Price to Pay For Assorted Range Brass?

[Danderdude]

I picked up 200lb of COWW and 5lbs of solder at the scrapyard today for a decent price, and asked about the container of cartridge brass right beside it. It is for sale, but I will not yet disclose the amount. I don't want to taint anybody's opinions on the matter but, suffice it to say, it's high enough that I thought twice before dipping a bucket in and taking any.

What would YOU be willing to pay for 100lbs of dirty, random, assorted range brass?

I'll tell the amount after we get some good replies.

[John Boy]

$222.00

[btroj]

I wouldn't pay anymore than I could sell it to the scrapyard for. That is where my dirty range brass ends up.

That means no more than 1.50 a pound and even that would be too much.

[SlippShodd]

$1.40/pound is what the local recycler pays me for random brass. I suppose I would pay that to take out what I wanted and sell the stuff I don't use back to them. That said, I intend to try to sell sorted brass for about that price plus shipping on the S&S board here soon to give people who can use it an opportunity to get it rather than the scrap yard.

mike

[SlowSmokeN]

I would never buy it because I have no idea of the integrity. It only take one bad case to ruin your gun. Chances are they are at the scrapyard for a reason

[btroj]

I would never buy it because I have no idea of the integrity. It only take one bad case to ruin your gun. Chances are they are at the scrapyard for a reason

Exactly. I may use range pickups for handguns but never for rifle brass. I don't leave good brass laying around at a range. I assume tha some others do likewise. No head separations for me.

[geargnasher]

I scrap the stuff that's damaged, worn out, or not deemed safe by me (like copper splotches and pits on cleaned range brass). That's what the scrap yard is for. Lead is good to get there because you're completely re-processing it, I would only buy brass there for the same reason, if I were casting brass stuff with a backyard blast furnace.

Gear

[Danderdude]

Well, the yard wanted $2.10 a lb. There were lots of good calibers in the literal handful I sorted through on my way out: .243 Win, .22-250, 7mm Weatherby Mag, .30-30 and others, all in once-fired shape with none of the obvious signs of reloading.

Now that I work the math out, let's assume the worst: buying .40 S&W brass by the pound at $2.10.
Cost of clean .40 in bulk: 3.5 cents a piece
10.5 lbs per 1000
10.5 lbs = $22 cost from scrapyard, for a resale value of $35, or $3.33/lb
Assuming a cull rate of one in three, I would still break even on the bulk mail-order price.

If we take the example of .223 Rem/5.56, we have this scenario:
14lbs per 1000 = $30 investment for a resale value of $60. Break even would be 50% culls.

Then you have to factor in all the other brass that is valued at 20-40 cents a piece. It sounds like a money-making proposition to me, especially since I can stand in that bin all day sorting brass by hand before even buying it.

Thoughts and input are appreciated.

[1Shirt]

As usual, I tend to agree with Gear! I will reload obviously once fired factory brass, but only after I have once full length resized it, and trimmed it to factory specs. Pretty much the same for handgun brass. Other than that it goes into the scrap bucket.
1Shirt!

[Texantothecore]

In this era of high ammo prices, I am always surprised at the number of people at the range who do not save brass. It is really puzzling.

I have never allowed even one cartridge to get away at the range.

[dale2242]

I just sold a 5 gallon bucket of junk brass to a scrapyard fpr $1.72 per pound...dale

[DHurtig]

Local scrap yard told me they pay $1.70 a pound for used brass, but it has to have the primers removed. People here leave lots of once fired brass at the range. I always pick up what's there and use what I can and trade the rest. Dale

[fatelk]

but it has to have the primers removed.
I've heard of this a lot. Around here they don't worry about it. They even buy my spent primers from reloading. The last bucket I took in a couple months ago I got $2.20/lb for. Scrap must have gone down since then.


