Brass not worth trading? What to do with it?

[1blue]

Like a couple folks here, I'm back after an illness. I'm getting back into my hobby of reloading/casting/shooting. However, I'm cleaning out brass that I won't be reloading. I have received brass from fellow shooters over the past 40 years. I haven't accepted any in sometime. Anyway, I'm not particularly in need of any brass. So I question trading in my case. I want to get rid of, what I would call, less desirable brass. For example, I have 1000s of 38special. I'm currently considering throwing this brass overtime into the brass buckets at the range. I gave some to a friend who appeared to want some who has now changed his mind. I thought about scrap metal value, but I doubt it would be worth my time to drive it over and the gas I would use... The other day I was offered 9mm and thanked the friend but declined. God I don't want any 9mm. I'm only going to reload 45acp and 357mag and some 8mm Nambu. (I form my own brass) So anything else I come across has got to go. I simply after being ill have lost any desire to reload anything else. I have more than a lifetime supply of this brass, so I'm not interested in a trade. Some thoughts I had was listing the brass on Craigslist, Facebook. Where if someone is willing to pick it up, give it away. I don't particulary want to box up, stand in line at the PO, pay postage, etc. Does anyone have any thoughts on what to do with what I would consider low value brass? Thanks! BTW If I come across desirable brass I'll bring it here...

[b2lee]

I would try to find someone in your club....or at the range...and just give it to them.

I take my rejects and mess ups...and weird range pick ups....and melt it down and make brass hammers...which I give to some of my maintenance guys at work. If you know someone that does metal work...maybe have them make you something cool out of the brass...makes cool Christmas presents.

[lightman]

I'm glad to hear that you are recovering from your health issues. Most brass other than 9mm, 40 S&W and 223 would sell but you would have to ship it. Maybe an ad in your local swap shop or Craigslist? Scrap brass brings between $1-$1.50 per pound so it might be worth while to drive to the scrap yard. I just hate to see good brass being sold as scrap.

Where are you located? Some of us may be willing to travel if you want to give it away or sell it cheap.

[1blue]

I live in the SE Denver, Co. area. If anyone lives close... I'd meet you at a Starbucks and they are yours. Well, I probably will put them in the range bucket. As a reloader, it just bugs me not to reuse them. But realisticly I never will. Time to part ways...

[SafetyJoe]

Facebook and craigslist don't allow people to sell, trade or give away brass casings on their site, but MeWe (https://mewe.com) does. It's similar to facebook where there's a lot of reloading groups. There's a group on MeWe called " Colorado Gun Traders " and another one called " Colorado Springs Freedom Keepers and Guns " you could join and post in. MeWe is free to join.
As far as not wanting to wait in line at the post office I can understand not wanting to do that. That's why I print my shipping labels at home using paypal and then I just give the flat rate package to the mailman or leave it on the counter at the post office and walk away.
Here's the paypal link if you ever want to use them to print a label.
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

[lightman]

I wish we were closer. I would meet you for coffee, brass or not. I respect the fact that you want to see your surplus brass get used and not scrapped.

[1blue]

I'm going to the range Tuesday. I'm going to take some and dump it into their range buckets...

[DukeInFlorida]

38 Specials!!!!

I'll pay postage and toss in some extra $$$ if you'll pack it all up and send it to me. I am my shooting buddies are ALWAYS looking for matched head stamp 38's. And, your pile of it would be worth looking and sorting through. My shooting group shoots over a thousand 38 specials a week, reloading it, and installing cast lead boolits. We're always seeking replacements for the splits that always seem to happen.

So, before you just toss it to the club, send me a PM with details, and I'll send some $$$ to get you to ship it to me.

This is the sort of thing this site (ammobrasstrader.com) is perfect for. Against the rules to just sell it for cash here? Yes. But, since you aren't trying to openly sell it, I'll openly offer to buy it.

Let me know. Thanks.

[1blue]

38 Specials!!!!

I'll pay postage and toss in some extra $$$ if you'll pack it all up and send it to me. I am my shooting buddies are ALWAYS looking for matched head stamp 38's. And, your pile of it would be worth looking and sorting through. My shooting group shoots over a thousand 38 specials a week, reloading it, and installing cast lead boolits. We're always seeking replacements for the splits that always seem to happen.

