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Letter Re: Brass Recycling
Jim,
Just a note regarding Bill K.'s fired cartridge brass recycling idea
to raise extra cash - it is a good money making idea with the continuing
rise
in the price of copper and other metals - our gun club here in North
Carolina paid all its property taxes last year on the recycling of
fired brass
left
after shooting events. The club insists that if the shooters don't
wish to take their fired brass home, they spend a few minutes between
relays when the line is clear to police up brass and put them into
specially marked/painted 'brass buckets'.
My voluntary role for my club is to take the full five gallon buckets
home periodically to check for dud or damaged live rounds and separate
them out along with any fired brass that interests me so I can assure
the scrap dealer there are no live rounds, rocks, steel cases, etc.
in the buckets. This eliminates hazards to the scrap dealer as well
as the liability issue for the club.
My concern is that I imagine most ranges are privately owned and unless
it is a remote county, state or federal public range such as Bill K.
describes where cleaning up the brass off the ground (why not also
pick up the rusty steel cases as well, and trash them, too - good PR and
environmental stewardship) is not frowned upon, one should check with
the range operators to see if they have a policy of any brass
left on the ground after the original shooter leaves the range becomes
club property. Some clubs may consider this theft otherwise.
Be forewarned - when you go to a recycling center/scrap metal company to turn
in the brass, several five gallon buckets of gleaming brass will get you noticed
- you will get some interested looks and comments/questions from the curious
about where the brass came from while standing in line with all the other folks
who are bringing in scrap from who knows where just to make ends meet or are
down on their luck. Also, for what it is worth, due to the increasing theft of
metals such as copper from job sites, most scrap dealers also insist on recording
your drivers license information so the materials can be traced back to you in
case of a police investigation.
One other small side note for reloaders: The scrap dealer also mentioned to
me that even fired centerfire rifle and pistol primers in quantity separated
from
the brass are of value in scrap recycling, as there is some kind of demand in
the
watch making and/or related industry for the minute metal parts for some reason.
However, fired shotgun primers are not as much in demand, from what I recall.
Lead
from
reloading also is desirable for recycling, but you might consider keeping theirs
for cast bullet work. Regards, - Redclay
