How much brass to save

[CoalTrain49]

Revolver cartridges are always cost effective to reload.

Most rifle cartridges also.

 

[Wildbillz]

I started with coffee cans and moved to 30 cal and 50 cal ammo cans. Then up to five gallon bucket and later 20 mm ammo cans. So your not alone by a long shot.

I pickup every thing I can. I sort it out and store it for the most part. Some times I will trade or sell a bit off. But I always like to have brass on hand.

WB

 

[Arkansas Paul]

So..... NO! 9mm is NOT worth MY Time.

World would be a pretty boring place if we all thought the same way wouldn't it? Cheers.

 

[barnfrog]

I either trade it or gift it.

It’s the holiday’s, think about those worse off than you.

Following thee example of @Bazoo and @jmorris , if you acknowledge you have more than you'll ever use, you might consider giving some of it away on the Pay It Forward thread.

I'm an amateur compared to most. No heaps of brass stashed away, but I only load for a few calibers right now. I have enough for my needs.

When I'm at the range I do pick up whatever I find. Really cruddy stuff goes in the scrap bucket for eventual sale to the recycler. I have a few small bags of good brass in calibers I don't load. When a bag's contents reaches a couple dozen or more pieces I try to find someone who can use it.

 

[Otto]

I reload in order to shoot…not the other way around. Performing the same repetitive task 1500-2000 times a month isn’t my idea of a fun. Reloading is simply a means to an end.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Following thee example of @Bazoo and @jmorris , if you acknowledge you have more than you'll ever use, you might consider giving some of it away on the Pay It Forward thread.

I'm an amateur compared to most. No heaps of brass stashed away, but I only load for a few calibers right now. I have enough for my needs.

When I'm at the range I do pick up whatever I find. Really cruddy stuff goes in the scrap bucket for eventual sale to the recycler. I have a few small bags of good brass in calibers I don't load. When a bag's contents reaches a couple dozen or more pieces I try to find someone who can use it.

I scan postings for people in need. Then I PM them with an offer. They know who they are. I’m grateful for the opportunity to help people, quietly from the shadows.

 

[Kaldor]

I stopped shooting at a local club that had alot of brass on the ground. Probably a good thing. I have more 9, 45 and 223 than I will ever wear out in my lifetime now.
20k 9mm
10k 45
20k 223

The rest of the stuff I shoot, I buy brass either new or once fired as I want matching headstamps for those calibers.

 

[lightman]

Brass? Anybody pick up wheel weights when they find them? Asking for a friend….

I'm guilty! Before my running buddy's boys quit farming he and I ran errands for them. Lots of times it was for badly needed parts across the State or sometimes even out of State. We would hit every exit ramp along the way. I even have a magnet on a stick! Some years we would have up to 5 gallons of weights after I sorted out the Steel and Zinc. We also tried out many a BBQ joint!!!

We would also find lots of other stuff. Receiver hitch pins, sockets and wrenches, ect. I even found a 1# ingot cast in a Lyman mold once. Would love to know the story behind that!!!

As far as brass goes, He and I also picked it up at the local shooting spots. I've sold it, traded it and gifted lots of it. There is a brass trading site called Ammo Brass Traders where the members trade back and forth. Its a small site and was a sister site to the Cast Boolits site at one time. Y'all check it out.

 

[troy fairweather]

How much to save? All of it.

Put another way, if you could pick up nickles and dimes......and 50 cent pieces, how many would you pick up to save? Empty brass is currency....just in another form.

Great Analogy.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

ect. I even found a 1# ingot cast in a Lyman mold once. Would love to know the story behind that!!!

If you found it on US1 between Cocoa Beach and the Merritt Island Causeway, I can tell you...

 

[troy fairweather]

Growing up I lived right next to a railroad crossing, one side was a bit of a hill and many cars would slam pretty hard hitting the tracks, even slow they would bounce the heck out of you. Every few weeks I would scrounge around to find wheel weights that came off, I would get maybe half to a full small coffee can full. I had a killer hub cap collection to, must have had my small metal shed out back 1/2 full stacked to the ceiling. Over the years there would be less and less, cars went to plastic caps they don't seem to come off like metal ones. And for lead, N.Y. Baned it so it dried up to.

 

[film495]

hey free is free. feel free to pass those along to friends at a reasonable price if you want to get rid of some and keep picking up. for extra brass I have, that I plan to do nothing with anytime soon, I run it through a tumbler with a bit of I think it is NuFinish wax/polish so they hibernate happily and don't tarnish.

 

[Bazoo]

I was blessed when I first got into 45 ACP, with a person who gifted me a Medium Flat Rate Box full of brass that was recapped and cleaned. It was a huge blessing to me. I've not been able to bless someone else quite like that, but I always have remembered it and how it made me feel. I like to help others when I'm able.

 

[JohnMc]

All of it.

Yes.

 

[anothernewb]

Once I got to a 5 gal pail (each) of the calibers I actually load. I quit snagging brass. But yes, it's a dangerous addiction. Before I forced myself to stop, I had the same. cans, bags, and buckets of every kind of brass I found.

Now I just collect the brass from the range and sell it for scrap. Seems like everyone I know in the club is in the same boat. they collect what they reload and the rest just becomes junk. Rather than pay the disposal, I have several 5 gal pails. I grab brass until they are full and take them to the recycler. I get around $2/lb and change for it.

