At the close of every stage of a high power match, we hold “Brass Call” when shooters pick up their spent cartridge cases. Policing up brass reduces litter on the range and also reduces projectile hazards when we cut grass on the range. Most high power shooters reload their brass and want to salvage as much of it as they can.
Casual shooters are not always as determined as high power shooters in finding their spent cases – especially if those cases are Berdan primed steel cases that cannot be reloaded. During the High Power Clinic I noticed that we were starting to accumulate a lot of steel cases around the firing lines. I’m lazy, so I went to the hardware store and bought a floor magnet to help me pick up steel cases. A couple of passes along the firing lines yielded a pretty good pile of cases and a lot of #209 muzzleloader primers and staples. The great majority of the steel case sare 7.62 X 39 cases; probably from AK and SKS rifles along with a few .223 steel cases.
We are also accumulating a real pile of .22 rimfire cases along the front edge of the concrete. A note to rimfire shooters; policing your brass does not mean kicking it off the front of the concrete into the grass or gravel. We will put a broom and dustpan out on the covered firing points by the clubhouse to assist you in gathering up loose cases rolling around on the deck.
And, shotgun shooters; if you see plastic wads laying out on the grass, please grab them. They end up getting caught in the mowers and getting cut up into plastic confetti after a couple of mowings.
Since we no longer have a dumpster, please be mindful of your trash. Bring along a garbage bag to take it home. We will also try to keep trash can liners in the new white building to use in the cans on the covered firing points. Let’s all take just an extra minute to keep our range clean.