Bottom feeder shooters: how much brass do you recover?

[jtcarm]

I'm a lifelong revo guy and shoot it in IDPA, but I'm looking at coming over to the dark side with one of the LEO trade-in .40s I'm seeing all around.

After the matches, though, I see all the bottom-feeder brass being swept up into a couple of big piles. Sometimes I do the sweeping just to make sure I haven't missed any of mine (I usually have them all before then.) As near as I can tell, the swept-up piles mostly go home with the MDs & SOs.

So for guys who shoot bottom-feeders in action pistol and reload, how much of your brass do you recover? I am OCD about mine and can't stand to lose any. Probably one reason I love revolvers.

 

[fr3db3ar]

I pick up brass from my range any time I can. I need to take another brass box out so others can leave it for me.

Sent from somewhere in the time space continuum

 

[WR Moore]

That kind of depends upon the range rules where the match is.

 

[Bib]

All the IDPA matches around here are lost-brass matches. I usually attend two per month. At one match I shoot two entries and lose all the brass. At the other I'm an S.O. and get to keep all the brass left in my bay....I usually come out ahead for the month

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I built a 4 ft high x 10 ft long brass catcher with a trough at the bottom next to my shooting bench.......I recover all.......don't shoot competition.....Just for fun/relaxation & practice on my personal owned range.

 

[patrickd]

I shoot a mag and police the 15 rds I just fired. If I don't pick up after every magazine full I end up missing cases. This is the main reason why I went back to mostly revolver shooting as picking up cases is a pain in the ***.

 

[scooter123]

I would expect any IDPA match to be a lost brass affair, allowing competitors to recover their brass would be just too much of a waste of time.

 

[Pizza Bob]

One of the matches I attend (indoor) has at least one person policing brass while others are taping. Once taping is done and everyone is up range, the brass is returned to the shooter. Takes no more time than taping the targets.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

 

[StakeOut]

I have 6 pre 1989 S&W revolvers(5xN,1xK) and 2 bottom feeders.I reload for the revolver calibers but the semi auto Model 39-2 9mm cases are left on the floor.At $9.70 a box of 50 Perfecta 9mm at Walmart it's hardly worth the effort to reload the caliber.

My local Walmart got 80 boxes in yesterday.

There's a LNIB 3904(only 1 mag) locally offered that I'm in negotiating stage

My other bottom feeder is a 22lr Ruger SR22 that shoots M-22($49/1000) and Golden Bullets($70.74/1400) from Walmart.I also have a stash of 5000 mini mags.

 

[H Richard]

Because of time constraints, very few match's will allow brass recovery during the match. Some (outdoor) allow you to come in after the match and police up brass, but often that is the only pay the range officers ever get for all their efforts running match's.

 

[Krell1]

Range rules where I shoot won't let you pick up just any brass. I pick up mine just because I feel I can. They do this because they keep the brass and reload for resale. If another shooter offers their brass to me I feel it's OK to take it. Never had any problem with the range owner.

 

[jrallenjr]

I have access to every piece of brass on a private training range. We reload 9mm, 40, 380, 223, and 308.

 

[mtgianni]

I have a ton of 40 and 9 brass. I shoot at a county range that has a small amount of gravel and then short to long grass. 7 or 8 out of ten is acceptable to me. 45 is usually 9 out of ten. Match grade brass is usually shot with a gun that's spring puts them close to the same space. Kahr 40 lays them all in the same pile. S&W 40 put them in a 5 to seven foot arc as does the CZ 75 9mm.

 

[Rpg]

I recover the vast majority 97%) of my brass at the range.

Of course, I shoot a tuned Colt 1911 that puts the brass in an area the size of a hat.

My son's S&W M&P throws brass everywhere, including the shooter's face.

Recovery percentage isn't very good.

 

[Hang-Fire Hank]

I GET IT ALL BACK

At our local IPSC match, one or 2 guys pick up the last shooter's brass, while the ROs are down-range taping & scoring. Being an Ol' Guy I bought one of those oblong stainless cages on a mop handle to pick up brass w/out bending over, originally designed for nut tree orchard owners' (I'm told).

The heck with that "You can't pick up your brass" nonsense!

Hank M.

 

[old tanker]

Our club matches a couple guys tape the holes while the RO and scorekeeper do their thing, the rest pick up brass after each run. You might get back just over half your brass, a third someone else's brass from who knows when, while the rest will be a mix of calibers you don't even own.

Excesses of bad language result from trying to sort 9mm, .38 Super and .380 as you wonder why is there .380 brass on an IPSC range? Or contemplate why .40 S&W cases like to hide inside .45 ACP.

 

[Cyrano]

The Fort Bliss Rod and Gun Club lets you pick up only your own brass. They consider what is left on the ground to be 'government proprty'. Depending on the pistol I'm shooting and the ground cover where I'm shooting, I recover 80% to 90%.

 

[fyimo]

I don't shoot matches so at my range I can pick all of my brass. They also have two buckets where brass from people who don't reload dump their brass and if you are lucky you get theirs. I was there one day when a father and son came in and fired about 150 rounds of 223 and they walked off the firing line and I asked them if the wanted the brass. They said no and if you pick it up it's yours.

 

[robertrwalsh]

The range where I shoot IDPA wants the brass policed up. Usually a couple of guys get brass and a few more tape targets after each shooter. On a really good day I get 85-90% of my brass back. 75% is more common.