Shooting Ranges?

**Mechanic688** · 06-13-2012, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by themadhabber

Sorry to bring up an oldish thread. I live out in the country and there's a lot of backyard woods 'shooting' ranges if you'd call them that here, literally littered with shotgun casings, rifle rounds etc.
Just got back from one yesterday, got a whole shopping back full of shotgun shells. Thought some of them were brass but I guess they're just brass-coated? Not sure what they're made out of. They're still magnetic. But I got a few copper/brass rifle rounds that are good.
I tried cutting the shells off to just get the metal but there's always a bit of plastic left inside. Not too sure what to organize these metal ends as?

Dirty brass,,,??

**koool206** · 06-15-2012, 06:41 PM

yea i would love to get into that...

**charn** · 06-15-2012, 08:59 PM

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck has a scrapping idea: put antlers on some bags of sand or anything that might look like a deer to hunters. At the end of hunting season, collect the bullets. The book might have more scrapping ideas. Probably all of Steinbeck's books are worth another look from a scrapping perspective.

**huntsman** · 06-27-2012, 10:37 AM

Lead does go high from time to time. I have collected numerous big lead sinkers from fishing areas. I bet you could get lots of lead out of the earth back stops of old or abandoned ranges.

**mrbillbus** · 06-27-2012, 12:34 PM

Some of the guys on this site do it all the time:

Range Mining Technique - Cast Boolits

The ones that don't are willing to pay as much as $1 a pound shipped for what others dig up. They will buy just about any kind of lead alloy suitable for casting into boolits.

Poke around the site. There is plenty to learn about sources for lead.

Bill

**gustavus** · 06-27-2012, 03:28 PM

During WWII the USA had a military installation up North, one of the small Islands used for maneuvers has tons of discarded shell casings, problem is you can only access by air or ice roads and dog sledge by the time you reach the Island everything will be covered with 6 ft of snow.

If you did choose to fly in,your going to spend a lot of time digging, over the years the wind has swept the sand around burying this lost treasure. Depending on which way the winds blow some years the brass scrap maybe fully exposed while other years buried in the sand.

I have the perfect metal detector to loan should anyone be foolish enough to partake in this expedition.

**Mechanic688** · 06-28-2012, 01:16 AM

What is a boolit ??

**msearl3244** · 06-28-2012, 07:27 AM

My Dad goes shooting almost every nice day he can. He shoots at several private ranges. He is 74 years old. He has been gathering shell casings for a long time. Last week he sold $1500.00 in brass. I was blown away. He said that everyone at the ranges knows he collects the casings now and kicks them into a pile for him. 2 of the ranges have buckets set out for him now also. He stared doing it just to reload shells for himself, but now just gathers all of the brass he can find. He is retired and it certainly helps support his shooting hobby. Another thing he likes is that he says it keeps him flexible by bending down and gathering the casing. I know he can sell them in his area around Moline, IL.

**bigjoshl** · 06-28-2012, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

What is a boolit ??

Hey mechanic, the cast bullet shooters call cast projectiles boolits, mostly I believe just to set them apart, kind of an elitism thing . I cast a little here and there but I think if it comes out of the barrel it's a bullet.

**Bamcis** · 06-28-2012, 09:53 PM

I know I'm a little late on this thread, but I've pondered this idea myself. I have a membership to my local shooting range and the annual fee is only 35 bucks. I checked with the local business that sells the memberships and it turns out that there are no rules against picking up spent brass from the premises. In fact, there are several people who do it. My local scrap yard currently pays 90 cents a pound for brass from ammunition, so I'm seriously contemplating going out there on a Monday afternoon with a five gallon bucket to pick up all the brass left over from people shooting the previous weekend. I figure at the very least I could recoup the money I spent on the annual fee. Also, I can take some types of brass to a guy at the gun store I go to and in exchange get free ammunition on top of that which I already buy. It's a win-win situation.

**huntsman** · 07-02-2012, 10:28 AM

Here is a real idea for a man who wants to get into shooting range lead scrap: "Dry Washing." It is a process invented for desert gold mining. Dry Washers for Gold

**mrbillbus** · 07-02-2012, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by bigjoshl

Hey mechanic, the cast bullet shooters call cast projectiles boolits, mostly I believe just to set them apart, kind of an elitism thing . I cast a little here and there but I think if it comes out of the barrel it's a bullet.

Not really elitist, just a fun way to distinguish between home cast projectiles and store bought jacketed slugs.

Bill

**BRASSCATCHER** · 07-02-2012, 12:12 PM

Bullet or boolit as long as it hits what it's aimed at and drops it in its tracks.

**Bamcis** · 07-02-2012, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by huntsman

Here is a real idea for a man who wants to get into shooting range lead scrap: "Dry Washing." It is a process invented for desert gold mining. Dry Washers for Gold

Haha... I imagine if I take one of those things to my range and start tearing down the berms to feed it, I might just get shot...I'll just stick to picking up used brass off the ground for now.

**arnofarrell** · 07-11-2012, 04:36 PM

For a long time I have been shooting and I have a five gallon bucket full of brass. I have alot of shotgun shells laying around my property since I live in the country. All my buddies like to shoot here. I have always taken the shells and burned them with my garbage then I collect all the metal from shells since I dont reload or now anyone that does. I just throw the ends in the shed bin. I might just try and sell them online from now on.