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Anybody here collect brass casings from shooting ranges? I'm not even sure if its legal, but I was thinking about it last night...a lot of guys do not collect the casings from their ammunition when they go shooting. I don't live very close to a public range, but thought it might be an option.....or maybe ask a private range what they do with the casings....
My yard won't take gun shell casings only on shred because I put them in something
My yard takes brass casings along with dirty and clean bullet lead. Every yard is different so shop around.
Had the same thought. Asked a couple of private ranges and gun clubs. The answer I got was that it was a liability for them to have non-members on property, which I understand. I was also told that most members and clubs have someone that collects the larger caliber brass and reloads them. The only brass that is left over or thrown out is samall caliber like .22 and shot gun shells. The problem with shotguns shells is there is more plastic than brass on them and the time to get it separated isn't worth it, trust me I tried it. I would stick to public ranges. If you are located in Pocono area I do believe you should have a few ranges nearby. If not check the fish and game website I do believe they list all public ranges for where you are located.
From my experience most ranges already have accounts set up to get rid of their scrap (I called about a dozen in the Denver area to see what they do with their brass and lead). My yard buys casings as clean yellow brass ($2.13 lb.) and we have a seperate category for range lead (we pay $0.15 a lb. for it).
Forgot I had a gallon back half full of shells I collect from my friend shooting his guns and sold it to some guy on CL
i got 35# of mostly .22 rounds.
Public ranges probably have a ton of brass laying around. I would think that private ranges police themselves and the members pick up their brass even if they do not intend on reloading.
I think that in the past we have heard from some people that their yard would not take it because of the chance of a live shell making it into the equipment. Others have no problem taking it in.
I had one yard here that said they wouldn't take my brass because they had the primers still in them but after some himming and hawing he took it and gave me dirty price. I don't use this yard anymore not because of this but because they started writing rubber checks to those who sold to him.
You can make things from bullet shells & sell them. I wish I could get them here as easy as you can in the USA. Mega buxx.
http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=bul...w=1024&bih=604
Those tanks and jet planes they made with AK-47 shells were pretty cool.
ya I've called around and every range seems to already have a system there happy with
I live in the pocono area and the 2 public ranges i go to are always littered with shells. Mostly .22 and 9mm but i get a good 10 pounds whenever i go shooting before i get tired of picking them up on my hands and knees it helps offset the cost of bullets nicely. The only problem is picking them out of the gravel/dirt.Quote:
Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER
gstod use a seine with some small mesh and nail it to some 2x1s. it makes it easier and faster.
Depending on the condition, you can get much more than scrap value for some types of brass. I actually buy clean 45ACP at $3.00/lb for my personal reloading use. If you have access to a lot of the more commonly reloaded calibers, I'd invest in a brass tumbler and some cleaning media from Midway USA. Sort according to caliber, throw them in the cleaner for an hour to make them shiny, and sell in lots of 100-500 on eBay.you shouldn't need to deprime them either.
just cashed 33# of shells yesterday for $50. and i went back to get more last night.
My yard buys them, but one thing I recomend is... Even if they are brass colored, check them with a magnet... Some are just brass coated....
I should be put on the SMF wall of shame... I go out the the gravel pit near the family cabin with my 10 year old and we shoot the .22 I try to pick up some of the casings... but I think the next trip out, I am getting him to pick up as many as we can find... more so for respect for the environment than making the money back... I do however pick up the larger .303 casings... but don't shoot too many of them.. way too expensive if you don't reload.. which I don't
I never thought about checking my local gun range. Just added it to my list of things to do tomorrow.
Good call. I was going to make the same suggestion. I know lots of guys who reload, and the value of brass is definitely higher to re-loaders than as scrap. As mentioned, 22's aren't used for reloading, but on the plus side, they have no primers to worry about.Quote:
Originally Posted by HLH&R Metals Recycling
Sorry to bring up an oldish thread. I live out in the country and there's a lot of backyard woods 'shooting' ranges if you'd call them that here, literally littered with shotgun casings, rifle rounds etc.
