Once fired brass

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MonkTx

MonkTx

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Does anyone still sell once fired LC 5.56 brass? Everywhere I've found once fired online is a mix of civilian and military.

Thanks,
MonkTX
 
Man, I hate to say, since Covid, matched headstamp once fired 5.56 in large amounts has been a unicorn, either LC, civilian, or anything. You might be able to find some on MeWe, lot of brass guys have migrated there. If you are only looking for small quantities, like a hundred or so, that should be a lot easier and I'm sure somebody will hook you up. But you'll pay!
 
Cheesemaker said:
Once fired - likely gonna be military, at least in quantity. The rest YMMV - how will you know it is once fired?
Click to expand...

All used brass is 'once fired'. Doesn't necessarily mean it's only been fired once.
(It's a handy way for most Commercial Vendors who aren't exactly sure of their brass's history to indicate they know it's been fired at least once,,,)

With brass reported to be purchased direct from the Military that still retains it crimped-in primer, there is a very good chance it's been 'fired only once'. Another potential source for 'fired once' would be someone who bought or otherwise knew for a fact the brass they are selling was bought new / fired once / never reloaded. (Mostly Family/Private Home Range sourced)
 
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Skgreen said:
All used brass is 'once fired'. Doesn't necessarily mean it's only been fired once.
(It's a handy way for most Commercial Vendors who aren't exactly sure of their brass's history to indicate they know it's been fired at least once,,,)

With brass reported to be purchased direct from the Military that still retains it crimped-in primer, there is a very good chance it's been 'fired only once'. Another potential source for 'fired once' would be someone who bought or otherwise knew for a fact the brass they are selling was bought new / fired once / never reloaded. (Mostly Family/Private Home Range sourced)
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From what I understand the military does not sell it's used brass. They crush or shred it & sell it in the metals market. I think they started doing that back in 2009.
 
AK Hunter said:
From what I understand the military does not sell it's used brass. They crush or shred it & sell it in the metals market. I think they started doing that back in 2009.
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That is what I had thought to, but apparently it is still showing up in govie auctions, only in larger lots (by the ton), and is sold as "scrap brass". Late last year a friend of mine was working me hard to buy a lot. It was 60 tons, had to be removed in 48 hours, and was a 1500 mile drive away. The auction stipulated that it was not demilled, but was being sold as scrap. It was not sorted or cleaned, and may have been stored outside, so would have had some ringer issues with contaminated/corroded primers likely. I thought he was nuts. It ended up going for something ridiculous, like 10K. He was right, if we could have figured it out, we would have made a killing on it, even in scrap value alone. He wanted to rent 2 large Uhaul trucks, hire day laborors to load it, pick it up, and sell along the route back to scrappers, a bit at each location to avoid driving the price down, keeping some for ourselves. It was a solid plan, but alas, I'm way to old for such shenanigans.
 
AK Hunter said:
From what I understand the military does not sell it's used brass. They crush or shred it & sell it in the metals market. I think they started doing that back in 2009.
Click to expand...


This is incorrect.

In 2009, there was a SUSPENSION of sales, and with the notion that the destruction mentioned would be the disposition of miltary brass. That suspension was quickly reversed, and no brass was ever destroyed. Yet this now more-than-a-decade-old incident keeps getting repeated as though it is current policy. Which it is not.

See:
https://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucdsclnk?sl=W1QSCI12041001
and
https://www.go-dove.com/asset/4/12786

I'm going to speculate that we are seeing fewer of these sorts of auctions on government websites because of the high demand for spent brass. I am unaware of whether the military units in possession of spent brass are REQUIRED to dispose of it through a central agency of any sort. I'm suspecting that they have local, reliable buyers, and they just sell it to them without going through any bidding or auction hassles. So we don't hear about it (for now).
 
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W.E.G. said:
This is incorrect.

In 2009, there was a SUSPENSION of sales, and with the notion that the destruction mentioned would be the disposition of miltary brass. That suspension was quickly reversed, and no brass was ever destroyed. Yet this now more-than-a-decade-old incident keeps getting repeated as though it is current policy. Which it is not.

See:
https://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucdsclnk?sl=W1QSCI12041001
and
https://www.go-dove.com/asset/4/12786
Click to expand...

