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Thread: Digging through the trash cans

  1. #21
    Boolit Master
    GOPHER SLAYER's Avatar
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    At the range I go to the range officer will bring over the brass bucket he has collected from all the others and ask me if I wanted any of it. Now I usually say no. I can only store so much. I have run out of room. Of course if there were some 30-40, 32-4,38-55, 45-70 I would say you bet. In my dreams.
    Last edited by GOPHER SLAYER; 02-14-2018 at 05:15 PM.
    A GUN THAT'S COCKED AND UNLOADED AIN'T GOOD FOR NUTHIN'........... ROOSTER COGBURN

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by MUSTANG View Post
    Of course; people being people - were it widely known I was collecting the Brass and Trays; someone would complain. Probably same person/s who looked at the Overflowing Trash cans; asking why no one picks up the trash and takes it to the dump.
    The small club/shooting range I am a member of, has 55 gallon barrels that no one ever empties, except during range cleanup days. They are almost always overflowing...til I leave, LOL. I scrounge brass and trays from the barrels and also remove all the recyclables and bring them to our County's recycle dumpsters, luckily that's on the way home. I am almost always alone at that range (which I love),
    so no one to judge me
    ...or pat me on the back


    While I haven't been to the other club with the Large range in a few years, There were many people there that would recycle brass and metals (since the 2008 Commodities bubble) so had been slim pickin's. I wonder if that has changed? I might have to plan a visit there in the near future...Spring thaw is almost here
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
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  3. #23
    Boolit Master

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    Yes, yes I am “ that guy” digging through the trash cans, that being said I love shooting free brass!
    And I will pick up brass from wherever! Even for calibers I don’t have, because someone less fortunate than me might need that brass to keep going instead of giving up on reloading, and shooting in general! I would like to think that every one on this forum has helped someone down on their luck before. Trading material? You betcha! Gift to fellow reloaders? Absolutely! Helping to clean up the shooting range? Of course, you never know how, or in what form, it will come back to you. Just my.02
    I firmly believe that you should only get treated by how you act, not by who or what you are!!

  4. #24
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    My parents lived through the depression. We kids were 100% brought up with a waste not want not attitude. So dumpsters, sorting through brass buckets, digging through scrap yard bins are all part of being thrifty. Allows me to give the guy at the bank a bag with 100+ 45 acp brass all clean and shiny from wet tumbling to encourage him in using the reloading equipment his dad is giving him to go with a 45 handgun.

    Reuse as they say is the most efficient form of recycling. So if someone were to give me grief I would turn it back on them and ask why they don't recycle. Don't they care about our earth? Besides I can always tell them if you think this is bad you should see me rinse and wipe off aluminum foil for later. Or they can always check out my reuse of a broken shovel handle I cut down.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

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  5. #25
    Boolit Master

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    You all are dedicated environmentalists; reduce, reuse, recycle!

    I rarely find much at my range. There’s st least two or three retired guys there that diligently scrounge all the brass every chance they get. Every once in a while I get there before them and find something good, and occasionally I’ll dumpster dive but my wife has a fit if she’s along. I once found a perfectly good Glock 19 magazine in the dumpster, and another time an unopened brick of 22 ammo.

  6. #26
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tazman1602 View Post
    Another member there is always trying to pick up my fired bras
    Wanna tell us about that , Art?
    Tom
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    Did I ever mention that I hate to trim brass?

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom W. View Post
    Wanna tell us about that , Art?

    LOL!
    It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years (Abe Lincoln)

    "A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” George Washington

  8. #28
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    I'll pick up what ever brass I find and many times empty boxes sometimes there not even empty! Lately the club I belong to has found a retired guy to handle day to day cleaning incl. empting the trash so he's been getting all the goodies. Oh well.
    It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years (Abe Lincoln)

    "A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” George Washington

  9. #29
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    Local electronics manufacturer used to toss all kinds of goodies in a dumpster out back. I got a nice oscilloscope that needed minor repairs, all kinds of aluminum heat sinks and chassis pieces(most got sold to the scrapyard)... now they started doing their own recycling so no goodies anymore.

