With a broom, you can reach into the other guys lane while he's shooting without him even noticing.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Is there one you can use that doesn't interfere even when the pistol pops the empties almost straight up?

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I use the Cadwell one that has a rail mount. I don't use it on my single shot AR but made a catcher that sits on the bench. I use Lapua brass in the gun and would like to hang on to it.. Don

__________________
USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

Just my 2 cents worth.....

Range brass is fine if you clean and inspect. However, I always segregate my brass by headstamp. It takes little time, and makes a difference to me in crimping. Varying lengths and thicknesses will alter your crimp, making for less consistent cartridges.

Likewise, different companies' brass varies in volume. That can make for pressure and velocity differences. Since I am reloading to get accuracy, why skip the sorting stage?

Be careful with old brass. My dad asked me to load some once fired rifle brass he'd used back in the mid '70's. It was hard as rock and split. I trashed it all and bought him some new brass.

Hope this helps. Marc

The indoor range I belong to here in NE florida will let you pick up your own brass if you are a reloader everyone else must sweep it up and place it in the bucket. People shooting new ammo can not give you their brass. The range reloads the brass and sells a lot of manufactured ammo. it cuts down on the cost on running the place and they pass that on to us. I hate when some helpful sole in the stall beside me sweeps up and sweeps mine up also and dumps them in the bucket. They are in there they are gone a guy lost his membership for raiding the bucket. Don

__________________
USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

The rifle range just north of Reno is the same way.

You can pick "Your" brass up but the rest goes into a 5 gal. bucket. They say they will sell it at some point.............

I have a new range I will try out.......
hopefully I can get some cases and maybe a few ammo boxes from the garbage can?

A couple hours ago I was at the indoor range of the private club I belong to intent on shooting my 617. I brought my shell sorter pans and bucket along and ended up with about 2500-3000 pieces of pistol brass mainly 9mm and some 40's that I will use and a few 380's I will box up and send to a friend with a hungry little MAC-11 smg. The club I belong to could care less about who gets the brass as long as the range is kept clean. I think I counted 10 5 gallon buckets of lead from the bullet trap lined up along the wall as well. If I had somewhere to store the lead I would snatch it all up as well. Twas a great evening at the range.

The range I belong to is member supported. I think it operates as a non profit. No rules on brass just ask and be polite. We like to be known as the friendly club. It's much more than just a range.

__________________
Trucks and guns.

Yes.
1. sort
2. inspect
3. clean
4. inspect
5. reload

I've saved bunches of dough that way.

In all my 25+ years of reloading, I can't remember when I ever bought brass. Everything I load is range brass. That being said, one thing I do is keep a few Sharpies of different colors in my shooting box and mark my brass, just in case somebody tries to pick it up.

I am truly a brass whore. I spend as much time picking up brass as I do shooting.

At my outdoor range I normally figure on 10% shrinkage with semi-auto's, so I never worry about using any pick up brass. After I clean, inspect and size it it is no different than the rest of my brass.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Range brass is fine if you inspect and clean it after you find it. I shoot revolvers and lever action rifles mostly, and only seldom find what I want. Once in a great while I'll pick up some .38 Spl. I've never seen stray .357 brass in any quantity on the ground at my range. Most is 9mm Parabellum or (less commonly) .45 ACP.

The outdoor range where I shoot also has become more diligent about recycling range brass, so there is less on the ground. Most of what I have for brass is from factory loads I've shot over the years; I just never threw any of it away, at least until it's kaput.

What I do more often is hang out until our range closes, then collect loose bullets with the RSO from the berm backstop. I melt them down in my Lyman pot and make musket balls from them for my flintlocks.

Since 1974 I have bought the following ammo: 1 box 30-06, 1 box 38 Spl wadcutters, 1 box 223 American 223 Rem, 1 box 158 gr 38 Spl.

Today my unit of measure for empty brass is 1 gallon milk jugs. My 9 mm, 40 S&W, and 45 ACP probably was shot in Glocks by other shooters. My 38 Spl, 357 mag, and 44 mag was shot in revolvers belonging to other shooters, firearm brand unknown.

All of my rifle brass is range brass; 223 / 5.56, 25-06, 7 mm Rem mag, 308, 30-06, 303 Brit, and 45-70. 223 brass is either once fired with crimped primer, new once fired commercial, or unknown reloaded brass. All my other brass was once fired and recovered at the range.

I have never had a brass problem / case failure that was a problem because I don't shoot max loads. Paper targets don't care about velocity, and dead is dead at 1,400 fps or 3,700 fps.

__________________
S&WHF 366

Visit a local range and pick up a lot of good brass. I also visit a range where people are qualifying for carry permitt. Love it when they use a .38 SPC. They just dump it in one place unlike the automatics. Nothing wrong with doing it. And like someone has said ,rifle brass I usually separate into brand but pistol brass I sometimes just load a mjx. I do separate it at times but not always.

I have never had a problem with range brass. All of my 45 and 38 have been range brass. I get a few 357 and 44. It is cheaper than buying it. Just clean it and inspect it. I determine the quality of my range trips on how much free brass i pick up.

New Lapua for my bench rifle and only for test loads, and Hornady 9mm for my tight chambered S A range Officer Champion. Everything else is range brass. You buy once fired and it is just range brass. Inspect it and load it. Don

__________________
USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

Back when factory ammo was relatively cheap, I always scouted the ground around the shooting tables first (members only club) and picked up all the brass that applied to me. Now that the price of ammo has skyrocketed the only brass found on the ground is Berdan primed. So it is haunt the gun shows and look for decent new or used brass.

