Reloading brass from the range

[Kimber]

I am wondering what your thoughts are on reloading brass that has been obtained from a range, I see a lot of brass laying out there that seems to just go to waste.

 

[45calibre]

its all good to me.

 

[HavokCycle]

yeah, do it all the time. like with my own brass i make sure its inspected well, for defects and brand and all that. i have to keep from being too greedy or i'll be standing at the next alley waiting for another round to eject.
some ranges frown upon the practice of just randomly picking up brass, as they usually make money off of it to pay for expenses and such. another reason why I don't get too greedy, I stake off limits, like, my alley and the ones immediately adjacent to me I'll pick up. kindly ask the next guy if he wants to keep his before going nuts on it all tho.

 

[Kimber]

My son lives in NM and told me that his friend will sell him a five gallon bucket of 223 and a bucket of 45 acp for $120.00 a bucket, just wanted to know if this a smart thing or not. I do check all my brass very well before reloading and will not reload anything questionable.

 

[SSGSAD]

My son lives in NM and told me that his friend will sell him a five gallon bucket of 223 and a bucket of 45 acp for $120.00 a bucket, just wanted to know if this a smart thing or not. I do check all my brass very well before reloading and will not reload anything questionable.

I check ALL my brass !!!!! and RE check it !!!!! I clean it in small groups, and inspect as I go. The brass is FREE, so a little time invested, is time well spent !!!!!

 

[shibumiseeker]

It's like picking up nickels. People who would drool at the opportunity to make $60 an hour will leave piles of brass on the ground.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

Load it

 

[rockhopper46038]

I pick up what I see. Doing my small part to keep the range nice and tidy.

 

[Cerberus]

I snag every piece of brass I can. I am courteous tho. I pick up anything around my area and then offer other shooters theirs if hey want it. Most of the time, they don't want it. I inspect, sort by head stamp into lots of 100, and then clean it when I get around to using it.

I bet I spend more time sorting than loading.

 

[sloughfoot]

My son lives in NM and told me that his friend will sell him a five gallon bucket of 223 and a bucket of 45 acp for $120.00 a bucket, just wanted to know if this a smart thing or not. I do check all my brass very well before reloading and will not reload anything questionable.

This is a very good deal. I would be all over this, if it was offered to me.

That is at least 3500 .223 and 5,000 45 ACP.

 

[Broom_jm]

Nah, you can't just pick up brass at a range and reload it. If it's been on the ground for more than 20 or 30 minutes, the stuff is junk. I mean, if you want to pick it all up and sell me 5 gallon buckets of it for $120, I guess I could pay you for it and try to recycle it, or something. But, as far as cleaning, sizing and reloading it back into effect ammo, you can't really do THAT.

Note: Use of purple font indicates post absolutely dripping with sarcasm...

 

[shibumiseeker]

Nah, you can't just pick up brass at a range and reload it. If it's been on the ground for more than 20 or 30 minutes, the stuff is junk. I mean, if you want to pick it all up and sell me 5 gallon buckets of it for $120, I guess I could pay you for it and try to recycle it, or something. But, as far as cleaning, sizing and reloading it back into effect ammo, you can't really do THAT.

Note: Use of purple font indicates post absolutely dripping with sarcasm...

Geez dude, don't get that sarcasm on my brass.

 

[donnie1581]

The Elwood Conservation club picks up brass left behind and sells it. I'm not sure who they sell it to though. I pick up my brass and any brass left around the shooting bench. I don't reload but I'll have it if I ever start reloading.

 

[Water63]

My son lives in NM and told me that his friend will sell him a five gallon bucket of 223 and a bucket of 45 acp for $120.00 a bucket, just wanted to know if this a smart thing or not. I do check all my brass very well before reloading and will not reload anything questionable.

That's not a bad deal if it is brass and no steel in it go for it even if you have some cull brass you still can't buy it for that.

 

[davedolli]

I keep mine, sometimes people shooting next to me give me there's if the don't reload.


Dave

 

[Leo]

Many ranges are affiliated with a reloading company and they work the deal to offset the cost of reloaded ammo to help keep prices low.

For pistol brass, I never have any problem reloading range pickup. Sometimes semi auto rifle brass can act up if the last shooter has an oversized chamber or the last reloader pushed the shoulder too far back during resiziing. Case head seperation a hazard. I all fairness, I have fired tens of thousands of rounds through M1a's and AR's and only had a handfull of head seperations.

For .223 or .308 I have three personal rules:
1) I always prefer brass that still has the original crimped primer
2) deep scraches and gouges are a place to start a split, when in doubt, throw it out!
3) I keep unknown history range pick up brass seperate for casual shooting. A match or any other time I want 100% reliablity, I use known quality brass.

I learned number 3 the hard way, during a registered match where I had a chance to win my division. It was a bad time to jam up a rifle.

 

[Nayls47]

Pick it up and reload it.
Watch out for steel cases find them with a magnet and pitch them, small and large primer pockets on 45 ACP as well as berdan primed brass.

 

[Adrian8]

Sometimes you will strike gold..Like when the police swat teams practice and leave their Federal Match .223 and .308 brass neatly packaged in their boxes after being shot. Throw all Remington .45 ACP brass away..dangerous stuff as it will not resize and hold a bullet tight.

 

[Cat-Herder]

Throw all Remington .45 ACP brass at Cat Herder..it's dangerous stuff as it will not resize and hold a bullet tight in my dies, but Cat Herder has no trouble with it at all.

FIFY