Recycling 22LR cases

[Joe_m107]

Does anyone know if it is possible to recycle used rimfire cases. I know of a place that has tens of thousands just sitting on the ground. I'm sure you do, too.
With the price of metals going up, it just seems silly to have tons of brass just sitting in the dirt. Obviously, they can't be reloaded, but what if we just threw them in a bucket and brought them to a recycling center.

If we all did this it could theoretically slow the rise of cost for brass.

 

[speedway]

The scrap yard near me gives me about $1.50 per pound for 22lr cases.

 

[Gunnerboy]

i got 1.85 per lb at my local scrap yard and it ads up fast

 

[Joe_m107]

That is awesome. One of these days when I have nothing better to do, I'm going to collect them. I figure I can fill a 5 gallon bucket fairly easily. Too bad I can't use a magnet.
I wonder how much a five gallon bucket of brass weighs.

 

[mgmorden]

Too bad I can't use a magnet.

You can't use a magnet to pick them up, but you can use a broom for that and then use a magnet to pull most of the "junk" cases back out.

That being said, I still question the worth. It takes about 700 of them to make one pound. Picking up 700 cases just to sell them for $1.50 doesn't seem like a particularly efficient use of one's time, particularly when you figure in the time to take it to the recycling shop as well. For myself (and I'm sure others), the nearest scrap yard isn't exactly on my daily route either, so I'd be looking at at least $3-4 extra gas just to go there, so the first couple pounds aren't even turning a profit yet.

It's probably more cost effective to stick to picking up bigger cases. Not only do they weigh more for scrap, but you can also sell them to reloaders for decent prices. Rather than taking 700 cases to make $1.50 you can make that with only 15-20 rifle cases sold to a reloader.

 

[NoAlibi]

FYI: I think it was Speer(?) that used spent .22 rimfire cases to make bullet jackets when he first started his company. I'm pretty sure that it would not be cost effective today though.

 

[medalguy]

People still do make .223 bullets from .22 LR cases but it's more of a "can it be done" thing mostly.

I also sweep up .22 cases from a range nearby. I agree it's not cost effective to pick by hand, but a broom makes it a lot more efficient. After all, brass is brass. It all goes into my scrap bucket.

 

[Shadow 7D]

it's BRASS
and that's a decent paying metal, enough that plumbing fittings can and do go 'missing' some places along with the Al and copper pipes.

there is a die to swag a lead core in a .22 case and draw a FMJ bullet.

 

[hogcowboy]

That being said, I still question the worth. It takes about 700 of them to make one pound. Picking up 700 cases just to sell them for $1.50 doesn't seem like a particularly efficient use of one's time, particularly when you figure in the time to take it to the recycling shop as well. For myself (and I'm sure others), the nearest scrap yard isn't exactly on my daily route either, so I'd be looking at at least $3-4 extra gas just to go there, so the first couple pounds aren't even turning a profit yet.

Don't mean no disrespect but it's that attitude that's helped to get this country in the shape it is. No one wants to do anything because it doesn't pay enough. It's time people start accepting what they can get. Just my opinion though.

 

[mgmorden]

Don't mean no disrespect but it's that attitude that's helped to get this country in the shape it is. No one wants to do anything because it doesn't pay enough. It's time people start accepting what they can get. Just my opinion though.

I agree, but my point is that what you can get is a lot more by doing something else with your time. You'd likely make more money working part time at the local Burger King than picking up .22LR brass to recycle. It's only economically feasible if you have absolutely nothing else to do with your time.

"Don't mean no disrespect", but I wouldn't confuse a foolish squandering of time with a work ethic.

 

[supersappersix]

If you collect your metals and seperate them into buckets and 55gl drums make a trip once or twice a year and you will make fuel money, lunch money and enough to split with your young scrapper assistants. My daughter is learning to distinguish metals, relative values, and a work ethic from this activity. I have not had to police up a single piece of brass since she has figured out that they equal money.

