Range lead experience.

[frkelly74]

At the range I go to there is usually quite a bit of free lead laying on the berm. I have mentioned Making deposits and withdrawals in the bank before and I had gotten quite a bit of bullet metal to clean up. I spent a couple of days and got a nice small pile of ingots and a two gallon pail of jacket material. I sorted out the material and separated out most of the dirt and all the steel so I thought it was pretty clean to sell at the scrap yard. Rifkins is the place here in Saginaw. I thought I might get enough to pay for the gas I used for the melt. So the guy at the scale looked at the pail and saw a brass jacket on top. I had not thought to separate out brass from the guilding metal. Any way he said he would buy the pail at a brass price and I said okay because otherwise i would just throw it in the trash. Yellow brass was $1.27 per pound today and I had 26 pounds. So it paid for the fuel about 3 or 4 times. I was happy with it, but next time I will separate out the brass jackets. Cartridge brass was $1.22 per pound and I had some damaged brass to get rid of. Prices were up from last time a few weeks ago. And the trailer is empty, I am happy to get something for my trouble and I have some lead to use up. Life is good.

[Winger Ed.]

I've always been ahead of the game by separating everything myself.

The most extreme thing I've had happen was with #1 and #2 Copper.
#1 pays WAY better than #2.
A 10' piece of bright fresh tubing with a '90' soldered on the end is considered being #2 when its on the scale.

They get the same treatment at the foundry, so they'll have someone sit and make the cuts or whatever to do it.

In my case the difference was a 10' stick of #1, and a 2" piece of #2..... or a 10' stick of #2.
I figure it works like you can make the separations yourself, or 'pay' them to do it.

[dale2242]

I just sold some cartridge brass at a recycler.
Got $1.04 a lb.

[lightman]

I have some cartridge brass to sell but I'll wait until this virus thing runs its course. The last time I called around I had a few that would not touch it and the others were between 50 cents and $1 a pound. I wish the yards around here would still sell to the public. I would trade it for lead but cash is ok.

[Huskerguy]

At the range I go to there is usually quite a bit of free lead laying on the berm. I have mentioned Making deposits and withdrawals in the bank before and I had gotten quite a bit of bullet metal to clean up. I spent a couple of days and got a nice small pile of ingots and a two gallon pail of jacket material. I sorted out the material and separated out most of the dirt and all the steel so I thought it was pretty clean to sell at the scrap yard. Rifkins is the place here in Saginaw. I thought I might get enough to pay for the gas I used for the melt. So the guy at the scale looked at the pail and saw a brass jacket on top. I had not thought to separate out brass from the guilding metal. Any way he said he would buy the pail at a brass price and I said okay because otherwise i would just throw it in the trash. Yellow brass was $1.27 per pound today and I had 26 pounds. So it paid for the fuel about 3 or 4 times. I was happy with it, but next time I will separate out the brass jackets. Cartridge brass was $1.22 per pound and I had some damaged brass to get rid of. Prices were up from last time a few weeks ago. And the trailer is empty, I am happy to get something for my trouble and I have some lead to use up. Life is good.

I had the same thing happen a couple weeks ago. I have had a few buckets of scrap from an indoor range and for fun I started picking out the jackets and putting them in containers. I filled a tall glass container that is sitting in my reloading area. Had a coffee can full and took it with some other stuff to the recycler. He said he would take it but there was brass and copper mixed together. I was fine with the brass price but didn't even ask the difference in price per pound. I was just glad to get something for it. I try to pull the pieces out before melting the lead, it saves it from getting all black. I also save my spend primers and all brass, even 22.