Nice Surprise at the Scrap Metal Yard

[COSteve]

I was at our range last Friday and the range was quiet with only 1 shooter so I checked out the different areas for brass and came back with 21 lbs. of brass from the bins. That makes a total of over 124.5 lbs. of brass I've collected over the past few months from our range. As I always do, I sorted through this last score for true 'once fired' brass with the crimp intact.

Including this last haul, I've found a total of 912 pieces of pristine LC 5.56 NATO brass. I guess we have a bunch of lazy people who don't mind leaving money on the ground. Right now, true once fired LC NATO 5.56 brass (primer crimp intact) is worth 17¢ each so sorting through the fired brass to find those nuggets is worth my time.

Anyway, I dry tumble the 'candidates' and then reinspect them to ensure that the crimp is there and the brass is in good shape. I use large clear plastic pretzel kegs with screw on lids I collected over the years and they can hold 1,750 pieces of 5.56 brass if packed right.

The remaining brass I collect is usually scrapped as I can't verify the pedigree of it and am unwilling to risk blowing up a firearm on a worn out piece of brass. However, I was surprised to find a number of pristine LC 7.62x51 (.308) with crimped primers and a LC 13 with the cross in the circle NATO headstamp.

In all, I've found 89 pieces of pristine true once fired LC 7.62x51 as well and they're worth 55¢ each. In addition, I've found 80 pieces of pristine Winchester 30-30 brass along with the box the ammo came in worth 37¢ each so after a careful inspection I've added those to my rotation as well.

Add to that the remaining 105.5 lbs. of scrap brass (I cull out the steel and aluminum cases first) worth $1.52 lb. (per the local iron and metal recycler's website) and I've done really, really well this summer. The way I figured it, I'd collected the following in the last few months:

* 912 pieces of once fired LC 5.56 NATO worth $155 (912*17¢)
* 89 pieces of once fired LC 7.62x51 NATO worth $49 (89*55¢)
* 80 Pieces of once fired Winchester 30-30 worth $30 (80*37¢)
* 105.5 lbs. of scrap brass worth $160 (105.5*$1.52)

So, this morning I went to the scrap yard to turn in my 105.5 lbs of scrap brass. I told them that it was 105.5 lbs but their scale showed it to be 106 lbs. I thought, "Cool, I'll get a few more cents." The guy who was weighing it was also a handloader and so he chatted about how scrapping old brass helps him defray his costs too.

Then I took the ticket into the lady inside and she asked if I'd like cash or a check. I said it didn't matter so she said cash and handed me $212! I said that my ticket only had 106 lbs and her website showed $1.52 lb. She said they hadn't gotten around to changing the website yet as the price is now $2.00 lb.

That's a total value of $446 in found money! Who says reloading doesn't pay?

[4t5]

Well done!

[GunnyMack]

Good haul there! And it's almost enough pocket change to buy a 4 lbs keg of powder! If you can find one

[jeepnik]

Quite a few ranges here do stupid things like requiring you to leave any brass that’s hit the ground. So I use brass catchers there. Had one RO try to tell me the catchers were unsafe snd couldn’t be used. I brought up there rules on their website which shut him up.

Other indoor ranges will only allow new ammo or at best “their” reloads. The reloads are sold at ripoff prices. These ranges also insist you leave your brass.

I avoid places with stupid rules. Frankly my favorite is way out in the desert. I rarely see anyone else, and most. Of them are off roading.

My brass is my brass. I do from time to time visit areas where the slobs shoot. I’ve even found new unopened boxes of commercial ammo. But mostly I collect like the OP does.

The one problem I did run into was a teclaimer who refused fired brass. His loss the next guy bought it in a heartbeat.

[GunnyMack]

I'm lucky enough to have private property where I do my shooting, I've always saved everything except rimfire.

[COSteve]

Yes, our range is private so our board makes up the rules and we luckily don't have any of those money gouging ones you see at 'for profit' ranges that I avoid. Also, I've got some favorite shooting spots in both the Rockies and out in the prairie where I always pack out anything I bring in.

[Griff]

I'm either shooting at the private gun club I belong to, my pasture or a range hosting a match. I don't get all my rifle brass back, anything flung in front of the shooting line is off limits to the brass pickers. So I usually get between 7- 9 pieces of the ten I fired... but I get all my pistol brass back. If I'm loading BP shotshells, I don't want them back, but usually there's someone that doesn't reload shotshells, and I'll snag their brass if it's AAs... Al my BP shotshells are in red AA hulls. Any smokeless I reload are in Remington-Petters "Blue Magic" hulls I've scrounged, saved or bought since shooting skeet in the '70s! I just decapped about 5-600 rounds of a mix of 45 Colt, 45 ACP & Cowboy 45 Special brass and it's getting wet tumbled on the back porch... That thing is LOUD!

