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Thread: flying brass cases ?

  1. #1
    Banned bigted's Avatar
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    flying brass cases ?

    ok ... im not the sharpest tool in the chest ... but i do have some savy about most things but this has mystified me for years. it concerns the flying brass as you fire a semi-auto pistol.

    i love my 40 and 45 cal semi's and enjoy shooting them very much ... however what i detest is picking up all that brass from wherever it happens to fly to. the joy is soon curtailed when after a couple clips thru either pistol and i stop to police up my brass. man it is ok till i realize i have three or so cases that i cant find ... what a pizzer to search for these few lost cases and i most invarably leave a couple to 4 or 5 there after shooting ... and that really grates on me as my pocketbook is not settup for this amount of loss.

    sooo ... anybody have a good idea for finding every case ... every time? im all ears and would shoot them a bunch more if this little dink of a bummer would stop happening.

    thanks for the ideas.

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Make a brass catcher that mounts on a tripod of some kind. It sits to your side where the brass flies. Use a fish net, pool net, pillow case stretched around a steel wire ring, etc mounted on it to do the catching.

    I built one out of some surplus stuff I have. What I have is not repeatable and most of it is not anything commercial, so please don't ask where I got it!

    Just use your Yankee ingenuity and combine some stuff to make a catcher net.

    Simple.

    bangerjim

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Spread a tarp or bed sheet in the fallout area. Shoot on a range frequented by LE and CHL shooters and pick up bonus brass to offset the brass you can't find. Always make at least two passes on an area because when you're looking straight into the mouth of a case it's almost invisible. Above all don't try to find every piece, you'll be subconsciously "looking for brass" in parking lots and grocery stores and everywhere else you go that day. OTOH you could likely score a WW or two in the parking lot, lol.
    Endowment Life Member NRA, Life Member TSRA, Member WACA, NRA Whittington Center, BBHC
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  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    anybody have a good idea for finding every case
    One big humongous canvas tarp ... all shooters stand in the middle and shoot from there only!
    Regards
    John

  5. #5
    Boolit Master


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    There was a couple firing a 50 AE next to me the last time I went to the range and they had some women with them catching the brass as it came flying out of the gun. I had to say something after the line went clear when she started grabbing my M1 brass.
    "If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month."
    Theodore Roosevelt

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master bedbugbilly's Avatar
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    Uhhhhh . . . tie kite string to each cartridge and attach the other end to your trigger guard?

    I was just thinking about this today. My only semi at this time is a 9mm (I mainly shoot revolver) and it kicks 'em out there. Where I shoot here on the farm, they all fall in grass. I was thinking about some sort of easily taken apart frame that could have a cheap blue tarp attached - something that they'd hit and then roll down in to.

    When I shoot at an indoor range in AZ, I always have somewhat hit the separating partition between stations and roll out in front of the shooting bench in to "no man's land". Whatever I do, I always seem to come home with less casings than I take . . . but then I usually am able to gather up other calibers that I don't reload. I take those home and throw 'em in a jar and someday will have enough to sort out and maybe trade for what I shoot. I purchase "range brass" (usually off of this site) and that's all I reload so it helps keep the cost down on what I do loose.

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master
    Mk42gunner's Avatar
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    sooo ... anybody have a good idea for finding every case ... every time?
    This brings to mind the old saying that nothing is impossible, as long as you don't have to do it.

    I believe if you are shooting outside and recover 98% of your brass you are doing very well. Any more than that, you should buy a lottery ticket on the way home.

    A big tarp spread out works about as well as anything I have tried over the years.

    Robert

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
    CastingFool's Avatar
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    I saw a photo of a guy shooting a rifle off a bench, and he had a couple of sliding glass door screens leaning over him, like a tent.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    Moskito netting was what I use. Just staple it up on the right side and most if not all cases will be at your feet. Frank

  10. #10
    Boolit Master



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    Back in the '80s or 90's, someone came out with a brass catcher that mounted on the right grip panel of the 1911. Me being the cheap soul that I am, I took a couple old coathangers, and an old pair of the ex's pantyhose, and made one. it looks a little tacky, but it works! And it worked with several other of my semi-auto pistols. With slight modification, it would probably work with my AR. As I am getting older, I don't enjoy bending over, anymore. mikey

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy MOcaster's Avatar
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    Tarps work for me. Be sure to use a canvas one unless you like scrapping melted blue plastic off all your cases. Trust me, it gets tiresome after about 10.
    I pity the baker,
    I pity the nun

    I pity the one
    Who tries to take my gun

  12. #12
    Boolit Master

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    There's a company named Graco Models (not the Graco or Grayco that sell grease drum pumps or electrical equipment) who make a brass catcher for pistols that slips onto your right hand. It's got a bag like the ones that used to mount under the grip frame, but it stays with the shooter instead of the gun -- helpful if you shoot multiple pistols that you want to reload for (like my .380 and .25; the latter caliber is a real challenge to find the brass, not to mention nearly every other reloading operation).

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Back in the day I jumped through most all the hoops mentioned here......came to the realization "if you're going to dance you have to pay the band". I've policed up enough brass over the years it has become second nature and not really a chore either. Just have to know that most often the grass and rock brass god requires his payment.

    Larry Gibson

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    back when I was still living at home I had a 1911. I would let my younger sisters look for it. some time walking barefoot through the grass would find some. I am shore there is still some out there behind the barn to this day. if I was on the tractor it was gone forever.


    the way I beat the problem was to buy a Blackhawk in .357 no more lost brass.

  15. #15
    Moderator Emeritus


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    Here is one I built that works for me: post #15

    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-Brass-Catcher

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    Take a kid with you. It's uncanny how well they can keep up with flying brass....
    Tom
    μολὼν λαβέ


    Did I ever mention that I hate to trim brass?

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    http://www.sherwoodakuna.com brass catcher mounts right on the pistol accy rail

  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master FergusonTO35's Avatar
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    I am building a wooden frame that holds an old window screen. Will post pics when it's done. Really I only need it for my Kel-Tecs. Those things fling it far and wide. My Ruger and Glock deposit it all within 3-5 feet to the right a bit back.
    Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master Artful's Avatar
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    When I really cared I used a bed sheet king size - started at my feet and curled up to some supports so cases had a better chance at hitting it.
    je suis charlie

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  20. #20
    Banned bigted's Avatar
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    thanks all for the great ideas. i been shooting my 1911 and now the XD40 and just always spent the money for sale ammo ... now i would like to get the loading of boolits into swing and so i will be way more particular about what gets where and how easy the policeup will be.

    also now im in the states and my cash making ability is diminished from the far north abilitys so i gotta watch me pennys mo carefully.

    thanks all for the great ideas. also looks like i will have to shoot at a private range here as stuff has changed a bunch and nearby rock quarys seem to be a bit harder to find.

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