Brass, Looking For Suggestions

[Paper Puncher]

I understand the "I can't leave it lying there" thought process. Many of us are "brassaholics" and cringe at the thought of leaving it lay, or turning something in for scrap that someone could use.

At some point in time you will reach storage capacity. Your choices will be, stop picking it up ( "but I like picking it up"), start throwing it away, (yeah right), give it away, (to who?), scrap it (if there is a local scrap yard nearby that will take it), or sell it.

Selling it is work, your financial situation and available time dictate how much effort you want to put into it. You have zero dollars invested in it right now. Least effort is to fill a postal MFRB and sell it as bulk mixed brass. Say a $1 a pound (probably 30-35 lbs in a box) plus shipping, $45-$50 a box is my guess. Probably less than scrap price but your sharing your good deal so a bit of positive karma. Pour it in a box tape it up and put the address on and off to the post office.

Do you have kids, grand kids, neighbor kids you like? Let them do the sorting to earn some cash.

You will have to up your post count to sell in Swap and Sell, that's really not that hard to do.

[hotrod13]

Thanks all, yes I don't post much, but I read a bunch. I might try the scrap price idea for other reloaders, Sure some of it is once shot but I don't want to mess with sorting it out, so there will be a mixture of both, but yes I stopped bending over to pick up the 9 and 40 brass I just use a nut picker upper for it and usually leave more than I take. I know it is a nice problem to have other than the room it takes up and it being everywhere. I'm just at the point to where I've loaded 1,000's of rounds and still loading some and start thinking about the components to build a round and of course primers are my main concern I'm pretty good on powder an got 1000's of pounds of lead so I guess if I think about this way that if I sell a MFRB I can get 1,000 or more primers for it then it helps me out and helps others out. I just cringe of taking good brass to the scrap yard.

Thanks all

[JimB..]

Thanks all, yes I don't post much, but I read a bunch. I might try the scrap price idea for other reloaders, Sure some of it is once shot but I don't want to mess with sorting it out, so there will be a mixture of both, but yes I stopped bending over to pick up the 9 and 40 brass I just use a nut picker upper for it and usually leave more than I take. I know it is a nice problem to have other than the room it takes up and it being everywhere. I'm just at the point to where I've loaded 1,000's of rounds and still loading some and start thinking about the components to build a round and of course primers are my main concern I'm pretty good on powder an got 1000's of pounds of lead so I guess if I think about this way that if I sell a MFRB I can get 1,000 or more primers for it then it helps me out and helps others out. I just cringe of taking good brass to the scrap yard.

Thanks all

I agree with stockpiling primers.

Have you considered a brass exchange deal with one of the companies that produces remanufactured ammo? I recall seeing several that give a pretty good rate for brass and you get credit to buy their ammo. I guess that you are happy loading your own, but if there are calibers you don’t load it’s worth considering since they’d take everything in one shot.

[trails4u]

I understand the "I can't leave it lying there" thought process. Many of us are "brassaholics" and cringe at the thought of leaving it lay, or turning something in for scrap that someone could use.

At some point in time you will reach storage capacity. Your choices will be, stop picking it up ( "but I like picking it up"), start throwing it away, (yeah right), give it away, (to who?), scrap it (if there is a local scrap yard nearby that will take it), or sell it.

Selling it is work, your financial situation and available time dictate how much effort you want to put into it. You have zero dollars invested in it right now. Least effort is to fill a postal MFRB and sell it as bulk mixed brass. Say a $1 a pound (probably 30-35 lbs in a box) plus shipping, $45-$50 a box is my guess. Probably less than scrap price but your sharing your good deal so a bit of positive karma. Pour it in a box tape it up and put the address on and off to the post office.

Do you have kids, grand kids, neighbor kids you like? Let them do the sorting to earn some cash.

You will have to up your post count to sell in Swap and Sell, that's really not that hard to do.

I really like this idea..... Many of us, myself included, probably have more brass than we will ever shoot. BUT, many a new reloader, on a budget, as we all once were....doesn't have much and would appreciate an opportunity to stockpile some affordable brass while the current political environment allows for it. If you were profit minded....you could sit on it until the next shortage and probably make your retirement. Anyone else remember 9mm unprocessed brass going for 6-8c each. I do....and it wasn't all that long ago.

[Tom W.]

40 Cal brass trimmed to whatever you want and filled with molten lead makes a wonderful boolit for a .44 mag.......

And a .45 acp will do the same for a .480 Ruger.

And no, it won't blow up your revolver.

[fatelk]

I understand your reluctance to scrap it. I used to feel the same way. Now it doesn’t bother me at all. Many tons of perfectly good brass gets scrapped every day, melted down to eventually make new brass. It’s worth around $15/k if you put some work into it and sell it a bit at a time, or it’s worth about $13/k all at once to a scrap yard. I have to agree with most of the others here; I’d scrap it in a heartbeat.

I have 4- 5 gallon buckets full in my garage, that my son and I picked up and sorted. With the abundance of cheap ammo right now, we can’t hardly give it away. I’m about ready to haul it all to the scrap yard myself, and would have already had we not put so much time into sorting it.

[Mr_Sheesh]

diamondkbrass might be another place to check what they'd offer you?

