Frugal (cheapskate, tightwad,etc) tricks?

At the range I pick up all the good brass and 9mm/.45 ammo boxes/trays I can.

More than once I've gone through a "sloppy" trash can to get empty brass left by a previous shooter. My son disapproves but a good handwashing restores things to normal. I've even taken a file to the rims of my 45 ACP brass because the rims tend to flatten out after a couple dozen reloadings and won't fit into the shellholder. Of course the stampings of caliber, maker and nickel plating wore off long ago.

I was wondering the other day whether or not to throw an old dryer I had away. I was trying to figure out a practical way to turn it into a case cleaner.

Mayteg case cleaner.... I think you win.

Mixing yer' own bore cleaner saves some money. (Ed Red's)

Keep adding a little Mineral spirits to walnut media will make it go longer. When it's all dirty and black wash it in bucket with generic household cleaner. It will come out like new.

You can put media and brass in a coffee can, seal it and let the kids play with it for a week - no tumbler needed.

I too confess to being in the ''brass conservation'' camp!! Ask Mike Irwin when we shot last!!

''All that glisters is not gold'' ........ nope ...... it just might be brass ...... and you know you are an addict ...... if when everyone has gone home, you park truck in front of firing point with headlights on ...... and do a further search for empties.

I do tho also press everyday items into use ..... my dross skimmer for lead pot is just a std spoon ..... ''borrowed'' from kitchen! (sorry honey!)

Dropped all my friends so I don't have to buy them Christmas presents.



P95, you are an absolute piker compared to the former Chief of Policeo of Burnham, Pennsylvania.

Tommy, Tommy... damn, now has last name escapes me.

Carried a Colt New Service that his father had carried as a peace officer.

Was known to stand behind shooters to grab their brass out of the air if they weren't reloaders. Spent most of his time at the range on his hands and knees scrounging in the grass on the side berms.

So what "cheap" media do you guys prefer in the tumbler??

Rice, or corn, or barley or oatmeal??

I take off my glasses when shooting so as not to wear them out...

I clean my guns in the dark to save on electric.....

I use my old Tshirts for patches, but cut them neatly and sew back together when done to wear again....

I go to the berm at the end of shooting with a metal detector to salvage lead for reloading...

I sight in with one round.....

I double tap by firing one shot then yelling bang for the second....

WildscroogeAlaska

Dropped all my friends so I don't have to buy them Christmas presents.

Click to expand...

ROTFLMAO

Twoblink,

Rice is the absolute best, IMO.

pax

oatmeal...... recycle it for a quick breakfast..

pax -our rice farmers would hug you for that recomendation

I've been known to bring home all kinds of brass and colors of shot shell hulls.

I used to scrounge the trash bbls for shot-shell boxes, I quit, I needed the storage room for the *ahem* hulls. I kept 8 boxes for each of 4 gauges for tourneys only. Yep I'm the guy with four 5 gal buckets that shows up to shoot...or a burlap bag.

I got divorced, I don't date often, family went their way except mom, what is a friend, and you mean people really do clean guns?

I take payment for somethings in ammo and supplies for services rendered. What taxes, what deductions?

One tip fellas: "IF" you use the wife's laundry bag dealie for shot-shells and run through the washer and dryer, you will have to replace it for the delicate stuff that gets washed. So I bought 4 ( they work real well btw) Even in a bag, 300 hulls make a lot of racket. REAL Good idea to do this when the wifey and kid are gone...and make sure wifey went to work all day,not just to attend a 2 hr required meeting. Got it? Kenmore's work quite well btw...oops...not me, the dog did it.

I used to photocopy homemade targets at work- by the hundreds.

Guilty as well

I forgot about that...Barney taught a bunch of kids how to shoot, I really think the parents enjoyed these targets...I mean really enjoyed it. They seemed " more free" when shooting Barney...didn't want to stop! You could sense the focus and concentration...
I really liked teaching kids they thought I was cool...heck I did Barney for the parents sanity. I'm not gonna tell the kids that, though I suspect some older sibs were grateful as well.
Not me, I'm a good guy, remember...

Oh dang i just remembered how much toner and paper i must have cost my employer in targets

I've copied a few targets but not because I was cheap. My cheapskate thing is using empty 45acp casings for earplugs... No, I don't look like Frankenstein, my hair covers them just fine.

I go to the berm at the end of shooting with a metal detector to salvage lead for reloading...

Click to expand...

WildAlaska, if you tie 26 yards of string around the back of the bullet and the other end to the edge of the bench, the bullet won't hit the backstop and deform, which makes it easier to reload without having to whittle it back to round again with your pocketknife. You'll also save on the soles of your shoes not having to walk those extra 25 yards to pick them up, just pull the string back. Also, if you tie 24.5 yards of string to the bullet, it'll stop before hitting the target, thus ruining a piece of paper. When it hits the end of the line, it'll "twang" and hang there for a second, which lets you see how close to bullseye you would have been.

While at the range one day, a shooter was burning up lots of .223 in his AR clone using 30 rd. mags. The brass would fly over my shoulder and land not far from my shooting position. They ( guy and friend ) weren't paying attention to where the brass was going so I moved my range bag a few feet and it would catch nearly everything they put into the air. . The rest I could pick up easily.

Anyone have the instructions for making a patch-puller (for .22 pistols and the like) out of some plastic line (I think it was weed-eater line, but I'm not sure)?

Kharn