lugnut Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I wanted to post this in the "What I Hate" section but figured it might turn into a healthy conversation. Usually I NEVER take any ammo that someone gives to me at the range... even if they hand me what they think was the round I ejected from my gun at the ULSC command. I don't catch my brass and don't try to. Unless I am 100% certain a round came from my gun- I won't take it. If someone gives me the round... I'll usually say "Thanks but I don't want it" or I'll take it and dispose it later. Some of the reasons are obvious- I shoot 9mm minor and there are plenty of guys shooting 9mm major these days. Other reasons are I just don't trust other's ammo, etc., etc. Yesterday at a match someone offered me a round that they thought came from my gun. I inadvertently put the round into my pocket. On the next stage I proceeded to reload my mags. After inserting a round into the mag I noticed something unusual. I puled out the round and indeed it was a .40 rounds that I had loaded into my CZ mag!! Damn was I mad at myself. A lesson that I thought I had learned almost got me. Now obviously in this case it would have just cost me time as the rounds wouldn't have chambered... but still I was mad at myself. It's not worth to pick up these loose rounds! Of course the Open (sometimes other as well) guys mark their ammo so that's a different story I guess... I never mark my ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisMcCracken Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I mark all of my reloaded .45 with a permanent marker over the primer, but since most 9mm is fire and forget I could see not wanting to mark them. Good lesson not to take uncertain ammo though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunguru Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Agree. If I'm not 100% sure it's mine, I let them on the ground... 9mm Box is about 12$, so it's mean around a Quarter each bullet. I'm not rich, but rich enough to not be worried because I left maybe 1 or 2 bucks on the ground few times a year. A gun may cost, be conservative, 700$, so if we assume 12 match per year, at a big 3$ per match of lost ammo (12 round), it's almost 20 years to get the value of the gun. So no risk to take to blow a gun, I let unsure bullet on the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leewhiskey Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Usually I try to watch where mine goes at ULSC and pick it up. I don't like live rounds left on a range, could be hit by the lawn mower, etc. It kind of irritates me when you get to the end of the stage and there is a pile of live rounds there because people don't care enough to pick theirs up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
de03x7 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Unless I am 100% certain that it is my round I will not use it. I take any that I am unsure of and break them down then reload the case for use as practice ammo. Using different brands of primers in practice does not bother me but I don’t want to end up with a 9 major or someone else’s screw up in my gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DyNo! Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 (edited) I pick up every round of 9mm and 5.56 I find on the range! Then I go home - pull it, dump the powder - inspect the components, load 'em up and shoot them a few times a year! Edited March 8, 2012 by DyNo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkin Chunker Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I'll break down the live rounds, toss the bullet, flash the powder, and re-load the primed case. The best rationale I can offer is that I once dropped a round I had picked up from the ground. The impact of the fall drove the bullet back into the case enough to be noticeable, and I found that the crimp was so bad I could move the bullet back and forth with just my fingers. I mentioned it to the squad, but spent the rest of that match staying well back when the 9mm shooters were on the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CocoBolo Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I shoot 9 major I don't mark them I drop one now and again. You would think someone that knew it was mine would not try to shoot it in thier glock. No the case a guy picked up one of my rounds shot it in his glock then had a hard time finding the bottom of his mag and the mag spring. I've cronoed at 184 pf when it is cool, and it was a cool morning, at higher temps it would have been 172-174pf. IMHO picking up strange rounds at the range is just plain stupid. It could be one that was racked out becuase it won't fit the chamber, had a high primer, or who knows what and maybe it was from another day when some one blew up their gun, don't take chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 A lot of clubs in our area now require us to have shooters retrieve, and remove from the range, their live rounds.... They don't want the liability -- so we're asking to shooters to watch where their round lands at the end of a stage.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroe3 Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 I always track my ejected round to it's resting place, then retrieve it after slide, hammer, holster. Any other live ammo I find goes on the bag table for anyone who wants to take it apart to reload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrinC Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 A lot of clubs in our area now require us to have shooters retrieve, and remove from the range, their live rounds.... They don't want the liability -- so we're asking to shooters to watch where their round lands at the end of a stage.... This is the best way to tackle this issue. All shooters should pick up their live ammo after they shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUshooter Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 It's hard to resist. As handloaders we know how much coin each round represents. But I've picked up lots of range brass with pierced primers and other anomalies. That makes me 1) never pick up range ammo and 2) be fairly careful about what range brass I choose to bring home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Round_Gun_Shooter Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Unless it is in a moonclip or it has my mark on the brass I will take it but will not shoot it. One thing I tell newer shooters is never use rounds they find on the range. Many come with just what they think they need and look at all that 