Well, the yard wanted $2.10 a lb. There were lots of good calibers in the literal handful I sorted through on my way out: .243 Win, .22-250, 7mm Weatherby Mag, .30-30 and others, all in once-fired shape with none of the obvious signs of reloading.
While I can understand the sentiment that it's probably in a scrap yard for a reason, that does sound like a good deal if it really is clean, once-fired rifle brass. If you have been loading for a long time and have handled and thrown away enough questionable brass to really know bad brass when you see it, it would be hard to go wrong. I would probably stand there and sort out a bunch, if I had the opportunity.

I saw a barrel full of brass when I took mine in last time, and took just a second to glance at what was there. It looked like most of it was just like the bucket I dumped in- someone elses unusable scrap.

[youngda9]

Local scrap yard told me they pay $1.70 a pound for used brass, but it has to have the primers removed. People here leave lots of once fired brass at the range. I always pick up what's there and use what I can and trade the rest. Dale
How much does a 5lb bucket of used brass weigh?

[SlowSmokeN]

Please be safe and mindful that someone can really get hurt if you sell a worn out case as once fired. I understand the thought of making a profit, but find myself scratching my head on the dangers of it.

[Danderdude]

Please be safe and mindful that someone can really get hurt if you sell a worn out case as once fired. I understand the thought of making a profit, but find myself scratching my head on the dangers of it.

I can't and won't guarantee anything about the number of firings. On the flip side, no used brass seller can either, unless it came from their very own personal stockpile.

I'm mainly interested in rifle brass anyway, since there is very little risk of a problem both in use and in sorting. It's the glocked and overused handgun brass with high-pressure loads that gets ya.

If anything, I blame Glock for a lot of the problems with handgun brass. Using such an unsupported chamber in a modern handgun is just irresponsible.

[500Smith]

[QUOTE=Danderdude;1775793]
What would YOU be willing to pay for 100lbs of dirty, random, assorted range brass?

No thanks, not worth it to me.
I have enough trouble making myself clean my new Starline brass.

[fatelk]

Please be safe and mindful that someone can really get hurt if you sell a worn out case as once fired.
An experienced reloader can spot "worn out" brass pretty easily. The only thing that can really be dangerous, as far as used brass, is if the head were compromised, such as having gone through a fire. I've "worn out" lots of brass by shooting it until the necks split. No harm done. Now if the case head lets go that's a different story, but that would typically only happen if it was softened by fire or something, not just worn out.

I'm more picky than I used to be, and used brass goes in the scrap bucket sooner than it used to, but I'm not scared at all to use range brass. I know how to pick out the good from the bad, and to be honest most of what I find is nice shiny once-fired, or twice-fired from people shooting commercial reloads. Reloaders don't usually leave their brass lie, even if it is worn out. On "Glocked" brass, I've never had a problem, but I don't push hot loads either.

Everyone is different of course. I have one friend who would never think of loading a case unless he bought it new himself. Personally I think that's a little wacky, but to each their own. More good used brass for me.:)

[geargnasher]

I can't and won't guarantee anything about the number of firings. On the flip side, no used brass seller can either, unless it came from their very own personal stockpile.

I'm mainly interested in rifle brass anyway, since there is very little risk of a problem both in use and in sorting. It's the glocked and overused handgun brass with high-pressure loads that gets ya.

If anything, I blame Glock for a lot of the problems with handgun brass. Using such an unsupported chamber in a modern handgun is just irresponsible.

Really? Thinking like this will get you in much deeper poo than selling off an occasional badly worn-out pistol shell. You'e obviously never experienced a case-head separation in a bolt-action rifle. How many of your customers do you think are going to actually do the paperclip test?

Gear

[evan price]

Go ahead and keep thinking that every piece of abandoned brass is worthless. I'll pick up every one.
I know gun ranges that sell every piece of brass they get for scrap and most of it is 1X fired.
It's fairly obvious when brass is 1X fired in most cases. It's one of the reasons I like crimped-primer military brass so much. If it's crimped, it's 1X fired for sure.

