Once fired brass

If you happen into a bunch of it, it’s worth getting a little money out of
 
GoWolfpack said:
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Do you just have a bunch laying around or are you setting up a side hustle?
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I do have some real world experience/business exposure with this. Brass in certain calibers are worth more to reloaders than others. Setting that aside, if you are looking to clean out ranges and recycle the brass "properly", it is labor intense and it is toxic, even if low level toxic, it is important to take certain precautions.

I'd suggest a couple of items to consider.

Get you lead level checked prior to starting.
Do NOT have your kids or other minors (think Boy Scouts) handle the brass.
Have dedicated clothes as the lead dust will get on everything.
A real world professional respirator with proper filters is critical
Safety glasses
Safety gloves
Use D-Lead wipes and also wash hands frequently.
Use D-Lead laundry/respirators cleaner.
Eat enough food prior to starting so you are not ingesting lead particles with your food
Have a screener/shaker to sift the brass.
Have a magnet to separate steel from brass
Proper ventilation away from house.
Proper lighting
You will find unfired / dud rounds which need specific disposal

As there is much more to recycling brass than the above, and I know a lot of people who think the above is "just silly", I've personally seen more than one long time shooter develop respiratory issues. Was it from picking up brass? Who knows, But there is a proper way to do everything.

And this is just picking up brass that others have left behind (which is wrong to do). If you want to resell brass to reloaders, then you're talking about sorting, cleaning, packaging, shipping, etc.

It is labor intense and figuring your time is worth "something", only you can decide if it's worthwhile.

Great question/discussion though.

Jay
 
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I haven't sold any in years, but used to take damaged, non-reloadable, scrap brass to the metal recycler. Always got several dollars.
 
Charlie said:
That is not always true. Some ranges discourage it while other ranges encourage it.
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I stand corrected. I guess I'm one of those people that try and leave a place better than I found it. I'm not saying I pick up every single empty case I shoot, but usually try.

If a range wants to pickup up the brass and has the resources to do it, then that is their choice. And I'd abide by their choice of policy. Like most, I've been to ranges and have seen large bucket after large bucket of brass. Hell, someone has to maintain that.

Jay
 
During COVID, when my job did not require me to be at work for a few weeks, I bought range brass from a metal recycler (a few hundred pounds at a time) and sorted, decapped, cleaned, and sold most of it. The vast majority of the range brass will be common calibers like 9mm and 223. I didn’t make much money on 9mm, even when I sold 10k to one person. And that was not counting my labor. Other calibers are where a little bit of money can be made. It amazes me how much people will pay for 357mag once fired brass, sometimes as much as what brand new Starline brass cost.

The recycler I dealt with would let me trade in any brass I could not use, pound-for-pound, for more brass. He would even take the spent primers. Or he would just pay me whatever the going rate for brass was.

I agree with everything @a73elkyss said. I routinely have my lead levels checked during my yearly physicals - it has never been a problem - for me. The primer residue has lead in it, and children handling brass can expose them to lead if precautions are not taken. I wet tumble my brass as I like the cleanliness of the finished product, plus it reduces the chance of dust getting airborne or tracked into the house.

Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
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Once fired brass is also a lot more valuable when it's all the same head stamp. When looking to build "relatively" accurate rounds, one brand to another can have vastly different thickness.
 
a73elkyss said:
I stand corrected. I guess I'm one of those people that try and leave a place better than I found it. I'm not saying I pick up every single empty case I shoot, but usually try.

If a range wants to pickup up the brass and has the resources to do it, then that is their choice. And I'd abide by their choice of policy. Like most, I've been to ranges and have seen large bucket after large bucket of brass. Hell, someone has to maintain that.

Jay
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I think that I misunderstood your original statement. I took it to mean that it was wrong to pick up brass other people had left. That is true for some ranges that collect any brass that hits the ground so they can sell it. I see now that you meant that it is wrong to leave your brass on the ground at most ranges. I agree. I also am one who likes to keep the range clean and will pick up behind people who do not pick up their brass even if I can not use it myself. Leaving the range better than you found it is certainly the way to be.
 
