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Thread: Free Range Brass

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Free Range Brass

    My hunting camp is located in a very rural county where there are no formal shooting ranges. For that matter there are no dedicated gun shops in the county. If one needs to buy a firearm, ammo, cleaning supplies, or hopefully reloading materials they shop at the local hardware store. At this time of every year the hunters go to any of the local chert pits to sight in their rifles. (Chert is a tan color rock, small grain, that is used to build roads, etc.) It seems that few local people reload as there will always be a mixture of calibers and quantities on the ground at any time. Last week I gathered up all of the following at one chert pit:

    (8) 357 magnum
    (10) 30-30
    (7) 270
    (22) 243
    (26) 308
    (3) 7mm Rem. Mag.
    (6) 30'06
    (1) 300 Win. Mag.
    (1) 300 RCM

    All of these cases were clean and ready to process into reloadable brass. I have at least one firearm for each of these calibers, save that last one. I don't have, and hope I never have, a 300 Ruger Compact Magnum. This combination just doesn't fill any void in my ballistic chart that I feel compelled to address. As this was the only piece of this caliber on the ground I suspect there is a 300 RCM owner somewhere out there still searching for his missing piece of brass.
    Last edited by Thin Man; 11-23-2017 at 08:51 AM. Reason: Typo

  2. #2
    Banned

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    that's more rifle brass than I find in a year.
    occasionally I get lucky and pick up 8-10 of these or 5-6 of those.

    9mm and 40 is generally easy to get, it seems like nobody picks those up.

  3. #3
    Moderator Emeritus


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    There is a chert mine from the old Native American days near me. They used it both as a flint sparker and for arrowheads. Ours has a carmel color. The only brass I see at our county range is steel cased imports.
    I would bet the single case was to verify zero as three shots for group were too expensive.
    [The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze

  4. #4
    Boolit Master



    shooterg's Avatar
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    220 .243 cases left on the ground at one sitting ? That barrel got hot that day !

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Is that something like Free Range chicken??????

    Pick-up brass at our range every Sunday.
    Mostly .223.
    Also dig through the trash cans.
    Sometimes find some good stuff.
    Even find money sometimes.
    Throw out the food for the birds and chickens.
    It's part of what makes my range day fun.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
    farmerjim's Avatar
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    The only range around here is in my back field. I let my neighbors shoot there. It increases my lead mining yields and sometimes they leave a bunch of brass behind.
    There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    Here in Missouri we are fortunate to have a conservation department that really takes care of shooters, in St.Charles county they just finished a rebuild of the Busch Wildlife shooting facility that took 2 years and is magnificent. And they still only charge the old fee of 3 dollars an hour. They also have unattended ranges in state wildlife areas around the state. These are usually pretty good for getting a couple handfuls of brass when ever I go out there. Last week went there and came home with a plastic peanut jar 3/4 full. Mostly .223 and 38 spl. but a couple were 9X18 Makarov and some 357 Sig.
    Ole Jack
    "'Necesity' is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of Tyrants: it is the creed of slaves."
    William Pitt, 1783
    "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we faulter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Abraham Lincoln.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    At my LGC we let a few police departments use our range for training. I stopped picking up the .40 brass as I don't own one and already have several thousand, OK I lied I still pick em if there still clean and shiny not filed with water.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    shooterg, thanks for spotting the typo. There were 22 of the 243 cases, NOT 220. Yup, it was early and I wasn't quite awake when I posted this data. Probably another 3 or 4 coffee refills could have woke me up enough to enter the correct count.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master


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    I stopped by the gun club Monday to shoot for a bit. I picked up 95 pieces of .223 brass and 220 9mm. Some days there's nothing and some days the ground is littered.
    Chuck

  11. #11
    Boolit Master



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    Our local range.....member owned......is also used by the Highway Patrol and local police for qualification and training. I usually wait patiently until they leave, then swoop in. As a result I have three gallon ziplok bags full of .223 and so much .40 S&W that I put it up for adoption on this website.

    It amazes me how so many shooters don't reload! I can almost count on handfuls of .45 acp, .45 Colt, .38 & .357 magnums on a good day. During the "great brass shortage" a few years ago, that range was my only source of good brass. Oddly enough I don't find much 7.62 x 39 anymore, but I'm grateful for all that I do find!

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Hi...
    I belong to a local gun club and regularly pick up discarded brass on the handgun range, mostly 9mm, .40S&W and .45ACP.
    Only rifle brass I ever see on the ground is steel cased .223 or 7.62x39.
    I do have one piece of .300 Win Mag that I picked up a couple of weeks ago. I don't own a .300Mag and don't know anybody who does, either.
    Seems like everybody in our gun club reloads which is a good thing.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master Ole Joe Clarke's Avatar
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    I rarely find brass at the range, seems like most of the folks reload. Sometimes I still hit the jackpot though. Back when I shot .40 cal I waited out a guy that was burning through them, and picked up almost 300 pcs. I usually save everything I pick up and I have almost 500 .45 auto hulls to load for my newly acquired .45 Scout.

    Have a blessed Thanksgiving,

    Leon

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master

    mold maker's Avatar
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    If it weren't for range brass I'd have had to buy to shoot. Of course, I picked up lots of .40 and 9mm that I'll never use while getting the good stuff. I traded lots of the excess for needed calibers, and still have many gals of them.
    both sources I pick up from no longer allow it, so I'm lucky for my past acquisitions. I guess I was born in better times.
    Information not shared. is wasted.

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I pick up everything that I see. I have a network of shooting buddies and we swap back and fourth. We don't even keep score. Like most of you, I have more 9MM's and 40's than I will ever use. I find mostly pistol calibers and 223 until deer season comes around, then I'll find more rifle calibers.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
    texassako's Avatar
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    We are supposed to clean up after ourselves at my range, and if I go at the right time I can get quite a bit of mostly 9mm, .40, and .223. I even get offers lately to sweep up other's brass in exchange for keeping it so they don't have to bend over to use the dust pans.
    Back in the land of boolits.

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    Pick up range brass? You-betcha!! I believe in "waste not' want not!". I've been "collecting" it for years but I've found it to be a costly habit. I picked up so much .40 S&W that I "HAD" to buy a Glock and a set of carbide dies to justify the "collecton". Most of my .38 Spl/ .45 ACP/.223/9mm brass has been acquired the same way--so far the only brass I've had to buy has been 10mm. Been a handy hobby over the years. YMMV Stan.


























    g

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy Wild Bill 7's Avatar
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    I am a range brass picker. Last three times I have been to our private range I have been able to collect about 1500 9mm, 800 or so 223, almost 200 45 apc's. Picked up about 400 pounds of range scrap also. I usually go in the afternoon when no one is there and I can do whatever testing or practice I want to do get the lead before I leave. It is nice and easy to get the lead because the berms are dry now and there is soooooooo much lead there. I make sure to not degrade the berm and keep the dirt where it came from. When the wife goes she loves to hunt brass while I shoot and she plays on the phone or I-Pad while I harvest lead.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master

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    In the late 70's early 80's I would get up early on Sunday morning , drive over to the local public shooting range and sweep up a 5 gallon bucket of usually once fired brass. Reloading was looked at as black magic stuff . My best friend and his father were both in the tire shop business...I had unlimited free clip on wheel weights, no steel or zinc back then ! I didn't know of another person who reloaded....I miss those days
    Certified Cajun
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    " Let's Go Brandon !"

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    That free range brass is much healthier than factory farm brass. It might even be more sustainable.
    When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
    And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check