So, before you just toss it to the club, send me a PM with details, and I'll send some $$$ to get you to ship it to me.

This is the sort of thing this site (ammobrasstrader.com) is perfect for. Against the rules to just sell it for cash here? Yes. But, since you aren't trying to openly sell it, I'll openly offer to buy it.

Let me know. Thanks.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Let me take a look. I have them separated by head stamp. I gave a large tupperware container to a friend who now doesn't want it. It's all PMC and CBC. I have Federal, Winchester, R-P and some other assorted headstamps. I might have to send it in multiple USPS large boxes. You don't have to give me any extra $$. I'll send them to you and then you decide. The same friend who didn't want the 38 special is buying a new Kimber. So if you would like to send me 45acp that would work. What ever you think is fine. Glad I looked here. I was ready next week to start taking them to range and dump them. Please PM me your address and I'll get them sent off.

[1blue]

Well I looked and I have a big tupperware of Winchester, several medium containers with Federal, RP and S&B. I have another medium of mixed headstamps with W-W, Zero, etc. Then I forgot to mention I have another large container of nickel of mixed headstamps. I sent my friend an email so I might be including the PMC and CBC I gave him. I usually send this stuff priority because of the fixed cost. The boxes can get a little heavy. I'll get you tracking numbers. Like I said you decide if you just want to cover my shipping, or send me some 45acp and some $$ to cover shipping, whatever you decide is fine. Just wait and when you get them all you decide.

I spoke with my friend that I gave the PMC and CBC cases to. He is going to give them back to me. So I can send those along. I'll go get priority boxes from the post office today.

[DukeInFlorida]

I can do a combo of 45 brass and shipping costs. Thanks for your kindness.

[Shawlerbrook]

Why not post a “you pay the shipping” thread with what you have to get rid of. I can always use 38 Special and I am sure others can use what you have.

[1blue]

Originally, I did not want to box up this brass, drag it to the PO, stand in line, etc. I was just looking for advice on what to do with what I would call undesirsalbe brass. But after speaking with Duke, I changed my mind. That is why I didn't post a "you pay the shipping" thread. These days I stop friendly people at the range from dumping just any brass in my range bag. There is so much junk out there these days. 9mm, steel cases, etc. I just don't have the desire to deal with junk. But I will take interesting brass. Recently I took some 44mag and 10mm. I don't reload these, so I will put these out later here for trade.

[DukeInFlorida]

Was very happy with the 38 Special brass when we did that. I had a couple of friends who just started shooting the LawnSteel game (see my signature line for details), and that brass got them completely set up for it. Thanks again for that.

I'd take any additional 38 brass again, and also Starline 44 Magnum brass. (Starline only. I shoot that in match shoots, and it all has to be same head stamp. )

I'll watch for your Trading Posting updates. Thanks again.

BTW, you can set up a FREE account at the Post Office, and print your own shipping labels, including paying the postage at the same time. That way, you never have to stand in line at the Post Office. I always just walk in the front door, head for the BOX DROP, drop the labeled and postage paid box in there, and turn around and walk out. Takes me longer to park in the lot than it does to drop off the box.

Link for the Post Office Free Account (https://reg.usps.com/entreg/RegistrationAction_input)

[1blue]

Was very happy with the 38 Special brass when we did that. I had a couple of friends who just started shooting the LawnSteel game (see my signature line for details), and that brass got them completely set up for it. Thanks again for that.

I'd take any additional 38 brass again, and also Starline 44 Magnum brass. (Starline only. I shoot that in match shoots, and it all has to be same head stamp. )

I'll watch for your Trading Posting updates. Thanks again.

BTW, you can set up a FREE account at the Post Office, and print your own shipping labels, including paying the postage at the same time. That way, you never have to stand in line at the Post Office. I always just walk in the front door, head for the BOX DROP, drop the labeled and postage paid box in there, and turn around and walk out. Takes me longer to park in the lot than it does to drop off the box.

Link for the Post Office Free Account (https://reg.usps.com/entreg/RegistrationAction_input)

Too bad you only shoot Starline 44 mag. Starline is great brass, but when I see it, another reloader is shooting it. What I have is FC and CBC. I want to get some additional brass before I list it here. Thanks for the tip on USPS shipping!

