brass value?

[susieqz]

hey guys, i read here that used brass has scrap metal value.
does that apply to 22lr?
i shoot a few hundred rounds/week of 22s.
it wouldn't take long to save a bushel.
i've just been letting them litter my place.
am i throwing away money?
i do save the 38spcs, for no reason i know of.

 

[Rule3]

Brass is brass. So yes, it has scrap value as does fired primers. I throw all my unusable brass in some 5 gal buckets. My retirement fund, Find a scrap metal yard in your area.

Once fired 38 Special has more value as reloadable brass than scrap. You can sell those by bags of 100. Sell it in the classified section here on the forum.

 

[tops]

I have heard dad and my granddad talk about a family in the neighborhood that were good rifle shots. Their yard was full of .22 cases and they would throw the empty cases in the air and shoot them. If you used them for targets you would have more fun than if you sold them for scrap. Larry

 

[susieqz]

thank you, rule.
there are so many empties they are becoming unsightly. i'll get them into a 5gallon bucket.
the truth is, i had been wishing for steel cased ammo just so i could pick them up with a magnet to dispose of.
larry, there are just too many for targets. i shoot 200-300 rounds/week in my yard.

 

[joeintexas]

susieqz, you need to get into that reloading. Not difficult at all and on 38s you'll save a bunch. Lots of good folks here to help if you need it.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Lots of factors involved in determining values for scrap metal:

1. Metallic composition of the scrap (cartridge brass in the US is typically 70% copper, 30% zinc, but that formulation is not fixed and foreign brass may be substantially different).
2. Quantity to be transferred. A scrap dealer is likely to be far more willing to pay a good price for tons than for a few pounds; total profit for the transaction may not be worth the time and effort.
3. Distance from the scrap location to the foundries that may wish to be the ultimate purchasers for re-use in new metal products. Transportation costs mount up quickly when tons of materials are being shipped longer and longer distances, and the local scrap dealer must take this into account when determining how much to pay for what you have to offer.
4. Local or state laws pertaining to scrap metal dealers. In some areas the dealer may be required to report each transaction to authorities (a means for suppressing thievery), perhaps hold each purchase to permit law enforcement to correlate to reported crimes (metals markets can be volatile, and if the dealer is required to wait 30 days prior to resale there is increased risk for the dealer), sometimes detailed reporting (requiring time to complete each transaction report and forward to authorities), etc. All of these may impact what a local dealer may be willing to pay for your scrap.

Seems easy enough to look at the commodities reports in the newspaper to check prices for brass, copper, zinc, other metals, weigh out what you have to determine a fair market value. In reality, while you may have $100 worth of metal at market rates, the time and expense of handling and transporting to market may make your few buckets-full worth only a small fraction of that at the local scrap yard.

About 30 years ago I had an opportunity to purchase the entire results of rewiring a large coal mine, all light to medium gauge insulated copper cable. Location was about 125 miles from the nearest scrap dealer, and the dealer required that the insulation be removed prior to purchase. We chopped cable into manageable lengths, burned off insulation in a bonfire, then loaded onto semi-trailers using a backhoe, and had everything transported to the dealer's scales. Total involved was about 25 tons. After paying all expenses for labor and transport the profit amounted to $315 (less than $13 per ton). I would not do that again.

Best regards.

 

[snowman]

susie,

I sold 5# of .22 cases to an area recycler awhile back and got $1.16 per lb. for it. As Lobo stated, price & profit are affected by several variables. In my case, the scrap yard is only around 4 miles away, so it was well worth it for me.

Regards,
Andy

 

[Fishslayer]

Hang on to the .38. During the Great Ammo Drought of '09 .38 & .357 brass were gold. We could find plenty of semiauto brass for free but people tend to not leave revolver brass laying around.

.38 is a very easy round to reload. Just sayin'.

 

[Jebus35745]

Retired from body work, the radiators, condensers and anything aluminum was saved. Took the sides (tanks) off the radiators and got the brass tranny coolers if it had them. Clean aluminum was worth more, usually had a pick up bed full when taken to the scrap metal yard. The brass was worth a lot more, saved all I could. It was free money and not much work getting it ready but was a pain loading and unloading in the truck. Sometimes would have a couple hundred dollars.

I believe the prices of metal is down still. The local indoor gun club saves the empty 22 shells in buckets and uses the money from the metal to buy .22 ammo for the youth program. Larry

 

[2152hq]

Some places won't take cartridge brass..they are fearfull of a loaded round in the mix.
Others under price it by about 1/2 from clean regular scrap brass,,maybe for the same reason or the fact that some people drag the brass bucket in with the steel cases, ammo boxes and everything in it.

Prices go up and down,,recently cart brass around here (NE) was only 85 cents/lb. It pays to shop around for a scrap dealer if you can as some will pay better than others for what they see as 'clean' scrap. Most list prices on-line.
Sometimes you just don't have the option depending on where you are.

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

I agree on selling 38 brass as reloadable/once fired brass rather than as scrap.

The market for reloading components is "down" compared to even 6 months ago(obvious political reasons) but 38 special brass is still an easy sell at $5/100 or so. I'm not in the market for any now as I have 38 special out the ears and have non-reloading friends who keep adding to it, but back when I was buying I'd have bought all I could get my hands on.

Since I shoot some oddball calibers, I'm pretty particular about policing my brass at the range and sometimes end up with other stuff mixed in. I do very little rifle reloading but personally won't use common rifle cases like 30-06 of unknown origin. Even so, if I've written them off as reloadable brass, there are a lot of folks making pens and other things out of rifle brass and it's worth something to them-again maybe a couple bucks a hundred.

I've been maintaining scrap buckets for a while of primers, 22LR, and damaged centerfire brass. I also seem to accumulate inordinate amounts of 40 S&W since it seems that the 40 shooters at the ranges where I are not very diligent about sweeping their brass and I get a lot mixed in with my 38 Super. I've given away a fair bit of 40 brass, but sometimes I just get too much and dump some in scrap. I'm still waiting for the big payday at the scrap yard .

BTW, primers are by far and away the most dense so would seem to be the best things to scrap. I've been advised to soak them in 3-in-1 or similarly distinct smelling oil before taking to the yard to assure them that all are dead, but that's something I'd want to ask immediately beforehand-I'd hate to have a 50lb bucket rejected for being oil soaked.

 

[H Richard]

Our High School Rifle Club (which has been in existence since 1932), keeps all the brass (.22) shot on the range in 55 Gal barrels. It takes a few years to fill up a barrel, but a couple years ago the coach was able to take and got enough money to buy a new Anschutz match rifle. (Those aren't cheap).

 

[Peak53]

Taking small (or maybe even large) amounts of scrap metal of any kind to a salvage operation is not a money making deal. I do it to feel good about not wasting the material in a landfill.

 

[Rule3]

The only problem with picking up 22lr is that it it is a real pain to get a hold of it.

If your yard is actual lawn you can try a shop vac if it is sandy or rocky then forget it,

The brass rollers (nut rollers) I do not know if it will work.

They do work for larger calibers as long as the ground is pretty level. I have used one. They also are not cheap!

Is it worth $60 to pick up the brass??

Scroll down to the rim fire version.

Brass Wizard