Range Brass!!!

[ZWCoffindaffer]

I havent been reloading long and so far my source of brass has been either new brass or my personal pickups from factory loads when shooting at our family's farm. Over the weekend I went to an outdoor range and boy did I feel like I hit jackpot. I know I picked up over 600 pieces of good looking handgun brass. Mostly .45 ACP, 9mm, and 40 S&W. I didnt pick up any rifle brass. I'm too funny about the accuracy in my bolt rifles, but I feel like I hit the handgun brass jackpot.

Anybody else pick up range brass where allowed?

I know I will have to do a lot of sorting and culling but just eyeing it i'd say 95% looked great. I'm going to supersonic clean it then tumble it and see what I'm working with.

 

[GarySTL]

I pick up at our club range. Both at the normal firing lines and during IDPA etc. matches.

We have barrels for the brass, but anyone picking it up can keep it if they wish.

You might want to get a set of the trays for sorting pistol brass. They separate 45, 40, and 9mm.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Got nearly 50yrs worth of pick-ups!
Some say I'm a hoarder, but a new rifle in new caliber usually only means a new set of dies. Sometimes, ammo, brass, bullets, and dies is an excuse new gun!

 

[ZWCoffindaffer]

Too funny!

Thats what I told my fiance, she was with me and asked what I was going to do with all the 10mm Auto and 40 S&W I found since I dont have either of those guns. I told her if I found enough I would just buy a gun to match.

 

[Nature Boy]

I seem to follow a rich guy who shoots .50 BMG. I say rich because he leaves his brass on the ground. I've picked up 30 or so over the last couple of months. Also picked up a buch of 6.5 CM this weekend. That's going to make me break down and get something that will shoot it.

 

[cat_IT_guy]

I sure do. Lately I think I spend as much time scrounging for brass as I do shooting. Vast majority of what I find is 9 & 380, followed by 40 & 223. Pretty much anything like 357 and 45 are prized finds.

I also enjoy in some gun-nerdy way, finding and grabbing the less common brass...

When I get home I soak the brass with dish soapy water. Then rinse and dry, followed by tumbling with a bit of nu finish and walnut media. Last I sort and inspect each case, discarding those that are split, too old / corroded, or just to deformed to feel safe resizing.

 

[BullRunBear]

I pick up range brass whenever possible. (I ask the shooter first if he's around.) Probably over 95% is usable. If it's for a caliber I don't reload I put them aside and use them for trading or as a gift for friends who use that caliber. Since I inspect every case, mine or range scrounged, safety isn't a problem.

Jeff

 

[TomJ]

I was at an indoor range a month or so ago. One of their employees was sweeping the brass off the floor and I asked him to leave mine as I reload. He swept the brass from the other stalls to me and told me to take what I wanted. I'm guessing there were over 1000 9mm cases alone.

 

[Candyman87]

Yep, my old indoor range knew I was a reloader and would sweep everything over my way. I've got a couple 5 gallon buckets I still need to sort through.

Plenty in calibers I don't shoot. But strangely enough I've bought a .45 1911 and a .38 special revolver to use up some of that brass!

 

[ZWCoffindaffer]

TomJ,

Thats awesome,

The 3 Local indoor ranges strictly enforce "feel free to pick up your, dont touch anything else" . I had one range try to blame OSHA rules. The other was very honest and said, I dont care if you pick up yours but we make pretty good money selling this to a company that reloads it and sells it back to us at a discounted rate for our range ammunition.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

Got nearly 50yrs worth of pick-ups!
Some say I'm a hoarder, but a new rifle in new caliber usually only means a new set of dies. Sometimes, ammo, brass, bullets, and dies is an excuse new gun!

Guilty as charged! I worked at Cabelas a few years back and accidentally picked up a discounted box of 327 Magnum that I thought was 357 Magnum. I carried this box to the range for a couple of years in WV and VA and couldn't find anyone shooting this caliber to give this ammo to. I was in Green Top a couple of weeks before Christmas and was looking primarily for a 38 Special. They had a couple new Ruger SPS-101's in 327 Magnum in the display case and a used Colt in 38 Special. I really liked the Colt but it looked like it had been dropped and the trigger guard had several nicks in it. I decided to walk around and think about it for awhile. I walked around to the other side of the counter and they had a Ruger Stainless 7-Shot 327 Mag 5 1/2" Single Action Revolver on display. Asked the fellow to let me hold it for a minute and next thing I know I'm filling out the paperwork. I still haven't shot it yet, but I have reloaded 20 test rounds and hope to get to the range tomorrow. So yes, i have now purchased a gun primarily due to having a 50 round box of the ammo. I should have guessed this would be the last box of plinking ammo anywhere when they told me they only had self defense ammo in this caliber. Fortunately, I have been able to find reloading components sufficient enought to last me the next few years.