[DukeInFlorida]

When reloading for "match grade" shooting, l one thing to keep in mind is the effect of the pressures on the brass cases. You want every cartridge to produce the exact same (well, as close as you can make it, there isn't really a perfect) muzzle velocity. Think of the brass cases as a "pressure vessel". One type of pressure vessel we can all relate to are rubber party balloons. If you bought a package of 6" balloons from one company, and a package of 6" rubber balloons from another company, and put exactly 3 psi of air pressure in each balloon, they would expand to a different diameter. That's because each company's manufacturing process would be slightly different, including the formulation for the rubber compound.

In exactly the same way, the brass cases of one manufacturer are made differently than another. When fired in the chamber, two different head stamped cases will expand in the chamber slightly differently. Each producing (presuming that the amount of powder, bullets, primers, etc are all exactly, or as close to exact as you can make them) a different muzzle velocity. With the force of gravity acting constantly, the slower bullets will hit lower than the faster bullets. So, in match grade pistol shooting (trying to hit a 1" sized target at 75 yards), the matching of the head stamps make a HUGE difference.

When I started shooting this chambering size, I didn't have enough of any head stamp to focus on any one of them. So, I invested in 1,000 Starlines, brand new. And, rotate those through my inventory and cartridge assembly.

For normal pistol shooting, you should not have to match head stamps like I do.

Also, please note that for precision rifle shooting, the only pathway to highest accuracy is also to use matched head stamps. In the longer rifle barrels, where the velocities can really build up, the muzzle velocities are very important to maintain.

Hope that explains why I use matched cases for SOME pistol cartridges. I assemble thousands of, for example, 9mm Luger and 357 Sig. I have never sorted those for head stamps. They shoot just fine in the mixed condition. I don't ever shoot those in any sort of match grade shooting.

[1blue]

When reloading for "match grade" shooting, l one thing to keep in mind is the effect of the pressures on the brass cases. You want every cartridge to produce the exact same (well, as close as you can make it, there isn't really a perfect) muzzle velocity. Think of the brass cases as a "pressure vessel". One type of pressure vessel we can all relate to are rubber party balloons. If you bought a package of 6" balloons from one company, and a package of 6" rubber balloons from another company, and put exactly 3 psi of air pressure in each balloon, they would expand to a different diameter. That's because each company's manufacturing process would be slightly different, including the formulation for the rubber compound.

In exactly the same way, the brass cases of one manufacturer are made differently than another. When fired in the chamber, two different head stamped cases will expand in the chamber slightly differently. Each producing (presuming that the amount of powder, bullets, primers, etc are all exactly, or as close to exact as you can make them) a different muzzle velocity. With the force of gravity acting constantly, the slower bullets will hit lower than the faster bullets. So, in match grade pistol shooting (trying to hit a 1" sized target at 75 yards), the matching of the head stamps make a HUGE difference.

When I started shooting this chambering size, I didn't have enough of any head stamp to focus on any one of them. So, I invested in 1,000 Starlines, brand new. And, rotate those through my inventory and cartridge assembly.

For normal pistol shooting, you should not have to match head stamps like I do.

Also, please note that for precision rifle shooting, the only pathway to highest accuracy is also to use matched head stamps. In the longer rifle barrels, where the velocities can really build up, the muzzle velocities are very important to maintain.

Hope that explains why I use matched cases for SOME pistol cartridges. I assemble thousands of, for example, 9mm Luger and 357 Sig. I have never sorted those for head stamps. They shoot just fine in the mixed condition. I don't ever shoot those in any sort of match grade shooting.

Understand completely. I've purchased Starline 357 mag for the same reason. I wish I could find a nice bunch of Starline 44 mag for you. But since Starline isn't used in retail ammo, Starline is the domain of reloaders. I get Winchester, RP, Federal, CBC, PMC, FC, etc. Recently I have been going to estate sales and finding things from reloading equipment and supplies to WWI and WWII items. If I come across Starline, I will definitely keep you in mind. Off topic, but I purchased a really nice WWI ammo belt, also an Enfield bayonet and original leather scabbard recently... I bought the bayonet only becasue the price was so good. Thought I might sell or trade it for something... I'll keep an eye out for Starline.