Gathering your brass from a semi auto

[iScream]

Hi Folks,

I've been lurking in here for a short while now and I think I may give reloading a try before too long. I went to the range yesterday and put about 150 rounds through my CZ 75B, paying attention for the first time to where my cases flew. I had thought about picking up my brass to get a collection started but the range was so packed and my brass so scattered that I didn't bring a single case home with me.

What do you guys do to collect brass from your semis? Just chase it down wherever it may be? This particular range doesn't have well defined lanes, there is just a long bench where everyone stands to shoot at targets stapled to backboards 15 yards away. It would have been a lot easier to pick up the 100 or so 45 ACP cases the guy beside me left there than my own 9MM.

This, and what I read yesterday about 9MM pressures changing easily since there is so little room between the bullet and the powder, has me thinking about picking up a nice little 357 revolver. That way I can try my hand on 38 Special reloading the first time.

When I told my wife I may have to buy a new gun so I can reload she just smiled and rolled her eyes. I will choose to interpret that as enthusiastic approval.

Any thoughts or advice come to mind after reading the ramblings above?

-Chris

PS - I bought a Hornady reloading manual yesterday at Cabelas and I've already read the first 90 pages once then started going through it again. I'm thinking that I'll probably start with a turret press, like maybe the T7.

[DiscoRacing]

i have a friend a mine that has a mini 14... he shoots alot and never tries to save the brass.... guess hes not at all worried about what they cost to replace since he always buys news ammo... i started taking a 10ft by 12ft tarp when he comes shooting with us and i tie it up vertical on the posts right of where he is benching... he lets me keep the brass for nothing so this became an interest of mine... out of 100 rds that he shoots i usually end up losing 3-5 of them per day.

[hoytinak]

The only one's I don't collect my brass from is the .380's and .32's (I don't reload these rounds) and the Mini-14 as it throws the brass about a mile away it seems.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

midway sells brass catchers that attach to your semi-auto. Check it out. And Welcome to TFL. Get ready to get addicted to reloading...

[RickV]

There are a few things you can do. When I started reloading I was only doing 40SW and bought 2000 rounds of brass from here: http://oncefiredbrass.net/
It was cleaned and polished and price was great. I am also loading 9mm now and planning to do 38spl. I have collected a lot of brass from the range 9mm, 40SW and 38spl. I have collected enough 9mm (about 800 rounds) and 38spl (about 400 rounds) that I did not have to buy any.

I am currently in the process of putting together a brass catcher. I have a Halogen light stand that telescopes and picked up a round collapsable hamper from Wally World for I think about $6 yesterday. I am going to make a quick connect adaptor and attach the hamper to the frame and use it to catch the majority of the brass I shoot. Saves having to bend over or crawl around looking for it.

[CrustyFN]

I'm lucky. I belong to and shoot at a private range. I pick up all the brass I can find after I shoot. I pick up a lot of brass after an IDPA match, GSSF match or other match I shoot at. A private club with their own range is the way to go. The public ranges around here are State owned and unsupervised and are very scary to shoot at most of the time.
Rusty

[RickV]

I'm lucky. I belong to and shoot at a private range. I pick up all the brass I can find after I shoot. I pick up a lot of brass after an IDPA match, GSSF match or other match I shoot at. A private club with their own range is the way to go. The public ranges around here are State owned and unsupervised and are very scary to shoot at most of the time.
Rusty

Same here, the range I go to is private and outside with a wide concrete slab. I pickup a lot and then dumpster dip from the "Brass Only Bucket" that the members who actually cleanup after themselves place in there. Sometimes it will be in a box that is all the same cal . The free range in the National Forest is like a Zoo the walls are all shot up and I have seen guys drinking there (not on the line but still.....).

[Sevens]

Advice from a guy who has been shooting and chucking brass and gathering it up for 20+ years: No easy way.

