Just can't believe it.

[BBQJOE]

I was shooting the other day, and spent a fair amount of time doing so.
When I was done, I looked down at all the brass, and couldn't believe that up until 7 years ago I would just walk away and go home.
I wish I could turn back the hands of time.
Oh, the brass I would have on hand that I want now.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

i was at the range on saturday and picked up over 300 rds of 223 brass
hey do you keep your brass no why its empty you can have it
thank you :)

[Chilmonty]

I know, I had the same moment at the range BBQ!

Picked up about 50 rounds of 45acp and about 30 9mm, and I thought holy ****, I used to do this!

There loss is our gain though! :grin:

[Mal Paso]

Being a Scot, I do na have that problem. Except for splits, I've got most every piece of brass I ever bought, and quite a bit more.:Fire:

[jonp]

Ive never shot at a range havng lived in the woods my whole life but always picked up my brass and threw it out. I wish I had it back but then again I also wish I had all of the guns I bougjt and sold back too

[kaptain kartridge]

After scrapping over 300 .303 Brit cases, I found a new source for berdan primers. Wish I still had that brass, Oh well. Now only splits go into the brass barrel under the bench.

[Bad Water Bill]

Over the years I have picked up and shared brass with new reloaders. I have no idea how many THOUSANDS of rounds I gave away. Other folks just walked away leaving their brass for ME to collect.:bigsmyl2:

Now the D N R range has their own range masters sign a paper that if the employee takes even 1 piece of brass home it is grounds for dismissal. Once YOUR brass hits the ground it is THEIRS to sell as scrap. :twisted:

[sljacob]

My father started reloading when I was 4 or 5 years old,so I was taught to never leave brass behind and I never have.

[doctorggg]

Been reloading for 43 years. I used to spend as much as 1/2 hour looking for that 1 piece of brass that got lost. Now I figure life is too short. My ammo is usually in a baggy bag and I have no idea how many I have. I used to pack all them in 50 round plastic ammo boxes. Always hated to see the 1 or 2 empty holes. I pick up what I can find and go home happy these days. usually with a few extra pieces.

[MBTcustom]

I was taught to reload and cast when I was taught to shoot. I bought three boxes of RP 30-30 and those 60 brass lasted me a long time.
I have picked up lots of brass over the years, but it used to be much more plentiful. I used to find 20 30-30 brass everytime I went to the range. It was like looking down to shop for groceries LOL!
Leeeeeettts seeeeeee,
308? Nope
30-06? yep
40S&W? nope
300savage? nope
45ACP? yep
380? nope
You get the idea. Now I go to the range, and if I pick up brass at all, it's because the shooter next to me said it was OK. I never find brass just laying around.

[ku4hx]

I was shooting the other day, and spent a fair amount of time doing so.
When I was done, I looked down at all the brass, and couldn't believe that up until 7 years ago I would just walk away and go home.
I wish I could turn back the hands of time.
Oh, the brass I would have on hand that I want now.

Not to worry. We old scroungers always came along behind you and picked up what you left. Nothing went to waste.

[40-82]

This brass scournging can come back to bite you. One July found me over on the dry side of the Mackenzies in the Northwest Territories. Simple calculation of remaining energy versus resources told me that I would starve to death long before I made it out to a village. A young caribou bull angled at a trot through the thick brush. I waited for a small opening before I fired. After I checked on the dead caribou I went back to the exact spot where I had fired the shot and after an intense search I couldn't find my 35 Whelen case. Later in camp I found the empty case in my right front pocket. That winter I worked until I broke that old reloader's habit of catching the ejected brass in the air before working the bolt for the next shot.

Somebody else's brass on the ground? Manna from heaven.

[b2948kevin]

Not to worry. We old scroungers always came along behind you and picked up what you left. Nothing went to waste.

Lol! Well said. What comes around goes around :)

But I do wish I would have saved all those cases!

[mroliver77]

I have the first centerfire cases from loaded ammo I ever bought. My Dad brought an Arisaka back from WW2 and it sat around all my childhood. All we had was shotguns. When I was in my teens I bought some Norma ammo for it and saved the cases in the box they came in. My hardware guy guy told me there was a flyer with some in clearance but it was generic white box. When it arrived it was Norma in a plain white box. I bought dies and components a year later. I still have them and many others.

[Lance Boyle]

hell I seldom buy any "new" ammo other than rimfire. At most I buy 5 boxes of 20 for a new cartridge, shoot them and reload them for a long time.

The other day I was at the range and a guy showed up while the gate was open. I was shooting and one of the club officers was there doing some work. The guy that showed up, brought a gun, but didn't want to shoot even when i offered to put up a target. While I was down range he was pawing throught the buckets. The light went on for me, he was brass farming, only there wasn't much in the buckets other than steel cased russian stuff. The other range I go to is the police pistol range and our brass usually sits a long time in buckets until its traded for credit. I got a call one day from one of the range guys asking me if I took some brass to reload, nope not me. 5 buckets of brass were liberated. Turns out one of our maintenance guys helped himself and took it to the scrap yard and pocketed the money. Scrapping has been big lately of course.

[Bad Water Bill]

There have been brass scavengers for years.

One Sunday several years ago I was helping the range master clean up after the range was closed.

A pickup pulled OFF the highway and across the open field to the brass buckets. We were at the berm of the 100 yard when they started taking buckets and the brass as well.

Their truck and clothes looked like they needed money desperately. Instead of arresting them for trespassing and theft they went HOME but with a stern warning to never return.

Yes D N R officers can have badges.

[LynC2]

Being a Scot, I do na have that problem. Except for splits, I've got most every piece of brass I ever bought, and quite a bit more.:Fire:

Darn I wasn't aware of it, but I must be part Scot too! :wink: I still have some SL-43 30-06 brass I fired when I was a teen back in 1964! I don't ever recall leaving any fired brass behind except when I was in the military.

