Spent Brass Storage Containers?

Walmart or the nearest Dollar Store. Stackable kitchen/food storage. Cheaper than dirt. Sizes to fit any need.

This is one of the few times I might recommend another man go to the Container Store. Or just look at all the bins at Walmart. Sometimes they have ones that work kind of like a drawer so you would not have to unstack them to get them out.

eldon519 said:

This is one of the few times I might recommend another man go to the Container Store. Or just look at all the bins at Walmart. Sometimes they have ones that work kind of like a drawer so you would not have to unstack them to get them out.

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^^^^^ +1

I went with my wife to the Container Store once - I got lots of ideas for my reloading room. Brass storage in clear stackable containers.

Greg Mercurio said:

Walmart or the nearest Dollar Store. Stackable kitchen/food storage. Cheaper than dirt. Sizes to fit any need.

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That would be my suggestion. Currently I have a small mountain of 1 gallon zip loc bags as a result of winter sorting and cleaning. I need to fix that.

Ron

OilyPablo said:

I need ideas on stackable bins with lids for dirty spent brass storage.

I don't want buckets.

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Yes, I also do not like buckets as they can be heavy to handle but do store larger amounts of brass in buckets for long-term storage (polished with NuFinish, residual polymer on brass surface will keep them shiny for years with airtight lids).

For day-to-day handling and processing of brass, I used to use Costco laundry detergent box buckets (they store neatly in wire shelving units) but in recent years have changed to ~3 gallon size storage bins with lids from Wally.

The smaller storage bins with lids:

- Allow more comfortable two handed handling of bins (instead of one handed bucket handle) to place on bench top which is kinder to my back
- Lids are easier to apply/remove than bucket lids
- Especially if they are transparent, easier viewing of bin contents so I don't even need to label the bins.

After brass are cleaned/polished, they are put in large plastic Folgers coffee containers for reloading.

Haven't tried this yet (I have 20-30 saved), but people who have pools are always throwing away 50 + lb. chlorine buckets with great screw on lids. I'm not sure what the consequences of chlorine fumes/residue on brass may be though (and would like the groups opinion on this subject before I start doing it)
Side note----- my pet deer do not mind their corn being stored in them. I buy deer corn in 50 lb bags and it just fits in them.

Depending on the quantity and number of calibers, you could try 6" PVC tubes with one end on a board (2X 8), drill hole below each tube and place a simple board in a drawer-like configuration. Mount tubes to backer board with PVC hangers and hang whole assembly on a on wall. Leave enough room underneath to fit a bucket. When you need brass, pull drawer out slightly, fill bucket and go reload. Lots a different variations on this you could try. I saw this in a friends basement and plan on giving it a go this summer when I have some time. He had about 10 tubes mounted on wall, with legs under board to support the whole thing. PVC is cheap, easy to work and can be painted to blend in if required. Just remember to cut front of tube away to make filling tubes easy.

The dollar store and other similar enterprises have affordable options. I bought 5 dollars worth of containers that have worked well for my volume over the past 5 years.

OilyPablo said:

I need ideas on stackable bins with lids for dirty spent brass storage. ...

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I do not wait to accumulate masses of dirty brass ... at least, not enough where I would require multiple stackable bins.

For dirty brass I have an old orange heavy-plastic restaurant milk-bladder crate (10"x10"x17") that I keep in bottom of the south storage cabinet. Brass is segregated by type using old quart, gallon and 2-gal freezer ziplock-type bags.

This crate never gets full as long before that happens I will run one or more batches thru the FART.

My stackable bin storage is for cleaned brass, most of which "lives" on a metal shelving unit in 6qt or 16qt Sterlite boxes (inside these the brass is sealed in quart ziplocks) that I buy from Target when they are on-sale.

Works for me ...

Apparently OP has A LOT of brass.

OilyPablo said:

One huge pile mess ... all kinds of brass ... mixed, it's a ... huge heap.

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That used to be me too and I had to spend hours just to sort brass by caliber.

I got smart and as soon as I returned from the range, I would sort brass by caliber and toss into buckets/bins which took little time compared to sorting mountains of brass later.

Accumulated so much brass to the point I was PIF medium size USPS boxes to anyone who asked in 9mm/40S&W/45ACP along with samples of bullets if they were new reloaders as we were selling our house.

Still, when we moved to our retirement house, I had 5 gallon bucket of brass per caliber and in excess of 50,000 pistol bullets after all the PIFs (Even made PIF gift boxes to reloaders I shot with that included powders/primers/bullets/brass for my farewell in 2014).

Now that I do all of my shooting on public land, I return from range sessions with less brass and will eventually need to replace them and thought about buying a 55 gal drum of brass on auction but still have enough brass on hand to last me a few years before that.

I use a couple of sizes of open front, stackable bins by Astro-Mills available at Amazon. Rotate my rifle brass, store brass, store un boxed ammo pistol and rifle. 11x5 for rifle and 7x4 for pistol. Many size choices.

I use empty cat litter containers. They hold 42 lbs of litter which is a lot of brass. Snap close tops and they easily stack.

I hate spending money on cheap plastic containers, and I hate batches of dirty brass. I would put thru vibrator right away (like during football game or movie on TV) and the use big clear plastic jugs of frequent purchase recycled from our household use. I now have various “stock sizes” from peanut butter, mayonnaise, dog treats, etc. for given counts of 45acp, 38 spcl, 223, 308, etc. I also have my own tracking slips for info that I put inside to show source, stage of prep, etc. Cheap, easy to store & handle, clean & neat.

I drink plenty of Folgers, so there are about 15 or so large red cans in the cabinets. Each labeled by caliber and bagged by headstamp. It has worked so far.

me i like plastic coffee cans with the lids, they stack well, most have handles , and they are easy to clean when they become mucky

Folgers plastic cans. Cheap (free) and readily available so I use them.

Wally World. They work good for me

We buy horse supplement in these 5 pound plastic pails. They are resealable, stackable, and each hold 1k of 45acp brass.

Look up "U-line bins" on eBay. We use these at work. I liked them so much I bought some for home

ArchAngelCD said:

I use empty cat litter containers. They hold 42 lbs of litter which is a lot of brass. Snap close tops and they easily stack.

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This is what I use also for my high volume brass, and when I can't get them I get the food grade storage containers from Walmart that the cake frosting comes in for $1.00 per (just go see the bakery section). They stack, have handles and are cheap (or free).

Chuck

I use the plastic coffee cans. Getting them from work gave me a head start.

I suggest if you go the Walmart way inspect the containers before you leave the store. I grabbed a great many in one Viking raid as they were on sale @ a great price. Long after I was home and finally got around to actually putting them to use (of course the receipt was long vanished) I saw that several of them had messed up hinges.

Hefty freezer-weight slider-bags (ziplock type) and Homer buckets from Home Depot.

Real Ziplock bags are not nearly as good as the Hefty brand.

...or ammo cans.

You don't have much brass if you find it practical to sort brass in different department-store fixed-shape containers.