Tracy,
This works fine for me. Try it in QA

DECLARE @Test TABLE (Number varchar(200))
INSERT INTO @Test VALUES ('301-1')
INSERT INTO @Test VALUES ('302-B')
INSERT INTO @Test VALUES ('303A')
INSERT INTO @Test VALUES ('304AZ')
INSERT INTO @Test VALUES ('305-AB')
INSERT INTO @Test VALUES ('306-Z')
SELECT CAST(LEFT(Number, PATINDEX('%[-A-Z]%', Number + 'A')-1) AS int), Number FROM @Test
      WHERE CAST(LEFT(Number, PATINDEX('%[-A-Z]%', Number + 'A')-1) AS int) BETWEEN 302 AND 305

>As I posted to Chad, I don't know what I was thinking Sergey! I'll fool around with it some and see what I can get working. I think the headache I am suffering from this am is inhibiting my thinking abilities! (That or my age :o) The latest test:
>
>SELECT CAST(LEFT(number, PATINDEX('%[-A-Z]%', number + 'A')-1) AS int) FROM occ_main
>
>bombs with:
>
>Conversion failed when converting the varchar value (20,22,24) to data type int.
>
>It pulls 2054 records and then bombs.