Range brass pickup?

K

kmw1954

New member
Today while at a local indoor range that I shoot at we ran into a fellow that kept sweeping up our spent brass and throwing it into the bucket. I didn't see it at first but my wife did. So I asked the gentlemen to please stop that as I pick up my brass for reloading.

He then goes on to start telling me that we are not allowed to pick up our range brass anymore because of some new OSHA regulation and that the other range on the other side of town was just busted with thousand dollar fines going to both the range, the shooter and anyone else that was present for not reporting it. Somehow I do not believe this and believe it to be BS.

BTW this was in Illinois so who knows maybe it is true! Anyone know the truth?
 
Not the first time I've heard this. Lots of indoor ranges are making a rule that any brass on the floor is theirs.
 
This wasn't a case of on the floor it's now ours. This was a person that stated it was a law because of the lead exposure. Even went as far as stating someone was arrested for it.
 
Several years ago ranges were required, I believe, to provide
hockey-puck like sticks for "sweeping" away the brass as brooms
were frowned on for kicking up dust.

One range where I was a member had such hockey stick devices.
But a shooter could still gather up his own brass.
 
I have not heard this before.

I would not goto a range indoor or out that claimed the brass on the floor as their property.

I sweep, I keep, I don't consider it the ranges property till someone tosses it in the can.

It's rude to sweep up someone elses brass but once they leave it's fair game.


Any range that has a problem with my philosophy Im happy to not visit again.
 
OSHA is "Occupational Safety and Health Administration." As such, it applies only to workers. I very much doubt there are so many shooting range employees exposed to lead dust that there's rule for shooting ranges. If there's some general rule about air-borne lead dust (and there probably is), I don't see how it makes any difference if he sweeps it up and dumps it in a can or if you sweep it up and dump it in a baggy to take home. In fact, if he's the employee HE is the person protected by OSHA, and he's clearly at less risk of exposure if he stays out of the way and allows you to sweep and pick up your own brass.

I call B.S.
 
The brass? They sell it. Some have big sorting operations and sell it at a premium like $10 per 100 9,40,45....
 
This was a person that stated it was a law because of the lead exposure. Even went as far as stating someone was arrested for it.
Click to expand...

Bwahahaha!!! This is a bold faced lie! No one was arrested for allowing customers to police their brass at the range.

I'm familiar with OSHA. 10s of thousands of indoor and outdoor ranges throughout America are as well. They do have some onerous regulations for firing ranges but at no time will they arrest someone (or fine anyone) for range customers picking up their own brass.

This is a case of a range that sorts and sells brass to help generate revenue. They could just post a sign saying "brass belongs to range when it hits the floor," but that will put any reloader (read: high volume and usually frequent shooter) off and they want their business too. But its their range, their rules. At least that is better than straight up lying.

I wouldn't go back there. They're dishonest at best.
 
When you bought the ammunition you also bought the brass that its loaded in. You paid for it so its your property until you say it isn't.
 
It appears that everyone is assuming this guy works for the range. He may be an instructor there but even at that I do not believe he has any other function at the range. To be honest I thought he was just another customer until we went out of the range and were chatting about the ranges league. That's when it hit me that this guy might be an instructor as there was a class underway when we arrived.

After I returned home and started thinking about this I emailed three other ranges in this general area and one of them was the range this guy was referring to. I asked them about their policy on picking up spent brass and not one of them disallows it. They have rules like not crossing the firing line or picking up someone else's brass but that is it.

So later this week I will be stopping in to talk with one of the owners if for nothing more than to set the record straight.
 
Ranges are private enterprises (or run by LE). You pay to shoot at their range. They can make whatever rules they want.
BS or not, many now keep the brass. You may have owned it, it matters not. Your option is to use a different range.
 
OK,I don't care who owns the brass once it hits the floor. what I want to know is there a law written that says you cannot pick up brass as this gentleman stated!

YES?
NO?
 
It is not a "law". But, that does not do you any good. All you can do is ask range employees what their policy is. That guy could be someone other than a principal. I do believe he was blowing smoke, but may have the range in his corner. But no, there is no law.
 
what I want to know is there a law written that says
you cannot pick up brass as this gentleman stated!
Click to expand...
NO.
https://www.usashooting.org/library...d_College_Programs/Lead_Management_-_NSSF.pdf


and here's what OSHA did cite "that other range" for:
https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/IllinoisGunWorksLtd_110282_0608_12.pdf
See p 22 (-- which is a heckuva reach (IMHO) for even OSHA. ),
and p 42 (-- which shows that the employee's sweeping was -- itself -- an OSHA violation.





BTW: What's described in this citation could be used -- deliberately so -- to shut down 99% of all indoor ranges.
 
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I could be completely off base here but....

Isn't this part of why people use brass catchers? I mean, otherwise, how would you be able to 'know' what's yours if the shooter in the next lane is working with the same caliber (if that matters)?

I know someone that reloads and maybe at some point I might get into that. But it just seems like if a shooter even allows it to hit the floor in the first place, that sends a pretty clear message.
 
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