Good Range Day & Treasure Trove

[BC38]

Just a suggestion. If you are wanting to pick up brass without breaking your back or messing up your knees ... take a look at some of the little gizmos that are sold for picking up pecans. I have one that works perfectly w/ shell casings. It is so old I can't read the name on the handle. But it's a little round wire basked thing that you roll back and forth. It picks up pecans ... or shell casings very nicely. Much faster than fiddling around picking them up one by one. Sincerely. bruce.

Yeah, I'd love to find something that would work like that, and some of the places I "mine" for brass, it just might.

Unfortunately, the range where I made this haul, one of those birdcage-on-a-stick thingies wouldn't work. It's a gravel pit complete with every size of broken rock from pea gravel up to fist-sized, and for every piece of brass on the ground there are probably five steel cases and two or three shotgun hulls.

So far I haven't been able to figure out any method that works other than the old fashioned bend & stoop. I wish I could come up with something else. My hamstrings and the muscles in the small of my back are still a little bit sore. But it was worth it.

 

[Psweigle]

I use a rolling magnet to get the steel and shotgun hulls out of the way. All that's left is brass and aluminum. Cant confuse those.

 

[BC38]

I use a rolling magnet to get the steel and shotgun hulls out of the way. All that's left is brass and aluminum. Cant confuse those.

How's that work? The steel casings I get, but the shotgun hulls? I've never seen one with any steel in it - other than possibly steel shot. 99% of the ones I've ever seen had brass bases - though it seems like I may have seen a handful with aluminum bases at some point in time.

Not that it is that much of an issue, they're big enough and colorful enough to be easily avoided anyway.

FWIW, I have confused a couple of steel cases with really faded yellowed lacquer coating for brass, and I have mistaken zinc coated steel for nickel, but a magnet does indeed distinguish between them very quickly.

 

[Psweigle]

Shotgun shells have a brass colored STEEL ring. They havent used brass for many years now.

 

[BC38]

Shotgun shells have a brass colored STEEL ring. They havent used brass for many years now.

That's good to know! They look like brass so that's what I always assumed they were still being made from.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Shotgun shells have a brass colored STEEL ring. They havent used brass for many years now.

Winchester AA/REmington STS and Federal gold metal still have brass heads.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Yeah, I'd love to find something that would work like that, and some of the places I "mine" for brass, it just might.

Unfortunately, the range where I made this haul, one of those birdcage-on-a-stick thingies wouldn't work. It's a gravel pit complete with every size of broken rock from pea gravel up to fist-sized, and for every piece of brass on the ground there are probably five steel cases and two or three shotgun hulls.

So far I haven't been able to figure out any method that works other than the old fashioned bend & stoop. I wish I could come up with something else. My hamstrings and the muscles in the small of my back are still a little bit sore. But it was worth it.

In my old age (74), I have decided (so far) that bend and stoop is the best method, although I probably do it a bit slower than I used to. However, that is with jam-o-matics. I usually shoot green (environmentally friendly) guns. I usually manage to keep all five or six cartridge cases off the ground.

 

[Qc Pistolero]

If you were around DFW that might be me. I took a wine box full to one of the guys at my range..

I bag the brass with the lot tag off the box until I've cleaned the guns, and am all clear for any potential damage. Then it goes in a box. What no one wants goes to a recycling company.

I learned that in dealing with a damage issue. Having the lot# and brass identified the cause, and got me a solution.

Nope,wasn't me....but I'd sure like to make pal with you!