Range Pick Up Brass

[The Bushmaster]

LHB1 I don't want to be makin' you mad, but you need to go back and figure out what you did wrong. If they were once fired cases you still have to insure that you full length size them for the first time and insure that they are within proper length. I have never had a problem with once fired cases unless I screwed up somewhere. And I've been known to to that very thing on ocasion

 

[Ky Larry]

I always go home with more brass than I took to the range. I have a lot of friends who reload, so I pick up brass for them too. I am currently reloading .22-250 (not many left on the ground), .243 ( usually find a few), .223 (I've got 1000's of pickups), .30-06 (several hundred pickups), .38-.357 ( several hundred) and .45 ACP (not many left at the public range but lots at the indoor range). It goes without saying to carefully inspect ALL brass before reloading, no matter where you got it.

 

[LHB1]

Bushmaster,
Nope. I prefer to use known quantities for my high pressure reloading. Don't know what was wrong with those cases but I won't waste time trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. My handloads work correctly with no problems in good brass, so those got trash-canned quickly. The replacement ammo with new brass and identical load worked perfectly. Just my opinion and style. No problem if we disagree. Different opinions make the world go round. Would be a pretty dull place if we all bought just one brand of rifle, pistol, brass, bullets, powder, primer, cars, houses, and all tried to marry the same woman. You guys would all be very unhappy.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[TooTaxed]

At our range fired cases are a nuisance, and members are directed to police their areas. What you pick up and want...is yours! Anything you don't want goes into cans. (Wish I could find more 8-mm Mauser, .45 Colt, and carbine! ) Lots of our fired cases are berdan primed, steel, aluminum, or rimfire, so it is simply scraped.

I've had no problems with cases that have been fired before, as I inspect them for damage and wash milsurp cases that may have had corrosive primers. All rifle cases are trimmed after full-length resizing. And, I only load to moderate pressures.

 

[Berek]

I pick up whatever I can find...

Currently have about 4000 9mm cases. It's nice to be able to pick the brass up off the ground, and then go to the trash barrel and usually get the boxes for it...

9mm, .380, .45, .32, .223, 30-30, .243, 30'06, .270, 300 win mag, 300 weatherby mag, 7mm mag, .308, 7.62x25, .30 carbine, bags of 12 gauge and 20 gauge

I have a huge collection of what you've listed and a use for only the 9, .45 and shotgun shells. Too bad you're in WV. You could have it. Oh well...

I have yet to find someone that shoots .300WSM in my area and that's the brass I could really use. Otherwise, I have about 4k-5k 9mm, the same in .45ACP, .357Mag, .38Spl, and a couple hundred .44Mag, .40S&W, .45-70 and .300WSM. Oh well. Maybe someday, someone, somewhere...

Berek

PS: BTW, most of the collection is loaded and about 3/4 is factory.

 

[Poodleshooter]

I'm another brass rat. Our range asks folks to police up their own brass. The ground is littered with steel cases. You'd think that everyone was shooting 8mm Mauser,223,7.62x39 and 7.62x54 exclusively from the looks of things.
I can get tons of .223,.308, .38 and .45, but .44Mag, 30/06, 30/30 and 7mmRM cases have to be harvested right before deer season when all of the fellows bring out their rifles to put 3 down range before the season. I never see them the rest of the year.
Every once in a while I get to the range right after the local tactical squad. It's always fun to find 200 shiny new once fired Federal Gold Medal Match .308 cases lying in a nice handy pile.

 

[Doug b]

LHB1 I couldn't agree with you more.I reload to get a better round than can be bought off the shelf.This means total control of my components and total control of the assembly process.I do however look closely at the junk on the ground, it's part of the learning process and gives the barrel time to cool. In short guys loading range found brass is a bad practice.For instance what you are certain is once fired may have been fired in a rifle with a headspace problem,so you load this hot and kaboom bust the thing imediate conclusion, bad load.

 

[Big_R]

It's good to be concerned about range pick up brass. Obviously, you don't know the condition, if it's been reloaded, etc. Personally, I and all the reloaders I know recycle their brass, or make it so it can't be loaded again (collapse it with a pliers). With that said, it's important to know how to inspect brass, including your own. Check the following link to Steve's pages and see table 3, the case section. Lots of good info in Steve's site.

Ryan

http://www.again.net/~steve/page8.htm

 

[grizz5675]

reloaded brass on range grounds

I dont roll my own however if i did i wouldnt pick up brass off the range grounds unless it was my own.How do you know its once fired brass and you cant tell with a factory box, some people carry reloads in factory boxs.It may be reloaded brass.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Free range brass

MMMMmmmm... I think those guys who totally pooh-pooh reloading range brass may be overlooking a good thing. Now, personally, I don't use much range brass for rifles, but it's to help control the uniformity of the cases. I used free range brass for years with no safety problems of any sort.

