Do you find yourself excited when you see free brass in the dirt ?

I used to when I was young but these days if I see something laying around, I'm much more scrutinizing about what it may be than I use to be. I learned over the 40+ years of reloading, my calibers on sight, and I don't jump like I used to. Fact is, it has to be pretty appealing or I don't even look very hard.

Guess I'm getting lazy. (or maybe just plain old!)
 
Road_Clam, I fall into the last description. I will gather all my guns, ammo and other shooting stuff then head for a couple of places in the mountains. There have been many times when I have not fired a single shot but rather, collected a lot of brass.
 
I've "cleaned up after" more than one party when i hit the range. Whatever I don't use, I know a guy who can. Only exception was when I found 50 peices of once fired 300 Whisper. Ended up "paying it forward" by sending it to a guy on another forum who could use it - nobody down here even knew what I was talking about.
 
5.56 is kind of a 'meh' moment, but I do pick it up if it looks factory fresh. Mainly, to cut for my .300 blk.

I get pretty pumped to find .308 brass, as well as .243 and 7mm-08. .308 is much more expensive to shoot and free brass is very nice. Most people don't even realize you can just run the .243 and 7mm-08 brass through the sizer.

7.62x39 is my favorite though. It's rare, that's probably why, and I'm going to get a Ruger Mini-30 soon, hopefully, and it won't hammer the brass so hard like my AK does.
 
I'm a member of a large sportsmen's club. I always go there on Mondays as I work weekends. I have spent 3 and 4 hours picking up brass. Now I limit myself to an hour of picking it up. I always leave with at least twice as much brass as what I came with.
 
Tomas said:
hopefully, and it won't hammer the brass so hard like my AK does.
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Are you referring to the imfamous "AK dings" in the brass ? If so I can show you a simple free fix to rid your brass of dings. I did it to my Opap AK , works awesome. PM me if interested.
 
Just last weekend I was at my range late sat afternoon, and sure enough scooped up about 30 pcs of .223 , and I was doing the big happy brass dance when I saw a pile of 7.62x54R brass on one of the shooting tables !!!! The happy dance turned into the "bummer slump" when I shined a light down into the casing and saw those two little holes staring back at me.... :(
 
When I first got into shooting, the ranges used to be covered with brass. In fact, if I needed brass, I'd just go on a range trip and bring a coffee can with me. It was mostly 38 Special - which was fine. But there was a good amount of 357 mag too and other revolver brass. Semi-auto brass was 80% 9mm and 20% 45 ACP. I didn't bother with the 9mm - even after I got a 9mm gun. Today, I shudder to think how much 9mm I passed up.

Today, I'm about 50/50 picking up brass. If I'm shooting revolver, I usually don't. If I'm shooting a semi-auto, I pick up my own and any that are orphaned in the vicinity - since I have one of those brass grabber-thingies, so I don't have to bend down.
 
I pick up all the brass that I can anyplace that I see it. I was sighting in my 30-06 on Sunday and while I was waiting to see if a fire would start from the rickochets I was picking up brass that someone else had left.

Those of you that do not pick up brass would sure pick up a dollar bill if you saw it on the ground. Even 20 9mm is a dollar.
 
I used to scrounge range brass, but then I used to shoot a lot of shell shuckers and bottom feeders. I learned that often the brass one picks up at the range may be at the end of its life, which is why the previous owner didn't pick it up. Especially common semi auto rifle cartridges like 223 or 308.

Now days the only brass I'll pick up of unknown origin, is 45 ACP. I reckon it is hard to ruin that brass due to the lower operating pressures. And a quick look at the headstamp will give one an indication of its state of usefulness... the letters being smooshed out indicating that it is at the end of its useful life.
 
God help me if my next step is going to the range not to shoot but to just scrounge for brass
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That IS the next step in the evolution of becoming a certified entry level Brass Rat.

Senior level Brass Rats all carry coffee or ice cream containers, with spare sacks for when the containers get full, along with kneeling pads for use when the brass lies thick on the ground or pick up tools for the sparsely scattered brass. You know you have achieved NCO status when you also have a stick with a screw it the end; which you use by hooking the screw head under the case mouth to pull the embedded cases out of the mud.
 
I bet I could make millions if I could invent a special magnet that only attracted brass instead of ferrous metal. Every reloader in the country would want one.
 
I found 200 rounds of new 300 BLK brass last week on the ground. The wife had to come pour me in the truck and take me home:) These days, I can't shoot because I'll see a little glimmer and just have to pick it up. And yes there is another level to being a brass hog... I'm the new Trustee for the range and I'll help out with the mowing. See my logic?
 
The clubs I belong to have a high percentage of reloaders and finding once fired brass is a rarity. The ranges where I shoot rifle and pistol matches are regularly combed by people who hardly leave a leaf unturned in their quest to find centerfire brass.

However, regardless of where I am, or how much time, effort, and cost it took to get there, if I find a pile of good usable brass, I get all giggly. :p
 
The economy is getting better, all the tourestas are leaving their brass at our range again. The vast majority of them don't reload apparently. Can't help myself, there will be other shortages in the future.

Bought a .40, just because of all the brass picked up.

Even save the targets that aren't used enough, especially those fancy ones that show bright circles. Then proceed to shoot the living crap out of em.

Surprising what you can save with a little lack of pride.:eek:
 
range pick up rifle is something that I would never do. Sure, i wind up picking up range junk with my own brass, and usually sort rifle or anything that doesn't look once fired goes into my recycle box. The only time I will ever use used brass is when a shooter goes through factory fresh stock and doesn't want it.

as I collect my own brass, I grab all of the aluminum that gets in my way. It goes into the bag, is sorted out, and binned for recycling. when It reaches ten pounds or so, I recycle at 60 cents or so for a pound. i'm already there at the recycle center, why not?

I wish that someone would take a construction grade magnet roller to these ranges and collect the steel for recycling. I'm sick to death of trying to spot my brass among tons of steel. One thing that drives me nuts is that whether it's a .22 short or a.600 Ne, they all look the same from a few feet away.
 
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