I run a club with an indoor range. We're trying to figure out how to allow the guys to sweep up their brass and leave the dirt behind. (painted floor)

I ordered one of those bird cage brass brooms today. Gonna give it a try.

Was also thinking of using a portable vacuum, sieve out the dirt into a bucket and keep the brass.

Any ideas.

Rich

I would let them take the dirt also.

You might give Shop-Vac a call .They have lots of different types of vacuums. Cleaning up the dirt is important too as that dirt will contain powder and primer residue which has caused more than one fire !!

just put a piece of window screen on the end of the shop vac hose to prevent cases from flying into it and go to work

Just what you want to do.
The shop vac's exhaust will blow atomized lead all over the range for everybody else to breath. SMART

you don't use the shop vac to pick up but to clean all the dirt out of the cases latter

The new indoor range here in Richmond uses squeegees to reach out in front of the line. Then the brass gets pushed into a dust pan with a long handle. The management keeps the range spotless.

Jim

We use squeegees also. The decision was that brooms raise too much dust.

A wet indoor range floor is a safe floor...

Squeegee it up with the dirt and provide a screened box over a trash can outside so they can remove the brass from the dirt. This will also leave the dirt in the can. Alternatively, build a screened bin outside and let the dirt fall to the ground. Build it on an angle and the brass is easy to collect at one end.

We had a 10 lane, 25 yards Caswell indoor range at our LE training center for many years.

Push broom or squeegee to collect the brass and there was always lots of unburned powder swept up from the firing points to about 10 yards.


I'd get a dustpan and take it outside, spread it on the grass or pile it up outside and light it off.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine who was a corporal in the Round Rock P.D. asked me to come help him do some repairs on their range. Plus bring some 5 gal. buckets + take all the brass you want. Well I did + I did.I must say that when you have several 5 gal. buckets of brass it will take some time to sort. My solution was to put the buckets by "the throne". Hell you are a captive audience,might as well sort brass.As an addendum to this,several years ago I had several folks on my range here + we lrft the brass lying until later. Next day I mentioned to my 5 yr. old that if he would pick up all the brass I would pay him a penny apiece.Well after about 3 hours he shows up with a grim + a double hand full of 22 lr brass.What do you do? Well,pay him of course.

My younger brother has one of those swage die sets that makes 22 caliber projectiles out of rimfire 22 shells.

He used to get the brass from our indoor range for the cleaning for a couple years. Then the Club Board found out he was making $$$ from it, and decided to charge him. That was last year, and the floor is about ankle deep on the sides where they just sweep the brass.

He took a few pictures to the last board meeting. Then he mentioned the fumes. They have to buy these nifty $14 apiece filters (X6) every month to keep the fumes down.

We're doing squeegee's for brass and a vacuum with hepa filter for down range. At the points we requiring shooters to squeegee the brass forward unless they are taking it home.

Caswell was bought out and they no longer have hand crank type hardware.

I've said it many times;that the smell of discharged 22 powder smells like my childhood.

Get yourself a few nut pickers.. This isn't the company I was thinking of, and there are lots of them out there, these come in different sizes, but you will get the idea..

We have several and use them during matches when the shooters are all trying to pick up their own brass... it saves a lot of time.
http://www.acehardware.com/pro...b9-a676-ccaef485dae7

I bought one of the "bird cages". It didn't work that well, brass has to be oriented just right and away from the walls, but it is a clean way to do it.

Last 2 times I took my CCL,the range would not let you collect your own brass,they were reselling it of course,so I just qualified with CCI blazers. Fxxk em' let them sort out the A/L cases.

Qualify with a revolver :-)

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Last 2 times I took my CCL,the range would not let you collect your own brass,they were reselling it of course,so I just qualified with CCI blazers. Fxxk em' let them sort out the A/L cases.

What, you don't catch your ejected brass on the fly with your weak hand?


If the brass is falling to the front of the shooting port, consider installing "window boxes" built out of fine metal mesh over a frame of 1" PVC pipe and elbows.

The brass will be collected, with the particulate matter falling through the mesh.

Shooters can collect their brass during ceasefires.

George

george

we think alike. I thought about those underbed storage drawers on wheels. cut the bottom out and replace with mesh.

Great minds, and all that.

George

Qualifying with a revolver is O.K. now but when 1st started if you tested with a revolver then that was all you could carry. Qualify with a semi auto + you carry either. That has changed.

Actually on my range here at home I have built a steel frame covered with the black mesh greenhouse cloth that give you shade as well as keeping the brass in one small area.

I ran into something new today at the Frisco Gun Club; an indoor range. I finished shooting and was bagging-up to leave when I noticed a guy squeegeeing the spent shells back against the wall behind the line. I asked a friend what was going on? He said maybe the guy was reloading and saving his, and everyone-Else's hulls. I started to leave, then thought, "something's not right". I went over and asked the guy if he was saving hulls to reload. He said, "no, just cleaning up a little". I told him he needed to push them across the line (downrange). He had this stunned look on his face, then started pushing brass the other way. He was one of our new guys, I learned later. We gave him hell at lunch.