And to stay on topic I hoard brass like crazy. I've got over 20 5 gallon buckets of misc. brass and I'm trying real hard to thin out my collection.

 

[FROGO207]

If you do not have at least a five gallon bucket of reloading brass ahead for each caliber you reload you are not looking hard enough for range brass. I also use the stuff I do not load to trade with others for what I can use. Like for 45 Colt for one.

 

[highlander 5]

Any brass left on the ground at my outdoor range is fair game,lately it's been 45 ACP small/large primers and 9 mm. Fair amount of 40 S&W rarely see 10 mm auto 38/357 good supply,almost never see 41,44 mag or 45 Colt.

 

[Nature Boy]

I've only been reloading since April and when I see fresh 7.62 NATO laying on the ground I think, "what was that guy thinking?!? ....then I remeber that was me 8 months ago

Parker says

I decided to walk around and think about it for awhile....

You had already decided. You just needed time to rationalize it. I've done that "walk around" thing too. I've even done the "walk away" but it just makes the "walk back" take longer. Once it's bored into the brain and taken hold everything else is just a delaying action.

 

[Bula]

I tell myself weekly "you have enough, leave it be". Then I proceed to fill my mesh range brass sack with as much as I can get in twenty minutes. I think the first step is admitting you have a brass hoarding problem. Not me, not yet! I always come home with more 45 acp, 9mm, 38 and 40 than I took with me. It's like leaving money on the floor the way I see it. I don't even own anything in 40 S&W!??

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Heck, I even sweep the .22's off the bench and pick up Berdan cases and pocket them. I toss them in a bucket under my bench that catches my spent primers and messed up cases. Not long ago I took a two gallon bucket to the scrapper. I got about 40 bucks.

 

[jcwit]

I have thousands of range brass I've picked up over the last 50 years.

The most accurate cases I have for my bench rifle is 5 pieces of LC, 2001, which I've done all the regular things to them. I shoot groups of 5 at .228 at 100 yds.

Those 5 cases have way over 100 reloads on them.

 

[AV8TOR]

I always come back from the range with more brass than I shot.

 

[dragon813gt]

My brass is stored in five gallon buckets. Lots of five gallon buckets. I'm extremely picky w/ rifle brass though. They all get a very thorough inspection. The month leading up to rifle season usually yields a lot of usable brass. The rest of the year unless it's military or a hard to find cartridge I recycle them. I've picked up to many w/ case head separation to bother w/ them anymore. All pistol brass is kept. At a minimum it's trade bait.

 

[rondog]

I'll pick up brass even after dark with a flashlight in my mouth. I sometimes spend as much time picking as I do shooting, sometimes more. It's an addiction, I tell ya!

 

[Dudedog]

If it allowed i always pick up pistol, sometime .223.
(only time I like finding primer crimps. fairly safe to assume if the crimp is still there the .223/5.56 is only had one firing)
I figure if I end up with more than I need I can always PIF some to someone who might need it.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I shoot at a private range and I am amazed at how much brass is left on the ground. I pick up everything I have dies for and any other clean brass that I don't as I have friends that reload too. Never had any problems with any of it but sometimes it has to sit in the cleaner overnight.....

 

[oldreloader]

I never turn down range

 

[ants]

Anybody else pick up range brass where allowed?

I've been picking it up since 1968. Where you been? Join the club, we scrounge brass wherever we find it.
Some guys may call us Brass Whore. I wear it proudly like a badge of honor.
Sounds like you know to inspect it carefully before you use it. Make sure your components are good.

 

[ThePomel]

I was at my local indoor range last week, I tell the RO I reload and they often sweep most of the brass my way. I also ask other shooters if they are ok with me picking up their brass and most times they say yes. The shooter in the lane next to me was shooting 44mag from a Henry rifle. Not sure how many rounds I got, but that's a good score to me! I normally leave with more brass than I shoot.