Collecting your brass when spotlighting

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Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by CrackThump » 23 Apr 2019, 5:02 pm

I lay awake in bed last night pondering this one.

When you are out in the paddocks (or wherever) taking care of wallabies, bunnies, roo's etc etc, how do you handle your empties. ?

Over the Easter break, I spent 2 nights in the horse pasture clearing up wallaby and some rabbit and across the course of 4 hours each night I reckon I spent 100 rds of 22lr , the same in 223 and probably 30 rds of 12 gauge

Now, the 12 gauge are easy to pick up, even in the dark, they eject in pairs and they're big and east to find. But the 22lr and 223 out of a bolt action go everywhere in the dark and because you're always straight onto the next target, or running to the last target for a follow up shot, its kinda hard to stop and hunt for small brass in the grass in the dark. personally Im not so worried about reclaiming the LR empties, but I kinda want to keep the 223 for reloading.

My other concern is that these paddocks are used for grazing livestock, I hate the idea that my spent cases start to become an environmental problem for the local stock, and worse, over the course of months and years on the same acreage, in the same vermin hot-spots that my brass is just going to build up and up and up..

upon sleepless reflection last night, I seriously considered buying something like a Taurus Circuit Judge in 22lr/22wmr for paddock work.. limited to 6 shots per load-out, but the brass is captive, easy to control and the ranges Im shooting are generally well under 100 mtrs.

I would love to hear your thoughts guys n gals. .. and Merry Chocolate Jesus Non-religious Candy Holiday to all... I hope everyone got plenty of trigger time across the break. :D

Peace Y'all
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by womble » 23 Apr 2019, 5:13 pm

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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by CrackThump » 23 Apr 2019, 5:17 pm

womble wrote:Wife with a torch



HAAA... good answer...

has anyone got a spare wife I can borrow for occasional weekends. ? Must like smutty jokes, drinking, and have her own torch. :P
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by on_one_wheel » 23 Apr 2019, 5:19 pm

I shoot from the drivers seat.

When I eject an empty, I twist the rifle anti clockwise 90° and eject the brass onto the dash or anywhere into the cab.

Whenever I get the chance I gather up what I can find and put them back into the box.
The rest get found in the cab the following day.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by bigpete » 23 Apr 2019, 5:43 pm

Just catch them.in your hand as you go
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by Apollo » 23 Apr 2019, 6:37 pm

bigpete wrote:Just catch them.in your hand as you go


Yep, this..... :thumbsup:

Don't be in such a rush, learn to put your other hand over the ejection port and catch your brass. It's quicker than you think unless you are a panic merchant.

If you shoot expensive stuff (Lapua) like I do you won't take long to get the knack of catching cases, or spend the next day like a mate of mine did one time trying to find them. He quickly changed his ways.

With .22LR I do try but not worried if I miss a few. Bloody hard with a Semi Auto but there's always next day or so to remember where you were and do your best to pick up the rubbish. Yep, I don't think they will hurt the livestock (cattle here) but I just don't like the idea of creating a mess.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by No1_49er » 23 Apr 2019, 6:59 pm

You need something like this: -
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by bladeracer » 24 Apr 2019, 6:49 am

No1_49er wrote:You need something like this: -


That's what I use.
Brass catchers are illegal in NSW though.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by on_one_wheel » 24 Apr 2019, 7:26 am

bladeracer wrote:
No1_49er wrote:You need something like this: -


That's what I use.
Brass catchers are illegal in NSW though.


Imagine if the criminals got hold of them , all that spent brass covered in fingerprints that the police can't find.
I'm glad someone was thinking of the children when they wrote that law. :roll:
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by straightshooter » 24 Apr 2019, 7:55 am

Forget the brass catchers. They are a nuisance whether for legal or practical reasons.
The answer seems devilishly simple to me but then again I could be missing something.
What's the answer? Blade ejectors versus plunger ejectors.
Although, as earlier noted, through practice some can acquire the habit of catching the ejected brass flicked out by a plunger ejector.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by bladeracer » 24 Apr 2019, 8:29 am

straightshooter wrote:Forget the brass catchers. They are a nuisance whether for legal or practical reasons.
The answer seems devilishly simple to me but then again I could be missing something.
What's the answer? Blade ejectors versus plunger ejectors.
Although, as earlier noted, through practice some can acquire the habit of catching the ejected brass flicked out by a plunger ejector.


