Although I put this together for pistol brass I did pick up a bunch of .223 and 308 with it too.
After the 2010 TX State match I was surprised to see, two weeks later, quite a bit of the over 38,950 cases fired during the match still on the ground. Even with the guys that are nuts over the bag a nut, the wizards of the nut wizard and everyone from novice to master of the five finger discount on range brass having their pick, a lot was left. With the cracks in the soil growing this time of year I couldn’t see letting the brass become part of a potato crop in china so I decided to gather some myself.
I quickly realized why I was seeing spots with high brass concentration despite all of the methods used to collect it. If you are not on a flat surface neither the bag a nut or the wizard pick up the brass very well. The wizard will get a little more than the wide roller on the BAN will get but is quite a bit slower.
I decided to resurrect a project from the old days and put together my brass vac. It’s really quite simple, although the blower/vac can mulch you don’t want your brass all dinged up so it draws through a manifold with holes in the bottom so heavy objects (brass cases) fall into the first bucket and lighter stuff (grass and dirt) will pass through as normal. I just strapped everything to a 4 wheeled cart, using closed cell foam as a gasket. It’s not perfect but good for a first generation, 2 hrs and ¾ tank of gas gathered 12 gallons of brass.
If the ground is not almost perfect the Bag A nut will leave a lot behind
The nut wizard was able to pick up a hand full or two more than the BAN but still left a little gold mine behind.
Once you get it set at just the right speed the brass vac will pick up cases leaving heavy(er) objects on the ground.
I made a mount for the blower/vac, and the manifold to connect the two 5 gallon buckets, blower and shop vac hose together. I used 2” PVC for the extension.
Here it is ready to go except I did add a strap to keep the handle around 45 degrees so I didn’t have to bend down to pick it up, moving from one honey hole to another.
After the 2010 TX State match I was surprised to see, two weeks later, quite a bit of the over 38,950 cases fired during the match still on the ground. Even with the guys that are nuts over the bag a nut, the wizards of the nut wizard and everyone from novice to master of the five finger discount on range brass having their pick, a lot was left. With the cracks in the soil growing this time of year I couldn’t see letting the brass become part of a potato crop in china so I decided to gather some myself.
I quickly realized why I was seeing spots with high brass concentration despite all of the methods used to collect it. If you are not on a flat surface neither the bag a nut or the wizard pick up the brass very well. The wizard will get a little more than the wide roller on the BAN will get but is quite a bit slower.
I decided to resurrect a project from the old days and put together my brass vac. It’s really quite simple, although the blower/vac can mulch you don’t want your brass all dinged up so it draws through a manifold with holes in the bottom so heavy objects (brass cases) fall into the first bucket and lighter stuff (grass and dirt) will pass through as normal. I just strapped everything to a 4 wheeled cart, using closed cell foam as a gasket. It’s not perfect but good for a first generation, 2 hrs and ¾ tank of gas gathered 12 gallons of brass.
If the ground is not almost perfect the Bag A nut will leave a lot behind
The nut wizard was able to pick up a hand full or two more than the BAN but still left a little gold mine behind.
Once you get it set at just the right speed the brass vac will pick up cases leaving heavy(er) objects on the ground.
I made a mount for the blower/vac, and the manifold to connect the two 5 gallon buckets, blower and shop vac hose together. I used 2” PVC for the extension.
Here it is ready to go except I did add a strap to keep the handle around 45 degrees so I didn’t have to bend down to pick it up, moving from one honey hole to another.
