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Posted: 8/16/2026 9:39:45 AM EDT
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Anyone else have this curse? I sear I could be sealed up inside of a enclosed box with no holes, and I would still lose 1-2 pieces of brass. I built a covered shooting bench and put harbor freight mesh tarps around it, then built a frame coming off the front of the bench to catch it coming off the front, and a frame to cover the opening.   I will still loose brass. I sear there is a black hole somewhere in there. I have found it behind me, stuck in between the layers of the tarp. I have found it on the ground on the far left outside of the shack, even though the guns eject to the right. But sometimes, I can not find it anywhere. Not even outside of it. I also put up a 12x20 mesh tarp on a rope (like a shower curtain) for when I am shooting pistols and I stand right next to it. I still lose brass into the woods. I have found brass in the ditch on the other side of it, showing that the brass somehow manages to go 10-12ft straight up and over it. Also found it behind me, past the tarp in the ditch, showing it traveled at least 10 feet behind me. A lot just disappears into the black hole. 
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For an AR this thing gives me 100% brass recovery https://brassgoat.com/products/brass-goat |
I know I'll never go home.
So set fire to your ships, and past regrets, and be free.
So set fire to your ships, and past regrets, and be free.
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Originally Posted By lazyengineer: I am absolutely loving the intense professional grade OCD on this. That's an impressive build! Thanks! I put a lot of work into building it. Losing brass has been a pain in my rear for a long time. So when I finally got me some property and built my personal range, I tried to build it to minimize brass loss. It still happens though. |
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When I started reloading I was POOR. Cast my own bullets from wheelweights and any other scrap lead I could get hold of. I'd loose brass and it really pissed me off. Spent as much time looking for brass in the grass around me as I did shooting, almost. When I had some money I'd buy a box of factory ammo to shoot so I'd have more brass (this was the early 80's, so no on line buying of once fired brass). One day I saw two boxes of nickel plated Remington ammo on the shelf at the store. I hated to do it but I bought both boxes. You know what? I even lost some of that brass out back of the house. I was absolutely sure the shiny nickel cases would be easy to see/find in the yard. |
How you live your life is important. Just be sure the memory of how you died doesn't overshadow the tales of how you lived your life.
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I bought the largest tarp from Home Depot. Then I bought a bunch of el cheapo flat bladed screw drivers from HF: Attached File The handles on the screw drivers are rounded enough that I can push the blade part into the gravel by hand. Usually. I have another tarp from when I used to shoot Steel Challenge. I added extra grommets. Then I wove a rope in and out through the grommets. I could lay it out flat enough. Then when we were about to leave one stage, I would cinch on the loose ends to make one big gunny sack. Then I would carry it to the next stage. So on and so forth. Then at the end of the match, we had a flat table or bench under this covered shooting area. My squadmates and I would pick through the brass, in the shade. |
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Originally Posted By TNC: For an AR this thing gives me 100% brass recovery https://brassgoat.com/products/brass-goat I bought a clone of one, and it fits great on mil spec lowers. Lip that slips over back of magwell will not on Anderson lowers. |
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Yep. Shooting 10mm in grass is basically an act of charity to the range. Rather an Offering to the Brass Gods |
jme and I am a NRA Endowment Member
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
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Way back in the 80's the club I belonged to had access NG Armory indoor range. Well, the ventilation system was red neck engineered. There vents above and behind the firing line@ 50ft. Brass would ricochet and end up on the top of the vents. Back then some of the shooters damn near wanted to strip search people for missing brass. As mentioned above prior FOPA of 86 Hughes Amendment. Ammo and components could be shipped to FFL holders. So once fired brass or new brass was tough to come by. |
jme and I am a NRA Endowment Member
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
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Last pistol session at the rnage, I raked the ground clean and clear of all other brass and rocks. The idea was I could more easily see my fired brass. Of the hundred or so rounds I fired, only about half a dozen landed in the clean, clear area. Go figure. I made a benchtop brass catcher for my AR. It sits near to the ejection port but does not attach to the rifle. It only caught about half the brass. It has to be very close to the rifle to do any better and then it becomes an interference with the shooting. Brass is expendable. |
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Originally Posted By TNC: For an AR this thing gives me 100% brass recovery https://brassgoat.com/products/brass-goat |
Preferred pronoun: MARINE
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Originally Posted By wildearp: Yes it does, even with in FRT mode. I wish they made one for .308 Like this? |
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My AR's I never really have any problem with losing the brass, as they have a pretty uniform ejection pattern. Some pistols have a pretty predictable ejection pattern too. But some are all over the place. Others can sling brass everywhere from 12:00 to 6:00 and everywhere in between. My SKS launches it into orbit. Thankfully I only shoot steel case out of it, so losing some is not a big deal. |
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Brass Goat for my AR's. I have one billet lower that it doesn't like to fit on, but if you get western on it and smack it a little it mostly fits. I mostly single load my long range bolt gun, so the really precious brass is fairly easy to keep track of. Pistol brass stays where it falls, I have buckets full and don't reload it much. |
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If you use a mesh screen, or tarp, towel, or whatever, you want it to freely move when the brass hits it. This way the screen material absorbs the energy, and the brass basically will slide down the screen and end up in a pile. If you have the screen material tight, it can bounce off in random directions. Looks like your mesh might be tight in the screening you have around your shooting bench…. But yeah, I have found that it is hard to get a tarp high enough between trees to catch brass from rifles when I am standing up. Brass catcher on the rifle is best, but not every rifle of mine fits one well. |
a loaded gun won’t set you free, so you say…
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Originally Posted By TNC: For an AR this thing gives me 100% brass recovery https://brassgoat.com/products/brass-goat These work really good! |
Middleofnowhere, Nebraska
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Another weekend of shooting, and more brass lost. Somehow both my century AP5N and one of my 1911's managed to send brass over the top of that mesh tarp I have hanging up, and into the ditch behind it. (3rd picture) I was standing about 2 feet away from it too. I did manage (after lots of looking) find the 45 brass and all but one of the 9mm. I also managed to find some 9mm I lost a couple weeks ago in the same area. I shot one mag out of the AP5 in the enclosed shooting bench, and some fucking how, one wound up on the ground right next to it on the right side. It had to have went up so high it managed to go through the small 1/2in gap between the wood and the roof tin and escape that way. That is the only possible way it can get out, as it is completely sealed everywhere else. I am tempted to buy a metal detector. Are there any that are adjustable to where it would pick up a 9mm or 45 shell, but not get set off by a 22lr shell? |
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