said:

Hunters making sure their guns are sighted in may be a big part of that.

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I'm not a hunter myself and I'm always surprised when someone comes to the range and only fires a couple shots. I was talking to a guy who came and fired a total of two shots from his rifle and called it a day. He said he was going on a moose hunt soon and just wanted to be sure his rifle was still sighted in. Both shots were in the 10 ring so he was satisfied. Even if that was my goal with that particular rifle I would take some other guns also to make the trip more worthwhile. But then I like to shoot but I guess some people only see the shooting as a necessity to bring home the game. It's seldom that I only take one gun on a range trip.

As for the brass, when I shoot my pistols at the indoor range we are supposed to police our brass before we leave. I always keep my own brass but many people just dump theirs in the buckets provided for that purpose. They don't care that I keep my brass but I'm sure they wouldn't allow anyone to take brass out of those buckets. I'd guess those buckets of brass get sold as scrap as I can't imagine anyone takes the time to sort it.

At the club outdoor range I pick up my own brass but I also often find brass in the calibers I reload on the ground. I have a pretty good stockpile so I won't bother with stuff that's stomped into the mud but if it's just lying there shining in the sun I pick it up. Right after an IDPA match I'll find lots of 9mm cases and fairly often I'll come across a nice pile of .223/5.56 where someone ran a mag and left the brass. Once in a while I'll find some .45 ACP which is a good find and I've pretty much learned to tell if it's actually .40 (which I don't want) without having to bend over and pick it up.