Range Rats, how much brass is enough brass?

[Noxx]

I started reloading about the same time I changed my shooting schedule from bi-annual to weekly.

My rule of thumb when I go to shoot is I'm going to come home with as much brass as I showed up with, and maybe a little extra for my trouble.

The question is, once you start picking the stuff up, on a heavily used range, where do you stop? I often find myself picking up my stuff and then... "Oh hey here's a pile of .45 that's pretty shiny yet....ooh, some 10 mike. Hey, a whole stash of .357, someone must have had their desert eagle up here.... oh hey look at this..."

Now I have buckets of brass all over my garage, many in calibers I don't even own (.357 Sig, wth?).

Is this normal, or am I a nutjob?

 

[strat81]

You are a normal nutjob THR reloader.

I only take the stuff I have a gun for or that I know my FIL or friends will use. For example, none of us own a .40S&W, so that stuff stays for another vulture. I suppose if I ever found something "rare" like .500, .460, .338, etc. I'd grab it just to sell.

 

[ReloaderFred]

I take everything I can find. If I don't load for it, I know someone who does. Good brass should never go to waste..........

Fred

 

[Dirtypacman]

Anything thats nice and shiny but I do only take what I can reload.

 

[FieroCDSP]

On the indoor range I frequent, I try to sweep up as much as I can because they have a service on contract (maybe just a guy) that comes in and hauls it off to recycle. They don't let you pick through the buckets, so I sweep up as much as I can from in front of the line. I've got a lot of 9mm I can load, now that I have one. I've got probably 500 45ACP that I'm sittin on, plus numerous others. Maybe I'll sell it when I get enough.

On the outdoor range I'm a member at, I pick most of mine up as part ofmy "leave it cleaner than you found it" campaign. I picked up 200 LC and Federal 223 cases someone just left strewn about the range. A handfull of 30-06, some 30 carbine, some 9mm, lots of 22 to scrap out. The 30-06 I went diving for in the trash.

If anyone finds or has some 7.62x54R brass they're not loading, I'll consider trading something or other.

 

[SoCalShooter]

I own a tactical rake. Brass aint cheap and all those who are not willing to pick up their own are going to get picked up by me. Of course I always ask first.

 

[Smokey Joe]

"Enough..."

A friend of mine once asked a very rich acquaintance how much money was "enough." After due consideration, the answer came back: "Just a little bit more."

This would seem to apply equally to brass ratting, or, for that matter, to any kind of collecting.

So, Noxx, you're as normal as a peanut butter sandwich.

 

[lee n. field]

Everything that's reloadable. I pitch the steel and aluminum stuff, and anything fired out of a Glock.

 

[Hawk]

I bring back only the stuff I just shot and only revolver or some rifle brass.

I still shoot more semi-auto handgun than revolver but that's factory ammo with the brass mostly unrecoverable.

The AR brass is an exception - swept up and tossed. 'Course I'm still shooting Swiss berdan primed stuff - anybody dumpster-diving that stuff is in for a surprise.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Get as much as you want and remember to share and share alike.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Tactical rake/sealed beam flood light and chaff screen...If it's there...When you look again, it's GONE!!!
"Say...Do you want your brass?"

"Why n..."

"Would you be so kind as to pick up your foot and move over there? Thank you."

Me? A "Brassrat"?? Nawwww....

 

[Walkalong]

I used to hunt around until "NO BRASS WAS LEFT BEHIND", but I have mellowed out a little and don't hunt 30 minutes for those last two pieces of brass anymore.

 

[RustyFN]

I take everything I find that is half way shiny including calibers I don't have a gun for.
Rusty

 

[frogomatic]

i take everything, old or new, shiny, or not, even rimfire cases. Any brass that I do not or cannot reload, gets sent to my buddy to be melted down, and formed into new cases.

 

[JohnMcD348]

I did my first range rat run a couple of weeks ago and was wondering to myself the whoel time when Enough was Enough. I picked up all of mine and then some. As I was going through I found a few more that looked OK so I threw it in also. There were alot of people who stopped by to fire off a few rounds and left without sweeping up so I took it with me also. I don't think I'll go WAY out of my way to get brass but what I find along the way I'll throw into my bag and take it home for a tumble or two.

 

[scrat]

i pick up all i can. then i sort them out and share to others. they often make good trades

 

[FLORIDA KEVIN]

you guys are too much !!wy don't you just get a butterfly net and sneek up on the guys while they are shooting!!

 

[Guncrazy45]

If my wife knew how clean the range was when I left it, she'd make me sweep more at home.

Yes, I really do have a broom and dustbin as part of my range gear.

Come to think of it, she could probably get me to sweep more often if she'd just sprinkle some brass around the house. It probably wouldn't be too good for the hardwood, though.

At any rate, I just bought one of those rolling racks with the 12 bins from Sam's club. I'm working on filling it up.

 

[W.E.G.]

you guys are too much !!wy don't you just get a butterfly net and sneek up on the guys while they are shooting!!

I tried that for a while,... but it just wasn't efficient enough.



So now I have one of those scooters that is designed for handicapped people to get around the grocery store to buy cheetos and chocolate milk.

I rigged up an extra 24-volt battery on it, with a power inverter. Its all neatly mounted on a scooter-trailer with a wet-dry shop vac. That way I can scoot around the range and vacuum up any stray brass. I rigged a rifle rack on the scooter too. Fits my SKS perfectly! I can reverse the suction on the shop vac, and blow the brass out the nozzle into a bin in the back of my pickup truck.

 

[Linear Thinker]

Proud member of the honorable ancient order of the Brass Rat, and have a full 55Gal drum of unsorted brass to prove it.
LT

 

[cpttango30]

Before the big ebay shut down. I was planning on gathering as much as I could and cleaning it then selling it on there. So right now I have 500 9mm 500 40 smith and some other stuff. I grab everything I can get my grubby hands on. If your going to throw money away then I am going to pick it up.

 

[FLORIDA KEVIN]

you are right about throwing money away !! I just wish somebody would make an auto loader in 454 casull so i would have a shot at some free brass !

 

[Nanook]

Well, I have a five gallon bucket each of 9mm, .40, and .45. That's enough brass for two lifetimes if you think about it.

I still pick up most of what I see, and all that I reload myself if I can find it.

I'm always on the hunt for more .38 and .357, though. I don't have near enough of those two.

And rifle brass is good to come across. Usually right before hunting season, when the yearly sighting in rituals are performed is when you can find goodly amounts of rifle brass. Usually still in the factory box.

 

[rhubarb]

Tactical rake. Not a bad idea.

I for one only pick up the brass for the calibers that I reload that is still shiny. That and the brass for the calibers I will reload in the future as long as it's shiny. That and the dull brass. That and the ones I have to hold up to the light to see if it's tarnished brass or steel. That and the brass that I can sell to buy primers, bullets, and powder. That's all.

I'm a member of a private range and I'm sure there are folks who pay their membership just for the privilege of brass scrounging. There was a guy sitting in front of the pistol line this evening picking up .22 LR brass. Poor guy. Bet he would have been excited if he'd gotten there a half hour earlier and saw the hundreds of .223 that I'd picked up.

 

[koja48]

A) There is no such thing as "enough brass."

B) EVERYBODY at my range reloads and if there is someone who doesn't, I've never showed-up right after he/she left.