I go to my range twice a week, give or take. I don't reload but I sure leave a ton of brass on the floor.

I asked my club what they do with all the brass they sweep up and didn't get much of an answer.

If i collected my brass (Easy except maybe the 1911) how do I donate them to a local shooting club?

There must be someone that can re-load this .....

Thanks,

Doug

The range likely sells it.
Selling brass, though, involves a lot of prep work: sorting by caliber, cleaning, removing rejects, etc.
For someone that wants to see it go to good use, but doesn't want all the work, your idea is great (and very generous).
Since you're in Arizona, you could ask the folks nearby at Dillon Precision. They're one of the biggest names in reloading.
I'm sure they could help you find someone who would be grateful to use it, and wouldn't mind the prep work.

Jim

Brass can be recycled. Which is exactly what I think a lot of ranges do with the brass left on the floor/ground. Metal recyclers will buy it by the pound.

I let my pistol brass just go wherever it goes. I always save my revolver brass and deliver it to someone who reloads. Free. A gift. I enjoy doing that.

Just ask the club who reloads and they'll tell you. Easy deal.

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Come and take it!!

I have been to some ranges that prohibited the policing of brass and also prohibited steel cased ammo. These ranges were either selling the brass for scrap value or selling to a commercial reloader.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

My question would be "why DON'T you reload"? Even a single stage press would load what you shoot easily. Save your brass, it won't spoil.

As mentioned above, most ranges sell the brass as scrap ( :-( ), I just can't allow that to happen! Our local range boxes it up and sells by the box, usually $1.25/lb and up, depending on caliber. Anyone who reloads would be glad to receive free, once fired brass!

Sweeping the floor at an indoor range is highly hazardous because of the lead salts left on the floor from firing and stirred up by sweeping. Don't ask to sweep up your brass from the floor in front of your firing point. Places that require employees to be tested for lead have found that protective gear and extra care are required to sweep up indoor ranges safely.

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Science plus Art

with that much time you spend at the range... you should be able to find a new friend that would appreciate the new hoard of once fired brass... I am also not a reloader... but I don't get to the range as often as you... my spent brass has just been filling up bags and containers in my basement.

I've never been to a range that didn't have a policy. What does yours say to do with the brass? I'll bet someone pounces on yours as soon as you leave. Either a reloader or a scrapper.

Most ranges trade the brass in for reloads to sell at their range. Your brass is worth something to anyone that reloads. 9mm goes about $30/1000. 40 about $40/1000 & 45 about $75/1000. You can flat rate quite a bit of brass in a med usps box for $15.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Better still, dont shoot indoor ranges, very hazardous to your health.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I frequented a few ranges in LA county and if one restricted me from picking up my own brass I either just didn't go or just shot revolvers. The better indoor ranges used the left over brass for range reloads, and sold them at the range. A couple used a "licensed recycler " for cleaning up bullets so the range lead was not available for home casters. I have scrounged brass from range floors for many years and if I couldn't use it, I gave it to friends or a "pay it forward" give away on a forum...

The one public range around here does allow policing of brass that falls behind the firing positions, but won't allow you to even reach under the tables due to a continuous "hot range" condition. Target hangers are mechanized so nobody has to go forward, so they keep the range hot. What they do with the unpoliced brass, I don't know because I quit going there a long time ago.

Our wildlife club where I'm a member, as well as the other club across the county, both request and encourage shooters to police their brass during "cold range" conditions. That said, you could probably pave the road into the club with .22 rimfire brass and the aluminum case stuff you can't reload. It will occasionally get cleaned up on workday weekends. (Every 6 hours of maintenance and cleanup work gets a member $25 off on their yearly membership fee). The one other brass I notice a crapton of just lying around is 7.62x39. I know there's quite a few brands that use Berdan primers, so maybe that's why I see a lot of that caliber left behind. Doesn't excuse the shooter for not cleaning it up and pitching it, though.

