What is the range etiquette for this?

All good comments, thanks.

I know the president of the Ike's and the officer in charge of the range fairly well and am going to give them a shout about it. I did not recognize the guy as a member but there are a bunch of them I do not know. Maybe they will know the guy or at least do a check on Sunday afternoons to see what is going on. If he is not a member then he is trespassing and would not be covered by insurance if something happened to him.

I am generally in the camp that escalating a conflict is not a good idea when guns are involved, or really any other time, guess I have mellowed a bit over the years. Also it is a kind of small town aria and I have not lived hear since I was born so I do not want to cause myself problems other places. If you ever lived in a small town kind of place you know what I am talking about.
 
You guys are all too polite. Blow their ear drums out if you've been and would still be shooting. Maybe a warning first but let them have it. Maybe they have custom made plugs and you just don't notice.
 
That's just ridiculous, I haven't personally been impacted like this but our range at one point posted fliers around about brass hounds and poor behavior is not to be tolerated.


"Once it hits the ground it's fair game".
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So if my magazine falls or leatherman hits the ground that's fair game as well. I just can't see the rationale behind that.


Wait the old file man upstairs just decided to clock in, I did have one instance on the rifle range, firing lake city .308, a guy and his kid were there and he asked about the brass (had seen him earlier picking up all he could find), I replied I keep them, it's prolly been 1.5 years or so ago and I still don't reload. However I still have the brass.
 
An extreme case I'm sure but I once had someone have his kids try to catch the brass as it flew through the air when ejecting.
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That would have been a great time to be shooting an M1. It dose not take long to look at that brass if you catch it in the air and you will only do it once. Or at least it only took me once, and a couple weeks for the burn to heal up.
 
I wouldn’t have said a thing,,, I would have walked over and take all the brass he had picked up including the container and said in a nice polite voice,,
“Sir thank you for picking up MY brass.”
It would be up to him to get ugly from there.
 
I'd have probably pepper-sprayed a bit of my own brass when he wasnt looking... its only a matter of time before the rat leaves to find water. :p

Truth-be-told... I probably wouldnt do anything with my daughter there, not going to put her at risk over spent brass.
Making a point to this guy over a couple bucks worth of brass isnt worth the potential risk to my kid if it got ugly.
Choose your battles with idiot people.
 
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As others have stated, you were way too nice. Plain and simple just tell him to stop picking up your brass or you will call the police as he is stealing from you. Some people are very thick and do not seem to understand a "nuanced" statement that you were saving your brass for reloading.
 
I've picked up someone's brass that fell near me, but I take it over to him and give it to him, so I won't be kicking it around my bench or he won't bug me while I'm shooting. If he chooses to leave it laying around when he leaves, then I'll swoop on it, but not until then.

To be frank, the guy is a sneak thief, relying on your goodwill not to be taken to task for it. They prosecute people for stealing a candy bar, maybe it needs to happen to a few of these folks.
 
The ranges I shoot at are much more structured than that one.

Nobody is allowed to pick up any brass than his own.

If you leave your brass in the area it belongs to the range. Nobody else can pick it up.

The range master may ask you if you want your brass. If you say yes, he will not pick it up.

Nobody is allowed in the shooting area without hearing and eye protection.
Maybe it's what we shoot in Texas, but nobody would want to be in the area without hearing protection.

The gentleman you describe would have been ejacted long before he reached your position.
 
The gentleman you describe would have been ejacted long before he reached your position.
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Wish that had been the case but it is a small outdoor unsupervised range that is only supposed to be used by members of the Izaak Walton League. My daughter and I were the only people using it.
 
Definitely way too nice to the guy. I would have clearly told him to stop, then taken his whole container.

I've never had anyone that brazen about taking my brass, I have had a couple brass hounds picking up brass at the range while I was shooting, but no where near me. Once they got whatever they were after they noticed I was no longer picking up my brass, so they just watched and waited for me to leave. As I was starting my truck I saw them start scrounging up all the brass I left. Luckily, if anyone else ever wants to shoot my 308 or I just feel like plinkin', I always have a bunch of surplus NATO ammo in my range bag, BERDAN PRIMED:D
 
There's no way I would have let this guy take my brass, its mine and that's all there is to it. If the range has a rule or policy stating that the RO is entitled to brass on the ground I would tell them to stick it, its no different than allowing them access to your loaded ammo or anything else you brought to the range, just because its on the ground is total BS.

As reloading is becoming more popular ranges with nonsense rules like this are going to have to change, you must speak up.
 
