Any other range scavengers here?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Any other range scavengers here?

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:19:02 PM EDT

One mans trash is another mans treasure...

By that I mean picking up spent brass or "dumpster diving" through the 5 gallon buckets of brass at your range.

Some ranges frown upon it (money out of their pockets), but "Peak Ammo" is upon us so you do what you have to do.

There are the hardcore reloaders that say you shouldn't trust or use range pickings, but as long as you tumble it and inspect it for defects and resize it properly it's unlikely you'll have any problems (at least I haven't... yet

).

I have 3, 5 gallon buckets of spent 5.56 brass alone sitting here... maybe half of it is mine.

The real PITA is seperating the Boxer primed from the Berdan primed.

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:20:33 PM EDT

[#1]

Quoted:
<i>One mans trash is another mans treasure</i>

By that I mean picking up spent brass or "dumpster diving" through the 5 gallon buckets of brass at your range.

Some ranges frown upon it (money out of their pockets), but "Peak Ammo" is upon us so you do what you have to do.

There are the hardcore reloaders that say you shouldn't trust or use range pickings, but as long as you tumble it and inspect it for defects and resize it properly it's unlikely you'll have any problems (at least I haven't... yet ).

I have 3, 5 gallon buckets of spent 5.56 brass alone sitting here... maybe half of it is mine.

The real PITA is seperating the Boxer primed from the Berdan primed.

That "yet" thing is a killer man.... you should be careful about what you use. 99% of the time it's fins, but that 1% REALLY sucks

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:30:29 PM EDT

[#2]

I routinely scavange brass.

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:31:52 PM EDT

[#3]

Good thing about picking it up, is you can sort it later, and you can toss cases that don't look good.

YOU are the QA man in the process. I used to pick up .45 brass like it was gold... but I did toss out quite a few cases.

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:34:39 PM EDT

[#4]

Yep, I do it all the time. The berdan and iffy cases go to the scrap yard, I inspect all the boxer primed before reloading.

Never had any problems, Been scavenging brass for 20 years.

I just sent about 6000 empties to these guys to process them for me. Their machinery picks out the berdan and bad cases. I'm waiting to see how they look.

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:35:16 PM EDT

[#5]

I pick it up but I go through it like a nit comb before I do anything with it.

Bob

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:39:18 PM EDT

[#6]

There are some where I shoot that hover around like vultures, waiting (and sometimes not) for you to get in your car and leave...
They will pick your shooting lane clean in seconds.

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:44:11 PM EDT

[#7]

My range has a guy who shoots .45 and never picks up shit. 21 to 28 empty brass cases every time I go there. I am PISSED when he shoots blazer. He buys all my .45 brass.

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:45:19 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
My range has a guy who shoots .45 and never picks up shit. 21 to 28 empty brass cases every time I go there. I am PISSED when he shoots blazer. He buys all my .45 brass.

He must not shoot much?

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:52:04 PM EDT

[#9]

Hello, my name is TC, and I'm a brass pigeon.

TC

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:52:15 PM EDT

[#10]

If you don't pick up your .45acp, I will.

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:52:21 PM EDT

[#11]

thought you were talking .mil ranges...man, the stuff i used to pick up when i was a kid!!!

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:52:32 PM EDT

[#12]

I just scrounge all the berdan stuff and sell it for brass scrap. After I collect 2-3 6 gallon buckets I start checking the brass prices.

If its good .45 or 5.56 I'll go thru it carefully and keep the fed stuff and toss the rest. 9mm and .40 gets tossed also. It's just to damn cheap and not worth the time.

.308 surplus berdan primed gets the weight up quick. Some of it is thick and heavy. If it's shot in fluted chambers it'll sit anyways cept for one greasy bearded weird guy who shows up in an old POS van and will actually walk in front of the line to scrounge brass if you don't watch it. Very creepy guy. He has to live close as 30 seconds after you quit shooting or take a break he will show up.

Posted: 3/8/2006 4:59:38 PM EDT

[#13]

I don't grab up the brass but everytime I goto the range I find all these guns just sitting in the racks. If their owners were there they would be shooting them. I come home with more guns than I leave with everytime I go

Posted: 3/8/2006 7:48:11 PM EDT

[#14]

I don't even pick up my own brass.

Posted: 3/8/2006 7:49:35 PM EDT

[#15]

Free targets everywhere!

Posted: 3/8/2006 7:54:34 PM EDT

[#16]

.45 brass.

I generally get my .223 and .308 brass from an undisclosed source.

Posted: 3/8/2006 7:55:49 PM EDT

[#17]

where I shoot, some of the brass is unsafe to reload despite being only once-fired. hipower shooters are typically not very gentle on the brass.

Posted: 3/8/2006 7:56:32 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

I don't even pick up my own brass.

+1

Posted: 3/8/2006 7:59:02 PM EDT

[#19]

I sometimes shoot at an informal range and take a couple of bags to pick up crap, including berdan-primed, SG hulls, and other debris. Does that count? Most of it winds up in the trash at a 'nearby' ranger station, but if I see good AA's in 12 or 20 or reloadable brass for a LR or HG I have, I'll keep it.

Since this is in a national forest, I figure we need to pick up after each other and ourselves if we want the place to stay available.

The American Eagle in .223 is supposedly soft and not good to reload, BTW.

Posted: 3/9/2006 6:52:04 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
I sometimes shoot at an informal range and take a couple of bags to pick up crap, including berdan-primed, SG hulls, and other debris. Does that count? Most of it winds up in the trash at a 'nearby' ranger station, but if I see good AA's in 12 or 20 or reloadable brass for a LR or HG I have, I'll keep it.

Since this is in a national forest, I figure we need to pick up after each other and ourselves if we want the place to stay available.

The American Eagle in .223 is supposedly soft and not good to reload, BTW.

Good for you for cleaning up. I still remember my Boy Scout days of leaving an area nicer than when you found it.

Posted: 3/9/2006 6:53:40 AM EDT

[#21]

I pick up rifle brass only.

Posted: 3/9/2006 7:17:55 AM EDT

[#22]

I pick up all of mine. Even rifle, 'tho I'm only reloading pistol at the moment. If I'm shooting with someone and they offer theirs I'm glad to accept it. My best haul-

A few months ago I went on a Sunday afternoon to chrono a load and two guys were shooting full auto. (They were on the pistol range and the owner doesn't allow less than a second between shots on the rifle range). I got a ton of 9mm, 10mm and .45ACP. All calibers I reload.

If it's laying there when I get there I leave it alone. I'm an ammo whore, but I have my principles!

Posted: 3/9/2006 7:53:42 AM EDT

[#23]

Scrounger is such....well, a demeaning term

I prefer to called Brass Whore

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Any other range scavengers here?

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