Recycling Reloading Supplies

[txwingnut]

I have a 5 gallon bucket I put brass thats gone bad, rounds that get messed up etc and plan on taking it to the recycle center for a little cash one day. I was wondering if you can sell/recycle used primers? I never thought about it until the other day when I bought a bunch of range brass and had dumped about 1500 spent primers in the trash!

 

[LAGS]

Some scrap yards are kind of picky about primers and cases with the primers still in them.
They think you might have missed a live primer and it will explode when they crush or melt the brass.
But you can always melt the primers into a hunk of metal with a MAPP Gas Torch, and just sell it for the weight of the brass.
But you are talking Pennies for a 1000 melted primers.
But I would rather see any metal ReCycled , rather than going in our landfills, or them having to dig more holes in the earth to dig up more Ore or metals.

 

[Comrade Mike]

I'd recycle anything I could. Shooting is a surprisingly sustainable hobby. Nearly everything we use is renewable or indefinitely recyclable.

 

[gamestalker]

I've recycled quite a bit of this stuff over the years, and my experience has been they wouldn't take any brass that still had the primers in them, fired or not. My most recent recycle run was no exception, that is to say once I even found a recycle plant that would even accept used brass, as most were turning me away as soon as they learned it was used brass. They said there was no way of knowing if all of it was deprimed without individually inspecting each piece, or if any of it was contaminated some how.

GS

 

[rg1]

My scrap dealer takes brass with primers left in and all the spent decapped primers mixed in with the brass. Don't know the price of cartridge brass in your area but I recently got $1.60 per pound down from $1.70 a pound the last drop off. Can't imagine a scrap dealer not taking spent brass with primers in. Evidently they just don't want to mess with cartridge brass?

 

[txwingnut]

thanks all Ill just keep adding to it and hope for lunch money lol

 

[ReloaderFred]

My scrap dealer takes it all. The last trip over I received $2.00 per pound, and I'm about to make another trip to the recycler this coming week. I've got four 5 gallon buckets of brass to recycle, so it should yield a hefty return.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Right now brass is $1.85-2.00 a pound. What was my favorite dealer no longer buys cartridge brass. I drive past them on my way to another.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

The scrappers I've talked to around here, that don't take catridge brass, say they don't take it because most of what they take in gets shipped over to China and due to ITAR regs it can't resemble ammo components when they export it. So they'd have to shred or melt it down before shipping it, both/either would eat into their profits so they just don't accept it. The two around here that do accept it care about spent primers.

 

[medalguy]

I recycle brass all the time. I dump all my expended primers right in with the rest of the brass, and they have never said a word about it. I suppose it all depends on the individual scrap dealer.

 

[Blue68f100]

I recycle all of my bad brass and spent primers. Normally the primers are in a seperate bottle. The recyclers gives me the same price as yellow brass. It's been several years since I have dropped a batch off. On my bad brass I deprime and smash the end in so there is no confusion on if it's good or not. The last time I got $2.25/lb for my scrap.

 

[evan price]

Spent primers, bad brass, berdan cases, old plumbing parts and unknown keys...all goes as yellow brass in one big bucket, between $1.80-$2.00 a pound. What was mentioned above about terminal destination of China meaning no live rounds is correct. A lot of the cartridge brass gets shredded or put in big ovens and baked at high temp to cook off any live rounds.

 

[FROGO207]

Yep I got $1.90 a pound last time I turned in cartridge brass but that was about a year ago. I need to do it soon also. The summertime seems to yeild lower prices however.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

Spent primers, bad brass, berdan cases, old plumbing parts and unknown keys...all goes as yellow brass in one big bucket, between $1.80-$2.00 a pound. What was mentioned above about terminal destination of China meaning no live rounds is correct. A lot of the cartridge brass gets shredded or put in big ovens and baked at high temp to cook off any live rounds.

I was told it wasn't specifically about live ammo. I was told by the scrappers that anything even resembling usable cartridge brass couldn't be sent because of ITAR. They pretty much told me I could either melt it down myself or cut of the case heads and then they'd accept it. I looked into building a small forge and melting it down, which is simple enough, but for the price of materials and a crucible it's just as profitable and easy to drive a little further to a scrap yard that accepts cartridge brass. At least it's cheaper and easier for me considering I don't find/make that much junk brass. For someone who can't find a scrapyard close enough, building a forge to melt it down might be a good option.

I know the main intents and regs regarding ITAR but I wouldn't be able to point to a specific regulation. But it might simply fall under this one:

§126.1 Prohibited exports, imports, and sales to or from certain countries.
(a) General. It is the policy of the United States to deny licenses and other approvals for exports and imports of defense articles and defense services, destined for or originating in certain countries. This policy applies to Belarus, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Venezuela. This policy also applies to countries with respect to which the United States maintains an arms embargo (e.g., Burma, China, and the Republic of the Sudan) or whenever an export would not otherwise be in furtherance of world peace and the security and foreign policy of the United States. Information regarding certain other embargoes appears elsewhere in this section. Comprehensive arms embargoes are normally the subject of a Department of State notice published in the Federal Register. The exemptions provided in this subchapter, except

 

[Sunray]

It'll be a very light lunch.