Range Scrap- Don't Throw Away Your Bullet Jackets!

[Hanzy4200]

If you process range scrap, you may be throwing away wads of cash. I started gathering range scrap a couple months ago, to supplement me supplies of lead. I made the commitment to myself to attempt to gather at least 2x as much range scrap as I shoot in a session. Effectively increasing my lead stockpile every outing.

Anyway, I noticed a post a few weeks back on this subject. I can't remember for the life of me where it was or by who. I spurred me to call my scrapyard and ask them if they would in except bullet jackets. They said they would, at $2.25 a lb.!

To say I was happy was an understatement. I was a moment away from dumping a 45lb. bucket of jackets into the dumpster. Not to mention probably another 30-40 lbs I've trashed in past months.

You will need to sort your jackets with a magnet to remove any that are bi-metal, and visually to remove any that are brass. The brass can be added to a pile of its own, with your spent primers (another item I never thought to save).

Just wanted to be sure the new lead junkies were getting the most for their labor and now throwing away their money. We can always use a extra $100 towards components.

[pipehand]

Do you clean the jackets, and how? I have heard that there were scrapyards accepting it as #2 copper, and reports of others that won't take it. It generally looks black and nasty when I skim the3 jackets off the melt. I have thought of giving the skimmed jackets a vinegar washing to pretty them up for the scrapper, but I haven't tried it.

[imashooter2]

This is location sensitive. Yards in my area won't touch them. Check before you put much effort into them...

[btroj]

I got 12 cents a pound. Hardly worth the effort.

[Dusty Bannister]

Phone quotes are always subject to personal inspection. And once you are there, you will take what they offer rather than lug it all home again. You may have better luck than most, so good luck and let us know how successful your personal experience is. Dusty

[khmer6]

This is a big YMMV depending on location. There was a member on here that would clean the jackets and split the sale price with you if you sent him the jackets. I'm not sure if they are still doing it

[bangerjim]

Yards that I haunt sell range scrap for $1/#. They sure will not pay $2/# for just the jackets!

One yard will not even sell anything ammo related......but they are happy to pay ~0.40/# for it!

Definitely area specific!!!!! Check B4 you plan your Christmas buying based upon "extra" money from jackets.


banger

[bhn22]

I had to turn mine into the fire dept of "Haz-Mat" day. No scrapper would touch 'em. 3 five gallon buckets full of jackets.

[dragon813gt]

I will never understand the yards not taking them. Only reason I can think is because they are a regulated material for domestic use only, I think. So if the company the yard is selling to ships the scrap to China they have a problem. Not all the yards by me will accept them. Same goes for cartridge brass. $2.25 is #2 Cu price and is what I get if I have at least 100#s. If I have less I usually get around $1. I honestly don't know if jackets fall under regulated material for domestic use but I could see it being an issue. Other reason could be that the yard would receive such a small quantity that it's not worth it to them.

[imashooter2]

I will never understand the yards not taking them. Only reason I can think is because they are a regulated material for domestic use only, I think. So if the company the yard is selling to ships the scrap to China they have a problem. Not all the yards by me will accept them. Same goes for cartridge brass. $2.25 is #2 Cu price and is what I get if I have at least 100#s. If I have less I usually get around $1. I honestly don't know if jackets fall under regulated material for domestic use but I could see it being an issue. Other reason could be that the yard would receive such a small quantity that it's not worth it to them.

It's like gravity. You don't have to understand it, it simply is.

[btroj]

Mine will go with the recycling to the garbage collection company in the future. I have no desire to store 200 pounds of them, drive to yard, and get 20 bucks. Not worth the effort.

If all else fails I will dump them in the trash. They are , to me, about worthless.

[Forrest r]

This

88409

='s

88410

Price is down a little this year, last bucket I took in paid $2.40 a #.

[btroj]

I wish. I took in 225 pounds last summer. At 2 bucks a pound I would have had a heck of a payday!

Like Charlie Brown, I got a rock.

