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Old February 1, 2001, 10:32 PM   #1
taco
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Do you guys buy brass or just pick them up at the range? I have been reloading for about 15 years and I have never had to buy brass (I did trade 2 packs of Marlboro for 500 pieces of "well used" 45ACP brass to get started). There are 3 outdoor shooting areas (rock pits) within 30 minutes from my house and on first Monday afternoon of each month I go visit each one to pickup brass. Some of the brass I pickup is not usable but most are good brass. Right now I have collected brass from about 30 different calibers and have enough brass in my garage to fill almost 2 55 gal drums (about half are 45ACP, 40 S&W, 9mm and 38 Special). Last summer I found almost 200 once shot Federal Match brass in one little area. I also pickup a lot of once shot Weatherby caliber brass, 458Win, 416Rem Mag and other valuable brass which I sell to a local reloading house or trade for cast bullets. Call me cheap but I can not see spending money to buy brass. How do you get your brass?
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Old February 1, 2001, 11:17 PM   #2
Mike Irwin
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Yes to all of the above.

I buy new ammo and reload the brass.

I pick brass up at the range, or from shooters I know who don't want it.

When NRA was moving a few years ago, I liberated 2,000 assorted .38 & .357 casings from our technical test range.

I've recently purchased 250 .45 ACP cases (new) as I really just got into that caliber, and wanted a good stock of brass on hand (I wasn't generating it quickly enough by shooting new ammo).

I also bought 100 .45 Auto Rim cases. You don't find those that the range too often.

I also bought 250 new, unprimed .41 Mag. cases. I was going broke buying Remington 210-gr. JSP at $25 a box.
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Old February 2, 2001, 12:38 AM   #3
ArmySon
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When I first started, I bought brass. Since then, I just pick em up at the range. It's funny because I make a pretty good salary. Yet, I won't hesistate for one second to pick up ONE casing
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Old February 2, 2001, 01:29 AM   #4
Mike Irwin
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Cripes, Son, I just saw that you and I registered on the same day!

Interesting.
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Old February 2, 2001, 01:41 AM   #5
Archie
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I fell into a deal and bought 10,000 .40S&W cases for $150. They were once used police range brass.

I scrounged many, many 9x19 cases from the department range. Same for .45 ACP, .357 Magnum and .38 Special before the agency got "enlightened" and settled on an "issue" caliber. All once fired, as the agency insisted on factory ammo. (Goody for me!)

I purchase my rifle brass. Too many rifles have odd headspace, or questionable loads. (Mine are...) Military brass has that dadgum primer crimp. It's a pain.

Good luck and good things to all who choose for themselves.
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Old February 2, 2001, 09:43 AM   #6
ChrisW
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I tend to buy my brass new. That way I know how many times it is getting used and it has the potential of being more consistent since it is from the same lot and manufacturer. I don't trust picking it up because you don't know how many times it has been loaded. I make safety my FIRST priority above saving a little money on used brass.

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Old February 2, 2001, 11:12 AM   #7
Ala Dan
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Taco, I pick up all available range brass from my local P.D. range. I also purchase once fired brass from Scharch Manufacturing Co. in Colorado. They seem to have about
the best price's around.

Regards,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member
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Old February 2, 2001, 12:14 PM   #8
Poodleshooter
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I bought some 30/30 brass awhile back. First brass I've bought in about 5 years. I usually wait for the local PD to go full auto at my local club, wait till they leave,then saunter over, drop down and scrounge all of their nice newly fired Remington .223 brass. They don't "police" it, so i do
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Old February 2, 2001, 12:47 PM   #9
Bogie
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For .223 brass, I've been spoiled into buying it from River Valley Ordnance (rvow.com). It's once-fired military, cleaned, decrimped, sized, and trimmed to length. All I've gotta do is chamfer and deburr, prime, and load... I've got boxes and boxes of .223 that I need to get around to trimming...

My .308 brass is all Lapua, and all from the same lot. My .22-250 has a few hundred pieces of Winchester, sorted by weight, and ditto for the .243.

The bench guns get match prepped .220 Russain from Lapua, either necked up to 6PPC or shortened for the .22 Waldog before being blown out in fireforming.

I do scrounge .38, .357, and .45, along with anything a buddy needs...

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Old February 2, 2001, 02:41 PM   #10
jtduncan
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I have NEVER bought brass until now. I can always find once fired 9mm, .40 SW, and .45 ACP.