How to tell once-fired brass?? It's easy. (1) A reloader will collect their brass to re-use; a non-reloader will shoot store-bought ammo and leave the brass. Ergo, most brass on the ground is automatically once-fired stuff. (2) To confirm the once-fired-ness of a given case, look for sizing die marks on the body of the case, and the neck. Absent sizing-die marks, you check the primer: A flattened primer indicates a once-fired case that came from a factory at SAAMI spec, was fed into a chamber and fired. The first thing that happens is the primer backs out a couple thousandths; the next thing that happens is the case stretches to fill up the chamber, and mashes the backed-out primer. A case that has been neck-sized only, and fired again in the same gun, will fill the chamber completely, giving the primer no room to back out. So the primer on a reloaded case is NOT mashed. (3) Once-fired brass is nice and new and tough and not work-hardened, so except for the rare extreme oversize chamber, nothing splits or damages it. And since it was factory-loaded, it wasn't grossly overloaded and strained. Full-length resizing takes care of any chamber-fit problems. You severely inspect each piece; at a price of free, you can toss any brass with the minutest defect.

So, IMHO, range brass for rifles can be safely used with careful inspection, and with less than maximum loads. That last was never a problem for me; maximum loads are seldom the most accurate. And I currently buy my rifle brass.

With pistol brass it's a different story. The .45ACP is a low-pressure cartridge, so at my target pistol range, I grab every case I can and use it. Shooter skill counts for a much larger percentage of the accuracy equasion in pistol shooting, thus uniformity of brass is not such a consideration as with rifles. I've tried new-bought brass, re-used store-bought ammo, and range pick-up brass: No accuracy differences with the .45. Perhaps when (if ever) my skill level with the 1911 is significantly higher than at present I'll stop using free range .45ACP brass, but for my present level of skill it works just fine.

And any brass I pick up which does not pass muster, I save and recycle. Really odd cartridges go to a collector buddy. Currently I have 4 ice-cream buckets full to sell when next I take in my aluminum cans.

 

[TooTaxed]

I'm all for you fellows not picking up range brass...leaves more for me!!

The fact is, brass is good for upwards...perhaps WELL upwards...of eight to ten reloadings with moderate loads (close tracking of case batches). Inspection weeds out the bad stuff. From perhaps 50,000 loads over the last 50 years (incl range, hunting, rifle and pistol match) I have yet to have a loaded case failure.

So, don't let ANYONE talk you into picking up range brass! I support you all the way.

 

[longtooth]

berek, you are so right. I shoot a .300 WSM & by the way believe it to be the caliber of the future that will take the reputation of the 30-06 as being the one to own if you could only have one. (another thread though). I have never found a .300 WSM on the ground at my range. Many .300 Win. Mag. and all the SAM's from .243 up but no .300.

 

[USSR]

I shoot a .300 WSM & by the way believe it to be the caliber of the future that will take the reputation of the 30-06 as being the one to own if you could only have one.

Not likely, unless the .300WSM becomes USGI, and the rifle it is chambered in wins a couple wars for us.

Don

 

[callgood]

I've never really thought of "range policy" regarding brass. I pretty much use one range, and they don't have any posted policy, nor have they mentioned anything. MY policy is that if I shoot it, I take it home. I don't mind purchasing ammo from the range at higher prices than say, WalMart, but what I buy is mine.

For rifle, which I don't reload for at the time, I have a "brass catcher" I made to snag my 5.56/.223, mainly so I don't pelt the guy at the bench next to me. And also so I'll cut down on the cleanup time and not lose a case I hope to reload down the road. My other caliber is .264 Win mag, so I don't find much of THAT around to salvage!

For pistol, I religiously police up everything I shoot. Usually if there is some one shooting factory loads in my calibers, they will offer them and I accept. A couple of weeks ago I went to the pistol side and there were two guys firing automatic weapons (Sunday afternoon, no one else around). I set up my chronograph and when they finished with their last weapon (Thompson) they offered their brass. Big pile of 9mm, .45ACP and a box of 10MM. Hey, mama, just my flavors!

 

[longtooth]

You are right USSR. :banghead: Never happen. But after reloading it from 125, 150, 165, 180 grain bullets. Hornady SST, Nosler balistic tip, & partitions, Speer hot core. All getting excellent accuracy shooting from 100 yd. to 500 yd.(longerst range we have at our club.) I have got to love it & when you do live in Texas things get better w/ every telling. By the way my short range rifle is Springfield M1A & I hunt w/ that one too. Still use the battle sights. Inside of 200, love that one too. Thanks for keeping me on track Don.

 

[wolf_from_wv]

berek, you are so right. I shoot a .300 WSM & by the way believe it to be the caliber of the future that will take the reputation of the 30-06 as being the one to own if you could only have one. (another thread though). I have never found a .300 WSM on the ground at my range. Many .300 Win. Mag. and all the SAM's from .243 up but no .300.

I've only found one or two .300 WSM and .270 WSM. They got put up on the shelf on the reloading bench beside a .300 win mag and a .270. I need to take a picture of that shelf...