9MM ammo as found money. Most have no idea what 9mm major is and what it will do to their gun. I usually wear cargo type work pants and put picked up rounds in a leg pocket. I never load from that pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xracer Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 (edited) I pick up my brass at the range all the time, don't compete or anything but still reload. I have to go through it to find all the 380 and 40 cartridges. Last time I reloaded a few 380 cartridges got reloaded , damn glad I found them and didn't try to shoot them. With the smaller case volume of the 380 it would probably not have ended well. Any live ammo gets turned in to the Range Officer, not worth blowing up the gun or getting injured for a round or two of unknown origin. Edited May 6, 2012 by xracer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunchies95 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Any live rounds I pick up, I used to do one of two things: throw it into the berm or put it in my bag. Unidentified 9mm gets put into my bag. I pull the round, flash the powder and load the bullet up for a dummy round. I had tried loading up the primed cases, but as they are no longer sized properly, that practice stopped after the first handful of rounds. Now that I have a box of dummy rounds, I don't pick anything up anymore. Any live rounds that I pick up are very easy to identify. I shoot Bayou bullets and have the cases dyed red. The combo of red brass and a green bullet is pretty unmistakable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theycallmeingot Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 I pick up my brass at the range all the time, don't compete or anything but still reload. I have to go through it to find all the 380 and 40 cartridges. Last time I reloaded a few 380 cartridges got reloaded , damn glad I found them and didn't try to shoot them. With the smaller case volume of the 380 it would probably not have ended well. Any live ammo gets turned in to the Range Officer, not worth blowing up the gun or getting injured for a round or two of unknown origin. i've wondered about this. if your seating is unchanged, really there won't be much less case volume. there will just be less brass hanging on to the bullet, right? not that i'd ever try to fire one. and they're pretty easy to notice when you've done it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmw5142 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 I pick up every round of 9mm and 5.56 I find on the range! Then I go home - pull it, dump the powder - inspect the components, load 'em up and shoot them a few times a year! +1 I do the same thing. I just got finished pulling about 50 mixed .40/45/9mm and .223 this morning. My daughter loves to help me. We make small piles of the mixed powder and light it up when we're done... free fireworks lol. The primers/brass get re-used for practice rounds. The bullets too, after they're weighed. I don't keep any loose ammo in my pockets at matches for purposes of shooting. If anything ends up in my pocket, it gets pulled and re-used later, whether it looks like mine or not. Even stuff that I'm 99.9% sure is factory, like some Gold Dot's I just pulled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenDot Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I flip and catch for this reason!!! It's all about the Open show guys!!! hahahahahahaa j/k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Knight Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I keep everything. I take anything people give me and I pull and flash powder, weight and sort bullets, and pop the primers out of all range pick ups. I was able to shoot an entire steel match with pulled bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outbreak Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I shoot with a lot of Limited shooters who all load .40 and many use a local bullet maker's bullets. I can tell mine from OAL, since I load them longer than most. A lot of Open shooters are running 9mm Major, so I don't even bother picking up 9mm brass, but if I find a live round, I can usually identify it's owner. I also don't load any rounds that have touched the ground. I toss them in my brass bag, intending to clean them and put them back in boxes. By the time I get home and get my brass sorted, I forget what is what and I have a small box of range pickup and bad reloads that I need to pull one of these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviesterno Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Why are some of you all worried about spending the money to pick up a live round, but its the same amount of wasted money when you shoot a Mike :sight: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillD Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I don't even pull down my own mistakes, let alone some one else's ammo. We've got a bucket at each bay on my practice range that is for unfired rounds, hit but not fired, shotgun hulls, etc. I dump my upside down and sideways primered rounds and anything that looks funky into the buckets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retarmyaviator Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 (edited) I pick up the live ammunition on the range mainly to keep someone with less experience from picking it up and attempting to fire it. You just never know how Bubba loaded his, not worth the risk giving it a try. If the rounds happen to be a caliber I shoot then the bullets are pulled and tossed along with the powder. The brass goes in the bucket with my other brass. Rounds in a caliber I do not shoot are disassembled and thrown away. What ever your personal views are on ammunition left on the ground at a minimum pick it up and and dispose of it properly. Don't do like some of our club members do and toss it in the weeds. Several years ago we had a grass fire behind the covered shooting area and in addition to having to take care of the fire we had ammunition cooking off to deal with. Edited May 23, 2012 by retarmyaviator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bshooter Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I usually scavage brass whenever I can at the local range. I pick up all loaded rounds, which I know other foragers do not. I must have a 5 gallon bucket full of live rounds. Now if I could find the time to seperate the case from the bullet, I would have quite a few to reload. Where does the time go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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