Another quick safety question, some people say (and some manuals say this too) that one should not pick up and clean the range brass for own reloading, like...what if the brass on range happens to be shot 10 times or something like that...and you clean it up, trim etc.. it looks OK but internally it has some hidden crack and it might blow up your rifle.

So is that the case? You never pick up unknown brass for cleaning and using in own reloads?

Or should I still pick it, and pass it through whole cleaning/sizing/trimming operation and then at the end if it looks viauslly nice from outside, chances are it is a good brass and there cant be a bad hidden internal crack which will just blow up the case? Any thoughts or comments on that?

Just inspect carefully and then proceed based off of findings.  Millions of pieces per annum are scooped up by enterprising reloaders every year, and reused without prior firing info known.

Depends on the caliber but for some you can usually tell when someone went to Walmart and bought a cpl boxes and did mag dumps. If it still has the crimp in the pocket it's once fired. For 223 I found it easier to spend $50-60 for 1k of lc once fired though and you know what your getting.

Public Rang e- I must see the shooter open the box of new ammo, fire and leave the brass. Rifle 20 brass minimum all the same.

Handguns 50 brass all the same. 

There was a guy, Mini-14 223 , fired 100 rounds. Pick up all his fired brass. Placed back in boxes. Stacked them on shooting bench and went home. He did this many different weeks.  No more.  I miss him.

Current 1500 member club- 4 guys grab the brass as soon as it touches the ground. Seem one is always there.  The sad part, its sold to the scrap dealer for a little over $1 per pound.  

I was picking up a box of 50 - 45acp.   The  President of the club comes when i have about 1/2 pick up. He said " i will share them with you"   I just let him have the whole box.  He grabs all the soda cans too.  

The reason is someone maybe running a hot load, like for an Open USPSA gun and has overpressure.  If you see the brass and gun it come from, probably ok.  Look at the primers and see if they have signs of overpressure.

I got my first 1911 for Christmas 2010. If not for other people's discarded brass, I would not have been able to afford to shoot it. It has nothing but cast 200 SWC rounds in it. I just inspect it real good. Unless I'm sure it's once fired .223/5.56, I make it into .300 Blackout brass. 

Like Dryflash said, most of my brass is range pick up from others. But I inspect the cases along the way, sizing, trimming, etc.

The other day I was lubing cases and found a few pieces that looked different. Chucked them in the scrap bin and continued on. 

The guys around here that shoot 9 major stamp the case heads on an ink pad. If you pick them up just toss them into the trash. I'm glad they take the time to do that. 

OP, there is nothing wrong with picking up range brass. You just need to be careful about inspecting it. 

I can always tell the 9mm open brass from the guys I shoot with as soon as it gets to the sizing die.  

Dryflash3 nails it again.

After picking up brass for many years and reloading for as many it's not too difficult to tell what's once fired and what's not.

I know it's not 100% reliable but the first thing to look for is primer colour. Most of time if it's a yellow primer it's factory ammo.

For military brass it's even eaiser. If it still has the crimped primer it's once fired.

Some "factory" reloaded military brass has silver primers but if I find a pile of it at the range I think it's pretty safe to assume someone bought it shot it and left it.

It's been my experience at our local public ranges that the guys who reload don't leave piles of brass laying even if it's at it's life's end. They'll generally take it home and put it in their scrap bucket to be sold for scrap.

Motor

99.9% of my brass is range pickups, and I've taken 998lbs of brass to the scrap yard this year.
Dry flash nailed it: with experience you learn what to keep, what to trash.

In pistol, I keep Winchester, Federal, and Blazer headstamps.

In rifle, I keep Lake City once fired 5.56.

Everything else goes to scrap yard unless a buddy wants it.

Most handgun brass I pick up and use without a second thought unless obviously defective.  I'll probably lose it before ever wearing it out.  Just wish there would be more .357/.44 brass out there.
With 5.56 I only pick up obviously once-fired LC stuff.  I can tell by the crimps on the primer pockets and the unpolished annealing marks.  Also the case mouth is a giveaway.  Once it's been trimmed it looks a little smoother.

Handgun cases that are no good are usually obviously no good.  Bulges, smeared headstamps, etc. are signs that the particular case you're looking at is just scrap brass.  

Rifle cases need more thorough inspection, but you can't do that standing on the range.  When possible, I collect all the brass I can.  I'm not picky; most calibers are easy to inspect for overuse, particularly cases with military headstamps.  In fact, I'm a fan of range pick-up GI brass because you can positively identify it as once-fired.

The best way to make sure range pick-up brass is ok is to thoroughly and carefully inspect it.  Sounds hard?  Nope.  Look for cracks, distorted headstamps, bulges, or other inconsistencies.  Separate cases by "weathered and old looking" and "new looking" to make inspecting the newer ones easier.  I sort and inspect while manually depriming cases with a hand tool; this allows me to save time when actually processing cases because I reject most bad cases at this step.  Then I wet tumble with stainless media.  Really, really clean brass is a breeze to inspect, and since wet tumbling is a bulk operation, you haven't really lost any effort by cleaning brass you eventually reject.

My home seems to tilt a little it toward my loading room.  Most of that (other than the safe) is because of range pick-up brass.  I've found some "interesting" stuff over the years...

It seems to be trend here, but I am much less picky when it comes to picking up handgun brass than I am with rifle brass.

Handgun: I do sort and inspect and toss anything that is even somewhat suspect. I also toss some headstamps that I am not comfortable with.

Remember: "When in doubt, throw it out!"

Rifle: Gets doubly inspected! I am very careful with rifle brass and tend to only use new or my own once-fired. I do collect some rifle brass when I know the source, but I keep it separate from the rest of my "known source" rifle brass and will only use it after careful inspection.

Pistol Brass is pretty easy to inspect.  Rifle brass on the other hand is a whole different ballgame.

I do a paper clip check on all rifle brass I pickup at the range.  If I feel any rough spots it goes in the scrap bucket.

I also prime by hand and if the primer pocket is loose I scrap it too.

I have 2 ways i do it.  for the most part when im at a public range (or out with friends) they are all shooting factory ammo.  After i make sure they dont want it ill pick it up.    If im out and the person is shooting what appears to be reloads (in the normal reloading plastic boxes) I just leave them as IDK if they are their 2nd or 20th firing.  

Sometimes I get to the public range alittle late and there will be brass all around me.  This stuff I see how "new" it is.  if its still super shiny then its usually been shot in the past few hours / that day. ill then see if its all the same head stamp.  usually i can tell its factory stuff because its in 50 round  (pistol) or 20 (rifle)  increments.   If it looks dirty / has sand all over it / looks tarnished, i just leave it.  any range brass I do get i will keep separate, tumble and inspect.

 I will say I do love it when i get younger guys (im all of 35, lol) next to me just BLASTING away with w/e they are shooting barely hitting the target but going through brass.  Usually i just have to pull out a SBR / suppressor and they get all .  after small talk and letting them shoot it, they let me pick up all their brass.