Most of the rifle and handgun shooters at our club are reloaders, so they are always good to clean up behind themselves. many other shooters will police their brass and throw it in a bucket in the shooting house for reloaders to pick through.

All our shotgun ranges require shooters to clean up their shells, which is enforceable because there are trap operators there. There are fewer shotgun reloaders in the club, but we still have buckets lying around to throw spent shells in.

How so??

I used to shoot at our public outdoor range (Ben Avery) and with the vast numbers of tables and a minimum number of range officers, I never felt as safe as I do at my current indoor range.

My local indoor range , Precision Shooting , sweeps up everything left on the floor , they sort it as to caliber and sell it.
Their company is Precision Once Fired Brass , they sell at the range and on line .
The cost at the range is so cheap I sometimes don't bother picking up my 9mm Luger brass ...(I'm 70 and have a bad back).
The brass isn't processed , just sorted with some extra's thrown in for any defective brass .


Another indoor range in New Orleans swept it up , put it in 50 gallon drum and when full he sold it to a local metals recycler... he didn't want to sort and sell it as once fired as he didn't have the sorting setup to do it . He would let me dig through the barrel and buy whatever I wanted really really cheap ...usually 100 38 special for $1.00 ...but I had to do my own sorting .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

ROs have little to do with inhaling lead fumes.

That's one of several reasons I quit going to the one public pistol range in town. It's underground (beneath a sporting goods store) and their ventilation system has had myriad problems over the years from poor maintenance. The store owner can't even go in the range any more because his lead levels are too high from the repeated exposures.

Their range safety sucks about as bad as the air quality.

My son lives in Lee's Summit, MO and we have shot there a couple of times. Nice range and I could shoot my reloads there. One time a guy was shooting 9 mm and 223 next to us. It was piling up like crazy as he emptied one mag after another.

I am a real weirdo, I even pick up 22 brass and put it in a big clear plastic bear cookie jar and when full take it in for scarp along with spent primers. Anyway, they have a rule that you can only pick up your brass and no one else's without permission. So I ask the guy if he wants his brass and says no, I can have it so I start to pick it up. The range guy would come by every few minutes and use a floor squeegee to push the brass down a vented hole in the floor. He saw me picking up brass and jumped all over me and I told him I asked the guy if I could have it. He questioned me and I felt like an idiot but I didn't break a single rule.

Just had a neighbor friend give me a bunch of old odds and ends brass and some older loaded rounds. I took the 270 and 30-30 to my indoor range and left it on the counter for anyone to take. I would rather someone have the stuff than scrap it.

Ben avery is out doors. Indoor ranges are a good place to get lead poisoning, regardless of how good they think their air system is.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

If you shoot that often I’m sure you could easily give it away to a grateful reloader. And if not, just store it yourself. I only started reloading 7 years ago, but I had been saving my brass since three years before I started. I was all set for 9MM and .223 but wasn’t shooting .38 very often back then. I mentioned I needed to buy some .38 brass to the guy next to me at the gun club and he said “can you stop by here tomorrow?” I said “yeah, why?” And he said “I’ll hook you up”. Next day he handed me a full 35 pound cat litter pail full of .38 special brass. He was range officer at the local police range and they still allowed .38 for off duty, and the correctional officers were still using Model 10’s so I got like 4000 pieces of once fired brass.

But honestly, I’d consider reloading now. I started after Newtown when things got crazy. The times were living in now are far crazier. 9MM target ammo was going for $50 for 100 rounds if you could even find it. I buy components frequently and stack them up. Never gonna be caught defenseless again. You could get a single stage start up kit for like $300. Buy a better scale and a tumbler and calipers and you’re set. The money you save will pay for the equipment within a thousand rounds or so of 38. 2000 rounds of 9MM. Savings on .45 ACP is pretty substantial. And you’ll be forever immune to a shortage.

