My Best Day Getting Free Range Brass.

[gandog56]

I'm a firm believer in looking at the ground (Or floor) of the ranges I go to to see what brass people just left lying there after they finish. My best day was I went in one empty lane, there were 54 .454 Casull cases and 56 .45 Colt. Went to the next lane and there was a pile of 10mm cases. Next one down a HUGE pile of .357 Mag and .38 special cases. Were all the rich boys who can afford to just chuck their empties there earlier in the day?

Now if I would have only found some .44 mag brass, too. :)

[curt48mauser]

Lucky day, good score. Did the post office ever get you the package of .380 and .223 I mailed you? It seems to be in a loop between Memphis and Atlanta. :confused:
Glad to know you are getting out and "Getting some therapy"

Curt

[Mbaker78]

The indoor ranges around me are all pretty hostile about picking up brass... Half the time I get an evil eye just gathering my own brass... The outdoor ranges are very laid back about it though.

[jebsca]

Nice find. My best day was a few weeks back. I had cleaned up a good haul and was getting ready to leave when some kids came in and smoked through 80 rounds of 223 and left it. Left with over 120 223 and a bunch of other stuff.

[gandog56]

Lucky day, good score. Did the post office ever get you the package of .380 and .223 I mailed you? It seems to be in a loop between Memphis and Atlanta. :confused:
Glad to know you are getting out and "Getting some therapy"

Curt
I never said got the brass? That's pretty strange for me. Yeah, got here, already cleaned, sized, primed and belled. Waiting for me to get off duff and reload them.

[curt48mauser]

Good, I will let your poor postman in peace. I have never reloaded .380, (except accidentally as 9mm), what are you putting together? Just curious,

Curt

[gandog56]

The indoor ranges around me are all pretty hostile about picking up brass... Half the time I get an evil eye just gathering my own brass... The outdoor ranges are very laid back about it though.

This was an outdoor range, and I was the only one there at the time. The nearest range officer was probably 1/4 mile away.

[gandog56]

Good, I will let your poor postman in peace. I have never reloaded .380, (except accidentally as 9mm), what are you putting together? Just curious,

Curt

I've reloaded them with both 95 grain and 100 grain HP's. Use HP-38 powder.

[Mbaker78]

This was an outdoor range, and I was the only one there at the time. The nearest range officer was probably 1/4 mile away.

At the outdoor range I go to I once had the range officer (when he was actually there) tell me I could pick up any brass that was left on the ground. I've had a few decent days of it, but nothing like yours :)

[rodnocker1]

I belong to two different outdoor ranges and they are both fine with you picking up whatever brass has been left on the ground or in the brass barrel (although most people seldom police their brass and put it into the barrel).

It used to be that hardly anyone picked up the brass and it was fairly easy to pick up 250-500 pcs of rifle/pistol brass whenever I went but lately (the past year or so), others have started picking the brass up. Add to that the "ammo shortage" and now it's usual to find very little (5-50 pcs) which doesn't even cover the gas money to go to the range. Thanks to my OCD, I still go (I also hate to see good brass left on the ground to get lost or destroyed by being ran over by a mower).

That being said, my best day to date was last December 5 (12/05/12). One of the ranges had a 3 day LE Training Class. No one else picked up the brass that was left and I didn't know about the class till the last day. I went by at the end of the last day of the class and when it was all said and done, I had picked up over 7,000 pcs of .223 Rem, 2.000 pcs of .45 ACP, and 3,000 pcs of .40 S&W.

I couldn't believe that there was that much brass there and I doubt I will ever see another day like that again but you can never tell.....

[jebsca]

You know you suck for that. I would say I had a good haul with 1% of that.

[gandog56]

At the outdoor range I go to I once had the range officer (when he was actually there) tell me I could pick up any brass that was left on the ground. I've had a few decent days of it, but nothing like yours :)

I've only had ONE day like that. .38 special, .40 cal, 9mm, and .45 is like 90% of what I pick up.

