once fired brass

J

JohnnyMayhem

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Aug 6, 2006
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Hey I have always had the habit of cleaning up my brass at the range, and my last trip there I picked up the brass throughout the range as well. (45mph wind gusts really ruin a day of shooting so why not just pick up there) I have everything from .380 to 45-70 so I was curious, is there a price per lb for once fired brass or is it more of a scrap price.

Is there a place I can send it in or trade it off for more ammo?
 
if you go to the gun and knifes shows there is someone there all of the time that put up sign saying they buy used brass.
 
Good for you..most ranges could use more brass rats. Seriously most reloaders I know police up their brass. Not a reloader I offer my brass to the shooters next to me on the line or pick up and put in brass buckets our club provides.

I do save once fired commercial quality .223, .357 and .45 (acp & Colt) brass for a reloading friend - he helps me reload .204 and .223 for my for annual colony varmint trip.

I imagine the club sells what brass doesn't get picked over by range officers or other scroungers/recyclers[ I mean that in the most POSITIVE way].

.22lr and steel cases swept off the line are seldom picked up.

Good brass is getting kind of expensive.
 
That's the thing, it seems like nobody was cleaning up after themselves. I had to watch out because some assjack was shooting bud light bottles and not cleaning those up either.

Hell I found one of the steel 100 yard gongs full of holes, same with the swinger targets. (place needs a good mowing as well)
 
The range I go to in MN won't let you pick up used brass that isn't yours; and send a guy out to sweep mine up for themselves sometimes before I get a chance to. You guys are lucky
 
Thinking about the .22 brass I should start picking that up too. There is a guy on ZS (zombie squad) that uses the casings to mold his own 223 jacketed rounds. neat process really.
 
You don't have once-fired brass. You have range pickup brass (you don't know how many times it's been reloaded). The price is not the same.
 
FWIW....re:number of reloads on a piece of brass.....back in my early reloading days, I had only a Ruger Security Six and was shooting relatively light loads (probably Unique) and had purchased 100 pieces of once fired brass... 99 were nickled one not... the non plated case was made by Norma, and I reloaded it 75 times before I retired it....
 
If I didn't fire it or couldnt trust who I got it off brass wise I dont want it...seen a few incidents that could have ended bad.
 
Well then I guess that the other option is to save my own, and melt down the rest, and sand cast out some knuckedusters.
 
JohnnyMayhem...if you happen to live near a range that hosts a USPSA club, you will probably find the predominant brass they have will be .40SW and 9mm...and that the 9mm is at the most on its first reloading... shooters here in the Tampa Bay area typically don't pick up their brass to speed the match along... many shooting in Production Class shoot factory loaded... if you give each handful of brass a little shake, you will be able to hear the "flat" tone of a cracked case...
 
There's nothing wrong with selling range pick-up brass; I've bought it for reloading myself. I have to sort it and I discard a few cartridges, but most are fine. Just don't advertise it as once-fired; that would be false advertising.
 
I've thought about reloading several times but never have gotten around to it. (SO many projects so little time!)

I've kept used brass off and on for years. (44 mag and 357 mag) (Sometimes I give it to buddies. Sometimes leave it in the range buckets. I pretty much only keep it when I am shooting out at my own land.) I just took a load to the recycler this past weekend. 16 pounds was good for just over twenty five bucks for clean yellow brass. More than worth the trip. I might go police my land where I usually shoot. All the .22's are semi auto so I never have picked up that brass. I could probably earn another 25 dollars and really clean up the place in an afternoon.
 
i consider myself a range rat. I am only reloading .45 ACP, but i have thousands of spent 9mm and .40cal brass for future firearms.
 
Nickeled brass is reloadable? I was always under the impression that nickel plated brass was bad to reload with. Something about the nickel having a propensity to crack.
 
harkamus said:
Nickeled brass is reloadable? I was always under the impression that nickel plated brass was bad to reload with. Something about the nickel having a propensity to crack.
Click to expand...

Its just brass that is nickel plated, the plating has a tendency to start flaking off after a few firings. When it does start coming off, it can mess up your die. I just throw it away.
 
I find nickled brass esier to resize, but as mentioned can suffer from hydrogen embrittlement from the plating process...it is easier to find in the grass if you are shooting a labor intensive or expensive cartridge like a 9x25 or one of the oddball 38super clones...has a corrosion advantage if you are exposed to salt water atmosphere

I've had two catastrophic failures, both with trying to do something the case was not designed to do... both were major 9mm loads... neither was on a nickled case

as I've commented, just shake a handful of brass, and you will hear the "flat" tone of a cracked case
 
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