How is a brass catcher a nuisance? You don't even know it's on the rifle. Very occasionally with a .22 I might have a case bounce back into the chamber, but that just requires rolling the rifle to the right to drop it into the bag. Some firearm designs don't make a brass catcher easy, like the Dickinson T1000 due to the bolt handle being at the front of the bolt, but a little bit of ingenuity generally finds a way to make them work. The Marlin '94 you have to flip the bag out of the way to access the loading gate. When I'm shooting off the bench I'll most often just put my cap below the rifle and block ejection with my hand so the brass just drops into the cap. When I'm practicing on the steel with the .22 levers I use a dump pouch on my belt and just roll the rifle over so it ejects straight into the pouch. The top-eject '66 is a problem though trying to capture the brass, I'm still working on that one.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by TassieTiger » 24 Apr 2019, 1:17 pm

Why don’t you simply undo your top shirt button whilst shooting - guaranteed that the empty will bounce down your top
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by No1_49er » 24 Apr 2019, 1:43 pm

bladeracer wrote:
No1_49er wrote:You need something like this: -


That's what I use.
Brass catchers are illegal in NSW though.

Unless OP is telling us porkies about his whereabouts, perhaps these are legal in his home state?
NSW; well that's just stupid. Like a lot of law, whatever the State/Territory.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by bigpete » 24 Apr 2019, 2:10 pm

TassieTiger wrote:Why don’t you simply undo your top shirt button whilst shooting - guaranteed that the empty will bounce down your top

Especially if the OP is a lady with big boobs lol
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by bladeracer » 24 Apr 2019, 2:32 pm

No1_49er wrote:
bladeracer wrote:
No1_49er wrote:You need something like this: -


That's what I use.
Brass catchers are illegal in NSW though.

Unless OP is telling us porkies about his whereabouts, perhaps these are legal in his home state?
NSW; well that's just stupid. Like a lot of law, whatever the State/Territory.


I wasn't suggesting they aren't, just making the distinction in case a NSW'er reads it and decides to make himself a brass catcher.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by bigfellascott » 24 Apr 2019, 3:15 pm

bigpete wrote:Just catch them.in your hand as you go


No brainer isn't it and either drop em in ya pocket or have a container of some sort to drop em into. Been doing it that way for bloody years and sometimes if the actions thick and fast you just let em fall where ever and pick em up after its all finished :thumbsup:
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by mickb » 24 Apr 2019, 4:13 pm

Crackthump, regards the revolving rifles in rimfire, they will be 9 shot not 6. However be wary of what actual velocity they achieve. In the Rossi/taurus I saw chrony tests where the 22WMR was running several hundred fps too slow, due to the cylinder gap etc. They weren't doing much better than 22LR stingers.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by duncan61 » 24 Apr 2019, 4:19 pm

I always tilted the rifle and caught the empty brass and placed them in a icecream container next to me as if they went on the floor and were stepped on it would take 48 hours in the polisher to get the brass clean again.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by duncan61 » 24 Apr 2019, 4:20 pm

I always tilted the rifle and caught the empty brass and placed them in a icecream container next to me as if they went on the floor and were stepped on it would take 48 hours in the polisher to get the brass clean again.
.22 winchester .22hornet .222 .243 7mm rem mag cbc 12g
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by JimTom » 24 Apr 2019, 5:04 pm

As with all forms of shooting, I eject into my other hand and put into my pocket. Try and catch most but if I miss a few here or there then so be it, as tends to happen when in the middle of a mob of oinkers.
If you lose a few it’s only a few bucks here and there and I consider well worth it to be hunting.
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by Jon79 » 24 Apr 2019, 5:43 pm

22lr stay where they land, 223, 243 & 308 I grab as I eject the cases or collect before moving on so I can use them for reloading
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by Bills Shed » 24 Apr 2019, 8:37 pm

I am a lefty and usually the driver. With a LH rifle the brass Goes into the cab if I do not stop it with a open palm when working the bolt. Never considered it a drama. If I know I am in the passenger seat for the night I tend to pick / use a RH rifle. This is only for CF. Rim fire just goes wherever.

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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by CrackThump » 26 Apr 2019, 3:55 pm

Thanks for the input everyone, I reckon Ive just got to learn to go a bit slower and catch my empties. Although being a natural lefitie shooting right handed bolt action I look like a disabled T-Rex juggling custard at the best of times HAA.!
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Re: Collecting your brass when spotlighting

Post by Hunter257 » 26 Apr 2019, 4:44 pm

bladeracer wrote:
No1_49er wrote:You need something like this: -


That's what I use.
Brass catchers are illegal in NSW though.


I know I read this recently and my first thought was wtf are brass catchers illegal?
Another strange law
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