Old Cartoon

[e15cap]

Anybody remember seeing an old cartoon from the American Rifleman that calls out BRASS WEASELS? This is a guy that mopes around the line and snags brass that does not belong to him. We have been infested with some of these pests and I would like to post this cartoon as a sort of subtle heads up before it gets ugly. However, this type is usually immune to sublety.
Best, Roger

[454PB]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

I think of it more like pigeons at a hot dog stand, waiting around for a crumb to hit the ground.

[briang]

It's a bad thing when they take the brass you want.

[Down South]

There is one old reloader that comes to the only range that we have everyday just after daylight to pick up all of the brass. I used to get a little range pick up there before he started doing this. I have no idea what he does with all of the brass but LOL, I wound up buying several hundred 38 special from him and he acted like he really didn’t want to get rid of it. I asked him what he did with it and he said that he cleaned it then stored it in zip lock bags for the future. He may have a point.

[Buckshot]

.............Heck picking up brass on the ground at the range is a long tradition amonge reloaders. However, etiquette and common sense dictates you wait until the people who generated it leave. This is a positive indicator that they have no further use for it, and finders keepers if the range management allows brass pickup.

Now if the person in question is standing nearby and plucking the empties out of the air, or bagging empties off the bench while the shooter walks to the restroom or pop machine, they are lacking in the most basic levels of common sense. If so, possibly one day a shooter may take them out behind the range house and administer some instruction in remedial manners :-)

Now for me, the first thing I do when I arrive at the range is to walk the line and give the trash cans a once over [smilie=1: Primarily I'm looking for the slip top plastic boxes 22 LR, 17 & 22 Mag ammo is sold in by some makers. I also pickup the plastic trays Fiocchi packs their 45 ACP in. I've also glommed onto tons of Turk 8mm stippers and a couple years back quite a few 8x56R clips used in the 1895 Steyr straight pulls. I guess whoever tossed the Steyr clips didn't realize they'd end up with a one shooter without them!

................Buckshot

[S.R.Custom]

Now for me, the first thing I do when I arrive at the range is to walk the line and give the trash cans a once over [smilie=1:

Isn't that what you're supposed to do? More than a few times I've struck it lucky and found a box or more of [insert insane caliber here] Weatherby Magnum brass.

[smilie=w:

Straight to GunBroker it goes. Even better than finding money!

[Jim]

I used to go to the club facilities about 7 AM, 2 hours before firing was allowed. Not a soul in sight. With a 24 acre club and 16 bays, I'd come home sometimes with a half bucket full of everything from .380 to .458 Winnie. Never understood why most people don't reload.

[EMC45]

There is a guy at our local range and he picks up all the brass. Used to be able to leave out of there with about 2 full MaoMart bags. He will literally stand there and pick up the brass as it hits the ground upon ejection. Quite annoying to say the least! He sells it. I know just about every time I go down there he eyeballs my table, because I have several different calibers that I shoot. I tell him from the jump that I reload. He always says "fair enough".

[chevyiron420]

i havent done any shootin for a wile but my son and i are getting ready now. before we took a break there was a guy that started showing up. he would be there before anyone else and parked his truck all over the range grabbing every piece of brass he could find. he even had little gardening tools to dig with. before this dude showed up i always found some brass i needed, but not anymore!

[Wayne Smith]

I expect it to get worse if the economy continues to go south. Scavenging is a hoary tradition. If someone can feed a family doing this more power to them. Just don't take mine!

[BarryinIN]

I shoot IPSC and IDPA some. Every club has a few guys who have some ailment that prevents them from setting up or tearing down the stages. That's fine. I'm often one of them myself as I have a back problem.
However... often, one or two of these very same guys spend the entire match darting around like ferrets grabbing every piece of brass that hits the ground. I couldn't have moved that fast or bent over/straightened up that much when I was 20.
Willpower is a powerful thing, I guess.

One of these guys had me so mad once, that even though I'm as easygoing as they come, I finally did something that broke him of picking up mine at least. I walked back from shooting a stage once to find him dumping my brass in his range bag. I scooped a handful out of his range bag and politely thanked him for picking my brass up for me.
His expression was like I had just shot his dog, but he knew he couldn't say a word.

[Jim]

At our club, when there are IPSc or IDPA shoots, it's mandatory that ALL brass stays on the ground for the stage handlers. Only exception is moon clipped ACPs for revolvers.

[troy_mclure]

my local range doesnt allow collecting from the brass buckets. picking from the ground is fine, but everybody is verry courteous and picks up their brass :( .

they sell it to members really cheap tho.

