Brass Thief at Range

[Lumber_Jack]

I put this here because it dealt with reloadable brass.

So I went to the range to finally sight in my AR, both iron sights and Vortex Red Dot. As some here have witnessed I couldn't hit a milk jug a 30 yds prior to today. Anyways I go early and it's just me and another young guy shooting. After a couple trips down range to check targets and old man pulls up. Now this guy looks like he road the Ark with Noah. He can barely walk let alone bend over a pick up brass. He has a small metal bucket and begins picking up brass. I think nothing about it, and think he probably sells it for some spare cash. No big deal. Well I sit back down and begin putting rounds downrange and realize he has settled in about 4 feet behind me to my 4 o'clock. After each shot he picks up the ejected brass and puts it in his bucket. Now I had intended to pick up my brass for reloading, but seeing as this guy looked like he may not be in this world much longer I just let him have it and didn't say anything. Had he been less feeble and younger I might have spoke up.

Now it really didn't bother me as I have plenty of 223 brass, but i thought I'd mention it and see how y'all handle similar situations.

PS no offense to anyone really old out there, just callin it like I see it. also may be a little harsh thread title, I don't consider him a thief. Just not courteous.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Lumber_Jack

[chances R]

Good move on your part........would've probably done the same.

[AMSting]

This sounds like you did fine. I might have said something that all he had to do was ask, just to let him know he could have said something to me first, but overall, I think I would have done the same.

[Jonnin]

I do that. Most people at the places I go do not pick it up, and most people that do pick it up gather as they go, shoot a mag, pick some up, shoot a mag, pick some up... if its piling up I assume the person does not want it. If they tell me otherwise, I happily give them what I picked up & move on. I think maybe 3 times I have been told they wanted it and handing over what I had gathered always seems to smooth over any annoyance.

Just tell the guy you want it. Brass ammo is pricy, you paid for it, and if you want it let the person know. You keep on shooting it & letting him go at it, he thinks you do not mind....

[BigK]

I would NEVER pick up any brass but my own with out asking first.

That being said, I'm sure he figured you'd speak up if you wanted him to stop. So, 'thief' is just slightly harsh and is 'discourteous' not quite harsh enough. Personally, I'd say the guy was 'presumptuous' at best and 'inconsiderate/self-absorbed' at worst.

[QuietDan]

No!

He did not say "Do you mind if I pick up YOUR brass?" and you did not get to say "No, feel free." He just assumed.

Would you let him go through your pockets and wallet and pull out $1 bills? That's different from you reaching into your wallet and handing him cash.

Was this an attended or unattended range? Did he have permission from the range to be there? Is it possible he's "got an arrangement" with the range owners?

[QuietDan]

I would NEVER pick up any brass but my own with out asking first.

That being said, I'm sure he figured you'd speak up if you wanted him to stop. So, 'thief' is just slightly harsh and is 'discourteous' not quite harsh enough. Personally, I'd say the guy was 'presumptuous' at best and 'inconsiderate/self-absorbed' at worst.

Hey BigK, long time no see. You were posting while I was writing. Similar outlook here.

[Raoul]

I never pick up brass in a lane where someone is shooting unless invited to do so.

[Capbyrd]

I likely would have judo chopped his face and taken his bucket while running away screaming about the end of the times.

But thats just me.

[Grand Torino]

I usually don't mess around with someones brass unless I know them. A lot of time we just pick all the stuff up and take our own and put the rest on a table behind us for the other close by shooters to pick through it and get thier own. I usually mark any brass I'm keeping with a colored marker to help sort and signify which brass is mine.

[Lumber_Jack]

Was this an attended or unattended range? Did he have permission from the range to be there? Is it possible he's "got an arrangement" with the range owners?

This is a public range, Cherokee National Forest, unattended. He has as much right to scrounge as I do shoot. The only thing tht got me was the shot for shot brass collecting. Couldn't even get a chance to pick them up.

I feel if your gonna pick brass either ask, or wait until they leave. I often don't want to pick up until I'm dive shooting and depending on how I feel may it may not pick it up. But that's my perogative.

[Troutburger]

Nothing more annoying than a brass hound...they are always creeping closer and closer to the firing line to get that next piece....its brass not gold and certainly not worth getting your pinky toe shot off for....

[Guest drwright6]

"Hey old man, you want the lead the goes with it?" I'm sure most of us wouldn't have minded giving up some brass to help him out, but man that would be distracting having him pick up every round when it was fired. I bet I could set and look thru my scope longer than he would be willing to stand and wait for me to shoot

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Yes it would be polite of the person to ask.

