Considering the cost of reloading components, it’s difficult to walk past once-fired range brass lying underfoot. Even if you try to limit yourself to recovering your personal brass, it’s often difficult to segregate yours from someone else’s. After a while, it’s just easier to recover brass and to prep it as though it all came from strangers’ guns.

Range brass is often a free source of reloadable casings but not without certain pitfalls. I’ve picked up 9mm Winchester and “WCC” (Western Cartridge Co.) whose extractor groove is too shallow to enter a standard RCBS #16 shell holder. My case preparation begins on a single-stage RCBS Rockchucker. I can only wonder why these cases apparently don’t conform to SAAMI specs.

I discard any brass that shows obvious signs of having been reloaded by someone else. This can include die or sizing marks or a rim with multiple extractor marks. Marks can include someone else’s Magic Marker coding anywhere on the shell. It doesn’t mean the brass is bad, only that it’s easy to recover more than I need so I can be a bit choosey.

Where outdoor ranges use gravel, small pieces of stone sometimes become wedged inside the casings and you can break your de-capping pin if you don’t insure that the casings are free of debris. Range brass sometimes comes plugged up with mud or turf. I also discard brass that’s gone underfoot on concrete walks as well as brass that got damaged or dented leaving or trying to leave the gun.

Another hazard are Berdan-primed cases. Berdan priming utilizes twin, offset flash holes rather than a single centered flash hole. They cannot be de-capped with standard domestic reloading equipment. With 9mm and .45 ACP, you just have to look into the case to see whether or not it’s Berdan-primed. Except for CCI in their non-reloadable ammunition line, domestic manufacturers do not use Berdan priming but you’ll encounter it on lots of imported military surplus ammo.

It’s best to not even try to reload rifle brass with foreign military headstamps. If you recover a bunch of unknown brass, sacrifice one and cut the back end off to ascertain whether it’s Berdan primed.

Military brass frequently utilizes crimped primers. You can de-prime them on your equipment but the crimps must be removed before you can go any further. The tools are inexpensive and crimps may either be reamed or swaged away. You can usually tell that crimps are present as you'll feel a bit more resistance when de-capping.

Speaking of primers, .45 ACP ammunition is now available with both large and small primer pockets. .45 ACP reloaders already know this. They’ll size and de-prime without incident but try to seat a large primer in a small primer pocket and you’ll mangle the primer. I should know. Several small-primed .45 ACP cases recently snuck past my brass prepping stage to bring my Dillon 550B press to a crunching halt.

.45 ACP shooters need to avoid .45 GAP cases and visa versa. .380 ACP and 9mm Makarov brass is easily confused with 9mm. Often, military brass has arsenal, date, manufacturer and type codes but doesn’t have its caliber on the headstamp. There are at least three names in use for the 9mm: 9mm Luger, 9X19mm and 9mm Parabellum. Eley uses the headstamp “9.P.” There are also 9X21 and 9X23mm cases out there. I’m inclined to think that people shooting the latter 9mms are usually reloaders and will make every effort to recover their brass. You won’t find these elongated 9mms at Walmart or your neighborhood gun shop.

The easiest way to provoke a heated and animated thread is to stumble across one of the perennial hot-button issues. Using reloads for self-defense is one of those topics. So, I won’t go there other than to recommend that the best brass for assembling self defense loads, if you're so disposed, are either once-fired brass from your gun or virgin brass. I’ve only heard good things about Starline Brass, a popular source for new brass.

When having trouble inserting a once fired case into a shell holder, take a look at the primer first. I was coming across cases that I thought had a "tight " extractor groove. Even after deepening the groove they didn't fit !
It was the primers , protruding just enough to keep them from going into the shell holder. After filing down the slight protrusion, every one went right into the holder.

Excellent post on range brass , every one needs a close inspection before you go to reloading .
In the 1960's I picked up buckets at the local outdoor range. Now I'm old ,fat (stooping over hurts) and lazy I can buy 1500 fired 9mm cases from the indoor range for $12.00...but inspection is vital, I found 38 super's and 380 auto's in there and one berdan primed case.
Once fired range brass is a bargain but look at them carefully.
Gary ,
Scrounging since 1967

The indoor pistol range to which I belong has a locked container for members to dispose of their unwanted brass. Even though the container's label specifies brass only and no aluminum or steel, the guy who sorts through it every few weeks finds lot of real scrap metal in there.