[waksupi]

Something else to save, is your zinc ww's. New battery technology is coming, and demand will go up. May need to sit on it for a few years, but it doesn't eat anything while it's sitting.

[btroj]

It eats at my wife and her sense of what is proper. That tends to cause an erosion of my posterior.

Marital harmony is worth far more than 2 bucks a pound!

[dbosman]

YMMV.
My local scrapper won't take anything cartridge related as in the past they had some accidents.

[MarkP]

btrog, You may want to call All Metals Market in Fremont, ask for Todd he is a gun guy.

[btroj]

I could do that. Gonna have to be a good price for me to drive an hour each way.

Thanks for the info.

[Down South]

I've thrown all of mine in the garbage. No scrap yard close by and I figured like btroj, I'd get a rock.

[Hanzy4200]

From what they said on the phone, they will take them. Regardless if I don't get #2, or even sheet prices, it will be worth it to me. Heck if I get $.20 a lb I will still do it. Why not? I visit this yard regularly to buy clean lead for $.60 a lb. anyway. Weird thing is, they sell clean lead (pipe, roof flashing, ingots) for the same price as WW.

I may have a slight advantage as I've developed a bit of a relationship with them over the years. I take a lot of various scrap I come across to aid in buying components. I took in a bag of burned-off extension cords last week at ended up paying a grand total of $0.65 on 60 lbs. of clean lead.

[Hanzy4200]

I am a bit confused about one thing. Out of curiosity, I took a pair of snips to a few jackets. They all have a deep yellowish tint. What's the deal with that? They are copper colored on the outside. I would think they were brass, but they are obviously not, as nearly all manufacturers list them as copper and I pick out any brass jackets like Montana Gold's.

[CastingFool]

You may want to do a search online to see if anyone in the area is into metal casting. these guys usually build their own furnaces and melt aluminum, copper and brass, to make other items. They may be interested in buying the scrap jackets.

[4719dave]

I clean all mine in a 5 gal bucket with a bunch of lemshine and water over night swish the buckets 1-2 times to mix usally cleans copper pretty pink ...rinse with water .. i pull all the steel out first . 2.50 plus lately. going down time to pile it up ..

[jetsfan-24]

i will give u 90 cents per pound for ur jackets if u sort out the steel first and give u back ur shipping cost

[4719dave]

thinking new money maker here ...

[bobthenailer]

This past summer i took 56 lbs to sacrap yard I got about $2.40 a lb bullet jacket material is around 90 to 95% copper.

[Dave C.]

The scrap yards don't want jackets but they buy stolen grave markers!

[T-Man]

I save all my jackets from my range lead program. After smelting it all down, cool it down, then run a magnet through it to get rid of the steel jackets. Then heat it up as hot as you can get and dump the hot copper in a barrel of cold water. Everything except solder will come loose. Leaving you with something in the neighborhood of Number 2 copper. I get roughly 3 bucks a pound for it here. And sell it by the 5 gallon bucket full pretty regular. I also carry a big shop broom to the range with me. I sweep up all the rim fire stuff after running a big magnet over the area to pick up all the steel. The steel goes for tin prices. The rest is dropped in a vinegar solution to enable me to pick out the odd ball aluminum case stuff. This brass is poured into a barrel on my little trailer. Then when sufficiently filled up, off to the scales it goes. A little work goes a long way in salvaging metals. I am retired from the Army, so I do have a little extra time on my hands, but there is no reason the average guy here among us cannot do the same thing and pocket enough extra cash to support an expensive gun and ammo habit.

[Hanzy4200]

That's a interesting concept, dropping the hot jackets in water. Will have to try that.

[mold maker]

I traded jackets for lead for almost 9 years, as #2 copper. The reason the #2 instead of #1 is the lead left on the jackets. Any price you get for jackets is at least a balance (in trade) to the lead price.
Many of the smaller junk yards have been bought out by major recycle companies. They have new policies about selling to the public, and what they will buy. All the scrap yards in this area fall into this category. I have to drive 25+ miles each way now, so I take all I can haul, and the volume gets a better price.