Sometimes in the past I'd ask people in nearby lanes if they were planning to pick up their brass. With pistols, the guy to the left is ejecting brass into my lane and then I'm ejecting my brass to the next-right lane. "Property rights" could be awkward. I'd have to pick up my brass in the fellow to the right's lane. At least needs discussing before I go rummaging in his lane for my brass. Similarly its useful to know whether the guy on the left wants the brass that he is ejecting and hitting me in the head with.

Since the economy crashed, at the TWRA range I go to there has always been one or two folks that look kinda poor collecting brass. I figure most folks wouldn't do that daily, if they could figure out any better way to make some money. Sometimes if I'm short on brass I ask em not to sweep my area because I'm picking it up, and they never gave any argument. But if I already have plenty of brass at home, have usually been letting em sweep it up.

[McAllyn]

I would never intentionally pick up someone's brass without asking. Even after asking, I certainly would not do it while they are still shooting. I wouldn't want someone peeking their head into my lane everytime I fired a round or hawking and crawling around behind me while I'm on the line. Personally, I would have said something to the guy. I would have been polite, but by his actions, regardless of age, he wouldn't have deserved it.

Mac

[Jonnin]

Yea, when I said I do not ask I mean, its all over the place, mixed up, and flung far and wide of the shooters so you can't tell whos is whos anyway, and I am also one of the shooters. And piled up pretty good, I don't one at a time it, I get 100-200 in a couple of min when I bother to gather it up. A good sat, nice weather, you can get hundreds of 9mm and 223 and common calibers in moments if no one has been cleaning and no one has been gathering. I can't imagine grabbing them one by one between shots for anything except the most expensive or exotic calibers. In which case, I certainly WOULD be asking first. But I am not gonna ask every guy out there if they are collecting 9mm or 223, its just too common.

[LagerHead]

You gotta ask. An old timer should definitely have known better.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Yeah I do pickup right before leaving, and typically I arrive late and leave right before nightfall, so most everybody is gone when I'm picking up. So if I'm picking up I just tell the brass scavengers who might happen to be sweeping that day, so they won't sweep my brass til I'm ready to pick it up. If they were rude and picked up my stuff anyway, would get miffed about it. I only scavenge 9mm, .357, .380 and .223, and tell the sweepers they are welcome to whatever else is in my area after I've got mine.

Maybe they could be an asset. If a lady or guy is routinely sweeping every half hour, maybe I ought to ask em to save up all the 9mm and .357 and I'll pay em a little more than the scrap yard for it. That would save the trouble sweeping it myself. I get the impression some of em don't know 9mm from .223. So might have to tell em what to look for.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Lester Weevils

[LI0NSFAN]

I had a guy doing that at an indoor, he was so close he would get hit every few rounds. My friend was there withhis full auto glock so we loaded it up and let it rip. He got pelted about 15 times in the 2 mag we went through. He finally left us alone. I don't mind letting people have my brass, but give me my space and wait until I leave or sweep them out of the way.

[Oh Shoot]

...After a couple trips down range to check targets and old man pulls up. Now this guy looks like he road the Ark with Noah....

I appreciate your letting me have the brass, whippersnapper.

- OS

Edited March 12, 2012 by OhShoot

[Mechanic_X]

I appreciate your letting me have the brass, whippersnapper.

- OS

Did the old man remind you of Donald Sutherland?

If yes, it was OhShoot.

[Lumber_Jack]

I appreciate your letting me have the brass, whippersnapper.

- OS

Haha I almost made a reference to you, him and Noah being on the ark, but refrained. Next time I won't hold back.

[Oh Shoot]

Haha I almost made a reference to you, him and Noah being on the ark, but refrained. Next time I won't hold back.

Now now, you'll be old and decrepit some day. Probably be stealin somebody's brass too, what with Social Security going under!

- OS

[Lumber_Jack]

Now now, you'll be old and decrepit some day. Probably be stealin somebody's brass too, what with Social Security going under!

- OS

For sure. I won't ask either. I'll need every nickel I can scrounge

[Dolomite_supafly]

Was it at the range out on Rifle Range road?

Sounds like 1/2 the RSO's out there. I have seem them actually catch brass out of the air. There was one guy who made a game of catching brass in one of his vest pockets.

I had to start marking my brass. They would pick up my brass that I reload then argue with me that it wasn't my brass. Even after I marked them with a black sharpie they would say that there is no way to know if the brass was mine because everybody marks their brass with a black sharpie. After that conversation I began painting the rear of the cases with pink paint. And once again when I told them the brass they were picking was mine they tried to argue until I told them my brass was pink. It was like the brass was still hot how fast they dropped a pink case, after all no manly man would have pink brass.

I am so glad I do not go to that range anymore. Most of the RSO's are full of attitude and about 1/2 the shooters have attitudes as well.

Dolomite