Charlie said:
I think that I misunderstood your original statement. I took it to mean that it was wrong to pick up brass other people had left. That is true for some ranges that collect any brass that hits the ground so they can sell it. I see now that you meant that it is wrong to leave your brass on the ground at most ranges. I agree. I also am one who likes to keep the range clean and will pick up behind people who do not pick up their brass even if I can not use it myself. Leaving the range better than you found it is certainly the way to be.
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Different ranges have different rules. Some will let you pick up whatever someone leaves on the ground, but whatever brass is in the collection bucket is OFF LIMITS. Some outdoor ranges let people leave brass on the ground, and the brass buzzards (like me) do a decent job picking up. Some ranges only lets you pick up your own brass.

When I was first getting started, I picked up anything I could find, if it was allowed. That is how I ended up buying new guns in new (to me) calibers. Once I reached critical mass for a given cartridge, I bought a gun and the dies. FYI, the "critical mass" for 50AE was enough to fill three mags in a Desert Eagle. :)
 
Members at my range (outdoor and has some dirt bays) used to be good about picking up the brass. Now not so much. If the brass is on the ground, it is fair picking for anybody that wants it. The 10 -12 dirt bays have so much brass in the dirt, you would need a shovel and a buck to a tenth of it.
 
Toprudder said:
Different ranges have different rules. Some will let you pick up whatever someone leaves on the ground, but whatever brass is in the collection bucket is OFF LIMITS. Some outdoor ranges let people leave brass on the ground, and the brass buzzards (like me) do a decent job picking up. Some ranges only lets you pick up your own brass.

When I was first getting started, I picked up anything I could find, if it was allowed. That is how I ended up buying new guns in new (to me) calibers. Once I reached critical mass for a given cartridge, I bought a gun and the dies. FYI, the "critical mass" for 50AE was enough to fill three mags in a Desert Eagle. :)
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Agreed. Each is different...
One range / club, is very anal about what was "your" brass once it hits the ground, its "theirs"
Then they sell it or try to. They are an arrogant bunch, to put it bluntly, wanted to buy a bucket of "mixed" they blew me off and some others.

Some others its sure take it, "you got a shovel" and something to put it in? A few indoor ranges will sell it to you as scrap, or give it to you it depends. Or you can pick up your own.

Like you I'm the guy who would be the "grounds keeper " when it came to brass, even some times take all the empty ammo boxes.

The cartridges I didn't have a gun for became the reason to buy a gun in that round.

Trap and skeet shoots is where I'd try to score some AA'S, Nitros, STS hulls, if you got lucky you'd find a lot or a bunch of "Wally World" special 12ga..

Then I have what I call the "shoot n loose" ammo, last reload, or its done, maybe SPP vs LPP as in 45acp... always on the lookout for LP 45acp.


-Snoopz
 
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Catfish said:
Yes, but not more than your time. Do it as part of your reloading hobby, but I'd never do it as a side hustle.
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Yes.

When I was doing the brass business during COVID, it was basically just to give me something to do with my time. When I started going back to work, I decided that I had two choices about continuing to sell brass. I either had to spend money to get into the business in a big way, which would mean some sort of brass sorter and also a case processing setup like the Dillon CP2000. OR, just quit trying to make money and leave it as a hobby.

Years ago, I tried making my hobby into a business, which was manufacturing and selling model airplane kits. I sold 250 kits in the first year, but I found out quickly that it was no longer a hobby and had become a job, which took all of the fun out of it. I sold my half of the business and don't regret it. It took a couple of years before I felt like flying model airplanes was a hobby again.
 
Toprudder said:
I found out quickly that it was no longer a hobby and had become a job, which took all of the fun out of it.
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Exactly. You can make money with your hobby, but once your hobby is your job it's not a hobby anymore.
 
Sounds about right..
When it becomes a J.O.B. its no longer fun or a hobby. Used to work on computers, repair then, network stuff,, friends would say do a biz. So the free time I did have was gone, the phone calls, the deadlines, was no longer a hobby or fun. Was "I had to" So stopped, still keep up with the stuff, still do it on the side for friends only, mainly the barter system, if I spend money to repair it just pay for that otherwise "I may need a favor down the road" system.. you may have a "trade" that I may need (labor / knowledge) but no more than I gave you.


-Snoopz
 
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