[Coldfinger]

Range brass, once fired brass, pick up brass. By what ever name you want to apply to it. As like most hand loaders I tend to hoard brass. I have quite a few cases for which I do not reload. Went to all the trouble of popping the primers and cleaning and polishing them for resale on gunbroker. No takers. Is it that most of us have all the brass we could ever need? With scrap brass at 2.77 a pound in my area it almost makes it worth it to just scrap the stuff I don't load. I figured by doing some of the leg work for the next guy, the brass would sell, helping me off set the cost of my reloading hobby. I already know what other loaders would say. "Send it to me" But my question is this....
Anyone else tried to make a couple bucks on the resale of fired brass?
What would be some fair prices on popular cases with the aforementioned case prep completed?
Should I even conduct said case prep or leave them in an as fired condition?
Should I just take the scrap prices on it? :banghead:

[bds]

I think some reloaders are wary of processed and highly polished brass as dirty/unprocessed brass may better tell the condition of brass when it was shot.

Personally, I prefer dirty/unprocessed brass as any bulged cases shot with hot loads can be separated out. If bulged cases were fixed by "push-through" resizing and cleaned, I have no way of knowing. ;)

[jibjab]

Should I even conduct said case prep or leave them in an as fired condition?
I would not do any prep. A light cleaning maybe.
I have quite a few cases for which I do not reload.
How are you de-priming these cases ?

[thump_rrr]

I would agree with BDS about people not trusting overly clean brass.
A couple of years ago I deprimed and wet tumbled 3,000 Speer 9mm cases fired by a local law enforcement agency.
They were shot through Sig .226 pistols so no bulged cases.

No matter how low I priced them there were no takers so I kept them and used them myself once I bought a 9mm.

I personally don't scrap brass unless it is defective.
I would hold on to any truly once fired brass and trade it off to others in your area that reload for that caliber.

Let's face it some brass is more expensive and harder to find than other brass.
I have hundreds of pieces of 7.62x39 boxer primed brass.
For the last year I have not seen a single piece when a couple of years ago it was everywhere.

[FROGO207]

The above thoughts are valid as far as cleaning brass. Also most will want lowest prices so adding cost is not conductive for a fast sale. That said the cost of fired brass is higher or lower depending on rarity/supply. I went out and purchased a 40 CAL because the brass was not worth much and I had a 5 gal bucket full of OF brass I collected at the range in the past year.:D IMHO if you price the brass as to the true resale value it should sell. For 9MM and 40 S&W there is so much surplus around it is worth more as scrap most times. FWIW I have four overflowing 5 gal buckets and gaining of 9MM brass that I probably will never use up in my lifetime.:eek:

[kingmt]

I trade & give it away.

[kimbernut]

I agree with kingmt. swap it for something you do use. Someone out there will swap. Just what is it you have and what do you use?

[JLDickmon]

a common caliber like 9mm or 40, I sell it to the scrap yard.

300 Win Mag brass is getting to be an albatross as well. Never thought I'd say that.

[45lcshooter]

Some people think that they tumbled range brass its worth the same money as new brass or just a few dollars left.

Most reloaders like dirtier the better, im one of those people.

Trade or sell off, i know there are guys out there like myself that reload a lot of different calibers and are always looking for brass.

[blarby]

Well, there are a few lines here........


I think the most important one being trust. If people believe and trust you, based on experience, properly cleaned brass can make for an easy sale.

I generally don't sell brass that I don't know the provenance of, and when I do, I specifically note it in my trade listings.

For an unknown, "as-is" brass might make for an easier time for you.


As to the pricing... As far as auto pistol brass goes, I can usually make more selling it at the local scrap yard at the right time of year than selling it here. Come spring time, metal prices are going to hike again- especially lead, as producers of auto batteries seek sources to fuel production runs in an effort to replenish supplies depleted by the cold winter.

Rifle brass pays for itself in picking it up, as does revolver brass.

If it were me, I would leave it "as is" unless someone requests a cleaning in the future.

Personally, I got a lot of clean brass while perfecting my technique for doing so... and had no problems trading or selling it away, with some bizarre exceptions.


At 2.77/#... you might want to just cart off what you dont need. Once you figure in the time counting it, boxing it, labeling it and taking it to the PO for trading it.... you'll get a grasp of this a little more once you've done it properly a few times.

