A gun geek's Friday night. Operation brass catcher.
Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 10:55 pm
If the weather reports hold to a 20% chance of rain every day next week in South Dakota, I'll probably be on my way out there Monday or Tuesday. One of the last things I was hoping to get ready for out there was a brass catcher for my AR. I have one of the UTG models I think cost $8 on sale, but I found when I'm hunting I don't like the extra bulk of it, and it blocks the chamber from easy viewing. If I lose 1 or 2 brass hunting it's no big deal, but if I'm going to go through 200+ rounds in a session, it would be nice not to pick them out of the dirt when I'm done.
So, today I saw one of those trigger style clamps at the hardware store for $6. I had actually been looking for the right C-clamp, but I've used these other clamps before and I realized instantly that was what would complete my brass catcher project. I got home and drilled (2) 7/32" holes about 3/8" apart in the rail of the clamp. It turned out to be hard, maybe spring steel, so I dulled one bit and finished with another even while using oil. I took some 8 gauge copper ground wire and bent it into the shape I wanted. I then made a tube out of some nylon mesh fabric I acquired on eBay for this project. Original plans were to build a 6' wide net that funneled brass into a huge ammo can that was heavy enough not to tip over. The mesh would help the wind pass through some instead of acting as a sail. In the end I decided I liked the clamp-on-the-bench style better for bench shooting. Maybe for standing shooting I'll build that big one someday.
This one wasn't easy. I don't sew, therefore I stopped in JoAnn Fabrics last week to ask the ladies what a guy could do to bond fabric. They sold me some stuff called Heat'n Bond Ultra. It's sort of a tape that you iron on one piece of fabric, then pull off the paper backing, and iron the fabric you want to attach to the line of glue that's left. It sounds simple, but I'm positive now that I'm even worse at ironing than I am at sewing. In the end, I did get the seams I needed, but the Heat'n Bond stuff just wasn't going to be strong enough to hold up very long in the field. I ended up taking a hot glue gun and sort of spot welded the seems again with that on both sides. Now the mesh tube seems very durable.
For typical fixed bench shooting, I think leaving the bottom of the "chute" open, dropping the brass into an ammo can on the ground, would be easiest. For a rotating bench, the bottom can be tied up however high you'd need it to stop from dragging on the ground as you turn the bench. When you think you've got enough in there, just un-cinch it and let the brass fall into a container of your choice.
I could probably redo the copper wire frame on this to make it small enough to fit in an ammo can for storage and transport. My AR throw brass into a pretty consistent window, and it wouldn't need to be this big.
(2) 7/32" holes to fit heavy 8 gauge copper wire. Just twisting the wires once through the holes makes the frame pretty solid. If any of you have ideas on making this connection more sturdy I'm considering improvements here.
I formed the wire frame to curve under the bench a little to catch any from jumping out on their way down.
Sure doesn't look like it should take 4 hours does it? The next one would be done in an hour reaching straight for the hot glue gun. Hot glue melts into this mesh material beautifully and bonds STRONG.
So, today I saw one of those trigger style clamps at the hardware store for $6. I had actually been looking for the right C-clamp, but I've used these other clamps before and I realized instantly that was what would complete my brass catcher project. I got home and drilled (2) 7/32" holes about 3/8" apart in the rail of the clamp. It turned out to be hard, maybe spring steel, so I dulled one bit and finished with another even while using oil. I took some 8 gauge copper ground wire and bent it into the shape I wanted. I then made a tube out of some nylon mesh fabric I acquired on eBay for this project. Original plans were to build a 6' wide net that funneled brass into a huge ammo can that was heavy enough not to tip over. The mesh would help the wind pass through some instead of acting as a sail. In the end I decided I liked the clamp-on-the-bench style better for bench shooting. Maybe for standing shooting I'll build that big one someday.
This one wasn't easy. I don't sew, therefore I stopped in JoAnn Fabrics last week to ask the ladies what a guy could do to bond fabric. They sold me some stuff called Heat'n Bond Ultra. It's sort of a tape that you iron on one piece of fabric, then pull off the paper backing, and iron the fabric you want to attach to the line of glue that's left. It sounds simple, but I'm positive now that I'm even worse at ironing than I am at sewing. In the end, I did get the seams I needed, but the Heat'n Bond stuff just wasn't going to be strong enough to hold up very long in the field. I ended up taking a hot glue gun and sort of spot welded the seems again with that on both sides. Now the mesh tube seems very durable.
For typical fixed bench shooting, I think leaving the bottom of the "chute" open, dropping the brass into an ammo can on the ground, would be easiest. For a rotating bench, the bottom can be tied up however high you'd need it to stop from dragging on the ground as you turn the bench. When you think you've got enough in there, just un-cinch it and let the brass fall into a container of your choice.
I could probably redo the copper wire frame on this to make it small enough to fit in an ammo can for storage and transport. My AR throw brass into a pretty consistent window, and it wouldn't need to be this big.
(2) 7/32" holes to fit heavy 8 gauge copper wire. Just twisting the wires once through the holes makes the frame pretty solid. If any of you have ideas on making this connection more sturdy I'm considering improvements here.
I formed the wire frame to curve under the bench a little to catch any from jumping out on their way down.
Sure doesn't look like it should take 4 hours does it? The next one would be done in an hour reaching straight for the hot glue gun. Hot glue melts into this mesh material beautifully and bonds STRONG.
