Recovering spent cartridges

[Legbreaker]

Scrounging is the ability to reason, to know where a desired item may have been left by somebody, or who to talk to to find out. It's understanding that homes in a certain region often have root cellars, or that the copper wire the mechanic needs might be salvaged from an old television or washing machine.

Observation/recon is more about the here and now, reading the ground, seeing the bushes moving and understanding there may be a person or animal there. Noticing small details and having a general and ongoing awareness of the surroundings.

[ex3313]

the brass you police up may not be usable for reloaded as soviet ammo used steel cases

[Mahatatain]

Thanks for all the comments.

Originally Posted by ex3313

the brass you police up may not be usable for reloaded as soviet ammo used steel cases

This is very interesting. Please can you explain why that is the case? (sorry for my ignorance)

[HorseSoldier]

You have to resize brass to bring it precisely back into spec. Steel is much harder to manipulate, though my understanding is that it can be done on an industrial level even if it is problematic for a small time handloader. I'd guess steel cases are traded to places like Krakow rather than reused locally.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Scrounging is the ability to reason, to know where a desired item may have been left by somebody, or who to talk to to find out. It's understanding that homes in a certain region often have root cellars, or that the copper wire the mechanic needs might be salvaged from an old television or washing machine.

Observation/recon is more about the here and now, reading the ground, seeing the bushes moving and understanding there may be a person or animal there. Noticing small details and having a general and ongoing awareness of the surroundings.

Leg,

Well sure, this is why Scrounging is rarely (if ever) used as a skill, because it's so abstract and therefore hard to put into play.

You may as well just do away with Scrounging and have people simply RP it out with INT or EDU to point them in the right direction, Persuasion to talk to people about where to find or buy stuff, Observation to see what's lying around them, and maybe Mechanics or whatever to actually salvage parts.

Picking up brass is literally Scrounging, it's hard to find a more classic example. More to the point, Scrounging should incorporate Observation and all those other elements, merely specialised towards recovery.

So I'd allow it. You might not, but I will learn to eventually contain my crushing disappointment. Some day.

As for Andy's original question, there are Kalashnikov-style brass catchers available:



Looks like it wouldn't interfere too much with mag changes as that's done with the left hand and the catcher is mounted off the right hand of the receiver. It might be a problem with operating the cocking handle, as that's mounted off the bolt itself which in turn is under the catcher? (AR-15 style weapons don't have this specific problem.)

http://www.thecountryshed.com/brass_catchers.htm


This is a soft nylon one that can fit any side-ejection rifle and is secured via a loop around the barrel or receiver:



http://www.tacticalaccessories.com/p...?id_product=71

I guess the idea is that if you care about recovering your brass, you are probably not going to be dumping mags on rock-and-roll and therefore not going to be bothered by adding a few extra seconds to your mag changes!

Tony

[pmulcahy11b]

You literally couldn't charge that weapon without removing the brass catcher.

[HorseSoldier]

Indeed. And once the catcher starts getting full, it's going to change how the weapons balances and handles. I see it as a real hard sell for anyone trained to run a gun well, or untrained troops who have much latitude on their kit.

[pmulcahy11b]

It should be noted that many armored vehicles are also designed to eject spent casings outside of the vehicle (this is especially true of autocannon-armed vehicles and armored gun systems). This applies more to large-caliber casings than small arms casings (which are often caught in brass catchers inside of armored vehicles), but is worth noting.

[WallShadow]

It's odd that no one's mentioned use of a metal detector (landmine or hobby version) to scan the ground for brass.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

It's odd that no one's mentioned use of a metal detector (landmine or hobby version) to scan the ground for brass.

Do those detect non-magnetic metals? I'll admit I don't know much about those.