For example, 200 45 ACP on average weighs 2#'s, 12oz.... We'll call that $7.60 at your rate. That soaks up the majority of a flat rate small box... Not worth it when it costs $5.50 to mail. In a medium box, you can get about 1600-1700, if memory serves. You can fit 2000 in there without packing material- but you are at the mercy of the PO then.... your choice ! Thats about 61ish dollars, maybe a little more depending on how you stuff it, on $11 in shipping. BUT, you are going to need to sell them at $50 or less per 1k to beat Yankee to the draw on that sale. IT all comes down to how you value your time

Regardless of the condition you choose to post it in, have pictures. Good pictures. Representative sample pictures- not cherry picks. I no longer trade for brass I can't get a picture of, regardless of how good the deal is. I've had too many boxes show up that went straight into the recycle bin.

You'll always do better in trading than selling. You can usually preserve more of your "perceived" value when trading something unwanted for something that is wanted. Cash to me is always a last resort, unless I'm in the market for something I can't trade for.

Good luck, and welcome to the "auction block" :D

[Boostedtwo]

I'm always looking to buy once fired brass

[beatledog7]

If I buy fired brass I want to buy it as is, sorted by cartridge only for handgun and by cartridge and headstamp for rifle (except maybe .223/5.56). That's the way I would sell it.

[SSN Vet]

I've only paid money for second hand brass on one occaision, and am convinced it was reloaded to the end of it's useful life and then sold.

I've also picked up some range brass with loose primer pockets and multiple ejection dings on them.

Beggers can't be choosers, but with all the scammers and tight wads out there, I'll scrounge up what I need on my own and keep my dollars in my pocket for primers and powder.

I have been given brass and have traded brass, with good results for both parties.

But unless it's Lake City mil. surp. purchased from a source that does the de-mil. themselves, I'm not really interested.

[SSN Vet]

that said..... I'm always looking for .45 acp brass :^)

[Coldfinger]

Given the info obtained, I will now just leave brass in an as fired condition. When the auction is over and if the brass doesn't sell I will attempt to trade it here. Well in the appropriate thread. I decap brass I don't have dies for using an RCBS universal decapper. Most recently I have been decapping all my brass with it. I figure by doing so I can decap 'em, sonic clean 'em and save some wear on my dies by not running dirty cases in 'em. I know others tumble with spent primers and that essentially does the same thing but I like the case prep. Probably more so than actually reloading the ammo. So the extra time I spend on case prep is fun for me. Odd I know but..... The cases I dont load for that I have been holding on to are 9mm Luger, 38 special, and I do load .40 & have a bunch. I never pick up brass that has the Tell tale rectangle imprint on the primer, that goes in the range box. If brass makes it to copper prices we all may be in trouble though.

[Kevin Rohrer]

Everyone wants and needs brass, but I wouldn't do anything with it prior to sale so as to keep the price down and give buyers an honest look at its condition.

I'll buy all the .30 Carbine and 45/70 you might have. :)

[Pacsd]

Coldfinger, last week I was quoted 1.45 a pound for "shell brass". Last spring I sold twelve 5 gallon buckets of range brass at 1.70. I currently have 5 1/2 buckets. Should have at least 10 by late spring.

[lightman]

I thinned out my stash of surplus brass prior to the 2008 election."The Obama Scare" if you prefer.I advertised it on several sites as range brass,unless I knew for sure that it was once fired.I sold the stuff that did not sell for scrap.I bought a lot of components from the profits of those sales.I felt good about putting lots of brass back into circulation at a fair price,and the storage space that I gained was welcome.After all,just how many 9mm,40s&w,30-30,or 30-06 can a person use.I had hundreds of 270's and 7mm remington magnums that I would never load for,that someone else needed.I did not do anything to most of it except wash it in hot soapy water,as most reloaders prefer to do their own prep.I am building up a pretty good stash again. Lightman

[Steel Talon]

I've sold alot of brass in the past, I was getting it in the bucket fulls

Pick it up, seperate it by caliber, and by manufacture. Cull out defects for scrap barrel. Run it through a vibratory cleaner just to knock off a bit of the range crud. Place into packs of 500. Send it in FRB's Also use it for trade, karma gifts, or sale....

You can sell it at reasonable prices,I was always a couple of bucks lower than the rest.
Just tell it like it is "Range pick ups" , "looks to be once fired," " as is" This is not loaded or preped.. Always throw a extra few in for miss count and good will.