I rarely shoot an an indoor range anymore, but it bugs the hell out of me when they say I can’t take MY brass with me. I’m not buying any “it’s a health issue to pick things off the floor” excuse. They sell it for scrap and it’s MY brass and I don’t want them to have it. I got kicked out once for doing it. It was all my brass. Only one other shooter at the other end and the stations are separated by the walls of course. The guy told me I couldn’t and I ignored him. He told me I’d have to leave and I said I was going to after I picked up MY property. Haven’t been back, of course.

I'm not trying to be a pest but are you claiming that there's sufficient lead in the air to give a person lead poisoning??

If that's accurate, I'd like to know

Thanks,

Doug

Our local county range usually sells between 10-16 fifty-five gallon barrels full of brass at a time to scrappers.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

The indoor range at my club was built 45 years ago and I have been shooting there every Winter since then. We are required to police the range when we are done, and that includes sweeping up all the brass. Our own brass is taken home and reloaded, while the rimfire brass is put in a barrel for the club to sell.

The range is well ventilated and is often rented by local police departments.

I also cast my own bullets in my basement using wheel weight ingots that were made outdoors. I do it in the Winter and my basement has NO ventilation. Been doing that for 52 years now.

Before I started casting I read a white report where a test site had been monitored for air quality. It monitored a simple furnace and lead pot to make bullets. The data showed no problem with air quality.

Any responsible indoor range should have tests run periodically to check air quality. If there is an issue, remedial action should be taken.

Just for grins and giggles when i had my annual physical last year I asked my Doctor to include a lead analysis of my body. The numbers showed no detectable lead.

My wife says lead is not my problem.....its the beer I drink.....

I have never been to an indoor range that didn't allow me to keep all my brass. One local range here has grates that you stand on and the brass drops through. They give you a mat to cover the grate if you want to keep your brass.
I would not go to a range that had restrictions on brass recovery - it's my brass.
I only shoot at the indoor range in the winter. At my outdoor/warm weather range you are required to collect your brass - like every other outdoor range I've ever been to.

When I went to the FBI Firearms Instructors Class over 30 years ago, we were told to be very careful of indoor ranges. That if we worked an indoor range to get checked for lead in our blood systems every three months. When I was stationed in Pittsburgh at the Navy/Marine Reserve Center, we had an indoor range. Not sure how long it had been in use, but the EPA shut it down due to lead contamination. It was so contaminated that you had to be gowned up from head to toe just to walk in there.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I have been reloading ammunition for so many years that I just can't imagine not reloading. I have several firearms that have never been fired with factory-made ammunition, and several antique guns that would not be shooting at all if I didn't make the ammo. For several years my primary resource for lead to cast bullets was mining spent bullets from the range, using an old Army entrenching tool and a wire screen. I shoot on a very well ventilated indoor range at least once per week and year-round, and I usually take home 95% of my own brass.

Old habits dating back to the times when I was making house payments and feeding hungry kids on skinny little paychecks and had to watch every penny and squeeze the nickels until the buffalo screamed.

After 7 decades I doubt that I can change my habits. I admit that I enjoy shooting .38 Spl, .357 mag, 9X19, .40 S&W, .45ACP, and other common calibers that I load myself for less than many people pay for good quality .22LR ammo. As long as I keep myself well stocked with primers and powder I get through the frequent ammo shortages without much inconvenience.

I just can't imagine not reloading my own ammo.

To the OP,

Give serious consideration to reloading, especially if you shoot a revolver! I realize prices (inflation) go up, but some prices I refuse to pay. Most shops in my area no longer carry 38 Special, unless it is the 130gr FMJ round, and then it sells for about $20/50. Before my accident in 2007, I remember being able to buy 38 Special 158gr RNL for about $6/50.

Fortunately, I am set up to cast my own bullets. Before my accident, I was able to load a box (50) of 38 Special wadcutters for $0.75 (yes, I am cheap)! Today, that same box of cartridges costs me about $2. For me, THAT is a significant savings. At the moment, I have the resources to cast for, and reload: 380, 9mm, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 38 Super, 40 S&W, 41 Magnum, 44 Special & Magnum, and 45 ACP.