    Range I go to has someone scavenge brass often because all you find is 22lr and that gets swept up for the local boy scout troop. Occasionally get some good pistol brass but it is rare..

  10. #30
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    I am truly not laughing at you, but WITH you ! I rarely shoot at any local "Range", but I have a special box just for "Treasures" that I find while out letting my dog get his legs out. From Teenagemutantninja Turtle key chains to Black Powder Paraphernalia, Pocket knives to limb saws. This last weekend I found Seven cell phones that melted out of a snow bank. They look like someone robbed the store of all their display models. Got two fist fulls of arrows, mostly cheap stuff. Golf balls. I find spinners people leave behind about once a month. But I already got three, don't need anymore. Compensators, magazines. OH Yea, and Brass too. I made the mistake of setting my coleman coffee mug down once while picking up brass, then forgot to pick it up when I left. By the time I got back to get it, it was perforated. We all lose stuff.

  11. #31
    Boolit Master
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    If I feel well enough after I go to the indoor range I'll sweep the floor and in my range bag have a small dustpan and a fair sized nylon bag that I'll
    put collected brass into. Sometimes I'll get cartridge boxes, but I really prefer the plastic MTM boxes.
    As for brass that I have no firearms for, did you know that a .40 S&W case can be filled with molten lead and make a heckuva boolits for a .44 magnum. No swaging required. A .357 Sig does, too!
    Tom
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    Did I ever mention that I hate to trim brass?

  12. #32
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    I was digging through a trash can this past summer at a shooting range in the UP. I was finding some nice 308 and 45acp brass when I found something really gross. It was a poopy baby diaper. Yuck! I grabbed a stick and moved the diaper and commenced the search for free brass. I did use hand sanitizer when I got to the car.
    I was a dog on a short chain.
    Now there's no chain.
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  13. #33
    Boolit Master
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    i thought i hit the jackpot with 45/70 brass thrown away,but turns out no one bothers saving Hornady cases,and for some reasons they dont even fit my Marlin.....rims too big?

  14. #34
    In Remembrance

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    I usually get the normal caliber stuff and a few empty boxes with shell holders but last summer someone here benefited from my digging when I found
    a little over a box of what looked to be some once fired 8x56R brass.

  15. #35
    Boolit Master WRideout's Avatar
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    Even with the low scrap prices for iron, I don't mind picking up empty steel cases, mostly because there are so many of them laying around. When I get a bucket full, I'll take them to the scrap yard along with other metal I have acquired. I recently bought a long-handled mag pickup from HF, just to gather the 7.62x39 steel cases that seem to be everywhere. Also an unapologetic dumpster diver. Lots of targets get thrown away with the pasters still around the edges, unused.

    Wayne
    What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or else it gives you a bad rash.
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  16. #36
    Boolit Master
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    My son once picked up a really nice ax, a vise and a plastic milk crate out of a dumpster at my parent's condo. I have no idea at all where he learned about dumpster diving.

  17. #37
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    Great! Something else I need to add to my reloading/casting repertoire! Have you no shame? Nevermind it was rhetorical.
    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same......." - Ronald Reagan

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  18. #38
    Boolit Buddy
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    Dumpster diving is recycling atits best

    Quote Originally Posted by Streetwalker View Post
    And just when I thought I was the only "dumpster diver" around!
    From the Range dumpster I usuallly get empty ammo boxes to put my reloads into, mt brass that was supposed to be put into the BRASS BUCKET. No receipt so it has the full return policy if you don't want it later,,,,,,,,,LOLafish4570

  19. #39
    Boolit Buddy firebyprolong's Avatar
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    I've gotten out of the habit anymore, just nothing to pick out. We just have too many meth users in this part of the country. Seem all they can do is scrounge for scrap. Pretty much any brass at the one local public range gets sold to the scrap dealers. If it was another reloder no big deal, but when mr scabby mc tweaker pulls up not to shoot but to dump out the trash on the ground and grab the brass I'm a little more than mad.

  20. #40
    Boolit Buddy
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    I always check the range in the morning before we set up for our shoot I always find good brass, even found some snap caps once.

    Regards Trevor

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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