Always cull the brass you will be amazed at the number of loaded cartridges you will come across.

[possom813]

When I dig it up, I throw it all in the big tumbler, just lizard litter, a cap of nufinish that was added with the litter, and a dryer sheet.

I tumble it for a few hours to clean the dirt and crud off of it, then separate it out into ziplock bags, trade it or save it up. I give away a lot of the .223 and .308 to friends because I don't reload it. I usually hang on to the 1 or 2 random pcs until I get a decent amount to swap off or make it worth it to ship.

[evan price]

I am still getting brass, just not as much as it seems that the number of brass scavengers lately has increased tenfold.

Brass prices right now are not holding well in terms of scrap. They WILL go up this spring. Most prices right now are shifting rapidly day by day and it's frustrating but that's what happens this time of year. I've got 500 pounds of absolutely scrap brass sitting waiting for the price to go back over $2 a pound before I cash in.

All I do is sort it by caliber/case size- I don't deprime, resize, trim or do anything but tumble and sort.

.45 Auto has turned into one of the biggest pains in the heinie- I have to sort individually for small primer pockets, A-MERC, nickle cases, damaged cases, and then I pull out the Winchesters because they sell better.

223 is just as bad- I have six seperate criteria to sort 223s.

Every year or two I do an "Odd Lots" sale with all that small baggie stuff that I don't see more than a couple hundred of. That gets mixed with the buyer's choice of common brass and sent out. I don't make a lot at that but I'd rather see the brass stay in circulation than go to China to be turned into hose fittings.

[orionengnr]

I have not been shooting as much the last 6 months...back is all jacked up.

Up until that time, I would shoot once a week, and pick up any brass that nobody wanted. I gave away quite a bit of that, mostly to friends/acquaintances who were just starting on reloading. I also traded a bit here and there, and even sold a bit here and there.

Price it right, and it will sell locally (unless there are some significant local oddities).

I do not take scrap prices into account, so I have no idea if I would make more scrapping it. For the small amount I pick up and do not use, the difference in price is minimal, and there is no way I am going to take brass that someone has expended time and effort into forming precisely...and then have someone else melt that down.

I'd rather give it away to someone who will reload it.

[medalguy]

I also only buy uncleaned brass. And I've bought "once fired" polished brass that was just an accident waiting to happen, won't make that mistake again.

What I've been doing with a lot of common brass that I get is finding new reloaders, on this forum and others, who are asking about 9mm and .40 brass to get started. I offer to send them a box full for the postage cost if they want it, and most will accept, and about half of them have reimbursed my postage cost (yeah, you know who you are, send me the five bucks for postage). This way I get to help a newbie out and get rid of range brass that I really don't need.

[1SOW]

I've never bought pistol brass.
I cull about 40-50 pounds of pistol brass a year that I sell as scrap. when I get close to a 5-gallon bucket full (coming up again soon--?$150?). What I don't cull, I process and keep in coffee cans--lots of coffee cans. One coffee can full is approx. 5#. I don't intentially pick up brass I can't use.

I give away some, My son gets some. I can be picky about the headstamps I keep, and not likely to run out of brass if age slows me down on picking it up. I like WIN brass, so I'm still picking up range brass, mainly for WIN and R&P

[johnandersonoutdoors]

If you do have some extra brass that you don't need and might want to scrap do you need to deprime before taking to scrap yard? I would assume the answer is yes but just wanted to check with others who seem to have done it.

Google to search to find "local" scrap yards?

[blarby]

If you do have some extra brass that you don't need and might want to scrap do you need to deprime before taking to scrap yard?

Not mine.

Check your scrapyards policies.

There is one here in the eugene area that will only take them deprimed. I dont go to that one....

[lightman]

This thread has given me the motivation to clean and sort the stuff that I have collected,this fall.As I was storing it away,I ran across a sack of NM 7.62x51 that I forgot I had.Almost like getting a letter from home! Thanks guys, Lightman

[hardheart]

Argh, I've been collecting range brass for a month and a half, thinking I would try to trade into reloading gear to get started. Then I figured I ought to clean it up a little before trying to move it. So I ordered a Lee kit and my fiance got me a Magnum US cleaner a few weeks ago, just hoping to recover the costs. Now I'm reading that I shouldn't be decapping or cleaning the brass before offering it. Haven't even got the kit yet, have been depriming with a soft mallet and 1/16 pin punch over the holes in a .32 box.

