Is there a easy way to pick up casings?

TheGamerXxX

TheGamerXxX

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Alright... Everytime I go to the local range I always see thousands and thousands of spent casings all over the place (not on concrete but grass and dirt).

And I say to myself that could be quite a bit of money just laying around... so to both clean up the place and make some cash or whatnot, is there a good easy way to pick up casings? I dont think there's any magnetism in them so a magnet won't do it.

Also can you buy some sort of a 'sorter' for the empty brass?

I have shot .40 and will shoot .45 soon so reloading my own would probably be the best so the more I can scrounge up the easier it'll be for me.

Any hints/suggestions?

Luke
 
I've been considering doing the same thing. .303, 8mm mauser to name a few. The club probably doesn't mind either I'd guess. Unless someone on the board likes to filter through it:p As for sorting, I think you're out of luck. The only possible thing I can think of would be like the change sorters with sized holes in them. They shake and one size falls through, the larger stays. Maybe make one out of plywood and fit it to a shaker table?
 
A coffee can with a long handle attached and some of those long handled picker uppers the parks people or old folks use to pick up stuff. You need the kind that have two small suction cups as the fingers, with them you can pickup a dime of off a floor (I used to work for a cities parks department and did some cleanup).You pickup with the picker uppers and place in the can, no bending over , when the can gets full , dump in bigger container. I have seen trap shooters pick up "cases" with a large magnet on a handle, the bases of some cases are steel , some are brass colored steel and some are aluminium or brass (they don't get picked up this way).
 
As with most other ranges it is a problem with our range as well. All over the grounds out side the fire line is covered with .22 and steel 7.62x39 mm . The range actually went out and bought a magnet sweeper to pick up the steel, and still people don't pick it up.I personally have begun to shoot off a 30' by 50' tarp. It works perfect. When I am finished shooting, just pick up the corners and move all the casings to the middle where you can sort and dispose of the .22 and save everything else for reloading:D. It rolls up fairly small into an 8" X 8" box two feet long.Thats my way of shooting and not leaving my spent cases all over the place. And it saves time when looking for all your cases. It is a win win situation for me.
 
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Lawn Vacuum
 
How about a shovel and a bucket mounted rotary media separator. It would work if have a fine sand like dirt on your range.
For grass and rocky ground......good ol' kneepads and a 5 gallon bucket :D
 
The Mission range I shoot at has a concrete slab floor so broom and scoop do well. Sort by hand. They leave buckets there to dump in and anyone can go thru for loaders.
 
Once I saw an IPSC shooter who had a bad heart, bad knees and bad lungs - but he loved to shoot. He had small bucket on a long handle. There were raking fingers on the front lip. The difference was the back end (if I remember correctly) was an open mesh bag. Walk around and scratch up the brass, shake them into the bag to spit out the sand, then sort out the pickings.
 
The guy who invents a magnet for picking up brass will be RICH !!!! beyond imagination!!
Keep the ideas coming - my fingers get bloody from picking the stuff up at our range !!
 
Yeah some really great ideas.

See thing is, the range I shoot at (Selkirk Game and Fish) has a concrete shooting station with benches... thing is (and I noticed it with my brass too), when they get ejected out of my pistol, they get tossed pretty far and they just bounce off of the concrete.

I just want to do my part in keeping it clean is all.. and since its somewhat grassy/sandy around the concrete due to high traffic, its a pain in the ass when I see thousands and thousands of .22s and other assorted casings.

And yeah a magnet doesnt work on brass lol... we joked about that "getting rich" guy as well. :D

Ohh well I guess bucket some knee pads and a lot of spare time will just have to work... although I do like that thing for apples and nuts... (roller on a stick) its a neat idea but I think it's too wide to pick up small casings.

I also like the tarp idea..

Luke
 
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