Bullet jackets from range scrap

[jsizemore]

I took the last of my bullet jackets to the scrapyard this morning. I've been selling the scrap to them as #2 copper for $1.95/lb. Really clean from the smelting process. Today the fella said the scrapyard was going to drop the price to $1.40/lb because it was now considered red brass since zinc and/or tin was used to make the gilding metal for the bullet jackets. He said they shipped their copper scrap straight to China and the bullet jacket scrap wasn't clean enough for their smelting process.

Anybody else run into this? Or am I being played?

[Outpost75]

That is correct. "Gilding metal" jacket material is nominally 95% copper and 5% zinc, although the exact composition may vary:

https://www.olinbrass.com/resources/alloy-data-specifications/C21000-(ASTM-B36)-Gilding-Metal

Much military surplus ammunition is produced with gilding metal-clad steel jacket material or GMCS.

Scrappers will use a magnetic separator to pull out any GMCS material and depending upon results discount loads accordingly.

Anything over $1 a pound for skimmed bullet jackets mixed with lead drosses these days is a good price.

[jsizemore]

Thanks.

[richhodg66]

I have a bunch now and will have more eventually. I'm hoping the scrap dealer in town will trade me for lead in some proportion. He might be more inclined to do that than to pay cash for it.

[mold maker]

During times of peak demand, the scrappers pay more for lower quality material. Regardless of how good we think our process is, we still have lots of lead involved in our outcast jackets.
They used to overlook that fact when copper brought $4.00 +/#. Now there is low demand and they are very picky with the grading of their purchased metal. The same is true of lead in all forms, but a better deal for us is to trade instead of a straight sale. That way the scrapper makes his profit on half as many transactions.