[David2011]

Wow...8 posts in 8 years...might be a new record.

He was busy picking up brass.

[wv109323]

. I am kinda in the same boat. I sold some to a gun store at actually less than scrap price. I thought maybe I would be helping the LGS and a hopefully he sells the brass at a price that helps a shooter out.
With the amount you have I would sell it for scrap and buy a gun. I hate that but there has to be a market before you can sell it. 9mm, 40 S&W and .223 is difficult to load and save money over new ammo price.

[Thin Man]

I suggest you invest in an inexpensive brass sorter that will separate all of the "same or similar" caliber brass together. This will save you a ton of time and make your selling or gifting the brass to the next user a lot simpler. Why not try a small "for sale" ad in your local newspaper. You might meet some local reloaders you did not know are in your area.

[bbogue1]

My story --- In general a common story

As a retired Senior living on a modest fixed income (mostly Social Security) it is seldom that I can afford to buy brass. Extra money, what’s that? I can only wish that I could join a gun club. I shoot for the enjoyment of shooting. I have two friends who have built rudimentary ranges on their property and I can use those ranges anytime. I got into reloading to allow me to shoot, however, I stayed in because it is so multifaceted. If it had not been for BrassMagnet and his Tumbleweed Christmas (the exceptional gathering of members to donate loading equipment and supplies to new loaders) I would still not be able to load. I really do like fussing around in my ”loading” room. I have a 9mm pistol and a 38 special revolver. My son, grandson and son-in-law each have a 40. A friend has a 257 Roberts and another friend has a 9mm and did have a 45, most live locally, so, use my equipment.

Why am I relaying this to you and the fabulous membership here on CB? In the 4 years I have been reloading, the generosity of the members has allowed me to teach 6 new reloaders and they have taught 2 more. Without the Helping hands section none of us would be reloading.

If not for Brass Magnet (through Helping Hands) to have even a small stockpile of brass for 9mm and 40 would only be a far off dream. We use the same brass over and over. I certainly cannot afford to buy brass. We even cast our own bullets. There is a small tire dealer nearby that is generously giving us from 3-6 pounds of wheel weights about every two weeks in exchange for some snack food.

Sell to give

I really like what redhawk0 said. What has been implied but not outright mentioned is this; You have been given a gift. As a collector you now have far more than you can use which gives you the opportunity to be an excellent steward of this gift. The helping hands section is an opportunity to help a new loader who otherwise could not afford to shoot.

Wouldn’t you agree it feels great to help others who need a gift only you can give? The drawbacks are you have to sort the brass and you have to pay the shipping. Fortunately you can sell boxes of uncleaned range brass at a low rate to provide the funds to pay the shipping. You don’t even have to count the brass; gather it and weigh it. 9mm weighs 14 ounces per 100, or ask other members how many cases of whatever caliber will fit into a MFRB. Fill up the shipping box with brass (in the same condition as they are now) and offer them at a ridiculously low price including shipping (say a MFRB – medium flat rate box is $12.80 shipping plus $12.00 for the brass; which beats any other price on the internet.) Boxes are free from USPS.com and you can click and ship purchase the label, the shipping and arrange for your mailman to pick the box up at your front door right on your computer at home.

Under this scenario the sale of one box generates enough income to donate a like box through Helping Hands. Can you imagine how many new or low income loaders would drool over your gift? Can you picture their posts of gratitude? Don’t quit rescuing the brass. Be a conduit for it to allow some who could not shoot to enjoy the sport.

Hope this twist of an idea helps, feel free to click on my name to the left and send me a personal message if you like.

[Petander]

That's a good post, bbogue1.

I too remember times when someone gave me a handful of 45ACP brass and it felt like Christmas. Or a whole box of bad ammo to pull,again got the brass. Or an old mold... life goes up and down for all of us.

Do something good with that brass. Give.

Nowadays I have more "stuff" than I need and a bad heart,stent etc. I'm trying to give if it helps someone,makes my heart better. Give. Makes you feel good.

[JimB..]

I once got buckets of 45acp and gave several people a full bucket each for free if they would sort one bucket for me, dumping certain headstamps and separating by primer size. They were pretty good filtering out headstamps, not so good with primer sizes, and only one cheated me, but I have more than I need now anyway.

You could do something similar. Sell a MFRB or better a LFRB of range brass for a low price and require that the buyer offer up on helping hands a SFRB of ready to load brass. It’d be maybe 20% of the brass plus some labor to help out someone new. Not sure who would pay to ship the SFRB, whatever the norm is for helping hands.

It’s funny that we all go through the same cycle for brass and lead, can’t get it, work hard to get it, oh my where did this all come from.

Think of it as hoarding goodwill.

[samari46]

I have to admit that I was a brass rat. Didn't care what caliber it was it got picked up. I even had club members give me brass that had been shot many times. The whole funny thing about the brass rat thing is that members used to ask if I had any brass in certain calibers. Only too happy to help out. But dumping one of ten 5 gal buckets on the garage floor did get a bit much. Off to the junk yard. 459 pounds of cartridge brass almost but not quite filled a 55 gallon drum and a nice payday. But since I was a 45 acp shooter did save that caliber. Don't scrounge anymore so just working on what I now have. Frank