brass, lots of brass

Stogies

Stogies

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I have some couple of probably thousands of once fired casings in 9mm, 45 ACP, 40SW and 223/5.56. Trouble is they are somewhat weathered and not always sorted. My wife thinks I should sell them but I have doubts there would be a lot of interest. Innocent question, I swear.
 
Metal recyclers will pay scrap prices for brass, price will vary depending on market. “Weathered” can mean anything from dirty and tarnished, all the way to corroded. The former will clean up with a good tumbling, but the later just needs to be scrapped.

If they are sorted and weighed, they will be more easily sold to reloaders. 9mm should go for at least double what the scrap price would be, the others you list could be worth more than that.
 
It started out as neatly sorted brass in boxes but my wife just had to move it outside. I argued against it at the time. Now some of it runs the gamut from tarnished to corroded, I guess. I always was under the impression that brass can't really corrode, just gets tarnished?
 
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Do you think anybody would reload it for me if I cleaned it up and sorted it? Does anybody reload for others, is that a thing?
 
Never mind, the stuff outside the lids failed and the bins got wet. As far as the scrap metal places is it even worth taking it there at this point?
 
Stogies said:
Do you think anybody would reload it for me if I cleaned it up and sorted it? Does anybody reload for others, is that a thing?
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No, not really, and it’s frowned upon from a safety perspective. I would load for my closest friends but only if they realllly needed it.

Post a pic of the worst cases and average looking ones to get an idea of whether they’re usable to reloaders.
 
I once ended up with a few hundred pounds of brass that had gone through a house fire. Some if it was good, most if it was not or questionsble. Took it to a scrap metal recycle place and ended up about $300. You'll have to call around and ask if they'll take ammo brass. Not all do. And you'll have to compare pricing. Some of the bigger companies maintain an online price list as it flucuates regularly.
There's actually money to be made scrapping, if you're dedicated. They told me a father/son crew worked with behind a demolition company and made hundreds a week.

Oh, there are bulk brass processors as well that will process your brass for you. I know one that will make 300BLK brass from .233/5.56 brass for a fee. Don't know if it's worth the price though.
Where are you located?
 
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georgel said:
There's actually money to be made scrapping, if you're dedicated. They told me a father/son crew worked with behind a demolition company and made hundreds a week.
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My dad was on the demo crew and thats how he made his motorcycle money. We always had a pile of cra... Scrap In our yard.
 
Stogies said:
It started out as neatly sorted brass in boxes but my wife just had to move it outside. I argued against it at the time. Now some of it runs the gamut from tarnished to corroded, I guess. I always was under the impression that brass can't really corrode, just gets tarnished?
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All I can ask is why?
 
I have a fair amount of old, tarnished brass off my range. Most of it CAN be cleaned & reloaded.

A wet tumble, using stainless pins & LemiShine,, & water can do WONDERS for tarnished brass. And yes,, it does have a good value,, moreso if loadable.
 
FWIF I buy some pretty gnarly 9mm and 223 "once fired". I decap then toss it in a dry tumbler for a few hours and they come out good enough to reload. I try and pay less than .05 per case. Some of us don't care how pretty it is, as long as it's serviceable.
 
"FWIF I buy some pretty gnarly 9mm and 223 "once fired". I decap then toss it in a dry tumbler for a few hours and they come out good enough to reload. I try and pay less than .05 per case. Some of us don't care how pretty it is, as long as it's serviceable."

Some handloaders have this attitude. Others prefer good clean quality brass. Personal preferences for sure. However,, if selling,, clean & shiny sells quicker & for more than just serviceable brass. And a good wet tumble like I mentioned is no harder than the dry tumbles. Just adds a little time for the drying process.
 
@Stogies

what part of the state are you in?
 
Stogies said:
Raleigh area, bit north of it.
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Ok. I was gonna offer to wet tumble it for you, or loan you my tumbler to do it yourself. But you probably can find lots of people closer than I am.
 
I will ask my wife again to go take some pictures.
 
Sorry, let me push my wife again to get the pictures so we know what we are looking at!

To all the people that PMed me, my apologies for not replying earlier, I don't spend much time on the forums these days since wife and me share this PC and she is trying to set up a online business and always on it. Let's start with the pics and then we can take it from there.
 
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AFAIK, brown colored brass that's cleaned is just as reloadable as untarnished.
 
Video to follow shortly, I am not very tech savvy as far as posting pics etc. It will show both the worst and some of the better conditions. As it turns out only some of the containers were compromised so a lot of the brass is just fine. The main question is the stuff in the worst condition is it even worth trying to salvage it?


 
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Stogies said:
Video to follow shortly, I am not very tech savvy as far as posting pics etc. It will show both the worst and some of the better conditions. As it turns out only some of the containers were compromised so a lot of the brass is just fine. The main question is the stuff in the worst condition is it even worth trying to salvage it?


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For the videos to be viewable you’ll need to go to YT & edit them to not being in private mode.
31F23413-5EF6-4E70-BB25-B5C047434349.jpeg
 
I am sorry. I will change the settings. And repost. I do apologize.


 
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Now I have 2 gentlemen offering me to tumble the brass for me at no charge, how incredibly kind! Too kind in fact, what I would suggest in that case is we make a deal where whoever does the cleaning gets a cut of the brass. I am assuming that both of the 2 people that offered are reloading? That should make it worthwhile for both of us.

Sidenote: My wife added the picture, it's 56, the crazy little boxer that we found starving at the side of the road 10 years ago and passed away August of last year.
 
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We are going to get some kind of buckets, pails you name it this weekend and try to get an idea on how we can haul it all.
 
Excellent work on that brass @Toprudder. If you weren't so busy flying, shooting, loading, computing and working you could start a brass washing business.
 
We probably shot some high end defensive ammo that was older and had nickel plated brass casings, like Critical Defense etc.
 
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