View Full Version : Picking up brass after training classes?
I am looking into taking a few courses by HSP at the end if this year and wanted to know about common practice about picking up your brass afterwards. What do most people do? I am on a strict budget and will be reloading the 2000 rounds of 9mm and 2000 of .223 to participate in the classes and would like to re accumulate the brass.
Upon further searching I have found some old threads about Gainesville allowing students to pick up brass. If anything g has changed let me know.
I did not know where to post this so mods move if needed.
Snatch as much as you can. Typically less than half of the guys there will reload. I think I've only split brass with 3 or 4 guys max at any given class. When you get to lunch break, you can just ask if anyone is saving their brass. If no one is quick to assert their ownership, clean up while they're eating.
Usually at the end of the day, everyone is too tired to be worrying about brass recovery. My trick is to shoot my loads, and when it's time to police up brass, I go where the once fired shooters brass is. ;)
Thanks markm. That sounds like a plan. Now I just have to find components to make a few thousand rounds.
Took a LAV class last year and, at the end of the day, the first guys to start policing brass were two buddies, who were reloaders, that were shooting Wolf steel case all day.
I don't reload yet but plan to in the future and for that reason have been saving brass. Next time I won't let the steel case vultures beat me to the punch.
I don't pick up my brass at classes unless it's a request of the instructor, host, or facility. When my gun spits it out I'm done with it. I have other things I want to be doing through the day, and am happy that someone else will do the work and enjoy the take.
That being said, if brass is your thing... Don't be the guy that stuffs your pockets between drills, while the instructor is talking, or while you need to be doing something else. If others are resting, eating, or hydrating, you should be too. Don't approach it with a sense of entitlement, either. Just because it's left behind doesn't mean it's for you.
Market conditions have created a whole new brand of range clown. Don't be him.
I usually ask the other students. So far no-one has really wanted any but me and a buddy I usually go with.
I don't pick up my brass at classes unless it's a request of the instructor, host, or facility. When my gun spits it out I'm done with it. I have other things I want to be doing through the day, and am happy that someone else will do the work and enjoy the take.
That being said, if brass is your thing... Don't be the guy that stuffs your pockets between drills, while the instructor is talking, or while you need to be doing something else. If others are resting, eating, or hydrating, you should be too. Don't approach it with a sense of entitlement, either. Just because it's left behind doesn't mean it's for you.
Market conditions have created a whole new brand of range clown. Don't be him.
I understand all of that. I wouldn't be that guy as I have to deal with them at USPSA matches. I would wait until the day was over or was told to pick up and would definitely ask the other shooters if they wanted their brass. I would just to get almost what I shot back.
Voodoo_Man
02-18-14, 18:11
So you are that guy?
LOL, kidding.
Totally depends on the place/rules.
One of the reasons why I shoot steel cased ;)
Leaveammoforme
02-18-14, 18:54
I reload & prefer to get my brass back but I'm not gonna look like a fool to get it. Some places remind me of kids busting open a pinata with everybody picking the same three foot patch of ground. In that case I sit back & giggle to myself. I was at a static range once & actually had a SO standing behind me with a bucket catching my empties out of the air. Annoying but I think he was just passing the time with his little game. I try to get a feel for a place before I pick up anything. An argument over who's is who's isnt worth my time. You are in class to learn. Do that first & foremost.
SeriousStudent
02-18-14, 21:04
If you do wish to pick up the brass for reloading, be thoughtful and polite about it. I always bring a big ice chest full of water and Gatorade to class. I'll bring a few spare swag hats, sunblock and Clif bars as well. I have found that politely asking if I can pick up brass after class is universally met with a "No problem, be my guest!"
If you are going to pick it up to resell for scrap brass, then be up front about that as well.
Not looking to resell any of the brass just looking to get some to reload. I like to shoot more then a little money in my pocket.
SeriousStudent
02-18-14, 22:23
Not looking to resell any of the brass just looking to get some to reload. I like to shoot more then a little money in my pocket.
Then I would suggest some good old-fashioned bribery, as I mentioned in my post. ;)
Took a LAV class last year and, at the end of the day, the first guys to start policing brass were two buddies, who were reloaders, that were shooting Wolf steel case all day.
That's fukking lame shit right there.
Yeah... most of my classes have been on the DPS range here where we are REQUIRED to clean the range up. So everyone's picking up brass weather they want it or not. I've never had an issue with brass sharing....
And some classes I've let someone else take the motherload because the idea of processing it all was not appealing.
anachronism
02-19-14, 09:08
Sadly, I can top that. When I took my CCW class, one of the RSOs was picking up peoples brass and stuffing it in her pockets while we were shooting! She would even try to catch brass while it was still in the air. She was laughing and acting silly the whole time. The old bat was in her early 50s too! After the course they handed out flyers with the various classes they were offering. I passed on that.
I took a couple of handgun classes in 2012 that netted me a bunch of 9mm brass. At the end of the first one day course of about 8 students, we all policed our brass, and dumped it into a bucket. I hadn't been reloading long at that point, but when one of the assistant instructors asked if anyone would like to split it with him, and I said yes. I think I ended up with a couple thousand usable pieces. After that, I just asked to split it after clean up with the other reloaders, and we just split it equally among those interested.