That would have been a great time to be shooting an M1. It dose not take long to look at that brass if you catch it in the air and you will only do it once. Or at least it only took me once, and a couple weeks for the burn to heal up.
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Close I was shooting an FN-FAL. The biggest problem was it ejects to the 2 O'clock position so his kids were actually crossing the firing line to my right to do this.:eek:

As for the "If it hits the ground then it's mine" school of thought its very common round here in Western MD. It extends beyond the range as well. We had someone take our neighbors ceramic dog statues, which she has either side of her front door. She called the police & the thief actually said "If they're outside then they're public property"!:rolleyes:
 
"...his kids were actually crossing the firing line to my right to [pick up the brass]...."
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I've been watching this thread w/o making comment.

But the first time that someone crossed that active firing would have been the last.
There would have been a VERY high decibel/VERY short discussion had right there....
and with as much drill Sgt verbal intimidation leading to his embarrasment as I could
render.

At least his kids might remember.
 
I've run into this a couple times. Once was at a public range up around Ocala Nat'l forest. There was a guy who would sweep up everyone's brass when we went cold. I was shooting .375 and noticed him walkong away from my table as I returned from changing my target. He dropped some brass in his bucket and when I got close I noticed my brass missing from off of the bench. Now I had this fired brass in holders lined up with my other boxes of obvious reloads. No dice, game over, not playing this game. I have 0 tolerance from this kind of behavior. He was sweeping up when I walked over to his bucket and upended it on the ground. He came running over demanding to know what I was doing. I pointed at my bench and said "I think you mistakenly picked up some of my brass, I'm sure you didn't steal it on purpose. Anyways, I need it back." He just watched me pick through his findings until I found all my brass. He stayed away from my bench the rest of the day.
 
Oh trust me I did!:D
Called a "Cease fire", shut the whole firing line down & gave him the tongue lashing of a lifetime.

His kids weren't even wearing hearing protection, he brought none & when I offered him some foam plugs (I always have a few spares) he refused them so the kids would "get used to the noise when hunting".:eek: If you've ever stood slightly to the side & just about level with the combo device (muzzle break) on a .308 when its fired you'll only do that kind of stupid once!

Eventually we had to drive to the ranger station & get a ranger so he could be removed from the range because hearing protection is mandatory. NOT, you notice because he was a major safety problem (the ranger hadn't actually seen that) but because of the "no muffs, no shoot" rule.
 
Wow!, you were much more pleasant than I would have been. I am very touchy about my brass.

I would have asked him twice to stop and the third time he would have been .... Well, sorry he interrupted my shooting practice or tried to steal my brass.

I have some .45 Colt brass with a custom head stamp that says "BUCK .45 LONG COLT", and I am not losing anymore of it.
 
Perhaps you should have went to his position start picking up brass near his bench, "accidentally" knock one of the guns off the bench onto the floor, take it and walk away. "Hey it's fair game right?"

Just kiiding :p,.....maybe.
 
"Once it hits the ground it's fair game".
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I won't step foot on a range with a policy like that.

And, if it's someone's personal policy, I just get away from them. That way, I can at least see them coming. ...and throw a bunch of .22 LR and steel cases in their bucket, if they start poking around at my feet. :rolleyes:
 
I gotta say... while I fully appreciate the principle behind it... I'm wholly disappointed with the number of "I'll give him a tongue lashing" or "I'll take his bucket, or dump it out" types of comments here.
Brass snatching, firing-line fouls, whatever.. it doesn’t matter.
Considering that people at the range are most all armed, this type of boisterous nonsense flies in the face of "an armed society is a polite society", even if the "society" amounts to 4 people in a particular locale, that being a unsupervised range at a conservation area.

I'm disappointed because many are loosing focus on priorities... The brass rat's kids AND the OP's kids were there... is this REALLY the place for a confrontation about $10 worth of brass??
I doubt any of your wives would support your decision to argue with an armed person out in the boonies over a few bucks worth of anything.

I know my wife would surely light me on fire when I came home with our daughter and proudly said "There was this guy at the range stealing brass and I chewed him out, dumped his bucket, and took my brass back!"
That would pretty much kill any trust she had in me to maintain the number-1 priority... keep the kid safe no matter where we go.

Far into the future, when my daughter has her CCW and is my ally instead of my liability my position on this may be different, but until then I say...
Keep your long-term objectives in focus, make it home and nevermind the small stuff.

The OP did the right thing... leave without stirring up trouble with an obvious idiot.
 
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