Best thing you can do is a private range where you can take your time gathering up what is yours. Of course, we'd all have our own private range if we could, that goes without saying. Brass catchers have rarely been perfected. There are some that clip on to the firearm, and some that clip on to your hand. Then there are contraptions that you try and set up which ends up being quite the adventure and hassle and again, you practically need a private range to set up your contraption.

One guy posted about buying a govt issue parachute from an Army Surplus store for about $50. It's huge and packs small and light so he can place it down on his private range and all the brass lands on it no matter where it gets shucked because its.... huge. But again, you need a private range.

I have a brass catcher that is a plastic frame and light mesh and it attaches to my right hand for handgun shooting.
Pro:
--Durable, I've had it for a dozen years at least and haven't broken it
--Works, mostly, it catches most of the brass and at least deflects the ones it doesn't catch so that it drops at my feet

Con:
--It looks retarded and shows the whole world that I'm a cheap bastarrd. At least I'm not conning anyone.
--It ruins my shooting... not the brass catcher so much (I'm used to that) but wondering where my brass is does mess with my concentration. 9mm, not much... 10mm, a whole damn flying heap. That brass is valuable and scarce.
--Sometimes it deflect hot brass and makes it land on my shooting hand. That messes with my shooting, too.

Even so, I still use it. Especially when I shoot 10mm and when I shoot at any public range.

Seriously though, you already nailed you very best answer: .357 Mag revolver and .38 Special handloads. This is such a very, very good idea. IMO, there's no better cartridge for reloading for a beginner than .38 Special, for so many reasons. It's low-cost, bullet choices are tremendous, cast bullets are a fine option, there's no concern with regard to feeding or whether it's powerful enough a load to operate the slide, light loads don't even need much of a crimp. .38 can be loaded for peanuts and if you are building them for a .357 Mag revolver, you've got a tremendous built-in safeguard for a rookie foul up because a .357 Mag can handle nearly twice the pressure of mild .38 Spl. The caliber is inherently accurate and the platform is so versatile that no other handgun can match it. Powder puff wadcutter rounds that recoil like a .22LR all the way up to 180 or 200 grain .357 mag thunderballs that can rattle pictures off the wall back inside the lodge, all from the same handgun.

Get yourself a Ruger GP100 or S&W L-frame (more money) and you'll be one happy new reloader.

[jwoodhall]

Someone just gave me a good idea the other day. If the range isn't packed with other shooters, shoot your first few rounds and see where they land and then lay out a small bed sheet in that area. I haven't tried it yet, but seems logical enough.

[Ruger4570]

For what it is worth. I sometimes use a cardboard box maybe 18" x 24" or so. I put it along side of the guns ejection port where it is not in my way and it will deflect shells into it or at best/worst, nearby for easy pickup.

[FrankenMauser]

I haven't been to a public/private range in quite a while now. (5-6 years maybe) However, when my family was still shooting at our prefered range, we would simply let it be known that our brass was getting picked up. We wouldn't create an unsafe environment by bugging other shooters while we picked it up.... but that brass was coming home. Quite often, the other shooters would offer their brass for free, when we told them we may be behind them, or around them to pick our cases up. (At this particular range, it was actually best to pick up brass while the line was active, and other shooters were firing... at least the brass that was behind the firing line.)

One way we tried to keep people from having a chance at arguing over brass, and claiming ours (it happened a few times); was to try using uncommon or less-common headstamps. For example: in 9mm, we shot a lot of R-P brass, since 90% of what you see is Win.

Sometimes, we wen't the other way, too. If we knew there was a chance we would have to surrender a portion of the brass, or deem it unrecoverable... We would take ammo loaded in headstamps we didn't really want to keep. CCI, A-Merc, misc surplus, FC NT, etc... That way, if it hit the ground, it was trash. If we had the chance to pick it up; it was just another free reload on something we already considered a loss.

[Sevens]

I hear ya, but A-Merc doesn't get a chance to exit my firearms to get trashed. Rather, it never makes it past the inspection stage in my man cave.

I've run a few dozen pieces of that crap through my tumbler, but as soon as I see it, it flys in to the scrap metal collection box.