Six months ago I was paying $2 a pound for mixed range brass. June 1st I dropped to $1.75 per pound. The way the market is behaving I am strongly considering reducing to $1.25 per pound. The scrap market is starting to drop and quickly. Steel scrap is down 50% over the past 90 days. We'll see what happens by the end of summer around election time.

[fatelk]

I guess I should qualify some of my comments. Just using any old brass is probably not a good idea for beginners. I've had my share of bad brass over the years, and scrapped quite a bit.

I was shooting some reloaded .308 ammo using the now-infamous TZZ80 Israeli brass and had a case-head split clear through the web to the primer pocket. No serious harm done, but not a good experience. This lot of brass is known to be defective.

I shot some old 45-70 black powder ammo (someone elses reloads- I know, bad idea) and had the entire case head let go. Stupid me, wasn't wearing safety glasses. I couldn't see out of my right eye for a while, scared me pretty bad.

I bought a whole bucket full of 7.62 NATO brass a few years ago, clean and once-fired, and ended up scrapping all of it. It had clearly been fired in a machine gun with bad headspace. I did the "paperclip test" (a strong flashlight also works if you know what to look for) and most of them had some serious ICHS starting. All scrap.

I guess what I'm trying to say is when you have enough problems with bad brass over the years, you learn what to scrap and what's OK to use.

Evan- that's a great idea you have there for buying bullet jackets! I know a lot of scrap yards won't buy it so sending it to you is a good deal over throwing it away. The one I go to considers it #2 copper, but the other one in town won't even talk to you about it.

[Danderdude]

Really? Thinking like this will get you in much deeper poo than selling off an occasional badly worn-out pistol shell. You'e obviously never experienced a case-head separation in a bolt-action rifle. How many of your customers do you think are going to actually do the paperclip test?

Gear

Things I take for granted in my head don't occur as naturally to others, it seems. It was implied in "and in sorting" that I would be doing a paperclip runthrough. I'm fully aware of the risks, and am personally quite dutiful when it comes to using someone else's brass myself.

The point I was trying to make is that, of all the things that can go wrong (and good Lord, that's a neverending subject with our hobby), rifle cases are far more forgiving than handgun brass, and more profitable to salvage, as well as being more conducive to small sales and trades. I won't pretend I'm wanting to do this as a public service, what with the way the economy is and all, but if I happen to pull up 50 or so rarer rifle cases, like the 7mm Weatherby Mag I mentioned, somebody out there is going to be a very happy camper, avoiding paying $2 a piece for new brass if those aren't already completely spent.

I may dip in and take a 20 or 30lb test run just to see what all is in there. Worst case scenario, I take them right back for half my money down the drain.

[geargnasher]

Just wanted to make sure! You sound like you've got it together, but from from what you said at first my "paranoia switch" got tripped. I scrounge every piece of brass I can get my hands on, but cull it all carefully myself. I have found very clean brass at the range that was either reloaded to death or fired in guns with excessive headspace, stuff looked like it had only been loaded once on the outside but had bad head stretch, it canIt's easy to tell a bucket of shiny floor sweepin's from a range from somebody's gun room waste, and I would have no problem buying a bucket of scrap like you found and using it if I could tell the condition of most of it easily. Problem is we can't automatically assume everyone can.

Gear

[Danderdude]

Well, there's around half a ton sitting in that pallet box, more or less. The next time I'm in town I'll give it a pickin' through.

And yeah Gear, that's why I looked at it from a "How much could I cull and still turn a profit?" point of view in post #8. There will be culls, and they'll go right back, to be dumped into the back corner.

Our opinions are somewhat tainted due to the company we keep on here, and assume much faster than we should that every Fudd with a thuddy-thuddy dutifully polices his brass at the range, tumbles it with $10/lb pins in soapy citrus water, sizes, trims, chamfers, deburrs, swages the primer pockets, reloads and does it all over and over and over and over again. That just doesn't happen.
Active shooters are a tiny minority of the total number of gun owners.
Reloaders are a minority among active shooters.
We casters are a tiny minority among reloaders, and by-and-large the stingiest of misers.

