Is there a market for scrap brass?,,,

A

aarondhgraham

New member
At the outdoor range I am a member of,,,
There is a tremendous amount of brass laying around.

Most rimfire and milsurp cases.

Is there some reason no one is collecting this to be sold as scrap?

Just curious is all.

Aarond
 
Aarond - No, not really. Many ranges collect everything including the rimfire cases and sell for scrap, and either throws away the steel or separates it out. If you have access to piles of rimfire brass, grab it. A scrap dealer will pay you for it once you get enough of it.
 
It takes a fair amount of it to be worth anything.

The reloadable brass (centerfire, boxer primed) can be worth something as actual spent cases... it's not unusual for a range to have a business relationship with somebody who does commercial reloading. They sell brass of given calibers to the reloader, who then generates ammo that may be in turn used at the range (especially if it's an indoor range with rental guns). But there's some cases that just won't reload well if at all (berdan primed or rimfire), plus the steel stuff, so somebody needs to separate it out.

Or they can just collect everything and sell it to a scrap dealer in extremely large loads, but there's more money to be had in picking out the worthwhile stuff and selling it to reloaders. Still, that time may not be worth it.
 
The reason I was asking,,,

My friend has a daughter who is a Brownie,,,
They are always looking for a way to make a dollar.

They do collect aluminum cans, newspapers, etc,,,
I thought I might mention I would let them in to collect old brass.

My club is an outdoor range,,,
There are literally thousands and thousands of rounds on the ground.

I just don't know if it would be worthwhile for them,,,
I guess I'll tell them and let them do the research on scrap brass prices.

Thanks for the replies.

Aarond
 
If your local High School has a Metal Shop,
and if they have a foundry with a sand box for casting.
It might be just the thing for them.
I taught metal shop before my stroke 2 years ago and instead of using aluminum in the kiln I used brass.
the student had a blast making stuff. Kinda reintroduced American kids to manufacturing. When I had may stroke and left mid year, they made me a brass horse that stands 18" tall, it sits in my living room. I would go through the brass and would make sure that there weren't any live rounds :eek:

Edward5759
 
Thanks Crazy88Fingers,,,

That's more than I would have thought,,,
I think it's time to take a group of brownies to the range.

Thanks again.

Aarond
 
At my indoor club range we swept up the floor after each session and put the non-reloadable brass into a big drum that was periodically taken to scrap.

At my outdoor club range the ground is nearly solid with .22 brass mixed into the gravel. It would be labor-intensive to separate the metal from the gravel.
But if Brownie-slaves are donating free labor - you should be able to recover some money for their efforts.

An adult would feel like they were trying to bail the ocean out with a teaspooon.
 
Cartridge brass is about 70% copper. Spot price for copper is about $3.50/pound. I would expect that you could get about $250 (less cost of smelting) for every 100 pounds of cartridge brass, or thereabouts.
 
I've seen Koreans standing under a Cobra gunship catching brass with a wicker basket as it was coming out of the 20mm. They take it and make some cool sculptures. Bought one that was 2 dolphins jumping out of water for $10 out in the "ville".
 
I like the idea of having the Brownies collect the brass. They can do a community service project AND make money.

I save all of my spent brass and what I do not reload, when the bucket is full, take it in for scrap prices. The last batch of brass I took in I received about $75.00 for. That was for something most people leave laying on the ground.
 
Of course there's a market for brass.

Market number one: Selling it to reloaders (or gun shops).
Market number two: Scrap.
Market number three: Artists.

On the scrap market, the price runs from about $1.40 / lb to $3.40 / lb in my area (for "cartridge brass" or "dirty brass"). Even at $1.40 / lb, a 25 lb bucket is worth the trip. When it hits $3.00+ per lb, you bet your back side it's worth it.... getting $75 for a bucket of other people's "trash" is easy money.

Just remember... Most reloadable brass is worth more as-is, than as scrap.
 
People around here think there is a market for it. The range I shoot at use to be littered with brass until the scrap price started to get near $2 dollars a pound. Now you never see any brass littering the ground.

I collected 4 and a half 5 gallon buckets full when no one was picking it up. It sat clutering up my garage until I moved and decided to sell it. I got just under $600 dollars for it at $1.85 a pound. I sold it on a Friday and the following day I was at a gun show with my free money.

Just make sure there are no live rounds in your brass. It tends to irritate the scrap metal dealers if one explodes in a smelter. Some scrap metal dealers here even quit buying ammo brass for a while because of live rounds. You might also want to run a magnet through the brass. Some casings look like brass but stick to a magnet.
 
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They are paying $1.50 lb for clean brass and .72 dirtry or mixed like a valve with solder on it or the stem in it. Rim fire and primers knocked of center fire cartridge is clean brass.
 
Houston, we have a problem,,,

I took your results and told my friend,,,
He was all ready to haul a load of Brownies with rakes to the range.

Then the parents heard of it.

My Baby at a gun range! :eek:
They could get infected with gun-itus or something.

Long story short,,,
The Brownies ain't gonna get to collect brass.

I have another friend who is a Cub Scout leader,,,
I wonder if their parents are squeamish as well?

Aarond
 
Most of the local scrap dealers in my area will not accept cartridge brass.
One that does pays a slightly reduced rate for it compared to other solid brass items which amounts to a difference of about 30 cents less per pound.
They told me that the reason was because there was only outfit that they could resell it to and that they paid less for it.
It can be even more difficult to find a scrap dealer willing to accept lead scrap from an indoor club range which includes a lot of powdered lead. But after calling around I found that basically only one scrap dealer in the state would accept it.
 
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