But for more exotic rounds like the 10mm auto, you may have to buy. In about 4 weeks at an outdoor and an indoor range, I only collected a box of 50 cases of 10mm.

You have to buy 10mm cases if you want to have an ample supply to reload.

And at $15-$20 a box, I am not going to buy a case, shoot them, then reload.

If you've got all of that brass, check out Andrea at Georgia Arms. They will give you up to $35 for 1,000 cases of 45, 357 sig, and so forth. Only $15 credit for 9mm and .40 SW cases.

I sent them almost 32 lbs of 9mm, 45 ACP, and 357 Mag brass and got a $90 credit which I quickly applied towards the purchase of 2,000 cases of once fired and cleaned 10mm brass. I can always get more 9mm and 45 brass.

So think about that. I'm getting my 10mm brass at $30 a 1,000. Can't beat that.

I can reload my 10mm for 50 rounds for under $6 compared to buying it for $15 a box. So I can reload 2,000 rounds and save $60 compared to buying it factory.

I'm stoked!!!!!
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Old February 2, 2001, 08:24 PM   #11
handgunhunting
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I just got a used 44 mag. contender barrel. Now i make a trip to the only local range to find some brass, but i have had no luck out of 5 trips i found only 1 stinking 44 mag. case. if anyone can put their hands on some 44 mag and maybe some 44 special brass they have found please drop me an email. [email protected]
I have some 30 herrette brass, 30-30 bass, 9 mm brass , 20 new nickle rem. 444 marlin brass, 7 tcu brass <not range brass>
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Old February 2, 2001, 10:26 PM   #12
MIKE14
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I've been buying once fired Remington,Winchester and some Black Hills Match for 5.00 per hundred at a local gunshop boxes and all. good stuff. Now I got to get up off my butt and load some of it.
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Old February 3, 2001, 06:12 AM   #13
kjm
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I get my .40 brass from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. When they go out and qualify, they tend to fill a five-gallon bucket of the stuff. I can be sure that it was all fired from the same type of gun (Walther/S&W P99)- no Glocks, and is all the same brand (Winchester) and no reloads. It helps to know someone in a department like that.
I picked up all my .30 caliber brass from my father who picked it up for 15 years in the Army and never got into reloading. I have barrels of the stuff now, but little of it is actually usable. I'm interested in a place I can sell the brass or exchange it for serviceable stuff.
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Old February 3, 2001, 07:46 AM   #14
Don Gwinn
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I wish. I shoot at a local indoor range with electric return targets and a barrier. I'm allowed to pick up my own brass but nothing else, and of course, whatever goes in front of the barrier is gone. So I'm slowly depleting my supply of .45 cases. In another two months, however, it will be signup time at a local outdoor place and I'll be doing that (a Christmas present from my parents, bless their lil' hearts.) Then I plan on scrounging.
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Old February 3, 2001, 08:42 AM   #15
Hal
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Mostly I buy either unfired brass, or inexpensive reloadable factory ammo. If there's some pristine looking brass laying around an empty range, and it's in a caliber I load for, I'll pick it up if I'm allowed. Usually the stuff I see laying around is in such bad shape, the junkyard would charge me for disposal of it. Well, not really, but it seems that way.

To me, the cost of brass isn't a major factor. YMMV. I've given a lot of brass away in calibers I didn't reload for at the time. In exchange, I've gotten to shoot a few guns I wouldn't have otherwise had the chance to shoot.

I did manage to "score" 5 fired .50AE cases which are awfully impressive.
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Old February 3, 2001, 05:07 PM   #16
Monkeyleg
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There's just too many brass hounds at my range, so picking it up isn't an option. For practicing point-shooting at close range I buy American Eagle, the use those cases for my reloads.

Dick
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Old February 3, 2001, 10:59 PM   #17
Martowski
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My range is my farm and, since I'm the only person shooting there, I tend to only have access to brass that I've brought myself.
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Old February 5, 2001, 01:15 AM   #18
The Maz
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Every chance I get. I've had good luck finding auto pistol cases (9mm, .40, .45), as it seems that most people shooting those don't care to pick them up. I also find a whole bunch of steel-cased 7.62 X 39's and leave them right where they are as they are useless for reloading. Generally I'll pick up any boxer-primed brass case I find and leave the berdan stuff there.

I don't always go home with as many .45 cases as I went to the range with - usually I have many more! So much for losing brass from an auto...
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