There truly is no worse brass than A-Merc.

[Casimer]

I use a free standing brass catcher - i.e. a net attached to what looks like a miniature football goal. You can buy these, or make one.

[FrankenMauser]

I hear ya, but A-Merc doesn't get a chance to exit my firearms to get trashed. Rather, it never makes it past the inspection stage in my man cave.

Same here for most A-Merc. However, after seeing quite a bit of it, I started just being careful while depriming it. If the primer pocket feels loose, or I sense an off-center flash hole; I chuck it. But, if things go relatively well... I'll save them for the "Don't pick it up again" loads. I still agree, it is absolutely the worst brass one can attempt to reload. (Or even put through their weapon to begin with.)

iScream- I forgot to address it with my earlier post. I think choosing to reload .38 Special / .357 Mag before 9mm would be an excellent idea. As everyone else pointed out; it is an amazingly forgiving cartridge. (Not that anyone wants to make a mistake to begin with.)

[jjohnson]

When I told my wife I may have to buy a new gun so I can reload she just smiled and rolled her eyes. I will choose to interpret that as enthusiastic approval.

Welcome home, Son, you are one of us for sure.

[iScream]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback and the welcome.

After reading more I'm thinking about the Lee Classic Turret rather than the T7 but who knows what I'll do in the end. I stopped by Basspro on my way home from work today and fondled a stainless S&W 686 Plus. I have a stainless 617 with the 10 round cylinder already and I like it a lot, so I think it may get a brother before too long. I'm trying to decide if I want a 4" or 6" barrel though. My 617 is 6" but when I held a 4" and 6" side by side the 4 incher sure felt more balanced.

I'll probably go ahead and get the gun so I can shoot it for a while with factory ammo and collect some cases. Maybe it will be easier to find primers and stuff in bulk by then too.

-Chris

[NuJudge]

I'm sure I'll catch some raspberries for that.

CDD

[amamnn]

I try to shoot at whichever end of the range will have a wall to stop my brass from flying away. I am left handed with some REAL left handed guns, so the end varies. I shoot 2 ARs that throw brass differently. One throws forward--there are add on deflectors to cure that, and one throws backward, as it has a built in deflector. All my handguns throw out and back. Since I got rid of my mini-14 I don't have an unpredictable brass loser. I also do not shoot at public ranges; the nuts at the private clubs scare me enough.

[aerod1]

iScream,

Where are you located in the DFW area? I am in Garland. I use and love the Lee Classic Turret. I think it is a great press for the money. I usually shoot at "Garland Public Shooting Range" or "Gibson's Outpost" in Mesquite, if I am shooting FMJ.

[Sevens]

amamnn, you have a Randall Portsider?!

I have 3 double action S&W revolvers. Each of them has a 6-inch barrel.
IMO, only the 6-inch really looks correct. But you are right-- the 4" balances very, very nice. Especially in a 686 with that massive underlug. I have a 686 also. I still think it looks better in 6-inch, but I would likely enjoy shooting a 4-inch a bit more.

I have no regrets, but if I were buying a new revolver for the range tomorrow, I'd look pretty hard at 4. And I can't imagine there's any chance that Bass Pro has your best price on a new S&W revolver. Gotta be a better place than Bass Pro.

[Sevens]

Same here for most A-Merc. However, after seeing quite a bit of it, I started just being careful while depriming it. If the primer pocket feels loose, or I sense an off-center flash hole; I chuck it.

=rant mode on=
This sounds so ridiculous, some may think I'm making it up.
I'm not making it up, that's why it's A-Merc, that's why it's ridiculous.

A friend of a friend gave me some boxes of .44 Mag brass since he's not a reloader and he knows how I scrounge brass. I just got a .44 Mag barrel for my Contender and was getting ready to reload .44 for the first time.

Obviously, a Contender chamber is likely to be a somewhat "fine" chamber, I would imagine, in comparison to, perhaps, some revolvers. Not all, and I'm not trying to come off like a snob, but in reality, it's a pretty tight platform in any cartridge. It's not built as a repeating firearm and doesn't have to have a bunch of moving parts and handle it's ammo, so the tolerances are pretty nice with a Contender in any caliber.

