Market for Brass?

[jl39775]

I don't reload. If I save my brass, can I sell it? If so, where in Houston?

[Charles L. Cotton]

Just post it here on the Forum and someone will buy it, if the price is right.

Chas.

[nightmare69]

How is brass priced? Everytime I go to the range I pick up brass. I got a bunch right now but I don't reload. Hope to trade for ammo.

[Charles L. Cotton]

How is brass priced? Everytime I go to the range I pick up brass. I got a bunch right now but I don't reload. Hope to trade for ammo.

Used brass is usually priced per 1,000 rds. It's higher if it's been cleaned. I don't know what the going rate is now. I doubt you'll find many folks wanting to trade ammo for brass so they can make more ammo, unless they have some for a gun they no longer own.

Chas.

[Pecos]

I have a brass tumbler that cleans brass shells. It uses pecan media. I used to reload & have carbide dyes for .357 9mm 40 mm.
RCBS Press & all the gadgets. I reloaded in the 80 & 90's when CCI peimers were $1.95 a box of 100.
Too expensive for me now.

[cbunt1]

Used brass, as Chas. mentions, is usually sold by the 1000 lot assuming it's been at least sorted by caliber. Some cases bring more than others (e.g. revolver brass is usually worth more than auto brass, just due to availability).

If it's mixed brass, you can also sell it by the pound/quantity, expecting a bit more than "scrap" value. There are numerous folks here on the forum that buy bulk brass, sort it, clean it, and either use it for their own reloading, or sell the finished product.

It does tend to make a difference in value, especially in bulk/unsorted, whether it comes from indoor or outdoor ranges, or the overall condition. The mix of cases also matters, but only marginally. For example, if I'm buying a 5 gallon bucket (about a 40-50# lot) of mixed indoor brass, I know that it's not overly dirty or corroded (very few black/green cases) and will probably carry a higher quantity of small-primer .45 than the same mix of brass picked up from an outdoor range, which will have more corroded and/or dirty brass, but more of the .45's will be large primer.

But they aren't HUGE differences in value, in terms of bulk, unsorted brass.

Smaller quantities (100-200 cases) are really only of value when they're sorted by caliber, and are valuable to individual re loaders, especially those just getting started. Also small batches of "rare" brass is worth a lot (.41 magnum, .357 Sig, etc.).

I'm talking mostly about pistol brass, of course. Rifle brass can be a different story, since it can be more tedious to sort, and so many cases are made from parent cases that you can't just run it through a screen-type sorter (30-06, .308, and .223 are all parent cases for MANY of the common rifle rounds). It's also worth a lot more than scrap values, even in bulk, to those who process it.

And yes, plenty of us here on the forum buy sell and trade brass! Let us know what you've got, and I'm sure you can get something for it.

[el_chupo_]

You are in Houston, check out Freedom Munitions. If I remember correctly, they do a brass trade in program for ammo credit. It may or may not be worth doing that rather than sorting/selling what you have.

[MoJo]

I have a brass tumbler that cleans brass shells. It uses pecan media. I used to reload & have carbide dyes for .357 9mm 40 mm.
RCBS Press & all the gadgets. I reloaded in the 80 & 90's when CCI peimers were $1.95 a box of 100.
Too expensive for me now.

When I started reloading primers were $5.00 a thousand, Sierra International 168 grain .30 Caliber bullets $6.00 a hundred, and 4895 powder was $3.00 a pound. Oh, for the prices of the '60s and the income of today!

[1wise1]

Asking price for deprimed and tumbled pistol brass in the Dallas area is $40. a thousand plus $13 shipping. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of 9mm or .45 cal. Others, like .10 and .40 not as plentiful. Carolinaammoco.com is $30. per thousand plus $13. shipping in a USPS flat rate box. That's about a penny and a half per shell difference in price. Would appear nobody's getting rich picking up spent brass in South Carolina or Texas.
Hope this helps.

[flechero]

You won't get rich, but picking up brass is worth your trouble... think of it this way, you are getting paid to pick up your "trash." As mentioned, Freedom Munitions has a brass buyback program and you can sell it straight out to reloaders or even the scrap metal yard. Current price at FM is $2.50/lb., and the local scrap yard is just under $2/lb. (however, I don't know if FM will accept it locally or you have to ship to the plant.) Reloaders seem to buy it in quantity vs. weight.

[mewalke]

You won't get rich, but picking up brass is worth your trouble... think of it this way, you are getting paid to pick up your "trash." As mentioned, Freedom Munitions has a brass buyback program and you can sell it straight out to reloaders or even the scrap metal yard. Current price at FM is $2.50/lb., and the local scrap yard is just under $2/lb. (however, I don't know if FM will accept it locally or you have to ship to the plant.) Reloaders seem to buy it in quantity vs. weight.

I've seen the Freedom Munitions brass credit before... but what I don't understand is how it makes sense to do it when you have to ship your brass to them.

Let's use a USPS flat-rate shipping box as an example. A large flat-rate shipper is about $15. If you can fit 1,000 rounds of 9mm in the box (assume you can) that is about 8.5 lbs of brass. So you will get about $21 credit from Freedom Munitions and pay a little over $15 for shipping. So you only save $5 on your next ammo order.

Now, savings are savings. But I'm not sure I would be inclined to spend time collecting 1,000 rounds over a several months just to get $5 off my next order.

[howdy]

You won't get rich, but picking up brass is worth your trouble... think of it this way, you are getting paid to pick up your "trash." As mentioned, Freedom Munitions has a brass buyback program and you can sell it straight out to reloaders or even the scrap metal yard. Current price at FM is $2.50/lb., and the local scrap yard is just under $2/lb. (however, I don't know if FM will accept it locally or you have to ship to the plant.) Reloaders seem to buy it in quantity vs. weight.

It is worth a phone call to Freedom Munitions. They have a retail store at 290 and Jones Rd in Houston. This is their facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/FreedomMunitionsHOU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and their phone number: 281-416-5493 (I have NO connection to Freedom Munitions)

[flechero]

I don't know if they take brass at the Houston retail store, but it's only 1 of the 3 options I mentioned...

I think that picking up your brass is the responsible thing to do, regardless if you sell it, give it or throw it away. 2 of the options give you case or credit for your trouble...

[Charles L. Cotton]

Post a price here and see if there is some interest.

Chas.

[Jumping Frog]

Let's use a USPS flat-rate shipping box as an example. A large flat-rate shipper is about $15. If you can fit 1,000 rounds of 9mm in the box (assume you can) that is about 8.5 lbs of brass. So you will get about $21 credit from Freedom Munitions and pay a little over $15 for shipping. So you only save $5 on your next ammo order.

I've shipped 4,000 pcs 9mm brass in a medium size USPS flat rate box for $10 and change on several ocasions.... now they are charging over $12 for medium.

However, I just sold the brass, I didn't ship it to Freedom Munitions.

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