how much brass is enough?

[DesertFox]

Spring cleaning had me attack my brass stockpile. 9 calibers reloaded. Feel comfortable with the 10mm, 38 Special, 357 Mag and 44 Mag quantities of brass on hand.

But for:

9mm
40S&W
45ACP
5.56N/.223

Looks like 9mm and 45ACP go for around $0.12/ea once fired with 40SW only around $0.06/ea. 5.56 going for around $0.22/ea.

Keep 5k/ea, sell the rest? Keep 10k/ea, sell the rest? Keep it all?

 

[g-dad]

If you have the room to store it keep it. You know the saying it's better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Also tho you didn't say how much you shoot. Will 5000 cases keep you going for the rest of your life?

Just my thoughts.

 

[johnjohn]

I'd hang on to every last piece. You maybe able to help a friend or family member who isn't so well fixed.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I load all I can! I use a Dillion 550 for batches 300 minimum, but max batch size is 5000.

I keep every kind of brass I can find, even calibers I don't reload, For things I don't reload, I keep 1000. Most of my surplus 9mm, is given away, same with 40 S&W! 38 special surplus goes to the pistol team.

There is no such thing as too much large bore revolver or Auto brass.

Everytime I get a chance I get 45-70 brass. I'm over 1500.

45 Colt 5000+

45 ACP 8000+

44Mag 1000ish

44 Special 600

375 H&H 600

308 Win 1000's

30 Carbine 3000 +

32-20 2000 +/-

I keep most of my favorites fully loaded, as components availability provides.

Ivan

 

[oysterer]

I have 9mm brass in Home Depot buckets. Never a reason to reduce, always looking to add.

 

[reddog81]

I always come back from the range with more 9mm than I went with. I'd have no problem selling some. If you can actually get $.12 a piece, now would be the time to sell. That stuff usually goes for around$.03 to $.05 during normal times.

I'd probably sell a couple thousand if I knew someone interested in buying that much. Turn it into cash and you can buy something that you can actually use.

 

[DesertFox]

I have 9mm brass in Home Depot buckets. Never a reason to reduce, always looking to add.

Yep, 5 gal bucket storage, for 9mm, full seems to be around 7.5k at 50 pounds. So I load bucket to 25 pounds and start a new one. I realized the scale when I moved from counting to weighing...

 

[MyDads38]

Just prior to the pandemic, I sold around 25,000 pieces of 9mm brass. I've still got plenty, but had I known what the past 2 years was going to be like, I might have held on to it (or at least part of it).

Then again, had the pandemic NOT happened, I would probably be swimming in even more lol. And would still be able to buy primers at $25/k. Hindsight.....

 

[STORMINORMAN]

"How much brass is enough?"

I was going to opine that one per round seemed sufficient, so far...?

Cheers!

P.S. I guess from a practical matter it depends upon 1.) how many rounds you routinely fire & reload, and 2.) how many times you feel it prudent to reload any group of cases?

That, and how well-stocked you are with PRIMERS!k

 

[squidsix]

I was gonna say that too:
Brass is re-usable to an extent. PRIMERS and POWDER is where one should focus their investment. I have way more brass than primers at the moment, much is my shame.

 

[dwh]

I reload for 18 different cartridges. The least amount of brass I have is 800 45/70's. All of the rest are in the thousands. I have brass for 10 other cartridges I don't have guns for, but might someday. Panics and supply shortages are something I've learned to live with. When it's cheap pile it high and deep.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

I just gotta' know: which 10 cartridges do you have brass but no guns for?

Cheers!

 

[dwh]

10mm range pick ups
40s&w had one sold it
375h&h dies and 200 rounds brass in the junk box at lgs.
338 win mag
300 win mag range pu
44/40
38 super/9x23 range pu
32 acp range pu
444 marlin range pu
30/40 krag

 

[oysterer]

When I first started loading someone gave me a very large tumbler. I threw it in the garbage can....it felt good talking about that publicly....

 

[Nevada Ed]

Revolvers are not a problem since there is no "Lost" cases, except if damaged.

Pistol cases are a differenr story and it all depends on how your retreival rate is.
If you can find 99% of your cases and save them, great, but if lost you have
to figure in how long your supply will last you.

Auto's are nice but they do get expensive for reloaders, in poor conditions.

 

[kleeber]

I tend to have on hand 1000 brass for every handgun I have, although I break that rule in the case of 45ACP and 9mm (range pickups).

 

[Llance]

I try to not have any empty brass. I load it as soon as I get it home if I have the powder and primers. My thinking is; if I have less than one thousand rounds for any particular gun I don't have enough. That said there are four that I'll never have enough, .22 mag, .308, .45, .38 spl.

 

[Lowa]

Pressure changes lifespan a whole lot. Keep smaller amounts of low pressure like 38 or 45
Keep higher amounts of 357, 9, 44, etc. 500 brass only lasts 2-4 loads

 

[robertrwalsh]

If you have room to store it I would be inclined to hang on to it.

 

[mtgianni]

I hunt with a single shot often so for me its the following.
Hunting rifles one gun single shots. 100-500
Hunting calibers that double with target rifles. 500-1000
Pistol caliber single shots 250-500
Revolver loads that get shot often 1500-5000
Semi auto pistols common (9mm, 45 & 40) 25 lbs or so
Uncommon and hard to find auto (10 mm) 250 but am always looking to increase.