Range Brass?

[Burnt Fingers]

My club allows one to pick up brass.

A buddy and I went to the range Tuesday, we picked up around 3 gallons of brass and we only got the easy stuff. Mostly .45 ACP, 9mm, and .223.

[Winger Ed.]

Before I moved out of the city, I'd go to the big public range in North Dallas.
They had signs stating brass on the ground was theirs.
They sold reloaded handgun ammo, bagged & sorted range brass, and scraped out the rest.

Picking up your own wasn't a problem. I'd usually pick a empty bench with a bunch already on the ground.
When I picked up my rifle brass, I get everything else nearby too if it was a cal. I loaded. The RO didn't care.

On the pistol range, the RO was glad for you to sweep up your station- or even the whole range, and take it all, so he didn't have to.

If there were shooters on a nearby bench shooting factory ammo, that didn't save & reload their brass, I'd offer to buy it.
Every single time, they just gave it to me.

[Kevin Rohrer]

I pickup my brass, which according to them is unique. They don't say anything when I pickup extra as long as I am not greedy. They sort and sell the brass for $35 per bag of 800, which is a good price. They also offer Police and Military discounts when shooting, so I am happy with their policy.

[Green Frog]

At my outdoor club we’re encouraged to pick up brass on both ranges (and especially hulls on all shotgun fields.).

The local indoor range encourages shooters to sweep up after themselves and provides a barrel marked “BRASS ONLY” but if you sweep it up and keep it, they are just as happy. I don’t think brass recycling sales are a significant portion of their income.

I shoot almost nothing but cast (except in my 9 mm) and my indoor range is fine with that... I’m not sure why ranges are going to “no cast” rules unless it’s to sell more ammo themselves. Then again, maybe their ventilation system isn’t up to the job, in which case I would question what else is marginal there.

Froggie

[XDROB]

At my outdoor club we’re encouraged to pick up brass on both ranges (and especially hulls on all shotgun fields.).

The local indoor range encourages shooters to sweep up after themselves and provides a barrel marked “BRASS ONLY” but if you sweep it up and keep it, they are just as happy. I don’t think brass recycling sales are a significant portion of their income.

I shoot almost nothing but cast (except in my 9 mm) and my indoor range is fine with that... I’m not sure why ranges are going to “no cast” rules unless it’s to sell more ammo themselves. Then again, maybe their ventilation system isn’t up to the job, in which case I would question what else is marginal there.

Froggie

My indoor range has also gone to jacketed or plated bullets. A change from many years of lead only. A fear of lead dust as we fire lead bullets. Even with a new updated ventilation system. So I just shoot lead outdoors.

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[OutHuntn84]

My local range doesn't care one bit, but we do have a retired couple that are the grounds keepers part time. They pick up and sell the brass pretty cheap to supplement their income.

[dverna]

My local range is my back porch. Only one guy who shoots with me keeps brass for his .450 Bushmaster as he wants me to teach him to reload for it. Everyone else who is invited leaves their brass...regrettably, I do not reload for .270 or .30/06 any longer but I save them anyway.

[Tripplebeards]

Yes they do. They are happy that someone just cared enough to pick/clean it up. A lot of members just sweep it up and toss it into the trash there. I picked up a lot of 308,30-06, 270, and 280’s along with some 303, 45-70, and I don’t remember the rest. The 06’, 270, and 280 will all be reformed to 35 Whelen or the other two to 06’. I have gallon ziplock bags full of 9mm,40 s&w, 380, and 45 acp. I stopped picking those common calibers up.

[ACC]

The reason I set up this poll was that I took my wife to a local indoor range (Nardis) so she could have some practice, and when I picked up her brass the RSO got all upiddy saying that any brass that hit the floor was theirs. To say the least we will not be going back. And it's my brass till I leave the range.

ACC

[mdi]

One thought; picking up one's own brass is one thing. Cleaning the range of every case possible is different in my mind. The ranges I frequented did save and reload the brass left on the floor, but also recognized reloaders like to keep their empties for more reloading. Perhaps it's just me, but gleaning several gallons of brass seems selfish/greedy, and at the ranges I used, wasn't allowed...

[trapper9260]

The only range I go to is my back yard,I made up myself , I do not go to any other one . I did not take the poll due to I do not go to any .

[alamogunr]

The club I belong to is strictly an outdoor range. Usually, I go in the middle of the week/day, and am the only one there. A few times I was there when the local Sheriff's dept or police dept was practicing or qualifying. Those times I was able to pick up a lot of .40 brass and later 9mm. Since then these agencies have apparently funded the building of a separate range that we are locked out of, so no more picking up LEO brass.