And "once-fired" brass isn't always what it appears. A fellow member of the other club to which I belong watched a father and son eject the cases from a box of .300 Remington Short Action Ultra Mag cartridges and from their conversation, mannerisms and the condition of the cartridge box and the cases, he assumed they were factory loads. He knows how hard to find (and costly when you do) new brass for the SAUM cartridges can be so he kept them for me.

As soon as I saw silver primers in Remington cases, they went into the trash. It was hard to do but I value my rifles and myself over the cost of some new brass. After all, those guys obviously were either handloaders themselves or bought handloads from someone else. Either they knew how many loadings were on those cases or the person who loaded them didn't want them kept, likely for a good reason.

I almost rumaged through my gun room trash can for them a couple of times but resisted the temptation.

Ed

Good discussion. I can tell you from experience, once you integrate bum range brass into your inventory, it can be tough to find and irrigate it back out. Last year I absentmindedly I dumped some mil surplus 9mm brass and it has cost me many a decapping pin since.
Now I look twice and pick sparingly if at all.

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Dave

You sound like a seasoned range hound more than a beginning reloader.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Always pass a large magnet over your range brass. You will be surprised what it picks up.
Not only staples and such, but there is some brass coated/colored steel cases out there.

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Still Running Against the Wind

I stopped reloading range brass when I began to get neck cracks on perfectly good range brass. Like AveragEd, my guns cost to much to try and save pennies.

I still pick it up because I can't help myself. Now it goes in my recycling bucket.

Another trick I use is to take a handful and shake them loosely. If I hear a ringing sound I know there is a split case in my hand.


Beyond inspection, I would not (and don't) hesitate to use brass I pick up. I have never heard of anyone hurting a gun using brass that has already been reloaded and fired by someone else. Now shooting someone else's reloads is a different story.

I mark all my brass, number the times I reload and I still pick up and use range brass. I do however, give them a very good inspection. The best thing to do is run them through the polisher first, it shows all the flaws and problems much better. Than I process for reloading. Never had a problem with any of the brass that passed my inspection and scrutiny.Hey for the most part brass is 1/2 the cost or more of the reloading process.

Generally, you're still dealing with second-rate material for handloading when you use range pickup brass. Give yourself an advantage and use new stuff from the same lot or at least once-fired brass with the same headstamp.

Brass is more expensive than ever, but when amortized over its useful life, the cost of new or once-fired is quite reasonable and you know it's history.

The price of brass causes me to save all my brass. I shoot then later I will be down on the ground picking up my brass. But that is at my range in my back yard. A lot of ranges around here don't let shooters pick up brass. The range picks it up and sells it I guess.

I sweep up every case I can at the range. I sort it, eliminating non brass, rimfire, shotgun, berdan primed, calibers I don't reload, and all other obvious culls.

The rest gets inspected*, deprimed, and cleaned in a tumbler with SS pins, and then it all goes in my reloading stock. When I reload, I just grab what I need out of the appropriate stock.

*Inspection is the critical key step that makes it work. That's my chance to eliminate potential case/head separations, split lips or walls, crimped or enlarged primer pockets, smiley faces, oddball lookalikes like 9mm makarov, small primer 45acp, debris or foreign objects, etc., etc., etc..

I couldn't care less if someone else shot it or reloaded it. If it passes inspection, it is a candidate for reloading.

Been doing it that way for years. Never broke any decapping pins. Never encountered SAAMI brass that wouldn't fit into the appropriate shell holder.(If it's that non-standard, I would think that a pistol's extractor would have trouble extracting it.) Never blew up a gun.

I realize that a beginning reloader is probably not the most adept at recognizing potential dangerous brass, and should always err on the side of caution, but one should not overthink the situation.

I bet my 9mm Para brass converted to 9mm Mak would push some of you over the edge.