 

[kmw1954]

You don't factor in the value of your time when you're doing something you enjoy.

I have said this before when this point is brought up about the value of time spent.
I will start to take into consideration the value of time to reload when I can finally find someone willing to pay me an salary to do it. Now since no one has offered to pay me I guess my time is worth $0.00
At nearly 70yo I find my time at the bench as valuable as time spent doing anything else including bodily functions!

 

[kmw1954]

I work at a very large and active outdoor range. I can pickup and take whatever I want. At the end of each bench is a 1gal pail for brass collection though many would just rather brush it onto the ground. Also each range has multiple 5gal buckets to empty the 1gal pail into. At one time I had 3 5gal buckets of 223 brass here to sort thru to find what I wanted. It all went back to the range for recycle except 60pcs. of 223Norma brass. I already have 5gal of 223 PMC brass, tried some Hornady 223 brass and had poor luck. As for pistol brass, I'll pick it up as I need it.

So I am a reformed hoarder!

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I work at a very large and active outdoor range. I can pickup and take whatever I want. At the end of each bench is a 1gal pail for brass collection though many would just rather brush it onto the ground. Also each range has multiple 5gal buckets to empty the 1gal pail into. At one time I had 3 5gal buckets of 223 brass here to sort thru to find what I wanted. It all went back to the range for recycle except 60pcs. of 223Norma brass. I already have 5gal of 223 PMC brass, tried some Hornady 223 brass and had poor luck. As for pistol brass, I'll pick it up as I need it.

So I am a reformed hoarder!

The implication is, a “hoarder” is non-selective in nature while a “reformed hoarder,” more nearly like a “collector,” is selective in what they gather and keep.

I can agree with that.

 

[kmw1954]

The implication is, a “hoarder” is non-selective in nature while a “reformed hoarder,” more nearly like a “collector,” is selective in what they gather and keep.

YES!

 

[.308 Norma]

I will start to take into consideration the value of time to reload when I can finally find someone willing to pay me an salary to do it.

At nearly 70yo I find my time at the bench as valuable as time spent doing anything else including bodily functions!

I'm 75, l-o-n-g time retired, and my time is worth the same regardless of whether I'm doing something enjoyable (like reloading, shooting, hunting or fishing), OR whether I'm doing something like shoveling snow - which I really should be doing instead of spending time on THR - which is also enjoyable.

 

[jmorris]

…if you acknowledge you have more than you'll ever use…

They say, never say never but, I hope I am a little further from the dirt than that. If nothing else, I have to stay alive just to use it…

 

[AJC1]

Following thee example of @Bazoo and @jmorris , if you acknowledge you have more than you'll ever use, you might consider giving some of it away on the Pay It Forward thread.

I'm an amateur compared to most. No heaps of brass stashed away, but I only load for a few calibers right now. I have enough for my needs.

When I'm at the range I do pick up whatever I find. Really cruddy stuff goes in the scrap bucket for eventual sale to the recycler. I have a few small bags of good brass in calibers I don't load. When a bag's contents reaches a couple dozen or more pieces I try to find someone who can use it.

I have a lot of brass, but I use it to enable gun purchases of friends, and I give it away to those that come over to pull the lever on the bullet slot machine. I just gave 300 pieces of Remington 30-06 to my buddy that just got one.

 

[BullRunBear]

My brass hoarding started from need. Money was tight and every piece of free 38 special and 45 acp brass was a boon. Even at 1980 prices I could reload cast bullets (scrounged wheel weights) cheaper than commercial. Then it became a game: load safe and accurate ammo with the least expense even when I could afford commercial. But the brass hoarding habit is tough to break. There is a certain satisfaction in seeing all those containers of cases. I now have have more brass in every caliber I shoot than I will ever have time to reload. Lets me help new reloaders, especially young ones. (These days 'young means under 40.) Over the decades I've done the same with used Lee single stage presses picked up for a few bucks to help get someone started.

By the way, I regard the time spent reloading as pleasantly productive. The value of my time was never a factor even before I retired. Probably why I enjoy traditional muzzleloaders where each shot is slow and appreciated.

Jeff

 

[gifbohane]

Only if you don't buy in bulk. For me, 9mm costs me under $10 per 50 and that's using either RMR nukes or Precision delta V1s (i.e. a high quality, accurate, expanding HP). I don't think you could get a box of 50 of something comparable for less than $20. Even the cheap range rounds seem to go for at least $12-$13 plus tax per 50. Also, I can load up 200 rounds faster than I can drive to and from my LGS and buy ammo (10 mins each way plus however long I have to wait to make the purchase).

I have to ask how you can load 9mm for 20 cents a round. A primer costs me 10 cents, the RMR heads cost about another 10 cents and for the powder I am still calculating as prices rise. Maybe 3 cents?

 

[Otto]

^^^ Yeah, comparing factory ammunition to some guy’s homemade rounds is apples to oranges. The homemade stuff might be better but it could also be potentially unsafe. Very few in this thread would shoot someone else’s reloads. Why is that?

My general rule is that for any given amount of brass on hand, one should have 4x that amount in primers.

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