I am still using brass that I acquired in the late 1970s, but when I buy ammo (a very rare occasion) I always save my brass. I tend to love the pistol shooters at my club, most blow up a few hundred rounds per visit, and they just leave the brass. It is not uncommon to be able to sweep up about 20#/ 20% of a 5 gallon bucket on any given pistol bay, so that gives me practice ammo galore, and throw-away brass for lost brass matches. When I go to "lost brass"matches, I would rather leave aluminum cases behind instead of brass.

Give reloading some serious consideration. I would suggest that you never factor in the cost of your reloading equipment, because it could take a decade or more to realize a savings in your reloads! The cost of reloading equipment, (in my opinion) is unrealistically high!

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Judge control not gun control!

Most certainly! There is lead styphinite in primers. Each firing places micro lead particles in the air to be inhaled. I know guys that only shoot indoors & their lead levels are waaaay over normal. No, indoor ranges are not really safe to shoot a lot in. I go maybe twice a year & that is plenty. All my shooting is outdoors. Wearing a mask would help but I dont like wearing a mask.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I have a regular DR appointment coming up and I'm certainly going to ask him to check my lead levels.

This is good stuff and thank you for the information

Doug

I don't re load for many reasons .....

I don't know how to do it correctly and safely.
I don't have the physical space to do it in.
I don't really have the time to do it.
I can afford brand new factory ammo.
I really don't have the desire to do it.

It seems that if you don't re load, your not a "real" gun enthusiast but I beg to differ.

Thanks I think .......

Doug

As an after thought ......

I've got good friends that fly fish all over the world who claim that if you don't tie your own fly's, your not really a fly fisherman.

I don't believe that either.

I saved every piece of brass I fired for nearly 50 years. I just started reloading and am filling all of that brass as we speak. I have been to indoor ranges where the specifically state that you may not retrieve brass that falls on the floor. At other ranges I pick up everything I can find. I am also not above rummaging thru the bucket to see if there are any good casings to take home as spares.

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

I used to shoot on an indoor bullseye pistol league years ago and an old guy on the team told me, "brass is cash, pick yours up". I still pick it up.

Even 25 years ago when I was shooting in older indoor ranges they had very good ventilation. Even with all the "lead poisoning" myths/scares, ventilated indoor ranges is low on the list (I breathed waaaay more toxic air in down town Los Angeles than I did at the range)...

I can afford to spend $45 on 100 rounds of .38, but I’d rather spend spent $12.

No time to reload? How much time you spend on this forum or watching TV? I just loaded up my last 28 .380 bullets I had. Took me less than 10 minutes on a single stage weighing every charge.

No space? That’s a viable reason. Don’t know what living situation you have but a single stage doesn’t take up much room.

I don’t think you have to reload to be a gun enthusiast. I’ve only been loading for 7 years and I’ve been shooting for 30. But it surely is cheaper to reload and allows you to shoot more. Don’t know how long you’ve been shooting but we’ve had nationwide ammo shortages twice in the last ten years. Gonna be hard to be a gun enthusiast when you can’t buy any ammo, or when you have to pay double the price for it.

The time thing always struck me as a stupid argument. Do you cut your own lawn? Clean your own house? Do your own laundry? Cook your own meals? Do your own home repairs (at least the basic ones. You gonna pay an electrician $200 to hang a few ceiling fans, or a plumber to install a new toilet?). None of these are things we LIKE to do. I don’t enjoy reloading so much. It’s alright, I guess. But it’s not digging ditches and it allows me to shoot more for less. And it makes me immune to the always looming shortages.

Our range sells it, and uses the $ to fund it's youth programs. Anything on the floor is fair game to pick up. Once it hits the bucket it's hands off.

Interesting story.

My local "pay to shoot range" was a megabucks facility that was designed and built by a friend of mine. You paid an astronomical fee to use it, HAD to buy his reloads and could not take the empties with you. I used the range at my club and for $50 a year I could shoot 24/7 if I wanted to.