[Gee_Wizz01]

Last year in August I was at the range on a very hot afternoon and no one was on the 100 yd line. I was shooting my AR and my Garand when I noticed a guy drove up and went through the trash cans ( he was wasting his time as I had already taken care of that chore). After he came up empty with trash cans he walked up and down the line looking for brass. Then he walked past me and stood two firing points down, with a rake trying to pull in my 30-06 brass. I just changed over to my AR and pelted him with Wolf steel cases. Then I stopped shooting and told him that the brass was mine, and I was keeping all of it. He gave me a dumb stare and drove off. Later I was telling one the range officers about it and he said he had run the guy off twice that day. Times must really be tough.

G

[JW6108]

There is one old reloader that comes to the only range that we have everyday just after daylight to pick up all of the brass. I used to get a little range pick up there before he started doing this. I have no idea what he does with all of the brass but LOL, I wound up buying several hundred 38 special from him and he acted like he really didn’t want to get rid of it. I asked him what he did with it and he said that he cleaned it then stored it in zip lock bags for the future. He may have a point.

Good deal....he is predictable. Take it from me: brass is easier to find with a good flashlight than waiting on the sun---hint, hint.

[Ed Barrett]

I've had problems at our local range. One day a man and a woman drove up and the man started picking up brass on the 25 yard range, I was on the 50 yard range. Then the woman gets out of the car and lets a little ankle bitter dog loose, the dog runs out in front of me on the 50 yard range. I explain to the woman that the dog isn't supposed to be running loose and to please call it in and control it. I think the dog had gone deaf because it wouldn't listen to her or the man and while chasing the dog they managed to knock down my chrony and tripod. When I went over and took down the license plate # the Man asked what I was doing I explained that if the chrony didn't work I was going to pay him a visit, I also explained to him that this was a "shooting range" not a "brass pickup range". They finally got the dog and left. have not seen them since.

[Ron]

We have a civilised system of picking up brass at my club range. At ICORE events, after the shooter has finished his practice and moves forward for the scoring of his targets, other members of the club collect his brass, speed loaders, magazines and returns them to the shooter. No arguments about who it belongs to and there is no way that a stranger would dare walk the range picking up brass, not with a range full of LEO!

[mroliver77]

The more I read about this place you all call the "Range" the more I am sure I dont want to go there. I have read all sorts of stories of asinine behavior, brass thieves , dumpster divers and exploding guns. Seriously though, I just cant imagine. I am not a "people person" and am blessed with being able to shoot at home. Most of my brass is bought"once fired" or given/traded by friends.I am very particuler about it being picked up mand sent through the cycle again.
Dang.... people go just to pilfer some brass.
Jay

[archmaker]

My philosophy is very simple.

I brought the brass to the range to use my firearm and to utilize the brass for its intended purpose as a temporary container for the primer, powder, and bullet. My brass may be used again for that purpose to hold the items I place into it, for later use.

To me grabbing my brass while I am still at the range because I have emptied the "container" is the same as someone coming up and grabbing my empty gun case because I have emptied that container.

Now if I leave my container's in the trash or on the ground then fair enough I am done with them, but not until I make that decision do you have the right to any containers I bring to the gun range, full or empty.

[Geraldo]

The more I read about this place you all call the "Range" the more I am sure I dont want to go there. I have read all sorts of stories of asinine behavior, brass thieves , dumpster divers and exploding guns. Seriously though, I just cant imagine. I am not a "people person" and am blessed with being able to shoot at home. Most of my brass is bought"once fired" or given/traded by friends.I am very particuler about it being picked up mand sent through the cycle again.
Dang.... people go just to pilfer some brass.
Jay

Before I moved down here there was never a problem for me. The ranges I belonged to were members only and there weren't that many people there at a time. When I shot IPSC/IDPA, the other squad members policed your mags and brass while you went with the RO who scored your targets.

Now I have to shoot on a public range, and while I'm thankful it's there, it has it's problems. I took a friend to the range to try out a 1911, AR, and AK. As soon as the brass hit the ground some yahoo was sweeping it up. Other than being annoying I didn't mind as it was all steel or aluminum case ammo, but had it been brass we'd have had words.

Said range sells off any brass left behind, and it's sad to see drums full of it sitting there, although I did manage to scavenge some once fired .30-30 and other shooters have let me take brass they didn't intend to pick up. :mrgreen:

[The Double D]

One thing I noticed about these brass snipes...most won't bend over and pick up .22's.

[Jon]

It seems to be a little dangerous stealing someones brass. There are plenty of scroungers at my club, but they wait till someone has left. I'm always looking through the bins for brass.

