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Large Volume Shotshell Hulls

I have several years experience in this area.

There is a market for ONCE FIRED AA and STS, some market for Gold Medals, a little market for paper hulls. Problem with range pickups is the ONCE FIRED part.

Most sporting ranges don't bother with the hulls because the labor to collect them and sort them costs more than the return. Some skeet and trap clubs do because they can pick them up with a machine, and pretty quickly sort them.

Most sporting clubs put them in the dumpster, if they can't get away with putting them in a burn barrel. The amount generated from a big shoot can be overwhelming. They consider it a favor if you take a trash bag home.

I have seen some almost knife fights break out behind a shooter who leaves .410 on the ground.

Also, have seen some near serious ass whoopings on shell hawks who swoop in and start picking up the good shells before the shooter has had an opportunity to do so.

Contrary to what you may read or hear, the discount Federal shells make really nice reloads for one or two times, and I used to bring targets boxes of them home. The plastic is real soft, and so the go through the loader easy and make a nice tight crimp.

Several decades ago, I had words with whoever was running Tom Lowe (wasn't even Tom Lowe then) who told me if MY shells hit the ground they belonged to the club. I disagreed.
once it "hits the ground" you're not in possession....it now resides on someone else's property....therefore it does not belong to you.....disagreement is understandable...however it doesn't change the facts...
 
You can probably sell 50,000 AA or STS 12 ga before you will sell 500 Gold Medals. They are excellent quality, but for target loads the straight wall cases require a different wad and in most recipes more powder than the AA or STS so most folks who reload don't want to buy different wads for those hulls and are stingy with the powder. Those who load buckshot and slugs like the Gold Metal hulls, but they only want 25 or at most 50 hulls at a time. :doh: There are some Trapshooters who love the Federal paper hulls and will pay a premium for them over any other hull. The odds of finding these on the ground at a trap shoot are greater than picking the Fantasy 5 lottery numbers :D
 
We are a far more laid back club than getting mad about shells being property of someone else. The whole intent of this post was to do something about the waste of hulls. Most shooters we have don’t even throw the shells in the provided buckets, much less pick them up to save. I’d love to have some cash to put back into things we need versus gathering quotes, presenting to the GM, that being sent to the board, then maybe getting the approval. This would be $100 here and 100 bucks there to quickly acquire items we may need.

Thank you all for the information! But it looks like until substantial amounts of high end shells are being used on the grounds, not a ton of interest or value to gathering/sorting.
 
once it "hits the ground" you're not in possession....it now resides on someone else's property....therefore it does not belong to you.....disagreement is understandable...however it doesn't change the facts...
once it "hits the ground" you're not in possession....it now resides on someone else's property....therefore it does not belong to you.....disagreement is understandable...however it doesn't change the facts...
My car is in the parking lot, and I'm not "in possession" of it, but I'm still pretty sure it's still mine.

I guess I shouldn't use the gun rack either, less the range lay claim to it.

Tom Lowe for sure didn't press the issue.
 
We are a far more laid back club than getting mad about shells being property of someone else. The whole intent of this post was to do something about the waste of hulls. Most shooters we have don’t even throw the shells in the provided buckets, much less pick them up to save. I’d love to have some cash to put back into things we need versus gathering quotes, presenting to the GM, that being sent to the board, then maybe getting the approval. This would be $100 here and 100 bucks there to quickly acquire items we may need.

Thank you all for the information! But it looks like until substantial amounts of high end shells are being used on the grounds, not a ton of interest or value to gathering/sorting.
So you mean you are not going to tear apart your washing machine to design a device to disassemble the trash hull? 😞
We all had such high hopes of seeing you on the tv show, Shark Tank 💵💰
You could have been the hero to thousands of sporting clays ranges around the world :first:
 
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