RE: [ihc] OT Nickel cases

[Tom Harais <THarais@xxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: John Hofstetter [mailto:hofs@domain.elided] 
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 12:51 PM
To: Greg Stephens
Cc: ihc-digest@domain.elided; n9ads@domain.elided
Subject: Re: [ihc] OT Nickel cases

Aluminum cases and the Blazer manufacturer, CCI, have irritated me for 
years, since their advent of the Blazer line. In the desert, we see 
thousands of the cases lying around because they are of no use to 
reloaders. Brass cases are kind of the ultimate in recyclability. (I 
think I must have made up that word)


When I started hunting and shooting regularly at age 14 or so, it was 1970
and "ecology" was all the rage amongst young people.  So, myself and my
friends of era, we always picked up our spent cartridges of any caliber or
style.  We would at least dispose of them properly if we didn't provide them
to a reloader we knew.  This was especially difficult when we went target
shooting in the woods of Calaveras County with our semi-auto .22s because
they flicked hundreds of brass cases all over the place on the forest floor
in rapid order.  I wouldn't even consider shooting bottles like the cowboys
of Hollywood seemed to often do, because I didn't want to leave a bunch of
broken glass laying around.

When I was older, and did most of my hunting with a shotgun amongst a
different group of friends who were older than I, and had not been exposed
to "the ecology movement" they way I had been, I was somewhat perplexed by
their willingness to leave a bunch of spent brass and plastic shotgun hulls
laying about. Even on some not-so-pristine farmland we were hunting on.  So,
I would scurry around picking up the cases and they would look at me funny.

I now have a couple of cardboard boxes of spent shotgun cases, some of
reloadable quality and some not really worth bothering with.  I used to put
rinse them out with a hose, and then put them through my wife's wash machine
in a mesh bag to insure their cleanliness.  I don't reload anymore, because
I seldom get to shoot anything, even clay targets. But, in my mind, it
always seemed wasteful to add all that brass and plastic to a landfill when
it could be reused and/or recycled (I didn't say I was being pragmatic or
reasonable here!).

It seems to me, that aluminum cases would have a much broader appeal.  I
mean, we have more than a few homeless folks around here that scrounge up
all the aluminum they can find, even your beer can collection from your
backyard if you don't catch them.  They take to the neighborhood recycle
center so they can fund their next bottle or fix.  And aluminum returns a
higher price than just about anything else that is recycled through these
channels.

I'd hate to leave all that debris lying about in the desert.  It is sure to
just give the antis another issue to use for public access closure or to
reduce hunting opportunities.

Tom H., '76 Traveler