I went on Monday, and someone left 25 empty 30-06 cases laying on a bench. I have a ton of '06, but I'll still take it. There was some 9mm,40, and 38spl as well.

[Freightman]

Our range rules are if you emptied it you pick it up. No brass is left on the ground.

[Bladebu1]

I pick up all I find at the BZ my local so called range
But If someone is shooting I will ask "do you relaod ? no well you should do you mind if I pik up your Brass and empty boxes ?? "
I have had pepole Bring it over and dump the revlover into My box I have not sold any brass But I have given it to pepole who reload that cailber I think of a Karma think I you have somthing some one could use and you got it for free ( what the hell)
I have seen a Guy at the BZ wh reloads but he has sold alot of brass he has picked up he said he has saved alot of reloading money that way

[mold maker]

One thing I noticed about these brass snipes...most won't bend over and pick up .22's.

I'll gladly pick up what ever is left. It's all brass and what I can't use or trade is still brass to the salvage yard. I figure I owe it to the range for letting me scrounge.
Don't the fellows that swedge use 22s for jackets??

[jhalcott]

I saw a guy "salvaging" used brass from the scrap bin at our range. When asked his use for the stuff , he said he sells it to reloaders. MOST of the brass in that can is ,was JUNK. There is also a rule that NO ONE can make a profit from the club including scrap brass or bullets. NO mining the berms is allowed either. He was told politely about these rules and warned another incident would be the last.

[Big Boomer]

At the gun club where I was a member before I left that area, there was one old fellow (actually a really great guy) that was the most devoted brass scrounger I've ever seen. By nature I am a scrounger and I grieve over a single lost piece of brass, but he topped anything I've ever heard of. His primary objective was .45ACP brass.

I stopped by his place one day to drop off some bullets I had cast and lubed for him and he showed me, if I recall correctly, 5 big plaster buckets (they hold more than 5 gallons) of .45 ACP brass. In addition, he had picked up commercial cast bullets that were on the berm at the gun club and had a huge pile of them in his basement. I'm not talking about a gallon or two ... I mean a great big pile! He must have been working on those collections for years. 'Tuck

[JKH]

This thread is awesome!

I am a dedicated brass wh*re (please excuse the terminology but thats what we call it here), however, I would NEVER touch someone elses brass, etc. while they are at the range unless they approach me and ask if I want it (I would be loath to even come up to someone and be so presumptuous to ask for their brass while still shooting).

When the range is empty I scrounge for anything that is useable INCLUDING steel cases and lately .45ACP aluminum Blazer cases as long as they are not damaged (the ones that are boxer primed and use small pistol primers, they reload very well and are handy when practice precludes easy tracking of flying brass so I dont whine about every good brass case I lose!), I make a thorough check off all cans, around the benches and in the pavilion where the club tractor is located as we have standing benches there under roof. The only thing I wont scrounge are .22 shells as we have pea gravel on the line and and those little cases disapear fast into it, and I wont scavenge any corroded steel cases or ones that are Berdan primed (I do however pick up Berdan BRASS cases for scrap value if I ever get off my butt and take it to the scrap guy).

Where I shoot is a Rod & Gun club (the oldest incorporated club in New York state, since the late 1800's) and it is VERY rural in nature, I am constantly amazed at the beautiful brand new brass that people just leave on the ground, such as waste! It doesnt last long now as I sermise that there are a lot more brass wh*re's frequenting the range than me as pickings have been somewhat slim for the past year or so.

What irk's me no end is our local PD, they qualify and practice several times a year (a lot of these boys are like Barney Fife though, one literally could not keep all his rounds on a standard Silhouette target at 7 yards!), they shoot at the 50 yard berm from 7 yards out in the lawn and leave EVERY piece of brass on the ground (almost all .40 S&W AND nickel plated to boot), I have a buddy that found out about this and now the Chief lets him know when they are going to shoot and picks up as much as he can find, they average around 1K rounds during qualifications! I always wondered why I would find tons of empty boxes in the garbage but never any cases, so I imagine that there could be several thousand pistol cases laying under the grass so someone with a metal detector could really clean up if they were patient and had plenty of time on their hands.

So, scrounging is fun but people need to observe proper ettiquete AND all the rules of the range, the rednecks in my area would skin you like a deer if you snagged their brass while they were still shooting (if they didnt shoot you first!).

Last word (I know, way to many to begin with), when I shoot my semi-auto rifles my brass catcher is always in place unless the action precludes it use such as my Garand or M14 clone, saves a lot of bending and searching.

Jeff