[rodnocker1]

Yeah G, I've got more .40 S&W brass than I know what to do with......probably in the 15,000-20,000 pcs range and most of it is prepped, seperated by headstamp, and bagged in 1,000 pc lots (like I said, a BAD case of OCD).

If you have all you need, you can get rid of your excess in most calibers by trading or selling but not the .40 S&W!

[jebsca]

I have made a few trades with 40, but its not the fastest moving brass. I think a few people are looking for it on firearmstalk. With that much brass, I would have to think about getting my own 40.

[rodnocker1]

I do have a couple of .40 S&W's-a Springfield XD, Colt Double Eagle, and did have a Sig 250C (3 of those actually but I gave 2 of them to my Sons and ended up giving the third one to a Friend).

I've got a mold for casting and also got a set of BTSnipers dies for converting 9mm brass to .40 HP jacketed bullets.......what I don't have is alot of spare time right now, LOL!

[gandog56]

The nice thing is my SIG P229 fires both .40 and 357 SIG ammo with a barrel swap. But I usually have a harder time moving 9mm brass than .40 cal. But I have just already have so many of both already reloaded, and it's there free for the taking.

[WarEagleEd]

Several months ago I went a public range specifically to pick up brass and it paid off fairly well by my standards. I ended up with some .50 Beowulf (which I could verify was once-fired because the guy shooting it told me he didn't reload), 150+ pieces of .223, and about 150 pieces of 9mm.

Of course, this is a drop in the bucket compared to some folks' harvest. :D

Ed

[Mbaker78]

Several months ago I went a public range specifically to pick up brass and it paid off fairly well by my standards. I ended up with some .50 Beowulf (which I could verify was once-fired because the guy shooting it told me he didn't reload), 150+ pieces of .223, and about 150 pieces of 9mm.

Of course, this is a drop in the bucket compared to some folks' harvest. :D

Ed

How can a person afford to shoot the exotics without reloading? Boggles the mind...

[ricky]

You ask "when the best day to pick free brass at the range" When you take the rookie officers to the range and after practice you make them pick up the brass case. My department good for 9mm, 223, 40cal and 45acp brass case.

Cant wait till the FBI come to the range and shoot there 10mm Glocks. :)

[jebsca]

How can a person afford to shoot the exotics without reloading? Boggles the mind...

I got into reloading after I got a 500s&w. I had been saving my brass for a bit before that, but she was the one that put me over. Still haven't found any 500 s&w brass at the range.

[gandog56]

How can a person afford to shoot the exotics without reloading? Boggles the mind...

More money than brains?

[gandog56]

Cant wait till the FBI come to the range and shoot there 10mm Glocks. :)

Yeah, let me know if you get more than you need! ;)

[Mbaker78]

More money than brains?

I prefer to say "more dollars than sense"

[jebsca]

Pulled up to the range today, and knew that I would have to post to this thread. I could see from the parking lot that the ground was covered at the pistol range. No body else was around, so I started picking up. An hour and a half later, I had picked up over 1200 40, almost 300 45, over 100 223, over 70 300 blackout, over 70 12 ga, a bit of 9mm, and 1 308.

The down side is, I was going to test some loads. After all that, I was not looking to gather up my empties to inspect. May have to try again tomorrow.

[lilshaunsdad]

This past thursday was able to score over 500 .223/5.56 cases. To me that was an awesome day!

[62chevy]

This past thursday was able to score over 500 .223/5.56 cases. To me that was an awesome day!

Dang you scored big time. The best I ever scored in 223 was 50. 9mm was 80 and 45 acp is 4 or 5 at a time, 380 about the same. Except for today I got 20 45 acp.:cool:

[1blue]

Sad to say, I haven't been to the range in some time. I used to be a regular and I made a point of talking to people. I'd let them shoot my reloads in my firearms. It wasn't unusual they would pick up their brass and offer it to me. I'd have them dump it in one of my range bags. It pays to be friendly. I've met some really great people. I haven't had some of the big scores like in this thread, but over the years, I've always left with more brass than I came with. It's all part of the fun for me going to the range.