I'm the guy at the range bent over in the garbage can sifting through chicken bones and cigarette butts. Lots of goodies in there and all can be had for free. I've collected quite a few band aids for splatter targets as well as this target which was unshot.

Now the thing is looking like one big target patch that refuses to die and until it does it will be used. I don't know if I'm a "Cheap *******" or a resourceful one.

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Admit it, you're nothing but a brass *****!

If I did know you I'd probably have to deny it. Same way I don't know the guy digging through the trash cans at McDonald's.

It's fun to be cheap! Saves your money for important things - like buying guns and reloading supplies.

Hope you wear Duluth Trading Co. ....long tail T-shirts!!!!!!

Now thats funny and not cheap

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Spin The Wheel

Is there a real difference?

You get many more patches on that target, and it will be stiff enough you won't need a holder to keep it upright.

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Always Stay Strong!

I don't know you, but I've salvaged a lot of usable things that other people have thrown away and I'm not embarrassed to do so. For the most part, we are a wasteful society addicted to "disposable" products that clog our landfills.

Trash can at the range? So that's what that is, I always thought it was the display counter for ProMag 'cause it's always full of them.

That's awesome. I love it. I haven't gone through trash cans at the range. But now that you mention it, maybe I should start!

When I shoot with my friends I frequently wonder if they think I'm a half-a-bubble-off-plumb given I'm constantly squatting down and grabbing every piece of reloadable brass I see. I wonder if they see it as someone who hasn't had a meal in a week or something.

Our range felt the need to post this sign: "Don't spit in the garbage cans."

Wear gloves.

First thing my dad, (RIP), and I did back in the day at the old outdoor range was go thru the trash cans for any discarded brass. Sometimes we'd hit, other times, no joy. All a part of a day at the range. Don't know anyone who reloaded that didn't go trash can diving back then.

I remember many years ago, I had a buddy that lived in the same neighborhood as me.
Every year, they'd have a bulk garbage pick up day and we'd get out early in the morning and go "junkin'.
Mostly I'd look for old electronics that I could fix up and sale to collectors.
Usually, it'd be minor stuff that caused it to fail. Broken wires, loose plug, bad tubes, stuff like that.
That was back in the day when you could go to the hardware store and test the old vacuum tubes and get replacements.
I wouldn't refinish 'em, just get them in good working order and sell them.

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Keep on Chooglin'

My friend had a score like that in the early 2000s. He found a bunch of old stereo amps and took one home. It worked and was in very good condition. He used it for some time for his radio. One day we decided to put it on eBay and maybe get a few bucks. Ended up selling to a guy in England for $500. Turns out these things were excellent quality and highly collectable. My friend was kicking himself for not taking the whole pile

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If you can find an episode of Extreme Cheapskates (maybe YouTube?), you'll find you're just a novice.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I saw one or two episodes and always thought it was fake. Some of the things those people did was extreme! I know that's part of the name but ....

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Getting back to what's not extreme, most range trash cans have little in them other than used targets and empty cartridge boxes. Despite having several commercially made loading blocks the white plastic trays that hold 50 .45s in CCI's boxes are my favorites. A target that was only shot with .22s is as good as a virgin if you are about to shoot your .38. .38 holes are of no consequence if you are firing a .44 or .45. Also most ranges sell replacement centers for the 27" square bullseye targets. A new center will cover all the holes left by a good shot.

Now let's move beyond the trash can. So long as they have not turned brittle from laying out too long 12 gauge plastic wads are reusable. To test how many times, while no one else was at the range, a range master & I repeatedly fired one straight up in the center of the rifle range, watched it flutter down, then loaded it again. We never wore it out. Combining reclaimed shot, hulls from the trash and scrounged wads made informal trap affordable. Mining lead out of the back stop saves buying scrap or wheel weights from the tire store. Scrounging once fired brass is only the first baby step.

While I walk past the little birds often sing "cheap, cheap cheap."

I wouldn't bet on it being fake, even though I think most reality shows are. My reasoning is I worked with a guy that I could tell a lot of stories about. Some of them were funny as heck though. One quick one: He never bought anything out of one of the vending machines at work - NEVER, not even coffee. One day in celebration of the company winning some award, they had all the soda and coffee machines turned on automatic, so people could get free coffee or soda. This guy literally drank so much free soda, he got sick and had to go home. So his free soda cost him half a day's wages.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I can see that happening but the episodes I've seen the people on the show were at a restaurant and asking other patrons if they were going to get a doggie bag! Otherwise these people were going to take it! In other words taking half eaten food from some stranger. In another episode a woman bought her daughter a used wedding dress covered in rat urine.

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I saw a guy at the Eaton Center in Toronto take a half eaten sandwich out of a McDonald's trash container and eat it. Of course for the price they charge for food in downtown Toronto, I could hardly blame him.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I had a brother-in-law once who would rub all the loose skin off an onion before he bought it because they were sold by the pound. I gave him a dollar and said, Now you never have to do that again for the rest of your life.

He put the dollar in his pocket, laughed, and kept on rubbing the skin off those onions.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

My Brutha from another Mother. No chicken bones or cigarette butts at my range, but I do it too. I'm after the shoot-N-see target dots primarily, now & then for the empty ammo box for my reloads, or any other "treasure" someone else didn't need.

Took about 3 years but in the end I had 10 5 gallon buckets full of brass all range pickups. Actually had guys I know ask if I had different calibers or 7.62 nato brass. Always happy to oblige. Got tired of constantly moving them around threw them in the truck and almost but not quite filled a 555 gallon drum at the junk yard. 459 pounds. Bit older now and let the younger guys have at it. Frank

You would do it too, & be glad to have it. Instead of watching & putting him down, buy the guy a 1/4 pounder. I've witnessed people with lot's more $ than me (and mental issues) do similar things. There but for the grace of God go I.

I don't mind someone going through the trash to find brass, but stop picking mine up while they are still warm. I pick up my own brass, thank you. I really dislike how the brass buzzards go after my cases as I shoot. It looks like chickens chasing June bugs. I have to stop shooting the tell them to leave my brass alone. However, I will pick up brass of another shooter after asking and pick it up after he/she leaves. I'm sometimes surprised that these brass buzzards don't bring a catcher and hold it up to the ejection port of my semi-autos. These people always look dejected when I pull a revolver out of its case.

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That's gonna leave a mark.

Put your mark on the bottom of the brass with a sharpie pen or nail polish, NO TROUBLE distinguishing who's is who's then. Most of our more serious steel challenge/bowling pin shooters roll their own & want the brass back. Ya just gotta decide on who gets stuck with the pink color. Bottom feeders are seeing less & less time merely for the retrieval time. I usually wait until I have enough old/mixed semi brass to shoot & let the OTHER buzzards have them.