When I was able to pick up, I must have gotten a total of several thousand but I never bothered to count.

BTW I didn't vote because what brass is left is usually picked over before I get there. They have various activities on weekends and I suspect that there are several reloaders in that crowd.

[Bazoo]

My local range is my back porch. Only one guy who shoots with me keeps brass for his .450 Bushmaster as he wants me to teach him to reload for it. Everyone else who is invited leaves their brass...regrettably, I do not reload for .270 or .30/06 any longer but I save them anyway.

I wish some of my buddies would come over and leave a mess of 30-06 and 270 brass. I have one friend with a 30-30 but he don't shoot it much cause it's too expensive. Another friend has a recently acquired 270 and we're thinking about loading for it. He doesn't load yet so is going to use my gear, sans his own dies.

Those are the only friends I have that shoot. Neither shoot very much.

[EDG]

It is rare to find any easily reloaded brass at my club range.
A little berdan brass is found now and then.
What is found in large numbers is a problem and that is steel cases scattered everywhere.

[GhostHawk]

I have bought 3 25 lb boxes of pistol brass there, 25 a box for 9mm and .40sw. .45acp was a bit more.

Rifle brass I have gotten at least 300 of .30-30 at about a dime ea. various other odds and ends always i felt more than reasonably priced.

When shooting pistol i prefer one of the end stations. RSOs always ask if I keep brass, at least twice I found nice neat piles of brass behind me. both yimes there was twice as much there than what I shot. IMO a well run outfut, no issues of any kind.

[rondog]

It is rare to find any easily reloaded brass at my club range.
A little berdan brass is found now and then.
What is found in large numbers is a problem and that is steel cases scattered everywhere.

This is why I carry one of these pole magnets too, to clean that junk up. $10 at Home Depot, no telling how many thousands of steel cases I've picked up with it. Also handy for finding small gun parts dropped on the floor/carpet. A very good investment!

[rondog]

FWIW - I pick up everything I can, except rimfire cases. No restrictions on it, helps to keep my beloved gun club clean. I do sell brass to other shooters, but the majority goes to the scrapyard. I've funded several gun purchases that way, and currently have 2K saved up for a big new safe. Not to mention more brass in my own stash than I can ever fill up, let alone wear out.

So yeah, if others are gonna leave it, you bet I'll gather it up!

[mebudman63]

Indoor Range I use to go sell their used brass and even had issues with people picking up their own brass. Me and the range officer got into it one day over me picking up my own brass one day to the point of he was going to call the cops cause in his mind when my brass hit the floor it became their property. In the long run I got my brass and never returned. Now the private range I go to now could care less. They require their members to pick up their brass but only about 2/3rd`s do. Us reloaders pick up the rest for ourselves.

[kevin c]

At my club's outdoor ranges, brass is the shooter's unless left behind. On the public line it's mostly left and the RO's will collect it. On the action range, all brass must be picked up, with buckets provided for whatever folks don't take home. We also have agencies and classes that rent some of our bays on weekdays, and they are required to pick up their brass.Some agencies take it with them (dunno if it's for personal use or some department recycling requirement). Any brass in buckets left after matches, classes or agency training/quals doesn't last long, especially the last, since it's once fired same headstamp. EVERYBODY who shoots the action matches reloads. We even have a motorized case sorter (a typical two day match - our most common format - can produce 15,000 empty pistol cartridge cases in 9mm, 38 super/super comp, 40 S&W and 45 ACP).

The Coast Guard also uses our range. Fun days for scavaging are when they train on the MG's: crates of 308 brass, links and ammo cans galore.

[georgerkahn]

Primarily for (their) liability purposes, both ranges I frequent have huge signs at each range indicating that any and all brass which hits the ground becomes, and is, the property of the respected range. The exception is each shooter may retrieve and take HIS or HER spent brass. There are plastic buckets screwed to 4 x 4 uprights for spent brass and scattergun shells which are expected to be policed and deposited therein. The fellow (volunteers) at each range are NOT too fond of brass left in grass for mower blades to hit and propel, too.
While I have yet to hear of anyone being asked to leave, or "getting kicked off range" for taking left brass, it is a definite "no-no!" if you wish to remain in good graces.
(I NEVER touch the stuff, but my primary reason is as *I* only leave it after it's been shot at least one more time than it perhaps SAFELY should have been -- I'm not going to pick up and try and use someone else's too-many-times fired junk. (Just me...)).
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