Brass Scroungers: Pariah on the Range!

[Mad Magyar]

Isn’t there any range etiquette for these people? I don’t know if they are reloaders, environmentalists, metal haulers, etc.? I’ve seen them go from one range area to another, tying up real estate for the next pistolero. BTW, I have no problem with a shooter picking up their own brass, however, these guys are not shooting: SCROUNGERS! The worst kind are the ones that park close-bye, lurking in their shabby pick-ups, watching you shoot: waiting for you to finish so they can pick up your brass….For those especially, I have utter distain….I always stomp on my brass so they have to dig them out…. (Yes, as I drive off, I see what they are up to…) Maybe I’m too harsh, but I look at them as parasites…Oh, please, don’t tell me they are doing a public community service and all shooters should pick-up their own: not here or observable….Ammo boxes, targets, beer cans, yes; but not brass….
These are the same people chiming in about the satisfying benefits of reloading, how cheap it is, on & on: hell, no wonder? They are too cheap to purchase their own brass.
I understand why so many of them have misfires; especially if they are reusing my microscopically heel-cracked brass. Am I going MAD??:banghead: :banghead:
What say you?

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

I always put empty cases that i don't reload in the "brass bucket". It's there for others to make use of unwanted cases. Luckily it's a private range and only accessible to other shooters, not "brass scroungers".

 

[deadin]

Brass=$$$ at a scrap yard. (And they don't care about the condition)
Any more questions?

 

[R33P3R]

how much is brass really worth. maybe if you had a truckload. but come on.

 

[R33P3R]

i would rather them ask, and i would try and keep it together for them, rather then them scrounge around after i left. And if they were using it for reloading i think it only fair they get my name and number and load me a box. ****. i go through nearly 500-1000 rounds when i go out.

 

[Zundfolge]

I don't have a problem with them picking up my brass after I've left. Its the ones that you see out of the corner of your eye chasing the empties when they're still hot that annoy me.

 

[EricTheBarbarian]

i just sold some(my own) brass. they were unreloadable berdan primed brass cases. it goes for 1.42/lb here. a ziploc bag i had went for 7 dollars. id assume if they take everyones brass from a bunch of different ranges they could probably get a decent amount for it.

 

[10X]

I also have no problem with them after I am done shooting for the day. I don't want them milling around when there is shooting, that is distracting. I have politely asked them to back off the line. I have also asked them to leave things alone until I have gathered my own emptiies. So far, they were OK with that.
My preference is still to go early in the day during the week and not have to deal with these folks or other shooters, that is ideal.

 

[Dr.Rob]

If the range asks you not to take brass that isn't your own, be mindful. Otherwise, if you are throwing it away why do you care?

Police up your area either way.

I've had people ask me if I'd like theirs when they see me saving mine. Some people (gasp) don't know what re-loading is.

 

[battlehatch]

Our local range has a "clean up your mess/don't take other's brass" policy. When I am out at the local BLM range, when I am finished shooting, I pick up my brass and any other reloadable brass from the empty stations. Some folks see me doing it and then they even round up theirs and give it to me. This is also a small part of my cleaning effort I do there. My roommate and
I always pack out more than we packed in , trash, bottles, boxes, etc... Just makes for a nicer place to shoot.

 

[grimjaw]

I sweep up what I don't want to keep and it goes in the brass bucket. If somebody asks me if they can have the brass from one of my shell chuckers, I usually don't mind.

So there's this guy at the range I'll call Bob the Bigot, because he decided to regale me one day with his stories and opinions on a variety of topics that you can guess from the nickname. Bob doesn't ask people about their brass; he comes by and sorts through what he wants and leaves. Anyway, I'm out shooting an AK a couple of weeks later, throwing .223 brass hither and yon, and Bob has the nerve to complain to me that the brass is getting dinged up by the AK ejector and because of that he can't reload the cases.

He's definitely a cake-taker, that Bob.

jm

 

[1KPerDay]

Yeah, you should be more considerate. Maybe just give Bob the unfired cartridges next time, along with a nice fat welfare check. Poor guy.

 

[daysleeprx]

So....you're annoyed that they're taking the brass that you don't pick up anyway?

I don't see the big deal. I police my brass and put it into the brass bucket at the range I go to.

Purposely stomping on it seems pretty juvenile.

 

[Mad Magyar]

Appreciate the replies...For once, I don't get "crucified"....
I can see that these occurrences are common everywhere....I didn't realize that there is some value as "scrap metal"....
Oop's, I spoke too soon.....I'll tell you what Daysl...., let me lurk around with my "little bucket" while you're shooting and tell us how you like it!