Anyway, he retired and sold the facility. The new owner didn't take care of the equipment and he eventually got shut down by the authorities for lead contamination.

My club monitors the facility and passes all State requirements. As I said before, after shooting indoors for 50+ years I stll have no detectable lead. Thus, my advice to anyone that may be afraid, just ask for the range's air quality test result.

As far as not reloading means you aren't a real shooter, I say pffft. Do what makes you happy or can afford. I don't reload and cast because of the money, I just find that's it's an enjoyable sport.

Not a story, all true......

That you have not gotten bit by the lead bug is good for you. Hope you never have any problems. As long as the facility is properly designed and all the air handling equipment is correctly maintained then theoretically all should be good.

I know lots of folks that shoot that do not reload. Lots of folks from Team Shooters (in the Corps, they were given all the ammo they wanted and I imagine the teams from the other services were given the same) to week end shooters, who do not shoot enough to justify reloading.

I have been shooting 59+ years and reloading for 46 of them. Sort of like my religion and I go to "services" at the range.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I see posts that seem to need to justify reloading. I don't reload to save money. I don't have any obsolete guns. I don't have any guns that requite ultra expensive ammo. My marksmanship is steadily waning and I'm not a bench rest shooter so 1/10th inch at 100 yards is of no importance to me. So why would I reload? Because I like reloading...

This thread was started by a person that does not reload, however he enjoys shooting! We have heard arguments reloading supports shooting. I say, reloading and shooting are two different hobbies! One person goes to a furniture store and buys a coffee table for his living room and is proud of his accomplishment! A second person builds his coffee table and is proud of his accomplishment! NO ONE can ridicule either for his choice! I enjoy both hobbies and have done so for many years(for my own reasons)!
jcelect

A commercial reloader I know who only loaded pistol ammo bought brass by the 55 gal. barrel from local indoor ranges. I used to stop in there once in a while a dig through the leftover for once fired 7.62 x 39 an 54r brass or anything else I could use. Ended up getting several hundred pieces of each for ten cents a pop.

Lots of people don't reload or cast, don't shoot enough to justify it or have the time to do it. I started about 40+ years ago doing both. It's my hobby and what I enjoy doing when I'm not working for the man which in about nine months I won't be doing that anymore and I have more time to enjoy my hobby.

Except you buy a coffee table once and you keep it for years. You don’t use it once and then have to buy another. And nobody is threatening to ban coffee tables, Impose a background check to buy one, And there will never be a coffee table shortage with people lining up every morning to wait and see how many coffee tables Come off the truck, and having to pay twice the cost of a coffee table to buy one from a price gouger.

And I can’t stockpile enough material to build 10,000 coffee tables and fit it all into a 3X3 cabinet in my garage.

I’m not ridiculing him at all. If he doesn’t want to reload I hope he saves his brass and asks around the range if anyone wants it. I don’t like the idea of giving my brass to a range owner who already overcharges people to shoot, at least in my area. He says he shoots a few times a week so he must love it. I remember right after Newtown ammo was nonexistent. 9MM target ammo was over $20 a box. .45 and .38 were over $40 for 50 rounds. Lines every morning in Walmart with people bringing the whole household to get their 3 boxes each if they even had any. Components weren’t easy to find but I found them without much trouble. Just had to start with powders that I haven’t used since. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Anybody who shoots as a sport and not just to keep a gun around for protection should seriously consider reloading. The time is minimal if you do everything in stages. When I come back from the range I give the brass a quick wet tumble with no pins. No time spent there. Add water and soap and walk away. When they’re dry I resize and expand. I never shoot more than 150 rounds in a session so maybe 30 minutes to resize and expand. When I get enough of them I wet tumble again with pins. Again add water soap and pins and walk away. When they’re all dry I prime them at my leisure while watching tv. No time there. I’m sitting watching tv anyway. When they’re primed they go into a bin and loaded as I feel like it. Sometimes ten minutes at a time. Then into an ammo can for when I go shooting. I doubt I spend more than 90 minutes a week at my press.