I bet most of us have a vehicle or two better than 15 years old because it still runs just fine, with a little work, and we can't understand how someone would want to sell off a perfectly good car for a 60% loss every two years, and then pay retail for a new one. We're a different breed. If John Q. Public wants to leave gold laying on the ground, more power to him!

[evan price]

Our opinions are somewhat tainted due to the company we keep on here, and assume much faster than we should that every Fudd with a thuddy-thuddy dutifully polices his brass at the range, tumbles it with $10/lb pins in soapy citrus water, sizes, trims, chamfers, deburrs, swages the primer pockets, reloads and does it all over and over and over and over again. That just doesn't happen.
Active shooters are a tiny minority of the total number of gun owners.
Reloaders are a minority among active shooters.
We casters are a tiny minority among reloaders, and by-and-large the stingiest of misers.

I am often surprised by how much really nice 1X fired brass I find, often still in the factory boxes, when I go to the range. I went today and fired off 200 of my own 357 handloads, the guy next to me gladly let me police up his 100 rounds of 1X fired Independance 38 Specials and 100 rounds of Winchester White Box 45 acp.
I've found 50 Beowulf, 450 Bushmaster, 300 Weatherby, 32-20, 22 Hornet, you name it, all fired once and left to lie.


I bet most of us have a vehicle or two better than 15 years old because it still runs just fine, with a little work, and we can't understand how someone would want to sell off a perfectly good car for a 60% loss every two years, and then pay retail for a new one. We're a different breed. If John Q. Public wants to leave gold laying on the ground, more power to him!

Well, my work trucks are my choice of a 1989 Jeep Cherokee with 300,000 on it, or a 1994 Toyota T-100 with 190,000 on it. Maintenance is what makes the difference between an old beater and dependable transportation.


Evan- that's a great idea you have there for buying bullet jackets! I know a lot of scrap yards won't buy it so sending it to you is a good deal over throwing it away. The one I go to considers it #2 copper, but the other one in town won't even talk to you about it.

Thanks, I got the idea from people on this forum lamenting that they could not find anyone who wanted them. I trade to my scrap guy for lead.

[MT Gianni]

To me there is a huge difference from pick up brass at the range and in a pile at the scrapyard. I see the scrapyard stuff as junk and assume that someone knowledgeable picked through and tossed the scrap. Range pick up is once fired left behind by a shooter.

[Four-Sixty]

Before I throw one of my cases in my own brass scap pile, I crush the case mouth flat with a pair of pliers so it will never be reloaded.

No need for the new guy saving some money to buy one of my defective cases and ruin the hobby for him.

[bld451]

"Assuming a cull rate of one in three, I would still break even on the bulk mail-order price."

Is this including your time. If so, what are you considering your hourly rate? If not, could you come over? I have some weeds that need pullin.:razz:

[Danderdude]

"Assuming a cull rate of one in three, I would still break even on the bulk mail-order price."

Is this including your time. If so, what are you considering your hourly rate? If not, could you come over? I have some weeds that need pullin.:razz:

If I liked pulling weeds it'd be a different story. Alas, I only like spraying them with ILLUMINATI-APPROVED AGRICULTURAL-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX EVIIIIIIIIIIILLLLL CHEMICALS.

[garym1a2]

I see loading handgun brass as safer than rifle brass. With handgun brass in my glock 9,mm, 40 and 45 ACP I only load them to minor power loads and have not had any issues with range pickup bras. Bak in my high power days I have blown 308 cases in my M1A when the tube was worn out. I consider a handgun loaded in the 15-20psi range much safer than a rifle loaded to 55k+ psi. With the M1a I went to true once fired brass and only loaded them twice. .223 brass is so ready avaliable I do not see how you can make money selling them. Same with 9mm and 40S&W. I have brought 40S&W true once fired, clean and roll sized for 2 cent each last year to build up stock.

