I am a RSO at a range that has limited availability to the public. We collect a 5 gal bucket of assorted range brass a couple of times per week. Scrap price is not the best way to sell this, plus I hate to see it come back into this country as a Toyota. Shipping it across the country is not always practical. What is a fair resale price for mixed, unsorted, centerfire brass? We can pull the 22's out easily. We were thinking of asking for $3.50/lb. unsorted and $5.00/lb. sorted by caliber. I see brass at gun shows at a large variety of prices. We want to be fair to our potential customers. Ideas on a reasonable resale prices are appreciated?
Once fired brass $ question
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ironworkerwill
Member
I just don't know if folks would buy it unsorted.
I would say that unsorted just isn't a great way to maximize your profit.
Try sorting by:
Rimfire / Centerfire
then by
Pistol / Rifle
then by caliber.
Or send them all to me and I'll sort them for you in return for letting me keep all the 223 brass!
Try sorting by:
Rimfire / Centerfire
then by
Pistol / Rifle
then by caliber.
Or send them all to me and I'll sort them for you in return for letting me keep all the 223 brass!
Fishslayer
Member
You could peruse the Swap & Sell board on Castboolits.com & get a good idea. I believe .45ACP is around $60-ish/1K. That's for dirty mixed headstamps.
.357 Magnum is always in demand.
^^^ This. There is a system for sorting by caliber that's fairly cheap and supposedly does a good job. Essentially just a series of slotted plastic seives.
.357 Magnum is always in demand.
^^^ This. There is a system for sorting by caliber that's fairly cheap and supposedly does a good job. Essentially just a series of slotted plastic seives.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
Not to be offensive but if you want to make money you just might have to do a little work to earn that money. Sorting the brass into like caliber bags is what you get paid to do. Why would anyone want to pay for for brass without knowing if the right brass is in the bag for what they load?
I wish I could find a range around me where I could collect a 5 gal bucket even once a week let alone several times a week. Wow...
KansasSasquatch
Member
If you spend a little money on this http://www.midwayusa.com/product/84...m-luger-40-smith-and-wesson-45-acp-3-bowl-set you'll probably get a little more money for the brass you sell.
frankenstein406
Member
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to bad your not closer
Fishslayer
Member
Flat rate boxes. Greatest thing since sliced bread. I'm sure the PO is taking a bath on guys shipping brass & lead. That's right. Lead. People are shipping casting lead & bullets in FRB. The smart ones are anyways...
You don't even need to count the brass. There are charts available that list the weight/count for various calibers.
Not sure what that means??? Is it a private group that owns the range?
Now selling other peoples property is a sore point for me and that is what you are talking about. Public ranges think that spent brass is theirs to keep and sell in addition to range fees and ammo sales, well it isn't, it's the property of the people that bought and paid for the ammo. If your membership is too lazy to pickup or police their own brass then selling it for scrap to help de-fray the operating cost of running the range would be OK but the money should be returned to the membership in one way or another.
Unless you organization is willing to take on the liability of that brass causing injury to someone by them reloading the cases, you are better off just selling it for scrap. Product liability is a real issure that you should think about, even commercial ammo makers melt down spent cases before recasting them. Even those that remanufacture ammo carry serious amounts of insurance to protect themselves for lawsuits.
It is one thing for a private citizen to pick up spent brass at a range and spend a lot of time inspecting it and something competely different to sell the same for profit.
Just sell it for scrap as you would the lead that is required to be removed from the range twice a year by a hazmat team.
Jim
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Grumulkin
Member
1. I've not found it too hard to get 40 S&W brass for $45/1,000. I could get 45 Auto for about the same and 9 mm for less.
2. I can't see that selling once fired brass has much of a liability issue. If someone reloads, it's their responsibility to inspect the brass and make sure it's safe.
3. I can't see that many would like to buy unsorted brass. They're going to at least want brass sorted by specific cartridge. Most also aren't going to buy a 5 gallon bucket of brass; they're going to be more timid shoppers looking for maybe 100 to 250 pieces.
4. I would not pay a penny more for brass that has been thrown in a tumbler to make it shiny. When I buy one fired brass, I prefer to prep and inspect it myself.
5. In buying once fired brass, you need to consider the specific cartridge type. Straight walled cartridges can go through MANY reloadings so once fired brass of that type is more attractive to me. Certain high pressure cartridges are probably only going to take a few reloadings so I'm not going to pay as much for them.
2. I can't see that selling once fired brass has much of a liability issue. If someone reloads, it's their responsibility to inspect the brass and make sure it's safe.