Nothing wrong with range brass, but you must inspect each case before reloading.

When I started reloading, I bought a box of 50 9mm 115gr bullets. Shot them and then began to reload. The range I belong to has a cement floor and a roof so the brass I pick up has not hit the ground. About 50% of members reload so you have to be quick to get the brass. It is usually swept up by the shooters very often and either kept for themselves or dumped into specified containers that everyone fishes in. At the end of the day, the range collects what is left and I guess they sell it.
I now have a couple of thousand 9mm and almost a thousand .38 spec.. I do decap, clean and inspect them, save by headstamp.
It's part of the fun of reloading

Years back the kids would forget to bring the store bought brass and cases home after an outing.

I picked up range brass but also placed it base down and picked out the "Bright" once fired cases and then did a second inspection on the type of primers.

Today my pistol cases that fly every where when fired are in good numbers.
Nice when the kids and in-laws remember to pick up their brass
and bring it to me.
I too am getting to the point that I would rather buy the cases, than bend over and go through the hassle of finding good cases.

However I do have one old "Tank" that I feed any thing too, in cases, bullet types and any powder! I mean ANY !!
Just too bad IMR 4227 stove pipes now and them. Bummer.

A couple times, the OCD way I do it...

Cheers!

OK, I'll bite: ol' "Tank" is a...?

I have found thousands of perfectly good name brand, once fired Brass at my Clubs Range but as Federali has stated above, one must scrutinize what they bring home! Many times I even find the cartridges neatly put back into the original box before they toss then into the can.

Because of many variances, it is best to look at the Brass at the Range and only take home what matches your criteria. Separate all small and large primer .45's before taking home so they do not get mixed accidentally. Personally, I toss all small primer .45acp as I am NOT interested in having two different size primers on my .45 acp brass. After so many years of reloading I've got more than enough that I do not bother with the relatively new small primer .45 acp Brass.

I find it's better to scrutinize at the Range - this way an accidental mixing up at home can't occur.

I use the push button of a pilot g2 pen to sort by primer size after I decap.

When I pick up pistol brass at the range it gets looked at once when decapping, a second time after wet tumbling, a third time after a quick polishing in cobb and walnut, and a final time before it goes on the press. I'm just looking for issues as i prep so at each stage a diminishing few get recycled and it is just part of the flow so to speak. Bottleneck stuff gets an extra inspection as it goes on the trimmer so it really gets looked at. If there's even a hint of a problem I just chuck it in the scrap bucket. There's just so much once fired brass in certain calibers laying around I hate to see it go unused. Sometimes it's good for trading stock.

I treat my known brass the same way so I feel pretty comfortable with the status of my brass. I don't often load at maximums. If I do I use only my brass.

I just wish more folks would leave more revolver brass laying around.

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Trucks and guns.

Most of my range brass is once fired. My neighbor and I shoot together and he gives me all of his brass as he isn't a reloader. He just started shooting about 2 years ago so I advised him to buy guns that use the same cartridges that I shoot. He followed along real well until he bought a few rifles. The one he shoots the most, an AR-15, works well for me now because I just bought a .223. What else was I supposed to do? I start inspecting the brass before it goes into the press to size and decap. One thing I just learned is worn out pistol brass won't show any resistance when flared. I just chuck those right there because the neck tension won't hold a bullet. I also own 2 sets of 38 dies. I got tired of adjusting my dies for 38 spl and 357. They are now dedicated for one or the other. I probably throw away 10% of my brass during every reloading session. I don't separate it, if it looks good and feels good in the press I load it.

I'm setting on a very large pile of free .223, 45 ACP, 9 MM, 357, 38 spl. and 30 carbine brass. Life is good.

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That's just somebody talkin.

RCBS die sets for .38 SPL/.357 MAG and .44 SPL/MAG come with a spacer to install under the dies when loading the longer cartridge so no readjusting or second set of dies is needed.

