Nice Scavenging Session This Morning

[Alan in Vermont]

There is a range on some farmland about 20 miles away. I had never been there before but another member here shoots there and told me there was usually some pistol brass on the ground. Our snow cover had melted away and I was near there this morning so I found it and did a stretch of brass picking.

Yes, there was brass there!

It was a bit hard to pick up as it was frozen to the ground. Some had frozen mud in them, others were not dirty at all. I had to grab every piece with my Leatherman to get them loose, very time consuming, one piece at a time.

By the time I had filled a small bucket (7 1/2" diameter by 7 1/2" tall) my back hurt and my hands were about numb.

Brought it home and washed it in hot water to get the frozen mud off/out, then sorted it and gave it a session in a warm over the dry it.

All usable stuff. 9mm, .40, .45 Auto, .223, in quantity and a few each of 38 Sp.,.308, 30-06 and 30-30.

The .40 stuff will go into a big lot I want to load in the next couple weeks, the 45s will join several hundred more empties I have on hand as will the .223. The 9 mm. will go into the big bucket of those that I use for PIF material and the others will go into my mixed brass bucket for when I need them or someone I know does.

I just received a like new Thumler's Tumbler that I bought from CHSparkman here. He said it was only used once and it sure shows it, talk about a pretty, and well built machine!! Thank you Chris!! I'm about to go out right now and load it up, Christmas all over again.

[P.K.]

That "surface mining" sure pays off from time to time!

[41 mag fan]

Did that myself today. went to the local range and in 10 min, I had 3/4 of a 5 gal bucket full of old bullets. All I had done was dug a spot 2' wide. 10 shovel fulls to get the 3/4 bucket. Literally the bullets are laying on top. I only scratched the surface as ea of the 4 berms are 30' wide.
Tomorrow I'm taking a 50 gal drum and putting the buckets I get into it in the back of the truck.

[HighHook]

A good bucket of Lead makes for a "happy" caster... Good job Guys!

[45sixgun]

Nice, Alan!

Scavenging almost gives me more pleasure than shooting! I know that sounds crazy....

Found my first scavenged 45 colt case the other day. Just one, and unusable, but it made me happy to find it.

[chsparkman]

+1...it's an addiction


Nice, Alan!

Scavenging almost gives me more pleasure than shooting! I know that sounds crazy....

Found my first scavenged 45 colt case the other day. Just one, and unusable, but it made me happy to find it.

[drklynoon]

The range I belong to is quite busy and scavenging is not a problem; however, berm mining is not really plausible due to its constant use. I'd really have to show up and wait all day to find a half hour window when noone is there. Brass on the other hand is plentiful. Many of the shooters will notice me picking up and will sweep there area into a pile for me or bring it over and throw it in my bucket. I don't pick the place clean ever as I feel it is my responsibility to leave a fair amount for other scavengers. I have gotten 8 boxes of .45 colt, 3 boxes of .44 special and many .45 ACP, .40 S&W, and 9MM's there over the past several months.

[P.K.]

The range I belong to is quite busy and scavenging is not a problem; however, berm mining is not really plausible due to its constant use. I'd really have to show up and wait all day to find a half hour window when noone is there. Brass on the other hand is plentiful. Many of the shooters will notice me picking up and will sweep there area into a pile for me or bring it over and throw it in my bucket. I don't pick the place clean ever as I feel it is my responsibility to leave a fair amount for other scavengers. I have gotten 8 boxes of .45 colt, 3 boxes of .44 special and many .45 ACP, .40 S&W, and 9MM's there over the past several months.

I know a few folks who would wait a whole lot longer than a day to walk away with that booty, arrrrrrrr!;-)

[uscra112]

Betcha with the ammo famine there's not gonna be so many shooters leaving their brass behind !

[drklynoon]

LOL "booty"

[x101airborne]

Hey Alan. How is the 40 project going?

[Alan in Vermont]

I will finish running everything, somewhere around 2,000 pcs, through the G-Rx die tomorrow and am going to start casting boolits over the weekend. I'm hoping the whole project will be done in the next 10-14 days. I'm being partly limited by this $^(*()*$ left hand which gets downright unruly if I try to handle too many repetitive motions in one sitting.

I was at a standstill for a while, had all this brass that came off the ground and was too gritty to even think about running through a die. Finally scored a very nice large tumbler and it has been running constantly now for most of 24 hours getting caught up on that end of things.

[41 mag fan]

Went back out this afternoon. In a one hour period, i had 5 buckets loaded into a big tub and 2 5 gal buckets full in the back of the truck. Guess someone dont realize theres an ammo shortage going on...on the 50 yrd range i picked up 60 223 cases, 40 9mm cases and 40 40S&W cases.....made my day worthwhile!
Tomorrow I'll go back and get more range lead....I'll have a 50 gal drum full before its said and done.

[bbs70]

I check for brass at the 2 ranges I belong to before I drag my guns out.
A month ago I found 100 308 cases.
I usually find some 556, 9mm ,and 40.
My wife got a Glock 19 2 months ago and I have as of yet had to buy any brass for it.
Same for my Glock 40.
Now if I could only find some 6.8 SPC brass I'd be a happy man.

[P.K.]

I check for brass at the 2 ranges I belong to before I drag my guns out.
A month ago I found 100 308 cases.
I usually find some 556, 9mm ,and 40.
My wife got a Glock 19 2 months ago and I have as of yet had to buy any brass for it.
Same for my Glock 40.
Now if I could only find some 6.8 SPC brass I'd be a happy man.

I've had mine for almost 2 years and have yet to see another.

[WILCO]

Nice, Alan!

Scavenging almost gives me more pleasure than shooting! I know that sounds crazy....

Found my first scavenged 45 colt case the other day. Just one, and unusable, but it made me happy to find it.

Yep. Simple pleasure.

[ErikO]

Had to get a new mass air flow sensor for the Impala the other day from a local junk yard. Scored a few pounds of ww's to boot.

Now to get the turkey cooker base and some gas to start the real fun. :)