Other than the 38/357/9mm I cleaned for my own use, I cleaned the 308 I collected. It was only ~270 pieces deprimed and washed in the US cleaner with the Hornady solution and a pinch of lemishine. Should I just scrap that since I knocked the primers out?

Gun show this weekend, I was going to bring the brass I have to try to trade for more powder or bullets. Thought I was going to wear my shoulder out depriming after the kit is delivered tomorrow, but I guess I won't be touching the universal decapping die I ordered.

[FROGO207]

Take the brass to the gunshow as planned---you will probably sell it if the price is OK anyway.:cool: I would not clean anymore brass that I was going to sell however.:) Sorting it by caliber and removing the bad stuff is time better spent IMHO.

[jibjab]

I scrap a lot of range brass I do not load for :( when I factor in the price shipping the time spent shipping and sorting, it doesn't seem worth my time.
convince me that I am wrong, I would rather it find a good chamber to be fired in.

[hardheart]

I don't want to hijack the thread from the OP, but this is still pretty much on topic. Is it worth trying to sell or trade pistol brass compared to scrap price and the amount of range brass already available? I get a lot of 9mm and 40, and a little 45. Other than that, I've gotten just over 100 38s after several weeks. Everything else is really sparse, onesie-twosie. I have already spent plenty of time sorting, but I'm thinking of not bothering anymore except to check for 38/357 and pulling out steel/aluminum and putting the rest to scrap in all cartridge sizes. I think I've really been wasting time sorting and making sure not to pick up damaged or rimfire brass on the pistol lanes. The big thing is that it is an outdoor range. I try to go weekly and pick up, but the stuff is still ugly and I know there is crap in some of the brass which I just haven't gone through yet.

I would still separate rifle brass and try to move that. Mostly bolt guns, so it doesn't get thrown all over the place and dirtied up as bad. Well, maybe not sort for 223, it seems too cheap as well as landing in uglier spots.

[blarby]

I'm actually thinking of getting a 9 soon, so I don't have to scrap all that pretty brass.

As to the 40....... I'll still take it to the scrapper by the bucket. No one buys it, and I detest the neutered 10 !

[Wildbillz]

But my question is this....
Anyone else tried to make a couple bucks on the resale of fired brass?
What would be some fair prices on popular cases with the aforementioned case prep completed?
Should I even conduct said case prep or leave them in an as fired condition?
Should I just take the scrap prices on it?

A quick look in the reloading section will give you a lot of the answers. Some you may not like some you will.

Lots of guys selling used brass.

Market is going to determain price. 357mag, 44mag and such are going to bring a better price then 9mm or 40S&W. The harder a caliber is to get the more your going to get for the brass.

Case prep in my case I would not pay extra for.

If you price it right it will sell. Price it wrong and your going to sit on it a while. I keep a 5 gallon bucket by the bench that all the culls go in and scrap them out every now and then. Othere then that I keep collecting them up and seporating by caliber till I have enough to trade for somting I need.

Gunbroker may not be your best market for the brass. Instead of fishing for someone to bid it up just set a price and post it here on the board for sale.

Just my .02 on it.
YMMV

WB

[hardheart]

Well, doesn't seem to be worth scrapping in my area. One yard said they won't buy it, the other said 1.50 a lb. Yellow brass otherwise is only 1.75 at both locations.

[Para Cassatt]

I sold 91 lbs. today @ $1.50. After only one conversation on another forum I decided that it is not worth the trouble of haggling and repeatedly typing the same info. The lack of reading comprehension with that one guy convinced me.

[FROGO207]

Store it away and in the spring the prices will rebound. I sold 6 five gallon buckets of .22 brass last march for $317.00. IIRC the price then was $ 1.95 a pound.It has to be kept separate and sold as cartridge brass---my yard will buy buckets of just primers also.:)

[medalguy]

Not only do I not deprime scrap brass, I throw all my used primers in the bucket too. It's all yellow brass. I sold about 300 pounds 2 weeks ago for $1.92 a pound. Not too shabby.

[dgod]

I am always looking for Brass, specifically, 45LC, 243, 30-30, 308/7.62, I would like to have about 1-2K of each, if anyone has some to part with, let me know what you have, and cost total sent to my address.

Thanks
Dan