used shotgun shells

[Battis]

I have bags and bags of used 12 ga and 20 ga (brass) shotgun shells. Recycle places will take them, and pay for the brass, without the plastic. Anyone come up with a quick way to remove the plastic?

[Dusty Bannister]

I suppose one could make sure the primer is dead and then cut partially through the hull from the base so you can open up the remaining halves of the base. After the first one, you may find it is like melting aluminum cans to make an aluminum ingot. A lot of work for little reward. At least then you will know if it is worth the time and effort.

Do you have a fine tooth band saw?

[Rapier]

I would imagine they are worth way more to shot shell reloaders than scrap yards. Empty hulls get bulky to ship, but there are different sizes of flat rate boxes. Plus, by the 100s they do not weigh much at all. You can check the Precision Reloading site for used hull prices by guage.

[Battis]

I've offered them to the trap guys at the club, but no takers. I'm not interested in selling them, but I don't want to dump them in the trash. I inherited three full bags of them.

I found this site. Looks like fun (yeah, right).
https://defiel.com/where-to-sell-empty-shotgun-shells/#:~:text=You%20can%20sell%20your%20empty%20shotgun %20shells%20in,stores%206%20Etsy%207%20Ballistic%2 0Products%208%20Cabela%E2%80%99s

[Ithaca Gunner]

To answer your question, I use a few 20ga. fired hulls once in a while to make, ''bird bombs'' to fire out of a 12ga. hull. To do this the plastic must be removed from the metal base. I've found a few seconds on a hot plate or other heat source does nicely in softening the plastic where you can pull them apart with pliers.

[WRideout]

Cut a V notch in a piece of scrap wood then use it to hold the shells while you run them through a table saw.

Wayne

[HWooldridge]

You might want to knock out a few primers then check them with a magnet, because some shell heads are simply plated steel. They look like brass but are only skin deep...

[kerplode]

Even for the ones that are actually brass, it's thin and pretty well stuck to the plastic.

I would be shocked if the value of the time and materials used to extract the brass didn't far outweigh the resulting scrap value.

[Battis]

These shells are pretty old. My wife's father was heavily into skeet shooting. The local scrap yard pays about $2.00 per pound for brass. I'm filthy rich...

[poppy42]

These shells are pretty old. My wife's father was heavily into skeet shooting. The local scrap yard pays about $2.00 per pound for brass. I'm filthy rich...

So it’s not that you just don’t know what to do with them to get rid of them. It’s you want to get your biggest bang for your buck so to speak. You would still probably get more selling them to someone that reloads shotgun shells. Let me ask you this. Weigh one of the bags. Is the amount you’re gonna get taking the time to cut the plastic off and scrapping them worth your effort. I’d also check more than one scrap yard. scrapyards take something called dirty brass. You get less money but you don’t have to put the work involved in separating them. When I scrap my brass I’ve got two buckets. One is strictly brass cases. The other is 22, steel, aluminum, 3 B dirty primers, etc. Price per pound is substantially different but it’s still money.

[Battis]

I've called two scrap yards - same deal. I just want to get rid of them. Neither scrap yard would take them because of the plastic. I offered them to the trap guys at the club, no charge, but no one has said they'd take them. I don't want to trash them.

[1Papalote]

Punch the primer, cut off excess plastic, insert wire tie off to same wire, fill up with brass then burn. Take the stack off the wire a place in recycle bucket.

[Rapier]

Why not post them on the sell site right here, reimburse for the shipping cost, would be a net 0 to you.

[Battis]

good idea

Then again, do they have to be deprimed to ship? I know, the primers are spent, but...

[la5676]

If you’re going to spend this kind of time piddling with these things, put a primer in them, and sell them as primed hulls. Only if you have a bunch of primers bought years ago would it make it worth your time. Primed hulls can be shipped no problem.

If they are a bunch of the old Winchester paper hulls, or the high base ,not high brass hulls, no one will want to mess with them.

[TribunusSanGeorgii]

good idea

Then again, do they have to be deprimed to ship? I know, the primers are spent, but...

No, fired brass with spent primers can be shipped USPS

[poppy42]

Pm sent

[Battis]

Piddling? Good word. I don't want to piddle with them, or even sell them - just want to make them gone (but not into a landfill). I don't reload shotgun shells.
Anyone remember what a Padiddle is?

[ddeck22]

There was a guy who ran them through a hammer mill and then filtered out the plastic. There is a video on Youtube about it. I see that as one of the few viable ways.

[Battis]

The tub is 4 1/2 ft by2 ft.

[ddeck22]

Just tried this…put the plastic piece in a vise, then took some Vise-grips and levered off the metal part. Came right apart.

Of course, the base is just brass plated steel so not worth it if not brass

[oldscool]

They are spent shells, not hazardous waste. Trash them.
Won't cause global warming or capsize Guam:grin:

[Battis]

Never said they're hazardous waste, or that they'd cause global warming. I just don't want to trash them.

[bedbugbilly]

Hmmmmmm . . . . does this qualify as being a "hoarder"? :-)

[Battis]

A hoarder wouldn't be trying to unload the stuff. I'd say the person who I inherited all this stuff from might have been a hoarder. Actually, he was a reloader (skeet shooter) and then the ammo became cheaper at Walmart. His generation disliked tossing out anything that might have value. I'm keeping all the .410 shells (and loaded ammo, wads, lots of shot, some powder). I even got a .410 MEC press in the deal. My son got a Remington 1100 and a Weatherby .270 Mag rifle.

[Soundguy]

hard to believe nobody wants those...

[Harter66]

Knock the primers out , get a hot glue gun , and strings of white Christmas lights . Now you have about 400' of festive shotgun themed trim lights , use the low brass .

Cut the plastic off the high brass now you have gobs of drawer and door pulls .

Swap for lead LGFRB of cases for a SMFRB of lead .

There are buckets of 06' brass that is infinitely more useful than 12 or 20 ga cases , box for box as with the lead .

Spend $150 get 300 back you get rid 10 LGFRB and the buyers get 150-200 cases for double the freight . It's not a great deal but it fits your needs . Heck put the whole mess up for $50 pick up or 25 miles to meet . Folks will buy anything that looks like a bargain.

Trap shooter that are serious are as bad about cases and components as rifle competition shooters . Fowl and rabbit hunters not so much.

Quick and dirty ? Fill up a clean burn barrel with them , fill 15-20 with diesel and light it up . In an hour or so the bases are black but hull free and it only cost you about a buck and a match . Now you can take the barrel down and get you $25 for recycling.

[Screwbolts]

where in the northeast are you?

[Battis]

MA/NH border, near the ocean.

[WinchesterM1]

im always looking for 20 ga hulls!! if you still have any

[MrWolf]

I like that you don't want to just trash them. I also have a few bags/bins filled with hulls as we used to do a lot of trap shooting. I am not getting rid of anything. My kids will have to sort what they want when I am gone. Figure by then, they could be a decent resource but up to the kids since they will be inheriting my stuff. They are getting free stuff so a little work won't hurt em. Good luck.
Ron

[Battis]

When we were cleaning out my wife's father's house (where this all came from) and some family members were making fun of all the stuff he collected, I reminded them, first of all, everything meant something to him, and secondly, this will be what my house will be like when I'm gone. After at least 60+ yrs of shooting skeet all over the place, stuff is bound to collect. He had some nice shotguns.

[WRideout]

My personal recycling program.

314177

Wayne