When is brass considered to much brass? I know that I do not have as much brass as some.......But I have more than I will reload in a lifetime. Still when I see once fired brass I tend to pick it up.........Is it a sickness?
Only if they are smart and have enough room. During the last shortage, actually considered selling some off. After several years of inflation, and no end to it in site, am glad i didn't.
I have a 5 gallon bucket full of once fired .38 Special Federal cases. I haven't needed to touch it as I'm still reloading brass I've been reloading for a number of years. I have several thousand rounds in the shoot/clean/reload/store process, so may never need to touch the stash!!
I do not pick up range brass, generally. It would have to be obviously just fired and in a caliber I reload for me to bother with it.
To a point, I guess so. I reload .308 Norma Mag and that's a scarce enough cartridge these days that I usually scrounge up/hoard what I can when I find it.
Of course we are hoarders. When I get the itch to load some ammo, I want to have what I need ready to jump from the cabinet to the loading bench. Why would I first want to beg for some primers, or call around looking for some powder. Buy in bulk, stack it away, and have it when you need it. Some might just call it being prepared---like in the Boy Scouts.
As to the brass hoarding---well I just see it like lots of nickels, dimes and quarters laying on the ground for me to pickup. If you don't stop to pick up a pile of change on the ground---well then you probably don't need to bother reloading.
Just a qualifier---I no longer get on my knees to pickup 9mm brass, plenty of younger guys with better knees and years of brass needs to fill.
The best part about shooting more revolvers is never having to bend over to pickup my brass.
I don't consider myself as a hoarder, but I maintain a reasonable supply of ammo and components to satisfy my needs. There will be a time when people will wish they had planned ahead.
I guess I hoard. I have tens of thousands of 9mm & .38 spec. Most I'll never use and they are seperated by headstamp and stored in gigantic plastic peanut jars and labeled. I also hoard primers. Every week or two, I visit my local reloading store and buy max. allowed 4-100 pc boxes @ $ 7.00/C . I have an average of 1,000 primers at a time-not that much but more than I actually need, Just want them cause I can get them.
I have never been a hoarder but after 50 years in the reloading hobby I have built up enough of a brass inventory to cover my requirements for every caliber on the list.
Regarding primers and powder I wish that I had been a hoarder. The powder situation has gotten better in this area.One LGS now has a good supply though prices are all over the place.
Primers have shown up from time to time where I shop. Since the start of this craziness I have paid anywhere from $55 to $90 per 1K.
I didn't expect a big drop in price but was hoping for some relief by now. Not seeing it yet.
If you see a penny on the ground, do you pick it up? How about a nickel? Piece of 44 mag brass? Save your pocket change at the end of the day?
I used to scoop off brass from the range. A few years, and 30 + trips I had some 5 gallon buckets. We moved, my hoarding space in the unfinished basement gone, a trip to the metal recycling center yielded $300. More than the last time I went to the coin count machine at the bank.