Could I be a brass hoarder?

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doorman

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I was at the deer lease a couple of week ago and there is a burm where you can sight in rifles and some of the guys shoot pistols that they bring along.

Anyway, I was helping a friend sight in his .270. He is new to hunting and shooting so he took about 8 rounds. I asked if I could have his spent brass since I reload and he said go for it. We move closer to the burm to shoot my 1911, he has very little experience with pistols and wanted to try it out. So we shot up a box of 50 and I start picking up my cases. Now, there are lots of cases on the ground from others. We pick them all up.

I get home and sort through what I have. I reload for 9mm, .45 acp, .270, .308 and .223.

I now have several of the following:

.243
30.06
.44 Rem Mag
.45 LC
.38 spl
.357 mag
.40
.380
.44 spl

I cleaned and placed in a zip lock bag. My thinking is that I may someday own one of these other calibers and may want to reload for it.

Do any of you guys do the same or should I find a good therapist to help with the brass hoarding?
 
I try to restrain myself to only picking up what I load or what I can trade. I will try to get a reasonable quantity then go on ammobrasstrader.com and trade them for something of use to me. I am planning to buy an AR so I do have about a 1000 223.
 
You are being very wise. I bought my first .44 mag revolver about 25 years ago. I didn't reload back then but I would still save my empty cases, thinking that "someday...I will be a reloader". What would typically happen though is I would accumulate maybe 300 of them and then I would have to move and so I would think how ridiculous it was to keep hoarding those useless cases and I would give them away to some person that actually reloaded. I did that time and again. So... now that I finally started reloading a couple years ago, I kick myself all the time, imagining how great it would be to have a couple thousand once fired 44 mag cases.
 
I've been doing that for 40 Plus years. NEVER enough brass. Can't believe what people leave on the ground. For the most part it's once fired factory brass as no reloader would dare leave brass on the ground.
 
"Could I be a brass hoarder?"

Not yet, but you could become one. Hang in there 10-15 years, you might make it. ;)
 
For 2+ years I thought about reloading and didnt pick up any brass. Now I wish I would have done it from the get go.

I now tell everyone I know that shoots to pick up anything they can that isnt 22. I usually get handfulls of once fired range brass from time to time.
 
i chase my 45acp brass. i pick up once fired 223 brass (a lot of cops practice at my club). used 45 brass costs at least .04 each when i can get it at a local indoor range. i know i can reload the 45 stuff many times before i dump it. scrap brass--3.00/lb. i may sound cheap--but i shoot a lot-and my costs are low. ;)
 
I just started reloading 3 years ago. I have been picking up brass for many years before that because I knew one day I would reload. I'm glad now I did.
I pick up brass I don't reload, even 22, because a 3# coffee can of brass will net you $18.00 at the metal recyclers. Not much but it helps buy components.
 
Yep, like leaving money just laying around blowing in the wind and driving off. :eek:
 
It makes me absolutely sick when I think about all the brass I didn't pick up over the las twenty years. There used to be so much of it!
 
Lol. I was at a range years ago to qualify for a pistol shoot. I got there early and saw lots of unloved brass. I picked to my hearts content right up until qualifications started. I qualified poorly due to being bent over focusing on brass 2 feet away for nearly an hour:(. Luckily I qualified and went on to win the competition but I knew I was a brass hoarder. "Hello my name is.....". It started simple at first, a case here, a case there, then before I knew it I was skipping work to haunt the range....:D
 
ranger335v said:
"Could I be a brass hoarder?"

Not yet, but you could become one. Hang in there 10-15 years, you might make it.
Click to expand...
Yup. Have get your "collectors" degree first. You get that after you've bought several guns because you have more than enough brass to justify reloading for them, and the only components you lack are the bullets.

I think hoarding is when you have more brass than it would take to supply your kids for their lifetimes.

And now that I think about it, I have a caliber I've never bought ammo for. Just started reloading it. Originally bought the pistol because I had so much brass for that caliber...., well, you guys know how the story goes...
 
I think it's definitely a sickness. I make special trips out of my way to shooting holes I know of, just to pick up brass. I'll pick up nearly everything. If I don't load it, I'll still clean and bag it to pass along to someone that does. Damaged or Berdan brass goes in the scrap bucket.
 
Doorman,
Sound like you are going to be one.
I haven't been collecting all that long but I have a lot of brass. Recently I adopted a policy of not having more than 5 gallons of brass in a pistol caliber that I do not shoot.
In my area .223 & .270 is about the easiest for me to collect as the percenatge of people that reload it compared to those who shoot it seems low. .223, .308 & .30-06 get picked up by more people. I had several good sources of brass for a while. One of the guys that brought me brass usually kept all the 9mm, but I got all the rest. Just realize nothing last forever. So get it while you can. I just pick up all the brass I can and sort it later.
Managing the inventory from the beginning is the way to go. All of my brass gets tumbled at minimum for storage. Then it is labeled as to the stage it is at. RTL is ready to load. So a 5gal bucket labeled .223 sized or .223 RTL doesn't need to be opend to see what it is.
The calibers I don't use I usually try to give to someone that will use it. I have sold some.
 
No, your just being smart. I pickup most brass I find a the ranges I go to. I don't have to reload for all calibers I find either, as I can usually find someone to trade with, or give to a friend that reloads for that given caliber. LM

donny640, I thought I was the about the only one that went through the garbage cans looking for ammo boxes.
 
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