I think the practice is ok, as long as you are reasonably certain you are not picking up the brass, that some other reloader/shooter is trying to recover. As a practice, I never bring home more brass than I shoot- (9mm 45 ACP).
Recently, due to the hysteria about gun control and such, I bring revolvers only to the range. That way I keep the brass I came with

Metalman60

Interestingly enough, since posting this I've been to our local range (outdoor) twice - and have only noticed 2 other reloaders besides myself.

A couple we went with who were shooting 9mm and 9x18 (makarov) had a bag full of commercial bullets - I didn't take their brass because most of it was 9x18 and much of it looked aluminum (non shiny cases)

There was however a gold mine of brass laying outside the shooting area - it seems the last stall is near a grassy area and brass just collected there - so the wife and I dug in and took handfuls of brass - came away with a of 9mm, a few 45's and some stuff we don't load which I'll bring back next time and dump in their bucket.

Famous last words!

But seriously, I like to shoot with others as it means more brass for me.

I think it's rude to take it from others unless they offer.

At one range the proprietor would not unhand my .44 Mag brass and .45ACP on moon clips. I literally had to snatch it back and swear at the guy to get him to back off. What a weirdo. Never been back there again.

My problem is non-reloading friends who always collect their brass and give it to me. I always take it just to be polite, even though I already have enough in most calibers to last several lifetimes. It may be tough to come by someday.

All brass needs a good home. It becomes karma gifts for a new reloaders or trade mat'l for something I don't have. Rather me pick it up for that than some idiot selling it for scrap.

__________________
NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I pick any range brass. Tumble all. Mostly 9x19,.45 & 38/357. Only problem with .45 is need to watch for small primers in some (blazer). With 9's - many even after resizing,loading & taper cripming, bullets are loose in case - able to push bullet to powder with slight pressure (again mostly blazer). And of course some military brass has crimped primers. Also some seem not to 'stay resized' - - even after sizing and taper crimping won't chamber. For 'house/sd' loads I use only my once fired cases. But I still scrounge all range brass I find for plinking - just sort well.
KSB

I've only accepted used brass on three occasions. A very good friend watched someone shoot a 20-round box of Remington .300 REM Short Action Ultra Mag factory ammo at our club's rifle range and leave the brass behind. He knew I had one of those rifles and kept the brass for me.

The second instance was when my son's brother-in-law, who doesn't reload but knows I do, gave me 200 pieces of .223 REM brass from Remington factory loads that he had fired in his rifle.

Finally, I bought 600 pieces of once-fired Remington .38 Special brass from a person I know well who doesn't reload.

Other than those instances, I prefer not to risk scrounging what others have discarded, especially in the case of bottleneck rifle brass. I know many thousands of pieces of range brass have delivered satisfactory performance for many people. I have no inclination to become the exception to that rule when new brass in most popular calibers is as affordable as it is. If new brass cost a lot of money, perhaps I would change my mind.

Ed

If you have a question, don't try to load maximum charges in them. But the should be quite useful for lower pressure loads. Range brass is like a gift of God, just say thanks and use with caution.

I pick up everything. I have friends & relatives that pick up brass in two states for me . I separate, tumble, count it all. Whatever I don't use I take to gun shows and sell or trade it.

What's with these blazers? Thought it was me!

I've just picked up a few blazer and for the life of me couldn't figure out why they wouldn't prime.

Thanks for posting this, at least I know what to do with them now and I can stop wasting my time LOL - small primers sheesh.

If I had said "NO" to range brass, I would not have this ammo can full of recycled goodness.



1,087 rounds of 9mm ready for the wife and kids to shoot up. I might help too. This is all brass picked up over last summer.

Mike

__________________
NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

You can thank the tree huggers for the small primer 45 brass. The "no lead" primers only come in small pistol size, hence the 45 brass with small primer pockets.

And yes, I shoot range pickups all the time. Found me 12 44 Mag cases last trip to the range earlier this week.

My range has a "no pickup" rule. Brass on the ground goes to recycling, which keeps down the costs. Yes, I know the owner, and yes, it is really considered in the bottom line

BUT, if you are a member, and ask first, they will bend the rules a bit, and you can take away your brass. They do check if they see someone picking up. But based on my range visit costs vs other local ranges, I'll generally leave the brass for the general good (recycling credits against members fee, not non-member fees). I do keep the 38 and 357, sometimes the 45 and 9, and folks have asked for it, but I've not been up to sorting it out. (Yes, I have some PM's that I never responded to, when I get the extra energy, you are remembered).

I am not against people picking up and using range brass.

For me, I like to control all aspects of reloading. That includes brass. Since I don't know the history of brass on the ground, I leave it.

My range brass is mostly pistol rounds. My buddy had so much 38 special that when he finished classes he'd look for me as he knew I'd take all he had. one 40mm ammo can of 38 special, one 40mm can of 40S&W,one can and a few medium size boxes of 45 acp. As for my rifles except the semi auto carbine I've actually stopped picking up brass. I a time period of about two years I actually picked up enough range brass to fill a 55 gallon drum. Something on the order of 450 pounds of the stuff. Frank

I've even straightened 308 cases that were run over by a big gravel pit loader then fire formed them with reduced charge to iron out the dents and dings. Fired them many time since. I've resurrected 38 Spl that is dark brown to black from laying outdoors for who knows how long (brass doesn't seem to rust when weathered but I only use it in light target loads).

I got so PO at the Mrs the other day (had a hard time keeping my mouth closed though)... she went to the range with the girls and I specifically told her to bring back all of my 38 Spl brass - I didn't care about the 9mm - so what does she do? she left half of it laying on the ground... now I gotta go scroung'in.

My range lets me keep brass. I'm on good terms with the staff and they ask if I want to save my brass. They sweep it against the wall behind my stall. I usually leave with more brass than I shoot. It's sort of a wink wink, nudge nudge deal.