Duh, nevermind

Right after I posted this I ran across the "brassmagnet" mesh tarp (completely forgot about it, mostly because of the exorbitant price)...and discovered my local Northern Tool sells mesh tarps just about the same size...for a heck of a lot cheaper. Like, $100 cheaper.

So, I answered my own question Looks like I'll be stopping by there later today..

Fron one Brass Rat to another.
Not sure this will work in mud and rain.
I do not have one. But it sure looks interesting. Brass Wizard
If I was still shooting as much as I did when I was younger.
I would of tried it.
If you get one let us know how it works!


PITA45

The old fashioned way is the best way... pick it up by hand.

I use a blanket
but that was when I had my own range in my yard
also had my kids pick up the brass

How about a brass catcher? If a magnet attracts brass how about a homemade magnet wand. A "L" shaped cane with a 5" magnet at the bottom outta' do the trick.

I don't know why but my new XDM 5.25 drops all the empties in a about a 2 ft. circle slightly behind and to the right of me. Consistent as can be with both Winchester and Federal ammo. I'm going to try my reloads next range trip. No other semi-auto pistol I own will do that. Being a reloader, I like that. If the XD can do that why can't other pistols be set up to do the same/similar?

Thats too bad. I wasn't for sure.

Back in the 1970s, when I was at summer camp at Fort Drum with my Reserve unit, we had to make sure to return at least 90% of the brass weight of all the 5.56, 7.62 and 45acp ammo we drew
from the Post Ordnance section, else they would bust our chops about letting us go home without sending us back to the ranges we used to do some more effective "policing" of the brass.

Being Supply Sgt for my Company, I would take an appropriate number of GI OD blankets from the "unit supply reserve stocks" and at least one was given to each shooting point. The "Pigs" (M60 mg) would drop the links but send the shell casings over a fair area, depending on the shooters' trigger style and the condition of the springs, so the Pigs got 2 blankets, whereas only one blanket was given to each point on the M16 range. At each cease fire for change of shooter, we would exchange blankets at each point, giving the next shooter an empty blanket and taking the previous shooter's blanket with brass. My Supply people would dump the brass into a kids plastic pool in the back of a deuce and a half. Before returning to our company area, the sand at each firing point would be gone through with an HD toothed rake to collect any brass that missed the blankets, and then I would take the deuce and a halfs to the Ordnance Return point to get the brass in the pools dumped into the scales. The guys there used to chuckle at the pools, but they had to admit the method produced an exceptional result. We often brought back almost 100% of the brass, and never had any issues with getting "going home" clearance from the Post Ordnance section, one of the more important sections to clear; the Army did not joke around with the possibility that units might try to take home live ammo.

The same method was used at the M1911 range with the officers and NCOs who got to shoot the 45 Colts we had. I was an E-6 so I took care of the pistol range; I had my E-5 assistant Supply Sgt at the M60 range, and our E-5 Unit Armorer took the M-16 range.

I wound up buying one of these from a local Northern Tool and it works great! So far I only wish I had gotten a size larger (the 12x16 would probably work better for catching handgun brass)...but admittiedly a part of the problem was the 1911 I was finally getting around to function checking has a slight extractor clocking issue, so it was spitting brass every which way. However, with a handgun that doesn't have issues like that and where brass was reliably chucked out in a more or less predictable pattern, the tarp worked great. It didn't collect any dirt or mud, and folded up nicely. My two biggest issues were brass rolling off of it, and me tracking excess brass onto it, from being stuck in my treads

I figured for $25 out the door...it can't hurt to try, and worst case, I'll have a sunscreen for the deck if it doesn't work

I should use a tarp or something. When I'm testing reloads, I think my neighbors hear "Bam ... Bam. ... Bam. ... Bam". Then likely look outside and see me walking around in a circle staring at the ground like an idiot for five minutes.

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I just came up with this. You can go to any "Dollar Store" and pick up a small kitchen dustpan and broom. The kind with a long handle so you dont have to bend over. On that same note I imagine this would be ideal for indoor ranges only.