Ed

Federali,

Going back to your original post, RCBS makes 2 different shellholders for 9mm to account for the differences sometimes found, #16 and, unfortunately, I don't recall the other. They used to list both on the die box, but my current set only shows #16. The Lee shellholder #19 takes the place of both RCBS numbers. While I like RCBS products, and used to work for them a long time ago, sometimes they hold tolerances too tight, and this is one example.

And other posters:

"Generally, you're still dealing with second-rate material for handloading when you use range pickup brass." What an asinine remark! Does that mean you are dealing with "second rate material" when you reload your own brass?

I have posted this before about range pick-ups. There are two kinds of shooters, reloaders and non-reloaders. Reloaders don't leave their brass behind! Non-reloaders do. There are basically two types of brass (Forget Aluminum, steel, etc, not part of the discussion!), Once-fired and previously commercially reloaded. These are usually easy to tell apart. The once fired will have no previous sizing marks, primer will match the case brand, etc. Much commercially reloaded ammunition will have primer pockets that have been reamed to remove a crimp, whether it was originally crimped or not! The primer pocket will look like a funnel on much of these cases! I have seen many calibers with reamed pockets, not just 9mm! These are easy to cull out.

Reloaders are supposed to have at least a modicum of intelligence and common sense. Note that we are not talking about bench rest shooters, mostly advanced plinkers with handguns. To refuse to use range pick-ups just because they were fired by someone else at some time isn't merely being cautious, it is demonstrating paranoia! Someone made the remark about his guns being too valuable to use range pick-ups! Can he, or anyone else, give an even relatively cogent example of how loading previously fired cases that have been thoroughly inspected and cleaned can cause damage to a firearm?????? And don't say body splits, neck cracks etc! If you think these can damage a chamber you do not understand the dynamics of firearms at all!

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Gunsmithing since 1961

I find that my groups are best with sorted brass. I tend to keep it all in lots. Some cartridges I don't mind picking up if scrap at the range but others i just won't bother with.
I smile when some worry about once fired or not, I have 32 long cases that have seen over 20 reloads and primer pockets are still tight. Pressure is what kills a case along with wear of resizing.

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Front sight and squeeze

Alk8944, I get and respect your position with regard to this issue but remain firmly opposed to 1)the littering of ranges by leaving discarded shell casings on the ground and 2)using brass discarded by those litterers.

Sure, you can inspect it to your heart's content and fondle it in every way possible to make sure it's okay to use. OR you could just buy new ammunition for the cases or new cases and know exactly what you have. It's a free country.

But on its very basis, this thread is a little scary. It has to do with beginning reloaders using discarded brass - do those people actually know how to carry out all those inspections that have been mentioned throughout this thread?

Non-reloaders are not the only people who discard their brass. I see lots of casings that had been reloaded who-knows-how-many times when I clean up after other members. Should we be telling new reloaders that it's okay to litter our clubs with their garbage too? I think your club officers and directors may frown upon that; their insurance company certainly would. Most clubs have a container on each range for unwanted brass; why not encourage new members to use them instead of littering?

And finally, while used brass usually doesn't pose a safety concern, you might be able to afford to take that chance for the few bucks saved by scrounging someone else's garbage. For the safety of myself, my firearms and the shooters around me at my club, I choose not to.

Ed

You can often shine a flashlight down the neck of a case and see the two berdan flash holes, so it's not always necessary to cut up a case.

I use an otoscope to inspect the insides of cases (where needed). They can be purchased from Amazone or eBay for under $10.

Did I mention what I call 'one shot' brass. It's new brass that you find on the range that isn't fit for reloading after one shot. They are often cracked. If cracked crosswise they ring with a really high pitched 'ting' because they are so thin.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I find really good name brand brass. I also find a lot of real crud and everything in between those two. It's not hard to throw out the stuff that is at all questionable.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

So that's what that thing is. I've been scratching my head about that piece.

Maybe I'll read the instructions next time.

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That's just somebody talkin.

After a twenty plus year break from reloading a very wise scholarly mentor recommended buying fresh new brass from Starline.
His counsel was sound.

for those men that find it hard to bend over I found the Brass Wizard Cartridge Case Pick Up Tool. from uniquetek.com, Product code T1310. Got one for Christmas last year works well on small and larger brass. Works indoors or out. Almost as good as a shopvac.

