I skipped out to the range to bang bowling pins with my S&W tonight and found the range occupied by Bureau of Indian Affairs officers practicing. When I got there they were using AR-15/M-16's and making a heck of a row. I went over to the 100 yard range and waited, plinking steel with my S&W until they left.

When they did I found piles of .223 Remington brass. I crawled around on my hands and knees for two hours, filling two Subway Sandwich bags from the floor of the Jeep until they were close to bursting and the sun was going down. I got 15 pounds of brass and still didn't get the half of it. ...That doesn't even mention the 40 S&W brass that was ankle deep at the 12 yard line.

Last Spring I gave away a 30 cal ammo can full of WC .223 military brass and have often wished that I hadn't been so generous. Well, I guess what goes around, comes around.~AMMOe

You better be careful you don't hurt yourself crawling around on your hands and knees, or stooped over picking up all that heavy brass.

Good deal.

You may want to hang on to it. Might be B.S., but I heard the President has made it manditory that the military destroy all their fired brass. If that's true, the once fired mil-brass is gone for at least 4 years. I also heard he blocked a shipment of brass that was supposed to be brought in to a California port from oversees. Two stories from two sources, 3rd hand info....take it for what it's worth.

here's a link;

http://www.theshootist.net/2009/03/dod-end...d-military.html

Wouldn't surprise me in the least little bit if he did.
I took a good look a the brass: Winchester make to the very last piece. If I was off tomorrow I'd go back there with a rake and rake all that 40 and .223 brass up. Too bad it isn't .45 ACP! I picked up a S&W Model 625 and can't find any of my stashed 45 ACP! (I guess I hid it really well!)~AMMOe

I've been looking and you simply cannot find once fired .223 brass anywhere. Even new brass is scarce.

Mike, did they sell out at the shooting range downtown?!

I don't know? I never considered them as a source. I've been searching the net.

The surplus brass issue has been resolved with the help of the legislative delegation from the great state of Montana. Here's the statement from NRA-ILA:

http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=12244


Montana... hmmm...

I've been equally lucky in receiving once fired Winchester .223 brass and they picked it up and filled a 55 gallon drum with it. It took four people to lift it into my truck. It's a good thing I have a tractor with front end loader at home. So agencies are great about letting you have the brass. It took a couple of weeks off and on to get it all re-sized, trimmed and annealed but now I don't have to worry about ever running out.

Wow. A 55 gallon drum's worth? Very cool.
I went back and found the place had been gone over pretty well but the scavengers missed a whole section along the back of the range. I picked up another 6 or 7 pounds of .223 brass. I brought a small, fine, rake and raked up about 600, 40S&W cases as well. I don't reload for that one but.... ~AMMOe

That's good news. I think I'll write to Sen. Baucus, Sen. Tester, and U.S. Rep. Rehberg letters thanking them for their support.

Just out of curiosity , why does the BIA need that kind of firepower ?

They still remember.

They are Federal Officers and life on the Reservation can get rough. BEtter too much than too little, I guess.~AMMOe

Wounded Knee, both 1 and 2, come to mind. Sometimes, in their cups, the Oglalla get a bit nasty-tempered.


The Rosebud Rez folks have told me, on several and different occasions, that the folks over on the Pine Ridge Rez were "crazy", "nuts", "insane" and other synonyms of a like nature. I was told to "stay away from there, those folks are crazy", by different folks, too, all "Native Americans" by the way.
I had no plans to head that direction anyway, but I had white guys from Rapid tell me, if I did, to keep an AR-15 or something similar handy (took that with a grain of salt, but have since heard even more stories about their colorful and troublesome habits).
The B.I.A. guys have a tough job, they have to keep the trouble down, while not looking like total sell-outs to the whites, it can't be easy.

Huh! If you're apprehensive head north from Mission, through White River and on to Murdo and the Big I. It's a little out of the way but largely skirts The Pine Ridge. I drive through Pine Ridge and don't worry about it. I work on the Crow Agency Reservation and my Crow friends always tell me to "Be careful among those Sioux" when I go back to Rosebud to see the family. My Lakota friends tell me to be careful out living with the Crow. I'm sure the Pine Ridge/Rosebud rivalry is much of the same. ~AMMOe

I found myself in the middle of some sort of shakedown in McLaughlin (I think it was). I was targeted by a "working girl" and her male accomplice when I stopped at a gas station to buy ice for a cooler. No one was hurt but it was iffy there for a couple minutes. I eventually convinced them that bodily harm would come their way if they did not leave me be, but a sidearm would have been damn nice to have had.

I wasn't scared of them, I don't seem to have any trouble getting along with people in general, but I have friends who've been shaken down by folks on the Pine Ridge, and more than once, too. I just wasn't interested in going over that direction, as there was still stuff I hadn't seen where I was........ If I were going to take, for example, SD44 across the Pine Ridge, I wouldn't have a care in the world, but I won't spend any money there, I don't have the patience for shakedowns.

And Red, I don't go anywhere without a sidearm, it's not my normal, natural way.

If you look the least bit tourist, the lesser civilized elements will approach, but that is the same anywhere. I must admit that the last time I was through there I got shaken down by a couple of guys who semed to think I owed them some gas and beer. They gave me the old "Custer died for your Sins" routine. I told them to "(blank) Off" and that my family immigrated here in the 1920's and had nothing to do with it. They looked at each other and walked away.

Like Glen, I never travel unarmed when I can avoid it and I never trust chance meetings on the road.~AMMOe

Yeah well, that's my policy too....NOW.