Money from Brass Shell Casings

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hyderconsulting

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2007
Messages
95
Location
Cleveland, Tennessee
One thing to consider for some extra pocket cash is spent rifle and pistol casings. If you or someone you know does a lot of target practicing then there may be a way to pick up a lot of shell casings to sell as brass scrap. Check your local shooting ranges and so on for this opportunity. I have a friend who shoots a lot and he regularly picks up spent casings for me at the shooting range he goes to. The scrap yards used to not buy these but a lot of them do now. When you get some in you will need to check them with a magnet for there are steel casings now and you will need to separate out any silver or chrome finish brass casings for they may be priced differently. I sold six pound last week and got $1.05 per pound. Regards, Chris Hyder.
 
Unless they're the type of ammo used by our armed forces for wars and war games, it's worth far more as a reloadable cartridge than it is as scrap. It might pay you to check with some of the local sporting goods stores that carry reloading supplies to see if they have an interest in buying the brass instead of selling it as scrap.

If you happen to be so lucky as to acquire what is known as match ammo cartridges, they're excellent for reloading.

By the way, even the common military ammo cartridges have value, but the primers are crimped in, so they require a little extra effort to extract. They're perfectly fine for reloading once they've been processed once.

Harold
 
Harold_V, thanks for the tip and I agree that the cartridges are worth more for reloading but the problem I have in my area is that no one seems to be interested in them. I don't know why for target shooting and hunting are popular here but no one is that concerned about saving money using reloads. It's a bit odd to say the least?!?
 
hyderconsulting said:
It's a bit odd to say the least?!?
Indeed, but things have changed a great deal since I was a lad. I don't know that many reload anymore----which is a sad commentary on things. I always enjoyed it immensely, reloading for sheer pleasure.

Harold
 
Many people still reload, but they need to be the right size and in nice condition. Most people that reload collect there own casings for reloading. I only know a few hunters that reload, unless they target shoot with the same rifle/pistol as well. It is not worth the investment for them. For trap shooting, most people reload, but of course they are not the brass casings.

My father still reloads all his ammo, but he is very particular to use specific manufactures of the casings.

have you tried an ammo store that sells reload casings? Since they are selling them for a profit, they may only pay a very small amount for them.
 
This is interesting, I always wondered what do they do with empty cases (except for keychains =)
 
you might be wise to dig a little deeper for someone willing to buy them to reload.I havent checked in the past few months but ammo cost has shot through the roof.Check some hunting/shooting sights I think you might find somebody willing to pay a bit more then scrap price .
 
Check out this site before you scrap them, you may find a buyer http://www.auctionarms.com/
This is were all the gun folks went after feebay kicked they out
 
The yard I use takes brass whether it is shiny or corroded at the same price. With shell casings, there are several problems to overcome. The first is unfired ammo getting mixed in is a nono, they will turn down the whole load if one is found. Second, the brass with plating on it (nickel, I think) is sold at a different price and has to be sorted. This is also true with the aluminum casings that I have seen in .38 and .45. Third, while lying around, many of the casings will get dirt in them. This could knock the grade to dirty brass at my yard and I've seen that as low as 15 cents. I haven't had enough to worry about trying to clean them out, but I've seen other people bring in 55 gallon drums full of casings.

If there is a dirt pile or other stop in the target area, you might find lots of lead lying around too.

You have to check the shotgun shells because a lot of them are now made of steel and plated. They used to be brass or copper. If they are steel, you probably can find a yard that will take them as is with the plastic on.

All this is assuming you find yards that buy them at all, as you know many don't.

Edited to remove link unrelated to refining or recovery of gold.
 
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