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Carpriver.

This will get to some of you
Years ago when I was shooting IPSC we took turns hosting matches at different clubs. One club refused to let us pick up our brass stating time constraints, safety, etc. It was all BS because we knew for a fact they just wanted free brass.
A partner of mine and I figured out you could punch through the bottom of a CCI Blazer aluminum case with a good decapping die and a standard primer would work in them. We could find those cases everywhere and would load them to use specifically at that particular club. They all worked fine and we never had a case split, separate at the head or any other malady. We actually loaded a handful of them about 15 times as an experiment with no issues at all. If it wasn't such a PITA to do the initial prep we might have stuck with them, but we had plenty of good brass to mess with it. We just didn't want to give it away.

Only when you leave it on the floor for me to pick up...

This has never been an issue where I shoot. It's a private range and people are expected to clean up after themselves. If they don't want their brass they still clean it up, even .22 brass. Five gallon buckets are there for brass and steel cases. We have cameras on every range.

I've been reloading range brass for 3 years now. I started out with range brass as a new reloader. Yes, more issues than with new brass but not insurmountable. With any new process there is going to be a learning curve. If I didn't enjoy the challenge I wouldn't reload. All I can say is I'm glad that most shooters don't reload.

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That's just somebody talkin.

(ATTEMPT #2) Please advise: What is "Tank"?

Reloading comes with a disease know as brass scroungingitis. It afflicts all of us at some point. I have even been know to pick up once fired brass for calibers I do not load for, just to save it from the scrap bin. Someone might need it. My first reloads for my 6.8 were cases I found at the range about 3yrs ago. One of the clubs I shoot at is a LEA practice range as well as public range. There is always tons of brass on the ground. I try to control myself & only get what I shoot, but then you find the occasional handful of 44mag or 10mm, gotta take those.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

The Range I shoot at lets Me pick all the Brass I want, After depriming and cleaning I check each one for any defects,I dont mind throwing away any Brass I feel is iffy.
Nickle Plated seems to be the worst as the plating can hide small cracks that would show in unplated Brass so I don't bother with it.
One trick I do is to spin the Case with a Finger Nail in the Mouth so I can feel any cracks not visible to the Eye.

You might recall that I said I was skeptical of this. Famous last words. In all my years of reloading, that's never once happened to me... until just this week.

I was decapping a batch of 40 s&w brass I scrounged at the range, and sure enough, I found a case that wouldn't go into the holder. It was garden variety Federal brass... one of maybe a hundred I picked up, all clearly from the same shooting session. I examined it under the magnifier with calipers. The extractor groove was not cut deep enough.

**** happens.

I do the same, and try not to leave any laying around but sometimes it just disappears. I've read posts in other reloading forums where it was apparent that the poster had run into some of this. Yet another thing to watch for with 9mm range brass...short Luger cases.

I also load the other two 9's...Luger and the .380. To keep things straight I only load the Mak conversion in nickel 9mm Luger cases and don't load the others in nickel.

Simple response: I don't pick up someone else's used chewing gum and I don't pick up someone else's used brass. Don't know where it came from so I don't want it. Why risk a gun worth a lot of money just so I can save a couple of cents? Makes no sense! Just my two cents.........

I wish there were more shooters like you. Leaves more brass for me!

If you are referring to me you're out of luck. I pick up ALL of my spent brass because I buy only the best so I can reload them. Even pick up all of my .22's because I want to leave the range neat and tidy.

Too many 45's using small primers and that can cause problems in more ways than one. I also mark all of my brass so I know it's mine when I pick it up.

There are a couple of thousand .222 Remington brass cases out there that have 223 Rem / 5.56 headstamps on them. .222 Remington brass has a neck 1/16" longer than 223 Rem, but is 1/16" shorter case. Almost all the necks are cracked.

I have not damaged a rifle or handgun yet shooting a cracked case, Don't know if the neck [case] was cracked when the round was chambered, but it was cracked when the case was ejected after firing.

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S&WHF 366