The things you find...(range brass)

[chasw44]

I too scrounge brass at my local rifle range. Every Fall, we get an influx of shooters whose only purpose is to sight in their rifles in prep for the deer and elk seasons. Hereabouts (Western Washington), they almost universally shoot either .270 or .30-06. Or at least that's the kind of brass they leave behind.

The typical "sighting in" shooter buys two boxes of factory ammo, usually FC or R-P headstamp. They shoot 20 rounds to set or reconfirm their zero and keep the other 20 rounds for the field. I find the empties in the buckets set aside at the range for collecting scrap brass. In that manner, I have more .30-06 cases than I can possibly use and can shoot my Garand without caring where the brass goes.

BTW, many of these once-fired factory cases have severely flattened primers. It appears Federal in particular likes to push the limits when it comes to pressure. - CW

 

[GaryL]

Found these yesterday in my scrounged brass:

I'm guessing they were shot from a 380.

 

[Exposure]

The "severely flattened" 357 primer is not a reloading issue.

The primer seated backwards, that is an honest accident that EVERY reloader will have given enough time.

And the live round, well who among us hasn't ejected a live round at the range and then not picked it up/not been able to find it.

No offense meant, but none of those pics qualifies as "stupid"

Sorry.

 

[003402]

A couple of months back, I rolled into one of the berms at my range, and it was literally carpeted with spent brass, mostly 40 S&W and .45. It was unusual in a couple of ways, 1. usually those guys (i think they were IPSC shooters) pick up their stuff. and 2. there was no less than 100 live rounds mixed in the brass (about 800 to 1000 cases). I cleaned it all up being the upstanding citizen that I am...

I can claim a couple of the backwards primers...has gotten better now that I don't hand prime.

 

[colonelhogan44]

The "severely flattened" 357 primer is not a reloading issue.

The primer seated backwards, that is an honest accident that EVERY reloader will have given enough time.

And the live round, well who among us hasn't ejected a live round at the range and then not picked it up/not been able to find it.

No offense meant, but none of those pics qualifies as "stupid"

Sorry.

Sure, but who seats the primer backwards, notices it and then without seating a bullet throws it on the ground at the range? it was not a single case, either.

The live round is only interesting because it crossed the continent in a flat rate box...and we all know how anal the postal service is about stuff like that.

I stand corrected as far as the primers go. I am not a revolver shooter, and have never seen headspace issues cause such symptoms. From the pictures and such in my Lee manual in the pressure section, I was led to believe that flattened primers were a definite sign of overloads...