[bld451]

Alas, I only like spraying them with ILLUMINATI-APPROVED AGRICULTURAL-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX EVIIIIIIIIIIILLLLL CHEMICALS.



Now there's an idea! I need to get outside a little more.......

[farmbif]

After spending several years from 2007-2012 selling advertising items online for a large scrap yard owner during all of that time regardless of the ups and down of the market the owner would sell brass of any type to the public at 3 dollars per pound with no minimum. When the scrap yards buy brass from the public for "clean brass" (brass with no other types of metals attached or included) they have been paying between about $1.20 to possibly a high of $2.00 per pound. you can watch auction prices for bulk quantities of range brass being sold from military bases at govliquidation auctions online many times it is scrap dealers bidding on that stuff and they don't usually pay more than "less than truckload or truck load, 53,000 pounds or more per lot," current market prices.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

I have never bought brass from a scrap yard , I agree they are in the scrap yard for a reason !!

[Dusty Bannister]

I am fortunate to have a local scrap dealer that will buy my range scrap brass, if the primers are fired. I also have the opportunity to buy range pick up brass from a LEO range so most of that is once fired, and also a lot of dropped rounds so I do have to sort carefully. But this gives me the opportunity to end up what what I want and can sell off the rest to folks that need it. This time around, I have a lot of 308 that has a deep green spot on the case so the scraper gets it. The scrap brass money buys more lead. Once the brass goes into the scrap yard, it probably should stay there. If you clean and tumble it to sell it, you might make it difficult to see those weak spots and a problem would result. That is one reason to sell range brass "as is". Just my openion. Dusty

[kryogen]

I would not buy scrap brass because you do not know what you are paying for.

Buying 1f at a range or law enforcement range brass is another thing. 1.50 per pound for nice brass.
Scrap brass is not worth the gamble, unless you know where it's from.

Since the scrapyards buy it at around 1.50 a pound, they will charge over 2$ a pound to sell. I would not go that way for scrap.

[hendere]

I've shot weekly for years at an indoor range where probably 95% of the shooters leave their brass. The place doesn't seem to mind me picking up stuff from time to time as long as I keep a pretty low profile about it (I've seen them stop guys that were literally trying to sweep up brass by the thousands). One time I left a bunch of 44 mag brass on the ground after shooting it because it was VERY old and used up. Quite a bit of it was splitting up. I noticed it later in a bag of range brass for sale in their shop. After that I started taking my bad brass out with me, taking a pair of pliers after it so it can't be reloaded, and then throwing it in my scrap bucket. I can't imagine many people doing this though. I guess all that being said, I wouldn't buy range brass because I don't trust it and I'm way too cheap at this point to pay for a big bucket of it. :)

[Photog]

An easy thing to do is just crush old brass in the press (do it enough on accident too).
I've sold lots of range pickup brass over the years, most of it was police once fired. Generally I just keep the rifle brass other than 223 (police fired) and find a use for it. Personally I have never had an issue with fired pistol brass, but I have stuck to mid-range loads. They either load just fine or don't, in which case it gets crushed in the press and tossed out.

[Kraschenbirn]

How much does a 5lb bucket of used brass weigh?

55#-60# depending upon mix of calibers. I admit to being one of those unrepentant 'brass rats' who stops by the club range when no one else is around to make a sweep of the firing lines and trash buckets. Because I don't shoot/reload .223, 90% of what I pick up goes to the recycler (usually in trade for scrap lead and/or wheel weights) with, maybe, 10% being saved for salvage. Friday morning, I picked up 19 once-fired Hornaday .30-30s...I say 'once-fired' because the shooter left the empty factory box on the ground under the bench...along with a hunderd or so milsurp .223s and a handfull of CAVIM 7.62x51 that had been fired in an H&K.

Bill