While some of it still getting sold, there is alot of it that is going to be recycled now. Ive heard this from a few guys that process commercially now. LC is getting harder and harder to come by.

If you can find it, buy it. Its still good stuff.
 
Kaldor said:
While some of it still getting sold, there is alot of it that is going to be recycled now. Ive heard this from a few guys that process commercially now. LC is getting harder and harder to come by.

If you can find it, buy it. Its still good stuff.
Click to expand...


I wonder if the scrappers are paying prices competitive with the reloaders?

Somewhere along the way, there has to be an incentive to the quartermaster or whoever is tasked with getting rid of the brass to make sure the payment is commensurate with the value of the product being liquidated. And of course understanding that the military is often held up as an example of extreme waste and incompetence. Since there seems to be no clear regulations on how brass is liquidated, wouldn't surprise me if the guy in charge of it has some sweetheart deal with a scrapper. No, that would never happen.
 
W.E.G. said:
I wonder if the scrappers are paying prices competitive with the reloaders?

Somewhere along the way, there has to be an incentive to the quartermaster or whoever is tasked with getting rid of the brass to make sure the payment is commensurate with the value of the product being liquidated. And of course understanding that the military is often held up as an example of extreme waste and incompetence. Since there seems to be no clear regulations on how brass is liquidated, wouldn't surprise me if the guy in charge of it has some sweetheart deal with a scrapper. No, that would never happen.
Click to expand...

Well, the DoD switched to this centralized process. Back in the 90s, we'd go to the local huachuca DRMO auctions, was easy to buy lots of brass, whatever. Tons there. But then they moved it all to Tucson. Now it all goes to regional center, and the auction is all online and concentrated. Hard for a little guy to get in there. That auction we were looking at last year...how many people can move 60 Tons of brass in 48 hours? 20 years ago, that would have represented 100's of local auctions, in small lots. A guy could bid on a drum or 2 of brass if he wanted.
 
I have a fair bit of experience with "government" waste disposal and surplus disposal - decades of experience - but I don't want to turn this into yet another thread that was locked because the answer people are looking for, speculating about, discussing ad nauseum without any first-hand experience, is off topic. So I won't. Suffice to say, "The Government" is not a business. Trying to force business-oriented thinking on "government" is like complaining about bears not using crosswalks.
 
Kaldor said:
LC is getting harder and harder to come by. If you can find it, buy it. Its still good stuff.
Click to expand...

Interesting, about half of what I pick up at the range is LC brass. And lots of it. I am baffled that shooters are not recycling it instead of just leaving it there. Still wondering why? Not really LC? Or are master blasters starting to shoot the good stuff and walking away? Why?
 
I suspect so of it that is being acquired by hand loaders is being remade into .300BO brass, at least by the last brass pickup I did at the gun club. I do kind of wonder why one would bother to make .300BO out of 5.56 brass then just leave it lay?

W.E.G. said:
This is incorrect.

In 2009, there was a SUSPENSION of sales, and with the notion that the destruction mentioned would be the disposition of miltary brass. That suspension was quickly reversed, and no brass was ever destroyed. Yet this now more-than-a-decade-old incident keeps getting repeated as though it is current policy. Which it is not.

See:
https://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucdsclnk?sl=W1QSCI12041001
and
https://www.go-dove.com/asset/4/12786

I'm going to speculate that we are seeing fewer of these sorts of auctions on government websites because of the high demand for spent brass. I am unaware of whether the military units in possession of spent brass are REQUIRED to dispose of it through a central agency of any sort. I'm suspecting that they have local, reliable buyers, and they just sell it to them without going through any bidding or auction hassles. So we don't hear about it (for now).
Click to expand...

It bypasses PDO and goes up the DRMO chain to the big lot auctions mentioned.
 
Could be there’s less military brass these days because we aren’t mobilizing a lot of units for deployment into combat zones, therefore, they aren’t shooting as much.

ETA: there’s also less range pick up because the recreational shooters are shooting less due to lack of inventory and reloaders are picking up anything left laying on the ground
 
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gifbohane said:
Interesting, about half of what I pick up at the range is LC brass. And lots of it. I am baffled that shooters are not recycling it instead of just leaving it there. Still wondering why? Not really LC? Or are master blasters starting to shoot the good stuff and walking away? Why?
Click to expand...
Because the range ninjas dont reload! :rofl:
 
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