Picking up brass.....am I the ONLY one?

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Our indoor range doesn't discourage brass picking and since a lot of shooters shoot IPSC they'll close the line down for you for a few minutes to sweep back your brass in front of the line before you leave.

They also sell firearms, reloading equipment, and components so I guess it's in their best interest to let people pick up the brass.

That being said when I was thinking of purchasing a rifle I started picking some .223. The owner asked me what rifle I owned and I told him that I didn't but he could show me what he had for sale. He didn't sell me a rifle but he did sell me 5000 small rifle primers once I bought my rifle
 
I pick up my own or use brass catchers to keep it easy. I also pick up at the range when no one else minds.


Happy times are when I'm seated next to a guy ripping through mag after mag of reloadable brass who has no desire of picking it up. I spend more time collecting brass than I do shooting on days like that...
 
animator said:
I pick up my own or use brass catchers to keep it easy. I also pick up at the range when no one else minds.


Happy times are when I'm seated next to a guy ripping through mag after mag of reloadable brass who has no desire of picking it up. I spend more time collecting brass than I do shooting on days like that...
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I spent one day (pretty busy at the range) 40% shooting & 60% collecting brass. The 40% may have been even less as I was shooting the bull with the ROs. I think the ROs felt sorry for me cause they said, let me use the brass buggy to pick up the brass and when you're done just go thru the buggy. Well that was a long day and at the end, I just threw everything into my range bag and sorted it when I got home. I definitely had a lot more than I went in with.
 
You're welcome to anything I leave behind...but if I left it, there was a reason.
 
My shootin' friends say that I am worse than a crow.:neener: If it shines I will grab it and lug it home. Clean and reload it or trade for something I can use. I will not stop until I have a 5 GAL bucket of whatever I reload then the extra is up for sale. BTW I reload straight wall pistol cases until the primer pocket is loose or the neck splits or it gets lost. I have never thrown away an intact case and have had no problems with them. I reloaded 5 45 ACP cases more than 30 times one day with mid range loads of Blue Dot before I gave up and decided that I could not wear them out.:D
 
The local gun club encourages members to pick up all empty brass larger than .22 rf at the outdoor ranges. The larger casings make mowing the grounds more hazardous. When I've gone scrounging lately,there are very few large brass left, but lots of steel casings not picked up.
 
BTW I reload straight wall pistol cases until the primer pocket is loose or the neck splits or it gets lost.
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Same here! The same batch of my brass probably is on one cycle, because I simply dump it on top of my pile and pull brass as needed. Never had a problem yet, either!
 
I keep knee pads, fingerless gloves, and a couple of buckets in my truck at all times. You never know when you find brass. And when you do, you need to be real quick and snatch it up or it won't be there when you go back for it. When I shoot at a range I take the buckets and stuff in with me loaded with boxed ammo and take them out full of brass. The stuff's as good as money in the bank!
 
Someone moving to China went to the range to throw their brass into the brass recycling.

A couple guys saw there was lots of good 270 brass getting pitched, and walked down the firing line looking for a 270 person.
They found me and my 270. They told me about it and then showed me.
I had my head in that garage can for quite a while.
 
I have a little handheld broom dustpan combo.

I ask everyone around me if they reload/want their brass then start sweeping and sort later. The answer is hardly ever yes I reload or I want my brass. If so I wont take their brass and leave about half of the stuff that isn't mine for them.

I used to pick through it for my calibers but find it nice to have other calibers to trade later.

Be sure not to sweep near people who are shooting its pretty rude/annoying.

The range I shoot at doesn't really care what you sweep up and after a sweep I shot there for free that day or got paid to do it.
 
Yes, I'm a pathetic brass rat too. I don't go to indoor ranges, simply because I lose brass. But I'll stop at every outdoor shooting hole I run across and I'll pick up everything but the rimfires, steel and aluminum. Last time I stopped at one of my favorite Bubba ranges, it appeared that possibly someone had been there with a .45 submachinegun. I kept finding large amounts of brand-new .45acp brass concentrated in small areas. Brought home a BUNCH that day!

I'm also a member of a big outdoors gun club, and anything on the ground with no shooters around is fair game. I found a big pile of M1 Garand enbloc clips there one day, new ones that somebody was nice enough to leave on a shooting bench for someone to take home. Didn't find the brass from them though, I thought that was odd.

For brass picking, I use a gallon jug with just enough of the top cut out to stick my hand in, I leave the handle for carrying. It's very handy and will hold more brass than you want to carry around. Windshield washer fluid jugs are great for this, they're tougher than milk or water jugs.
 
I go to two ranges, one public, and one private. The public one can be a brass extravaganza, especially right before hunting season, or right in the spring when everyone is finally get out to shoot new christmas guns. There are brass cans at the rear of eash shooting station, and I just bring my big can, and empty them when I get to the range, and again when I leave. I figure if people are taking the time to put thier spent brass in the cans, they expect someone to take it. Range is only open thurs-monday, so I usually head up monday evening to see what was left that week. The RSO never seems to mind.

The private range must be nothing but reloaders, (oh and people shooting steel cased 7.62/5.56) there is almost never any brass there. My BIL and I got luck last week, and came up with some, but not much.
 
Just started grabbing a bunch of brass from my local DNR range. Stuff gets left all over the place and someone has to clean it up right? :) It also helps that my room mate and I reload some of it, and we are planning to keep the rest of it, clean it up, and sell it off once we get enough to bag up in decent quantities.
 
Another brass fiend here. I DON´T SEE ITS IN THE FLOOR AND DON´T PICK UP.
Only one shoot brass of course.
Greetings from España.
 
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Personally, I'm only interested in my own brass, or brass that I know has only been fired from its original factory loading. I always collect my own brass, and I'll collect factory brass when someone else who is shooting nearby doesn't want it.

I'm not one to run around and pick up brass unknown origin for the sake of reloading. Lots of people do it, and I can't blame them for seeking out the freebies. But, I don't like loading brass when I don't know at least a bit more about its history.

As some of the others have touched on, I see a lot more discarded brass at public shooting areas than I do at private clubs. The club I belong to has a lot of dedicated shooters, and most of us reload. In fact, I don't think I've seen anyone there who doesn't handload in my past ten trips to that range!
 
Yeah, I police my brass. Then I kind of just keep going. I have more 9 brass than i know what to do with. I got a kitty litter bucket full of 9 brass from a good family friend too. Maybe ill start to police .223 and 308 brass for when that day comes that i get a rifle that shoots them. I dont really care, most of the people I shoot with are pretty cool
 
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