[Bill in Oregon]

One of my jobs working at the Otero County range in New Mexico was sorting brass for good, resellable cases, and I was always surprised at the amount of Lake City brass that was thrown away. Once we got up to about a half-ton of brass, one of us would drive the range truck the 90 miles from La Luz to El Paso for the best scrap prices.

[COSteve]

BTW, I have a system where I prep my necked brass for reloading which starts out with tumbling and inspecting then, then lubing them up. That's followed by a run through my Case Prep toolhead which resizes, decaps and trims them all at the same time.

Then another tumbling for 15 minutes to remove the lube and they are ready for storage as prep'd brass. After inspecting, if it's my brass already in my rotation, I know how many firings it has on it as I keep them separated by firings because after 5 reloadings I scrap them.

If it is newly processed range brass, after prep'ng them I inspect them again for any damage and to insure that the primer crimp is untouched. I only keep brass with the crimp intact or if I find the original packaging with the brass at my range. As long as it's there I leave it alone and store it so I know that it's true once fired.

When I'm ready to put a lot into rotation, I get out my Super Swage and finish them usually followed by another tumbling with some Turtle Wax to polish them up a bit and then they're ready for reloading.

Holding off on completing processing my brass and leaving the swaging until I'm actually using it may sound tedious and maybe slightly anal, but the process works for me and I can store brass for 10 years and I'll still know for a fact that it's true once fired.

So, when I actually get to reload it I am certain that the labeling I put on the ammo can or whatever I'm storing them in is accurate.

[Paladin]

Excellent, I am not one of the guys who leave brass.

[Griff]

Steve, I commend your efforts to know the age & previous usage of your brass. For the entire time I've reloaded, (this year marks the 50th), I've never concerned myself with how many times I reloaded a particular piece of brass. I inspect it all for splits or obvious flaws, and put back in the storage bucket for reloading. For my .30-06 or 7mmRemMag brass, I do a little more prep & inspection, but, even the .30-30 brass, gets cleaned, looked at for obvious splits, etc, trimmed to length, and dumped in one of the .30-30 brass containers. (If I'm shooting my target .30-30, it's only fed Federal brass, and it splits in the neck after it's 3 loading in that gun, which is the ONLY gun I segregate brass for, so... it's self-limiting). But in the other .30-30s, I couldn't begin to tell you how many reloadings a piece has of that R-P, UMC, WIN, Winchester, or even a couple of off-brands. 25 years ago (about as I really can't remember when), I bought 2,000 rounds of once fired .30-30 brass from a testing lab of about 5 different makes... I'm still loading that some of that for the 1st time... I still have a bag of both R-P & Winchester brass (100 pcs of each) that I've never got around to loading yet (new)... Yet with all that lackadaisical recording keeping (non-existent), I've only ever had one separation, a neck separation at the shoulder. Unfortunately that was in someone else's rifle. (A Henry a group from Leverguns Forum were reviewing). A stainless steel brush from the muzzle dislodged it, and I continued on, unconcerned. The .30-30 is the only round I tend to load near the top of the speed range... so maybe that isn't so surprising, and generally only then in Fed brass for the target rifle.

[GunnyMack]

Griff have you tried neck annealing for your target gun? Might get more life out of the brass!

Knock wood I've never had a separation. However my 257 AI is a neck splitter and I annealed what brass I have. Trying to find new brass for 257 Roberts(6mm or 7x57) is very difficult at best! Nosler has it but im not paying $2.50 a peice -If anyone runs across
257 brass ill pay the shipping !

[GunnyMack]

This past week I had a new roof installed. Way back 3 solar panels were put on the roof for domestic hot water. These have been a thorn in my side for years just because of the many leaks they caused being bolted down to the roof. The system quit working and the plywood under them was shot so the timing was right.
Yesterday I took about a half day to get all the copper from basement to roof out of the house. Also took the solar panels apart, copper sheet soldered to tubing, the aluminum frames apart as well.
This morning I loaded up 112lbs of #2 copper, light copper, 2 circulators, various brass fittings and the aluminum and went to the scrap yard.
Was worth every drop of sweat as I got $494.90 !!

[COSteve]

Congrats!!!

It feels almost sinful to have them pay you, doesn't it!

[GunnyMack]

It was a LOT more than I expected in dollars and poundage!
I can't imagine how much money that place hands out in a day. The place is hopping!