Just got back from one yesterday, got a whole shopping back full of shotgun shells. Thought some of them were brass but I guess they're just brass-coated? Not sure what they're made out of. They're still magnetic. But I got a few copper/brass rifle rounds that are good.
I tried cutting the shells off to just get the metal but there's always a bit of plastic left inside. Not too sure what to organize these metal ends as?
Dirty brass,,,??Quote:
Originally Posted by themadhabber
yea i would love to get into that...
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck has a scrapping idea: put antlers on some bags of sand or anything that might look like a deer to hunters. At the end of hunting season, collect the bullets. The book might have more scrapping ideas. Probably all of Steinbeck's books are worth another look from a scrapping perspective.
Lead does go high from time to time. I have collected numerous big lead sinkers from fishing areas. I bet you could get lots of lead out of the earth back stops of old or abandoned ranges.
Some of the guys on this site do it all the time:
Range Mining Technique - Cast Boolits
The ones that don't are willing to pay as much as $1 a pound shipped for what others dig up. They will buy just about any kind of lead alloy suitable for casting into boolits.
Poke around the site. There is plenty to learn about sources for lead.
Bill
During WWII the USA had a military installation up North, one of the small Islands used for maneuvers has tons of discarded shell casings, problem is you can only access by air or ice roads and dog sledge by the time you reach the Island everything will be covered with 6 ft of snow.
If you did choose to fly in,your going to spend a lot of time digging, over the years the wind has swept the sand around burying this lost treasure. Depending on which way the winds blow some years the brass scrap maybe fully exposed while other years buried in the sand.
I have the perfect metal detector to loan should anyone be foolish enough to partake in this expedition.
What is a boolit ??
My Dad goes shooting almost every nice day he can. He shoots at several private ranges. He is 74 years old. He has been gathering shell casings for a long time. Last week he sold $1500.00 in brass. I was blown away. He said that everyone at the ranges knows he collects the casings now and kicks them into a pile for him. 2 of the ranges have buckets set out for him now also. He stared doing it just to reload shells for himself, but now just gathers all of the brass he can find. He is retired and it certainly helps support his shooting hobby. Another thing he likes is that he says it keeps him flexible by bending down and gathering the casing. I know he can sell them in his area around Moline, IL.
Hey mechanic, the cast bullet shooters call cast projectiles boolits, mostly I believe just to set them apart, kind of an elitism thing . I cast a little here and there but I think if it comes out of the barrel it's a bullet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechanic688
I know I'm a little late on this thread, but I've pondered this idea myself. I have a membership to my local shooting range and the annual fee is only 35 bucks. I checked with the local business that sells the memberships and it turns out that there are no rules against picking up spent brass from the premises. In fact, there are several people who do it. My local scrap yard currently pays 90 cents a pound for brass from ammunition, so I'm seriously contemplating going out there on a Monday afternoon with a five gallon bucket to pick up all the brass left over from people shooting the previous weekend. I figure at the very least I could recoup the money I spent on the annual fee. Also, I can take some types of brass to a guy at the gun store I go to and in exchange get free ammunition on top of that which I already buy. It's a win-win situation.
Here is a real idea for a man who wants to get into shooting range lead scrap: "Dry Washing." It is a process invented for desert gold mining. Dry Washers for Gold
Not really elitist, just a fun way to distinguish between home cast projectiles and store bought jacketed slugs.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigjoshl
Bill
Bullet or boolit as long as it hits what it's aimed at and drops it in its tracks.
Haha... I imagine if I take one of those things to my range and start tearing down the berms to feed it, I might just get shot...I'll just stick to picking up used brass off the ground for now.Quote:
Originally Posted by huntsman
For a long time I have been shooting and I have a five gallon bucket full of brass. I have alot of shotgun shells laying around my property since I live in the country. All my buddies like to shoot here. I have always taken the shells and burned them with my garbage then I collect all the metal from shells since I dont reload or now anyone that does. I just throw the ends in the shed bin. I might just try and sell them online from now on.