Well, I loaded a round of A-Merc that I couldn't chamber in my Contender. And it wasn't a sizing problem if you can believe it. Forget all the horribly (laughably) off-center flash holes that look as if Stevie Wonder was running the punch that day, but this particular piece of brass had a rim that was too thick. Like, too tall. Like, the round chambered but I couldn't close the action on the pistol. As in, I pulled the bullet, dumped the powder, carefully re-sized it again to remove the live primer, and then tried to chamber the empty, unprimed, once-fired and twice re-sized piece of brass and I couldn't do it. This wasn't a case length or COAL issue -- morbid curiosity made me file down the head of the brass with sandpaper just to prove to myself that it was this fat head that made this particular piece out-of-spec.

If there's a problem that you can conjure with a piece of brass, A-MERC has done it, probably often.

Problem I have with it getting near any of my firearms is that the job of brass is to contain the big chemical reaction that's happening to make it all work. I have no place in my firearm collection and no willingness to risk my health to that stuff for any reason. I won't make dummy rounds out of it, because each piece can be totally different from the last.

I had heard and read about A-MERC before I got two boxes of the trash, but I figured I'd give anything a chance, since I'm a frugal cheap-ass, like so many of us in this hobby. I guess I had to see for myself. Now, I rant about it whenever it's appropriate in hopes of saving someone a little time. Or, maybe giving someone enough energy to look over there brass to see if they have any of it, and it needs to be culled out.

Wanna some wildcat ammo? Just grab some A-MERC brass. There's no telling what caliber you'll end up with. It'll likely be similar to whatever you read on the headstamp. Hell, it's so bad that I'm surprised they don't misspell the caliber on the headstamp... it's like the only thing they haven't screwed up. I think?!
=end rant=

[JAYBIRD78]

and then dumpster dip from the "Brass Only Bucket"

TOO FUNNY, I do the same. I almost feel ashamed doing it.

Two weeks ago I invited a few guys from work to go to "my" private club and they asked what it would cost them to shoot that night. My reply was, " YOUR EMPTY BRASS!" (Neither reload in my defense) And before anyone calls me a cheap son-of-a-gun. I gave one of them my last 2hours of free range time at the local indoor gun shop range.

I have had good luck with a 10'x10' cloth tarp on the ground and I have seen where shooters will mark the bottom of the shell with different colors of sharpie pen to distinguish who's brass is who's.

[woodysan]

Do not be afraid of a Lee press,they are cost effective and work very well. Good Luck, Woody

[BigJimP]

I shoot at a busy indoor range all the time / although I try to go over there when its not insanely busy - but for the most part, I just pick up whatever brass is in my "area" of the range.

Other shooters are pretty understanding - if you mention you'd like to save your brass - the guys beside you will problably kick it aside / sweep it up in a pile for you / just take your share - and leave the rest for them, if they want it. If they don't want it - take it all. I usually just politely ask if they're saving their brass - and a lot of them just say no. If you pick up a few gallon bags of .45 acp or something you don't want / ask your buddies to save the 9mm or whatever you need - and trade it with you.

I don't think loading a 9mm is particularly dangerous or anything - it takes attention to detail on any reloading - .38 spl / .357 mag etc - but I've loaded 9mm for years.

[iScream]

Where are you located in the DFW area?

I'm about 5 miles or so north of Grapevine Lake. The outdoor range I mentioned above is called Quail Creek and is over by the speedway. I've gone to the indoor range at Basspro in Grapevine a few times lately too.

I used to shoot 5-stand and sporting clays at Elm Fork, which is close to where I work, but haven't been for months. When the price of shells went up so much about a year ago I started losing interest in it. I still have almost 3 full flats of 1 oz #8 12 gauge shells I bought for $32 a flat.

I haven't tried the pistol range at Elm Fork yet.

-Chris