Anybody use a brass catcher?

Rustydust

Rustydust

Active member
I was wondering if any of you guys had any luck with brass catchers? I want to use one for my AR-15 rifles just so I dont have to hunt down my brass all the time. The range that I go to is often so littered with stray (and most times no good) brass that I spend 5 times more time looking for mine than I should need to.

I tried a cheapy a couple of years ago and if you did not have it on the gun just right for every shot sometimes the empty shell would bounce back into the ejection port jamming the bolt. Nothing horrible I will say, but irritating.
 
I have had zero luck with production catchers. Somebody here at PM suggested a minnow net over the ejection port with the handle taped to the buttstock. I tried this and dang it.. it works better than anything I've tried before, great for the range. I bend the net frame into a rectangle. A "tacticool"guy at the range laughed at me, but I was sittin sippin water while he was chasing brass. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Oh, did I metion Its cheaper than any other catcher. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I have one of the commercially made catchers for an AR and have had the same problem with failure to totally eject the brass if I'm not exact on the placement.

But even then, it is sure better than spending time chasing brass at a range or trying to locate it when shooting a bunch of prairie dogs..

I never shoot enough in the field to worry about using it and in a competition, the risk of a jam is not worth trying to save the brass. Most of them are "lost brass" regulations so I only use cheap hardball ammo there anyway..
 
Rusty,
I had my wife whip one up for me and it works great took her about 10-15 minutes and she used old fabric she had laying around the house so it cost next to nothing. I will try and take a few pictures of it today and post them for you. It works very good. It has velcro on the bottom for ease of getting cases off and 3/4 inch velcro to attach it to the rifle. I have lost a couple of brass over the past year but 3-4 brass over that amount of time is no big deal to me at least. Let me know if you are interested and then I will post pics if you are.
 
Well heck yeah! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

That be nifty. I bet there are a bunch of AR lovers just in this group alone that would love to have something that worked. And make it yourself (or better yet, have The Wife make it)? Sounds great. Please give us some pictures and I give it a try- and if this dont work I can always try the minnow net next! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I have been using one with great sucess since 1985 or so.
It is rigid plastic and clips on to my rifle on the bottom side of the carrying handle. It is made by E&L mfg Phoenix AZ. It will not work on a flattop. I wish that I had a photo for you. Maybe later.
Harvey7
 
I made a brass deflector using a jeans pocket and it only requires sewing one seam across the top. Super easy and will work on any ar15.

DSCF0093.jpg

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I just used a pencil since I didn't have a small dowel handy and then just used a heavy rubber band to attach to the rifle. It drops the brass straight down and I ran 80 rounds through it and had no problems.

Sewing instructions are: cut out the whole pocket (that way you don't have any seams to sew), place dowel at the top of the pocket, roll the pocket around the dowel and sew it at the bottom of the dowel (which makes a sleeve for the dowel to fit in), and you are done.

Curtis
 
Just when you think you seen it all! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

That is way cool! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I was looking for something to buy to catch my brass, but now I don't have too! Thanks for the post and pictures. My wife is handy with a neetle and thread. She'll get a kick out of this gizmo. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Highwaystar
 
Them there predator hunter fellas are pretty dang slick ain't they.

"Pocket Protector" brass catcher for the AR15, who'd ever thunk it.

Nice,
Clayman
 
I am using one I bought from D-Tech (I think it was a CONDOR brand name if I remember right). It attaches to the rear of the Handguard via a velcro strap. The part the goes against the gun has a wire border inside of the cordura to help keep it's shape. The top portion of the brass catcher is cordura for an inch or so and then below that is a mesh bag with a zipper on the bottom to dump out the empties.

Well like some of you guys have said, unless it is positioned perfectly the brass will slip through between the lower receiver and the brass catcher.

To help solve the problem I used the bottom halves of a couple of Weaver Scope Rings. I attached them to my flat top upper between my Yankee Hill Machine 1/2" Riser Blocks. I then cut a slot in the cordura material on each side of the wire stiffener and slipped two of those little metal loop wire holders around the wire stiffener and attached them to the bottom halves of the Weaver Scope Rings using the screws supplied with the Weaver Scope Rings (I had to use washers also to keep the screw heads from slipping through the holes in the loop wire holders).

ARBrassCatcher.jpg


After the modification I don't seem to have positioning problems anymore, and the brass catcher works much, much better. I have not had a single malfunction since using this brass catcher. The day I qualified with my AR I left the Brass Catcher on and it never once malfunctioned, but then this Bushmaster hasn't malfunctioned at all so far.

Larry
 
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When I'm at the range, I use a red shop rag that I attach to the scope bases with the range's masking tape. Drops 'em right down beside the rifle, pulls off when I'm through.
 
Sorry Rusty haven't checked pm in a couple of days. I will take some pics and get them posted tommorow hopefully.
 
Here are 3 pics for you of the bag my wife made for me. The first one you can see the velcro that attaches it to the gun. the back part of the fabric then attaches or slides under the trap door. If you slide the fabric under the trap door then fasten the velcro it will stay nice and tight under the trap door and function quite well.
videoofKya001.jpg


The dimensions of the bag are 6" in height, 5" width, for the 4 attaching straps they are 5 inches long after they are sewn in to the bag.
videoofKya003.jpg


You can see the sewing machine stitching on the bottom of the bag this is 2 more strips of velcro sewn into the bag to seal the bottom and is really easy to open and close.
videoofKya004.jpg


Hope this helps it is not the prettiest thing by far, but it works really well and is our of the way.

Also you are going to want to make it out of a medium thickness fabric the brass come out hot enough to burn the fabric in this catcher and if it were thin I could see it burning through.
 
Well now! That is just spiffy! I am going to forward this to my wife with a hint hint that it sure would be nice if I had one of these!

And thanks to all for your various inputs. I will admit that picking up my brass at the range is about all the exercise that I get some days, but I would rather be shooting my gun(s) or shooting the breeze with my fellow shooters than scrounging brass in the dirt.
 
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