[kevinh]

I know there are plenty of people that don't agree with using brass picked up off the range. I'm one of those. But, here's my question. I shoot alot of handgun loads at the range and there are tons of brass everywhere. I don't shoot competition. What would be the downside of me reloading picked up brass just for hording? Just for "the end times" scenario. If I cleaned, inspected, culled the bad and reloaded these cases, what would be bad about that.

I'm just searching for answers to questions and truly don't know which way to go with this. Your opinion is appreciated.

And, don't start throwing rocks at each other because of differing opinions.

thanks,

kevin

 

[aa1911]

what's wrong with range brass? It's about all I ever use!

rifle I get a bit picky but pistol I will scrounge everything. probably 99% of my brass came off the floor of an indoor range.

been loading and shooting it for over 15 years with only a handful of cracked cases.

 

[kevinh]

And see, aa, all I ever hear is NOT to use range brass. Reasons from you don't know how many times they've been fired to don't use brass from different manufacturers in the same batch. Maybe because I'm not competition shooting and that's the group that doesn't support picked up brass.

 

[312shooter]

I have no problems picking up range brass, clean and inspect thoroughly no problems. There are some exceptions that require special attention such as .40 which require debulging.

 

[medalguy]

As long as you inspect the brass, and you're not doing olympic quality shooting, there's absolutely no reason why you can't use range brass. The majority of my pistol brass is mixed range brass. Just be sure there are no really bad bulges and splits, then load it up.

 

[steve4102]

Range brass is fine as long as you inspect it, hell "once fired" brass sold for big $$ on-line is still nothing but range brass.

Some of the older generation Glocks were unsupported and hard on brass. If Glock brass is a concern to you it can be easily identified by the firing pin strike.

http://www.google.com/url?source=im...AsQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNFSQbjaMDNPT_6GwRY26yqZPsLWyg

 

[Packrat76]

I pickup mostly RP once fired brass in .308, 9mm, .38special, .30-06'. Since the ammo buyout, range brass out in Oregon is getting mighty scarce. I too have heard the warning of using this brass and inspect all cases for any problems. In 36yrs I have found some really good stuff.

 

[rcairflr]

I know there are plenty of people that don't agree with using brass picked up off the range. I'm one of those. ,

kevin

I guess I'm another one you disagree with, since almost all my .223 brass is range brass. Works good for me and the price is right.

 

[jlloyd73]

IMO you had better get what you can while you can.........clean it up and look it over.

 

[kevinh]

Thanks for the input. Maybe I should reconsider...

kevin

 

[kevinh]

Steve4120, I have a new Taurus .40 and I've noticed that the strike on the primer looks similar to that of the 9mm Glock. Not round, but more oblong.

 

[carver]

Thanks for the input. Maybe I should reconsider...

kevin

If you buy new brass, load it up and shoot it, do you throw it away because it's been used? If I can reload it, I'll shoot it! It doesn't matter how many times it's been loaded so long as there are no cracks, splits, bulges, or dings that the resizing die can't work out.

 

[gun-nut]

I use it! Works just fine. Clean and inspect! If you run a 45 acp sort the small and large primed cases.

 

[LDBennett]

With pistol range brass a simple inspection will show you whether it is heavily used or just once fired. If you see a guy or gal come to the range with new ammo and leaves the brass on the ground or bench then scoop it up. But.....

Be aware that there are steel and aluminum cased ammo out there that you can not reload. Also some ammo uses Berdan primers that are hard to remove (need special tools to pry them out of the cases) and are hard to find as new primers. Also don't reuse any bulged brass from semi-auto's with insufficient support over the feed ramp. Blown out brass may be unsafe.

With rifle brass it may be the unseen that makes the brass unsafe. It is possible that the primer pockets are enlarged from excessive reloading and/or excessive pressures. The brass could be out of a gun with excessive head space and badly stretched. I would use range rifle brass if it looks to be once fired or I observed it as being new, fired, and left on the range. But I would inspect every case. My son-in-law buys surplus loaded ammo (new ex-military). If it is not Berdan primed and not too beat up I salvage it and reload it. The Greek ammo as sold by CMP is excellent for reloading. But in general, rifle range brass is more risky to reload. Some guns like the Hakim literally rip at the the rim making it entirely unusable for reloading. H&K rifles can also be hard on brass. Guns with gas adjustment adjusted wrong can be very hard on brass (extractor attempts to pull the case out of the chamber when the gas pressure is too high and the case grabs at the chamber walls too hard, stretching and distorting the case and rim).

LDBennett

 

[DixieLandMan]

I've reloaded some of my brass several times for the pistols and never had any problems. Of course I inspect each case when I deprime them. Any cracks or anythign that looks wrong or different, I toss into the recycle buckets. As far as rifle rounds go, we pick up whatever we can (after we shoot) and load the cases that have no defects. Any doubts, they go to the recycle bucket.

 

[al45lc]

Several hundred rounds of the brass I'm processing came form my club range, which is used by local LEO's for training, practice and quals.
All once fired stuff in great shape, .45, .40 and 5.56.
I'd be foolish to pass it up.

 

[gdmoody]

If I am the first one there, the first thing I do when I get to the range is search the ground to pick up any brass that I see.

 

[Bindernut]

Yup, I use a lot of range pickup brass too. Mostly just for my range/plinking ammo.
As others have stated, you need to do the job of inspecting them but it's not that much harder than inspecting brand new brass. (I've been seeing more and more boo-boos in new brass too, regardless of brand.)

About the only ones that I haven't used for reloading yet are the Glock .40s...many of the local law enforcement guys are shooting that combo. I'm still saving them though. I must have two 5qt pails full of that stuff by now. If I ever do need a big stock of .40 brass, I just need to invest in one of the bulge buster setups.


Just to keep our local public range clean I pick up the steel and aluminum stuff too. It goes straight into the recycle buckets.

 

[JohnTheCalifornian]

I pick up whatever brass I find too. saves me money down the road. The more I find, the more I save.

Sometimes I spend more time looking/picking up brass than I do shooting!

 

[stev32k]

Most of the time no one knows if brass has once fired or ten times fired. I bought 150 lb of unsorted brass from an indoor pistol range and a lot of it has obviously been fired more that once. I can tell because some of it has finger nail polish around the primer pocket.

So far I have looked at several thousand cases and have not found even one that was cracked or split. The range is used by several local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies so I feel sure that the vast majority of the brass is once fired. However, there are a lot of guys like me that reload and shoot there so some of it is fired many times.