yhtomit
Member
Drove out to my most frequently visited tax-dollars-at-play range today (in Cumberland, PA), and was happy to discover that I was the only one there (so no one has to be Range Officer, or hurt their bellies by laughing at my groups). After I set up cases on the shooting bench, I noticed a few cases on the ground -- unusual, at that range; usually it's picked pretty dry. I thought it might be Wolf or some such which just caught the light oddly and gleamed more than usual, but no, it was gen-yew-eye-n brass. And then I noticed some more. And some more. In all, I found more than 50 shells behind the firing line, in 9mm and .40 mostly. I went to toss some of the Wolf ammo that I'd found in the process into the trash barrels, and as I tossed it on top of some ammo boxes that were in the barrels, they clinked funny -- ha! Someone had carefully collected a bunch of brass ("No littering," after all) and tossed the collection into the trash bin. Another ammo box had the original plastic inner box full of the spent cases, .40 cal, so bright they hardly looked fired at all (but they had been). Between the boxes, and a few loose shells scattered in there, I got more than hundred more cases.
There were just a few .45s (very clean looking) and some .380, too -- never having fired .380 before, I was surprised by how close it is in size to 9mm. From across a crowded room, I suspect I couldn't tell the difference by glancing at it
So, after quite a time happily stalking the ground for brass, I finally set up my targets; the area in front of the firing line, it turns out, is also a "target rich environment" for brass. It looks like a few people (or one very enthusiastic person) had been practicing close combat drills, or perhaps just couldn't read the well-posted rules, and had been shooting all over the range. The gleam of brass was everywhere -- picked up something near another hundred cases, and this is all before I get back to the bench to shoot the targets I'd just put up!
There's something satisfying about stalking / finding brass -- I must admit, I spent nearly as much time today sweeping the area with my feet and eyes as I did shooting. I know why old men with metal detectors wander the nation's beaches scaring children. All in all, something more than 200, less than 300 cases were my loot. I realize that once-fired brass (cleaned, even) is so far something still easily found on eBay at reasonable prices and much larger quantities, but it's so satisfying to find it growing wild
However, later that day, near the time I was going to pack up and go home, one of the regular brass collectors comes by (Rex, age 89 as of last Tuesday) and we discussed the day's pickings. I told him I'd found some that day, and squirreled it away for eventual reloading, but gave him some .22 that I'd scooped up (visual distraction, that tempting glint of un-reloadable brass), and he told me that earlier that day he'd been by after some fellows had been shooting with great abandon and gotten more than 600 cases. Probably what I'd found was just their lesser leftovers Would be nice to get there *right* after they stopped!
I'm sure that there are far greater hauls at any gathering of gun-types, so I'm sure some of you are chuckling at my joy in finding just a few handfuls, but this is so far my biggest unexpected windfall of brass, which goes with the rest of it into the stockpile for "When I start reloading, Real Soon Now." The .40 I hope will one day feed my brother's CZ, the 9mm my Browning, and the .45 will probably end up on moonclips that get to enjoy the inside of a S&W 625. The lone 357 mag case will wait at the end of the line until I am rich and have a 636 or similar Found no .357 sig cases (unsurprising), nothing used typically only in revolvers (equally unsurprising), and only one real outlier (a .223 case, split at the neck) at this pistol-only range. (Well, except for many shotgun casings -- vandals love to chop down the target posts with shotguns.) Found also several .22LR that were evidently duds, and in the 70 or 80 rounds of very old .22 I shot hit one dud myself -- these went in the trashcan; anything smarter I should have done with them? Also, one .380 that looked unfired, primer undented. I wonder if it just got dropped unnoticed.
(If anyone wants 25 or perhaps slightly more rounds of .380 brass in the mail, make me an offer of something equally trivial in trade, and the first one that strikes my fancy gets the tiny loot I dunno about the brass, but the cost of the new stuff is eye-raising for .380 -- can't they give a low-power discount? I have to say, the .380 rounds look like they came out of a gun with a pretty enthusiastic ejector! If I get un-lazy, I'll edit to attach a picture. Don't worry, I won't send the unfired one.)
