I'm a Brass rat!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
O

offroaddiver

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2007
Messages
300
Location
Mountains of East TN
My girlfriend and shooting buddies have deemed me a brass rat. I have been picking up brass for quite some time. My dad has been trying to get into shooting with me and he gave me the idea of how to push my ratso ways.... a battery powered shop vac. I no longer have to bend over or wear knee pads. Sure I pick up some pebbles and other junk but toss it all in a mesh bag and shake... voila less dirt. I can pick up 45's and 5.56 with some finesse but 9mm and others come up easy. If i'm goin after rifle rounds I just have to shake the hose from time to time to keep them from being jammed up.

YES i'm Nuts. I told a fellow worker today that if they see me hanging from the ceiling howling like a monkey to remain calm and just through me a banana.
 
I prefer the terms "master recycler" or "hoover". Boy Scouts tought me to leave the place cleaner that I found it, so I do what I can. Just think of all that poor brass just lying there homeless and not loved. It will be lonely and tarnish and I hate to see that, so I adopt it into a loving home and polish it up then fondle it and love it like it deserves. Every now and again I take it out and let it play in the grass. I think it is about time to go adopt some more.
 
offroaddiver
I'm not sure you qualify as a brass rat yet!

You didn't talk about going thru the garbage cans at the range for brass and boxes.

You didn't talk about racing other shooters to the stall where a guy who just walked off and left 4 boxes of pistol brass.

You didn't talk about hurrying to the range, not to shoot, but to search for brass.

Are you salivating when you see the ground littered with all types of shining brass.

I think you're just in the beginning stages of the disease.:evil:
 
Ah, but have you ever been to your gun club's range in the middle of the night, looking for brass with a flashlight? Not there to shoot, just there to scrounge? Sometimes I have to make road trips at night for work, and just "happen" to drive past the club, and just "happen" to stop by, because there's porta-johns there and I had a "need" to stop.

Do you keep 1-gallon jugs in your vehicle, just for "gathering buckets"? Do you visit every public and "bubba" range you know of, just to poke around? Do you pick up every brass case you see, regardless of how black it's tarnished or how full of dirt it is? Do you pick up calibers that you don't own guns for?

It's a friggin' disease, I tell ya......
 
Join in, band together.

Yeah, another guy on this forum even called us "brass whores." I'm not sure I like that, but I'm equally unsure how I could defend my practice of dumpster diving for brass.;)

A guy who's local at my range never shoots - he comes to scavenge brass, and will dump the container beside you while you're shooting:fire:. THAT is RUDE, like somebody shouting while you're trying to make a good golf shot.:cuss:

Me? I draw the distinction, 'cause I will police up brass, but don't ever interrupt another shooter or wander downrange to pick up brass while somebody else is shooting :what: (yeah, this other guy does that). I do figure I'm doing the guy who's the range caretaker a favor 'cause I pick up stuff that would foul his lawnmower and always leave the place cleaner than it was when I arrived.

I'm not being "green." I'm being "cheap." :p
 
I've lately grown fond of picking up all the Win, Rem, and Federal .45ACP brass I can find at my range, and I don't even own a gun in that caliber (an answer to "You know you're a brass rat if...."?) I try to be discreet while doing it, especially since it is, ah, 'discouraged' at my range (though the staff still lets me do it). Still, during cease fire, I'm sniffin' around....
 
Last edited:
Guilty brass buzzard right here

I just politely ask shooters if they are going to collect their brass, most don't and are happy to let you have it. Often they will even collect it for you! I've had that happen many times.
Since I've never met a stranger and am usually the first to ask somebody i'll usually leave plenty extra lying about for those who did not ask or speak up soon enough. Also I leave plenty for the range to sweep up. I'm just happy to leave with more than I came with, pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered. :neener:
 
I belong to a private club so we don't have to worry about a RO stopping us from picking up brass. The first thing I do when I get to the range is scrounge brass. One of the guys at the club calls us grazers, he said we look like cattle out grazing.
Rusty
 
I'm a spoiled brass rat! Just got finished sorting a large box of 40 S&W and .45ACP from a local police range. Reason why I'm spoiled is they pick it up for me.:)
Chief
 
I am to the point that if I am hunting and miss what I shoot at, I have a tendency to get more ticked off over the fact I cannot find the empty casing rather than the fact I missed a coyote at XXX yards!
 
Dang!

I see I'm not the only one. Today even, I had to come close to the range for a work trip, I keep a coffee can "just in case", filled it to the top. Did not even shoot. Scored some sweet 9mm brass !
 
Collecting lots of brass over the last 10 years looked kind of obsessive, until the value went up.

A guy died 14 years ago, and the guy that got all his reloading stuff never started reloading. 100 pounds of stuff was just given to me.

1500 pieces of dirty 223 came with it.
I did some concentricity tests, until I realized the brass had little dents .1" behind the shoulder.
This brass will need fire forming before it is good for those experiments.
 
The closest range to my house I detest and will never return to again, they will not let you pick up any brass unless 1 a cease fire is called and that the brass is on the benchrest or behind you. Sorry had to get that off my chest.

Thank you fellow brass buddies. My favorite ranges are usually picked clean except for 22 and steel case, when I get there. I don't just drop by my favorite range because it's 30 minute drive out of the way.

I have gone through a pair of cheap knee pads and some good framers' knee pads. I like my vac so much more now. Bought it originally for cleaning cars and boats.

I am looking for a golf ball net or making one for my brass.
 
Yea oll FlyinBryan turnred me into a brass vampire. Ill walk up and down the range picking up brass I reload or plan on getting dies for latter. The range owner even condones me doing it. I ask the shooters before I start picking. I go and shoot 200 and come back with 4 to 5 hundred empties. Ive got so many .40 S&W my kids kids will never go through it all
 
I've recently progressed to going through the garbage cans.

And I found I enjoy it. :p





I'm also close to a few ranges and plan my trips so I'm the first to arrive after a Holiday or weekend so the pick-ens will be good. :)
 
Good places to scrounge are "bubba ranges", the spots out in the country where the good ol' boys shoot up trash and the beer cans they just emptied. Since respectable shooters don't usually go to those places, there's fewer serious brass buzzards.
 
We don't have a local outdoor rifle range here, our local indoor range sells used brass they sweep up for $4 a pound. Which is pretty good. Does anyone know what 100, .40 or .45 or 9mm brass weigh?
 
I am a brass whore, no doubt. Whenever I shoot at an indoor range I always search out the broom with the longest handle:rolleyes:
 
So what does a guy do with a bucket full of brass that has defects or simply has outlived it's safe re-use?
 
i'm like MCMike... if there's a dumpster at the range i'm at i'll go through it!

do i need some kind of intervention??????????????????
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

K
  • Locked
Rat Poop In Brass
2
Replies
43
Views
4K
*Kemosabe*
K
W
  • Locked
Brass Rat's Big Day Out
Replies
5
Views
570
The Bushmaster
The Bushmaster
jmorris
  • Locked
Brass Vac
Replies
12
Views
1K
GW Staar
GW Staar
D
Where there is a will there is a way
Replies
3
Views
254
doubleh
D
jmorris
  • Locked
Brass vacuum
Replies
13
Views
1K
mdi
mdi
Back
Top