 

[Steel Talon]

Yellow Brass is Yellow brass, and has recycle value. Picking up 22lr brass might just be a big pain in the butt Vs. money received from the recycler.

22lr brass can also be recycled into 55gr jacketed .224 bullets. If you have sme equipment.

 

[wally]

Yellow Brass is Yellow brass, and has recycle value

It "magically" disappears from our club. We have a regular cadre of "brass buzzards" out every Monday morning after the weekend matches. The re-loadable gets cleaned, sorted, and resold to club members (far better payback than recycling) the rest ends up at a recycling plant eventually.

There are these woven spring wheel things they roll along the ground that picks most of it up, the steel is culled with a magnet, the small rocks and sticks get removed in the sorting stage.

 

[Deus Machina]

You'd likely make more money working part time at the local Burger King than picking up .22LR brass to recycle. It's only economically feasible if you have absolutely nothing else to do with your time.

Not really, overall. We all, obviously, go out shooting sometimes. So we're out anyway. We should clean up out brass anyway, so people aren't stepping on it. Maybe an extra five minutes tossing the steel and aluminum cases into one can, and the brass into another. Many of us recycle cans or other products anyway. Brass can be dropped off at the same time.

So, very little extra time. Even less, for us reloaders that pick through anyway.

 

[Equestrian]

We have tons of copper and brass scrap from plumbing and it adds up to money quick. The real trick is to ride the market because some yards change payouts on a daily basis. Also volume helps. One pound of brass ain't worth getting off the couch but when you have over a hundred then yet get to buy more guns.

 

[FROGO207]

My last "deposit" at the scrap yard (full 1/2 ton pickup bed) got me a used Jeep Cherokee and a new Mini 14 Ranch Rifle free of charge. I can also trace 3 Ruger MK II pistols to returnable bottles that were thrown away (at 5 cents ea) and made into cash in the recent past.

 

[W.E.G.]

Use a shop vac.

 

[gordy]

Well I pick up brass at my range and I keep some. I sell some and I recycle lots of it.
I made almost 1,000 bucks this summer just picking up brass. I am at the range anyway. Like I tell the guys who nay say me for doing it.
Would you pick up a nickel off the street if you seen one laying there?
I do!!!!!!

 

[fatcat4620]

I pick up all my brass plus whatever is laying around at the range. I plan to reload and have enough now to reload calibers I dont own. When I start I will also load those for the stash just in case.

 

[Cougar]

Put all that Berdan-primed brass in with that .22LR brass and you're getting somewhere! Use a magnet to separate the steel-cased stuff.

Back almost 40 years ago, the Rangemaster at my local Boy Scout camp saved all of the .22LR brass and had it melted down and cast into a 'salute' cannon for Taps. The cannon was about three and a half feet long, 8-10 inched in diameter, tapering to the 4" muzzle, and had a bore diameter of a golf ball. In civilian life he was a machinist, so it was done right! Screw-jack for elevation adjustment, weighed powder charge,... I can't remember the charge of BP it used... But that golf ball would sail outta sight, LOL!!! His 'target' was a 8'x8' oil-drum raft on the eight acre lake about a half mile away. Never saw it hit it, but we'd come close!

Earl: "What kind of fuse is that?"

Bert: "Cannon fuse"

Earl: "What in the world do you have cannon fuse for?"

Bert: "For my cannon!"

 

[RainDodger]

I've got a big old bucket that has sat in my reloading shop for 10 years. Full of worn out cases, damaged cases, dinged up cases, and anything brass. It's probably 30+ pounds by now. Guess I'll figure out what to do with it...

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

There's this place that I haven't been able to go shoot at because of the flood we've had here recently. But one of the requirements for me to shoot there (land-owners request) is that I clean up after myself. Since I'm already there, I don't mind, and I actually enjoy doing so because of the hundreds of yards that I can shoot on. I believe in one direction (haven't checked) is around 1000 yards.

Again, because of the flooding, I haven't been able to go there lately. Hopefully next spring it'll be okay for shooting.