3. I can't see that many would like to buy unsorted brass. They're going to at least want brass sorted by specific cartridge. Most also aren't going to buy a 5 gallon bucket of brass; they're going to be more timid shoppers looking for maybe 100 to 250 pieces.
4. I would not pay a penny more for brass that has been thrown in a tumbler to make it shiny. When I buy one fired brass, I prefer to prep and inspect it myself.
5. In buying once fired brass, you need to consider the specific cartridge type. Straight walled cartridges can go through MANY reloadings so once fired brass of that type is more attractive to me. Certain high pressure cartridges are probably only going to take a few reloadings so I'm not going to pay as much for them.
It would seem to be a much better policy to allow your members or paying customers to go through the range pick up and take what they want for reloading and make up brass for free. It promotes good will and requires no effort or cost on the part of staff. Just take the left over brass to recycle once a month since there will be rimfire and probably berdan or steel case that reloaders will not want. Recycled brass is free money to the range or whoever gets to take it to the recycler.
Now if you are going to sort, clean and polish then selling the cases for a nominal charge is understandable. If you want to make money off something you need to put in some effort, after all the brass you pick up was left there for free and if you are like most ranges you want the shooters to police up their own brass too.
I have no problem sweeping up my .22 LR brass and tossing it into the recycle bucket but I won't lift a finger to police up anything at a range where they want to sell the brass that falls on the ground and won't let the paying shooters take from the spent brass for make up for lost cases that went in front of the firing line and/or reloading. They can get off their lazy hind end and work for their money like I have to.
Now if you are going to sort, clean and polish then selling the cases for a nominal charge is understandable. If you want to make money off something you need to put in some effort, after all the brass you pick up was left there for free and if you are like most ranges you want the shooters to police up their own brass too.
I have no problem sweeping up my .22 LR brass and tossing it into the recycle bucket but I won't lift a finger to police up anything at a range where they want to sell the brass that falls on the ground and won't let the paying shooters take from the spent brass for make up for lost cases that went in front of the firing line and/or reloading. They can get off their lazy hind end and work for their money like I have to.
Arkansas Paul
Member
Yep. The last time I shipped 50# of lead, they told me if it weren't for the flat rate boxes, it would have cost me about $45 to ship it instead of $12.
When they stop doing the frb thing, that's going to stop a lot of the lead shipments.
Anyway, it is a great way to ship brass if you decide to do so.
Sweet Agony
Member
As Fishslayer said, get FRB's and use them. For me I would be happy with a FRB filled directly from the 5 gal. buckets. I would be happy to do the sort and clean them myself.Flat rate boxes. Greatest thing since sliced bread. I'm sure the PO is taking a bath on guys shipping brass & lead. That's right. Lead. People are shipping casting lead & bullets in FRB. The smart ones are anyways...
You don't even need to count the brass. There are charts available that list the weight/count for various calibers.
mljdeckard
Member
I won't say i will never buy it unsorted, but I won't pay more than scrap value for it. After i take what I want from it, i still have to sell the rest as scrap.
I really don't see how anyone can say that brass that has been abandoned at a range belongs to someone else. That makes about as much sense as saying that soda cans in a public trash can are someone else s property and they still have a claim to them. I can neither see how a reloader can make any claim of liability for an item whose origin is entirely unknown, and for which no guarantee of any kind is implied. If you reload, YOU are responsible to properly inspect and take care of your own safety. When i buy used brass, it is exactly that and nothing more.
I really don't see how anyone can say that brass that has been abandoned at a range belongs to someone else. That makes about as much sense as saying that soda cans in a public trash can are someone else s property and they still have a claim to them. I can neither see how a reloader can make any claim of liability for an item whose origin is entirely unknown, and for which no guarantee of any kind is implied. If you reload, YOU are responsible to properly inspect and take care of your own safety. When i buy used brass, it is exactly that and nothing more.
stargeezer
Member
The ranges that tell you that you can't shag your brass (behind the line of course) and don't let me grab a handful to fill out what went in front of the line, just don't get my money. There was a local range that tried that and pretty soon the only people shooting there were guys who shot steel cased and 22's.
I stopped by one day to help a friend with some trigger problems and they had a sign up "no steel case ammo". You don't see many cars in their lot these days and I doubt they will be open long.
They and any business has a right to make up their own rules, just like I have a right to go down the road.
I stopped by one day to help a friend with some trigger problems and they had a sign up "no steel case ammo". You don't see many cars in their lot these days and I doubt they will be open long.
They and any business has a right to make up their own rules, just like I have a right to go down the road.
hAkron
Member
I would buy unsorted brass, but if there was a bunch of aluminum or steel cases mixed in, or .22, I would want that to be reflected in the price. I wouldn't want to pay much over scrap either.
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