 

[Claude Clay]

grimjaw

perhaps he would like the lead b4 he gets the brass???

 

[daysleeprx]

Oop's, I spoke too soon.....I'll tell you what Daysl...., let me lurk around with my "little bucket" while you're shooting and tell us how you like it!

Unless you're foolish enough to be downrange of me while I'm shooting, I doubt I'll even notice you.

 

[TimboKhan]

I don't have a problem with them picking up my brass after I've left. Its the ones that you see out of the corner of your eye chasing the empties when they're still hot that annoy me.

I am with Zundfolge on this one. Heck, I don't even mind them picking it up while I shoot, as long as they ask first! One thing I will say in favor of brass scroungers is that in a lot of cases, they are the only ones that are picking up their brass. I am ashamed to admit it, but I leave brass laying around all the time. It's a bad habit, and one I need to work on.

 

[CZ 75 BD]

I always pick up my brass and aluminum cases. The brass goes to the brass bucket and the aluminum in the trash.

I also make a point to pick up some of the cases that other members see fit to leave as well as tote the trash to the dumpster.

Everyone agrees to police the range when they join, not everyone does as they say they will.

 

[Dorryn]

The range i usually attend is (unfortunately) very well-staffed... the staff clean as youre shooting... so no chance to grab others' brass before the staff get to it.

To make matters worse, I feel like such a penny-pincher, that I cant bring myself to ask people if they would save their brass and give it to me. I dont mind admitting that im cheap (read: poor), but its too embarassing to ask. And brass is expensive! Hard to convince oneself to buy brass cased ammo in the first place rather than Wolf if the difference between the two is the price of a meal or three.

If the "brass scroungers" are driving a "shabby" pickup, theyre obviously not profiting too much from it. If i knew a range where brass WAS available and abandoned by persons who can afford to leave brass behind, I would scrounge too!

 

[Soybomb]

I wish people would clean up my brass for me so I'd have more time to shoot.

 

[The Canuck]

I collect my brass because I get $45.00 knocked off the price of new ammo for every thousand .45 ACP casings I bring back to a commercial reloader. Doesn't sound like much, but then I can get 1000 rounds of 230gr FMJ for about CDN$203.00 (that's 20.3¢/round) which is pretty good considering we pay CDN$20.00 - $25.00 (40¢ - 50¢/round) for 50rds of 230gr FMJ.

 

[R.W.Dale]

9 times out of 10 I'm at the range alone. THE FIRST thing I do before unloading anything from the Jeep is walk down the range looking for brass I might need

By the same token if I end up with brass I don't want for whatever reason. Like that PMP 22-250 from the other day, I leave it on a bench for someone else to use. kinda like those leave a penny things.


I think the original poster is being an ******* by getting upset over this. I bet he's also one of those drivers who gets upset when people have the gall to pass in the LH lane without going at least 20mph over the limit

 

[GaryArkansas]

Rather than stomping your brass into the ground, have you considered just picking it up yourself?

It seems like you're resentful of a guy who's being resourceful, as well as cleaning up your pistol range. Everybody wins when ranges are cleaned up, free of charge.

If the shooter or the range recycles its own brass, then that's different. But until then, I think you should give the guy a break.

If you run the range, maybe you can strike a deal that the guy can come in at closing time and take all the brass he wants, in exchange for him cleaning up the steel and aluminum cases as well. The range would be even cleaner that way. Just a thought.

 

[busy_squirrel]

I don't mind people taking mine as long as they ask first. Heck, I'd probably shoot an extra box if I knew someone wanted to pick up my brass. But then I usually shoot outdoors in the woods so whoever wants to make the effort to clean up after me is welcome to everything they can get.

 

[Barbara]

I had a little old guy start picking up mine on Sunday on a small public range..he dutifully went around picking it up while I sat up on the bench and loaded my mags. At the very end, he thought to ask me if the .223 was mine, as well as the 9 mm, and when I said it was, asked me if I wanted either.

But he also picked up a stray target that blew away and some bottles someone had left laying around.

The range is state owned and not kept up by them. He's a retired guy who lives down the road and voluntarily keeps an eye on things and keeps the place tidied up and "scrounges" brass. Seems like a small price to pay.

The range where I shoot most often has a policy that you can only pick up your own brass..they collect the rest to raise funds.