Sadly, I can top that. When I took my CCW class, one of the RSOs was picking up peoples brass and stuffing it in her pockets while we were shooting! She would even try to catch brass while it was still in the air. She was laughing and acting silly the whole time. The old bat was in her early 50s too! After the course they handed out flyers with the various classes they were offering. I passed on that.
We had these tweaker dykes trolling through all the ranges at Rio Salado Sportsman's club literally picking up every piece of brass including rimfire.
Pappabear is Highpower certified so we get to use the Highpower range when no events are going on.... these skanks made it over to where we were shooting tried to jack our brass of the ground when we went down range.....
When we got back to the benches, I tried to get a 300 WM round with the muzzle brake blasting sideways at one of these pigs, but she slithered off before I could send it. ROs let them pick up because they effectively cleaned up the range.
I would get rude with them. I wouldn't ever take people's brass as they were shooting. When I pick up brass at the range I wait until everyone is done and leaving. That would drive me insane someone trying to catch my brass to go sell it.
It's funny how the public range brass dried up after the 2013 gun panic. We used to show up to the pubic range first thing in the morning in the summer and grab a bunch of brass. No one had shot yet, so you knew the brass was up for grabs.
After the panic, however, there was almost no brass left on the range..
Don't approach it with a sense of entitlement, either. Just because it's left behind doesn't mean it's for you.
I disagree. If you brought the ammo with you, then you can bring the brass back home with you. There is no entitlement because those brass casings were already yours to begin with.
I disagree. If you brought the ammo with you, then you can bring the brass back home with you. There is no entitlement because those brass casings were already yours to begin with.
I'm sure he's referring to other shooters' brass. That said it's not really practical when everyone wants to leave to make sure that the others don't accidentally pick up your brass. Usually at lunch break, you can grab your own brass since it's not wrap up time.
How do most instructors feel about using a "brass catcher" attachment during class"?
How do most instructors feel about using a "brass catcher" attachment during class"?
Those things suck just shooting slow fire on a bench. Unless that's how your fighting gun is always set up, I see that as a bad idea and a way to anger the other shooters if it starts becoming problematic.
Stuff breaks and goes wrong from time to time in class, and most people roll with it. But when gimmickery, nonsense, and Mini 14s start slowing the class down. People start getting pissed.
Those things suck just shooting slow fire on a bench.
That's an understatement. Although, they are good for inducing malfunctions if a guy wants practice clearing them.
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Those things suck just shooting slow fire on a bench. Unless that's how your fighting gun is always set up, I see that as a bad idea and a way to anger the other shooters if it starts becoming problematic.
Stuff breaks and goes wrong from time to time in class, and most people roll with it. But when gimmickery, nonsense, and Mini 14s start slowing the class down. People start getting pissed.
That's spot on advice, there.
OP, I took some classes at that range, and we policed the range on the last day of the classes. I asked if I could keep what I picked up to be polite, and they didn't mind. They do scrap the brass. It is a "no steel-cased range", but there was still some that wasn't caught.
I have not attended any formal classes yet. But at my range guys often leave a lot of brass behind. So it's free for the taking
thopkins22
02-19-14, 13:59
I'd also ask whomever is representing the range/ownership as well. Nobody other than CSAT(that I'm aware of) teaches at Paul Howe's place, but he used to get the local PD to bring trustees by to pick up the brass for him. Presumably he sold it for scrap. I picked up some of my own while others were reloading magazines, but if you're going for the brass of others you need to keep that in mind. It could have been a gold mine on Sunday after a week long instructor course and weekend class.
They do scrap the brass.
There are some indoor ranges around here that do the same thing and don't allow reloads. I always wondered if I went to their manager with an offer slightly above scrap prices if they would just give it to me. Unfortunately I don't think I could get them to let me just take the 9mm and 5.56x45 brass and I'd wind up with thousands and thousands of .22lr/.40S&W/.45ACP cases mixed in. Probably not worth pursuing vs. just buying once fired online...I just don't want to buy .mil fired cases and get a bunch of cases that were stretched beyond belief being extracted out of a MG.
Years ago before I started loading I had maybe 8K of Federal and Prvi saved up that I gave away to friends. I regret that now.
30 cal slut
02-20-14, 16:43
When I host classes the ranges have a policy of cleaning everything up, including brass and garbage.
I'm a brasstitute in certain places but not others.
But, regardless, the brass has to get picked up. I will bring gloves, 5 gal buckets, and a magnetic pick up tool from Harbor Freight to pick up steel too.
Ive got an "ammo up" brass picker upper at the property I am allowed to shoot on(they guy HATES stray brass as he says it "damages" his mower blades, which I doubt, but im not going to argue). I took it to a few classes I took and periodically somebody just pushed it around and it picked up about 90% of the brass. Doesnt work well in deep grass or uneven terrain, but gravel and concrete it works great as well as short cut grass. At the end of the day the guys that wanted brass we just split up what was collected.
My range dislikes shooting on the grass because of the mower. I was at the range on range clean up day when the mower hit some live .22 rounds that someone dropped.
They went off and scared the grounds keeper. So needless to say they definitely like for people to police the brass. Especially on the grass
30 cal slut
02-21-14, 09:05
Live rounds will go "pop" when hit by a mower blade.
Mowing guys hate that.
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