[KYShooter73]

Picking up brass is no different than picking up nickels, dimes, and quarters. I lose a few, but you bet I pick it up. I wish I could pick up nickels, dimes, and quarters for a living.

[BBQJOE]

I wish I could pick up nickels, dimes, and quarters for a living.

74088
Would this work for ya?

[williamwaco]

I hear a lot of opinions that range pick ups will
blow up your gun,
grow calluses on your trigger finger,
break your magazine springs,
blow out your tires, and
cause your roof to leak.

I have not found that to be the case.

Yes, I am a Scot back 6 generations.

Doesn't embarrass me a bit to pick up some one else's empties.

But If they are still there, I ask permission.

[BBQJOE]

Doesn't embarrass me a bit to pick up some one else's empties.

But If they are still there, I ask permission.
I don't know. These days I might be tempted to take the at gun point.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/barbecuejoe/smileys/cowboy_zpsd4ae9e3a.gif

[kenyerian]

My grandmother came over from Scotland when she was a little girl so I'm at least 1/4 Scottish. My dad picked up every empty he could fine and I have done the same my whole life. I'm 60 years old and grew up reloading ,casting and pinching pennies.

[Nickle]

I hear a lot of opinions that range pick ups will
blow up your gun,
grow calluses on your trigger finger,
break your magazine springs,
blow out your tires, and
cause your roof to leak.

I have not found that to be the case.

Yes, I am a Scot back 6 generations.

Doesn't embarrass me a bit to pick up some one else's empties.

But If they are still there, I ask permission.

I've heard shooting reloaded ammo will blow your gun up myself. Funny stuff the "experts", um, I mean idiots come up with, isn't it? It's good to know I'm not alone.

Now, I take your idea to a new level. I ask them to help police up the brass. I shame them into it.

I've got a couple places where I pick up the brass. Sometimes it's good to reuse, sometime not. But, it's picking up trash, as a minimum.

[mpmarty]

If I didn't pick up my brass I couldn't afford to shoot. 10mm is darned hard to find just laying around.

[lead chucker]

yep one mans trash is another mans treasure. I get lots of 223 and 45 acp. The other day I scored a box of 50, 45 colt the guy put them back in the box after shooting them. Now if we could jest get them guys that shoot the aluminum cases to shoot brass we would be doing a lot better.

[Reverend Al]

Years ago a local shooting friend of mine was moving back East and was weeding down everything he had in preparation for the big move. I went over and bought a few shooting and reloading items that he was wanting to part with and then he showed me a HUGE cardboard box chock FULL of once fired, boxer primed, military .303 British brass and said "how about you give me $25.00 for all of them?". There were probably well over 2,000 rounds of nice, clean, once fired IVI (Canadian military) brass in that big box and I turned him down. I thought "I'll never, ever in my entire life need that much .303 British brass". I still kick my *** about making that mistake ...
:cry:

[Tom Herman]

From Day One, I've ALWAYS picked up any center fire brass I find. The Berdan primed stuff goes into the recycling box along with spent primers.
Waste not, want not.
Even if I don't reload a particular caliber, somebody somewhere does.
All the brass I recover eventually finds a good home.
I view people that leave brass on the ground as having a character defect.

-Tom

[Foto Joe]

A couple of weeks ago the wife and I went out to shoot, our around town "truck" is a Yamaha Rhino that serves its purpose well. The wife shoots a wheel gun so her brass is a no-brainer but I was testing out a new S&W Compact 1911 which means a scavenger hunt will be involved at some point. While I was shooting she was wandering around behind me picking up brass, I asked her to leave it lay because 100 pieces are easier to find than 1 piece. When we were done we policed the brass and came up with one lonely hole in a cartridge box and it was driving me nuts!! We walked different angles searching, all to no avail and even backed the Rhino up and cruised the area while both of us looked down for that one elusive little critter that had escaped all the while thinking that I was sniveling over one silly little piece of brass. When we got home I was pulling the target stand and assorted "stuff" out of the back of the Rhino and what do I see laying in the bed?? You guessed it, that one last piece of brass was a flyer that landed safely in the back, I slept well that nite my friends.

[BBQJOE]

I have begun to name each casing. :roll:

[mikeym1a]

After scrapping over 300 .303 Brit cases, I found a new source for berdan primers. Wish I still had that brass, Oh well. Now only splits go into the brass barrel under the bench.
So, what's your source? Can you share???

[mikeym1a]

yep one mans trash is another mans treasure. I get lots of 223 and 45 acp. The other day I scored a box of 50, 45 colt the guy put them back in the box after shooting them. Now if we could jest get them guys that shoot the aluminum cases to shoot brass we would be doing a lot better.
When I was new to shooting, I bought some CCI Blazers for my 45, as they were cheaper than the brass cased. After I had shot them, I gathered them up, and looked at them. "NR" - not reloadable. I wonder, says I, and proceeded to center punch the web inside. Then used a tiny drill to get the hole started, and then a drill of the right size for the primer punch. I then proceeded to push out the CCI Berdan anvil and primer. The CCI boxer primers fit perfectly. I've reloaded several boxes of them 4 or 5 times with no ill effects. SO, if your aluminum cases are auto pistol cases, and you were so inclined, and they were made in the US, you might get them to live again.:D

[Bad Water Bill]

Good old American ingenuity.:drinks:

Thanks for the information.

[mikeym1a]

Good old American ingenuity.:drinks:

Thanks for the information.
I did try that with some 38's, and they split when I expanded the neck for the boolit. The 45's, 9mm's, 380's, and 32's that I loaded did not split. I guess they didn't get expanded as much.