Free Range Brass

[Thin Man]

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.

[runfiverun]

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.

[MT Gianni]

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.

[shooterg]

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

[abunaitoo]

Is that something like Free Range chicken??????:-P

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.

[farmerjim]

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.

[xs11jack]

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

[funnyjim014]

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.

[Thin Man]

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.

[Shepherd2]

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.

[3006guns]

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!

[375supermag]

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.

[Ole Joe Clarke]

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

[mold maker]

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.

[lightman]

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.

[texassako]

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.

[Dorf]

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

[Wild Bill 7]

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.

[gwpercle]

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

[tommag]

That free range brass is much healthier than factory farm brass. It might even be more sustainable.

[mold maker]

There will come a time when even the .40 and 9mm brass will again have value. Those who bemoan the zinc and steel WWs as being too much work to bother with, are soon going to pay the prevailing rate or do without. I love the .40, .41, .44 and . 45 bullets I swage with that excess brass. It shoots cheap, and does the job same as factory, even the hollow point with cuts in the jacket like Talons.
Free is a magic word. Take advantage of it while you can. I remember 13.8/gal gas and 22LR at.49/box, but memories are all that remain.

[bayjoe]

The range I go to doesn't have much brass laying around. There is this little guy, that I guess lives near by that comes out in the morning. He drives like crazy, comes wheeling up jumps out and runs from bench to bench looking for brass. When he is done he jumps in his SUV and speeds off. It's hilarious to watch him.

[fatelk]

Where we used to live before I moved, I would drive up into the hills to shoot. There was a half dozen spots along the roads out there that were real popular places to shoot. There was this old guy in a beat up old truck with a canopy that I would see up there quite often; never shooting, just picking up brass. Sometimes he had his (I assume) wife with him.

It was pretty rare to find much brass out there. He was always out there and knew all the spots, probably sold it for scrap for beer money, or maybe gas money for his old truck so he could drive in the hills looking for brass.

It reminds me of the guys who used to talk about how to get wheel weights. I remember one guy telling me how you need to go from tire shop to tire shop, bring them donuts and pizza and buckets with your name and number. He bragged about how many buckets per week he got.

He seemed a little offended when I said I had tried to find wheel weights but gave up because I always struck out. He seemed confused until I told him that every place I went wouldn't sell me any because they all saved them for "their guy" who always brought them donuts and pizza and buckets with his name on them! :)

[fatelk]

By telling those stories, I'm just trying to imply that if you're that guy who has all the time in the world to scrounge brass and lead, and has a daily route and schedule to make sure you get it all, maybe take a break once in a while so someone else can have some?

[Wolfer]

When I was young and lived in Shannon co MO. There were no ranges. 74%of the county is owned by the govt. After deer season I would drive around to different campsites and could usually find lots of brass.

[mold maker]

If someone is beating you to the freebies, get up earlier. The snooze button will always make a loser out of you. No-one is entitled to FREEBIES.

[rondog]

I pick up so much brass at my club that I'm getting tired of it. Have four 5gal buckets FULL of .223, and another three full of 9mm. Lesser amounts of .40 and .45acp, but I also gather a lot of .308 and surprising amounts of just about everything else. I also use a big magnet on a pole to pick up the steel cases, to help clean the place up.

I'd like to sell it all to other shooters, but that's a huge PITA. And as long as people are selling brass for prices barely over scrap price, I might as well scrap it. But that's very hard on my soul..... So I just keep filling up buckets.

[fatelk]

If someone is beating you to the freebies, get up earlier. The snooze button will always make a loser out of you. No-one is entitled to FREEBIES.

I was mostly joking with my post, but I have always wondered a little about the guys who have their daily route and routine to make sure they get ALL the “freebies”.

More power to them if that’s what they want, but I’m not retired; I have a job and a houseful of kids. When I get up early it’s to go to work, and I make it to the range when I have time.

Added: I have enough brass, myself. I’ve found more than enough for myself when I run across it now and then. Especially 9mm. I had that brass coming out my ears for a while. I collected so much I quit picking it up, figured I’d leave it for someone else.

[mold maker]

Since the demand for 9mm and .40 brass is mostly from new reloaders, I used to collect/clean them and offer for free. It was a matter of cleaning the range and making use of the resorce.

[lightman]

[QUOTE=fatelk;4215528]I was mostly joking with my post, but I have always wondered a little about the guys who have their daily route and routine to make sure they get ALL the “freebies”.

I wonder if its more about having something to do or someplace to go? Maybe they sell it for gas and cigarettes or to subsidize their budget? Maybe its just the draw towards something gold and shiny? But most ranges have a guy like this around. Maybe I'm "that" guy around here, although I think I'm the only reloader around here. I don't have a daily route or anything like that. Life is too short, but I do pick up what I see where I shoot. I even have friends that pick it up and bring it to me!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I was at the range today, first time in several weeks.

I noticed the range trash barrels were over-flowing.
I then recalled reading the minutes from the last meeting (I was absent from the meeting), It was commented that shooters should pack out all the trash they generate...Then why have the barrels? (three 55 gallon barrels).

Anyway, it seems the local police had their two day qualification shoot in late October and they filled the barrels with a few hundred crumpled up human sized paper targets. There were also a couple dozen milk jugs and a bunch of other plastic jugs. I wasn't up to lifting these heavy barrels into my truck and driving into town, to deal with the trash, then drive back to the range (about 10 mile round trip). Luckily, everything was nice & dry, and not contaminated with food trash or such.

So I just removed all the paper and plastic, put it in my pickup truck and brought it to the county recycle center on my way home. BONUS: while digging out all the paper and plastic from the barrels, I recovered about 50 paper ammo boxes/plastic inserts mostly from 45acp...and most of the spent brass cases...I think that's the first time the local Police actually 'policed' there brass.

This was on top of a fun day of shooting revolvers at the range.
I've had this S&W 625 "JM" for a few years, and it has given me troubles each time I had taken it to the range.
Besides the grips not being solid and a few other little things, I mostly had a heck of a time with the moon clips and inserting ammo into the cylinder. The previous time, I found my ammo using R+P brass worked best. So this time, I had a large batch of freshly loaded ammo using only R+P brass and 185gr SWC. Anyway, it was a good day with functioning and at the target. I also had my 6" S&W 57 along...everyday at the range with that gun, has been great. I had some loads I had previously worked up using Alcan AL7, 11.6gr under a 230gr Seaco 411 SWC. What a perfect combination that was ...or I was just "on" today?

anyway,
I ♥ free range brass too

[Thumbcocker]

Free range brass is just better than farm raised confinement brass.

[fatelk]

Free range brass is just better than farm raised confinement brass.

Sure, it may be healthier, but does it taste any better? :)

[claude]

That free range brass is much healthier than factory farm brass. It might even be more sustainable.

Yes indeed!![smilie=w:[smilie=w:

[mold maker]

Free range doesn't come with all the farm raised BS, but some of it is weathered and hard to clean.