Once I was in raid-the-trashcan mode, I must admit I also took some shotgun shells that were there -- Winchester AAs, along with the box they came in -- but with little understanding of how shotgun shells are reloaded -- only the vague idea that they can be. Last night (while this forum was down), found what seems like an excellent introduction to reloading shotshells at http://www.chuckhawks.com/reloading_shotshell.htm and it makes me want to gather some more. I hope my 870 gets some good use this summer.
A fun range trip -- only downside, I forgot my targets after carefully labeling them with the gun, distance, date, circumstances (weakhand, both, SA v. DA, etc.) for later reference.
timothy
There were just a few .45s (very clean looking) and some .380, too -- never having fired .380 before, I was surprised by how close it is in size to 9mm. From across a crowded room, I suspect I couldn't tell the difference by glancing at it
So, after quite a time happily stalking the ground for brass, I finally set up my targets; the area in front of the firing line, it turns out, is also a "target rich environment" for brass. It looks like a few people (or one very enthusiastic person) had been practicing close combat drills, or perhaps just couldn't read the well-posted rules, and had been shooting all over the range. The gleam of brass was everywhere -- picked up something near another hundred cases, and this is all before I get back to the bench to shoot the targets I'd just put up!
There's something satisfying about stalking / finding brass -- I must admit, I spent nearly as much time today sweeping the area with my feet and eyes as I did shooting. I know why old men with metal detectors wander the nation's beaches scaring children. All in all, something more than 200, less than 300 cases were my loot. I realize that once-fired brass (cleaned, even) is so far something still easily found on eBay at reasonable prices and much larger quantities, but it's so satisfying to find it growing wild
However, later that day, near the time I was going to pack up and go home, one of the regular brass collectors comes by (Rex, age 89 as of last Tuesday) and we discussed the day's pickings. I told him I'd found some that day, and squirreled it away for eventual reloading, but gave him some .22 that I'd scooped up (visual distraction, that tempting glint of un-reloadable brass), and he told me that earlier that day he'd been by after some fellows had been shooting with great abandon and gotten more than 600 cases. Probably what I'd found was just their lesser leftovers
Would be nice to get there *right* after they stopped!I'm sure that there are far greater hauls at any gathering of gun-types, so I'm sure some of you are chuckling at my joy in finding just a few handfuls, but this is so far my biggest unexpected windfall of brass, which goes with the rest of it into the stockpile for "When I start reloading, Real Soon Now." The .40 I hope will one day feed my brother's CZ, the 9mm my Browning, and the .45 will probably end up on moonclips that get to enjoy the inside of a S&W 625. The lone 357 mag case will wait at the end of the line until I am rich and have a 636 or similar
Found no .357 sig cases (unsurprising), nothing used typically only in revolvers (equally unsurprising), and only one real outlier (a .223 case, split at the neck) at this pistol-only range. (Well, except for many shotgun casings -- vandals love to chop down the target posts with shotguns.) Found also several .22LR that were evidently duds, and in the 70 or 80 rounds of very old .22 I shot hit one dud myself -- these went in the trashcan; anything smarter I should have done with them? Also, one .380 that looked unfired, primer undented. I wonder if it just got dropped unnoticed. (If anyone wants 25 or perhaps slightly more rounds of .380 brass in the mail, make me an offer of something equally trivial in trade, and the first one that strikes my fancy gets the tiny loot
I dunno about the brass, but the cost of the new stuff is eye-raising for .380 -- can't they give a low-power discount? I have to say, the .380 rounds look like they came out of a gun with a pretty enthusiastic ejector! If I get un-lazy, I'll edit to attach a picture. Don't worry, I won't send the unfired one.)Once I was in raid-the-trashcan mode, I must admit I also took some shotgun shells that were there -- Winchester AAs, along with the box they came in -- but with little understanding of how shotgun shells are reloaded -- only the vague idea that they can be. Last night (while this forum was down), found what seems like an excellent introduction to reloading shotshells at http://www.chuckhawks.com/reloading_shotshell.htm and it makes me want to gather some more. I hope my 870 gets some good use this summer.
A fun range trip -- only downside, I forgot my targets after carefully labeling them with the gun, distance, date, circumstances (weakhand, both, SA v. DA, etc.) for later reference.
timothy
