Rimfire brass

[VegasJen]

I shoot a fair amount of .22LR and .17HMR, especially now with the scarcity of other calibers. I always collect my casings when I'm done shooting, I believe in being a responsible steward of the land. I keep my centerfire casings to be reloaded, but I know rimfire can't be reloaded. Any suggestions as to what to do withe the brass? Just regular recycle? Trash? I don't like the idea of throwing brass in a landfill.

 

[FlyingZebra]

They can be used as jacket material for making bullets.
It takes special tooling, but it's one good re-use of the spent casings.

How many do you have?

 

[MAC702]

I shoot a lot of Berdan or old brass that gets retired as well, so I already have buckets of scrap brass. The rimfire stuff I sweep up gets put in the same buckets.

What pisses me off is that we have "BRASS" buckets at DSRPC and BRPC. They are located not far from TRASH cans. And yet, the BRASS buckets always have a lot of TRASH in them.

 

[VegasJen]

They can be used as jacket material for making bullets.
It takes special tooling, but it's one good re-use of the spent casings.

How many do you have?

Not much right now. I have just been throwing it in with my normal recycling. But with the expense and scarcity of traditional ammunition now, I'm switching over to shooting a lot more rimfire. I just hate throwing it in the recycle and thought I might start collecting in a different bucket.

 

[FlyingZebra]

Do it Jen

I have two five gallon buckets full of 22lr spent cases, specifically for making bullets

They're useful

 

[moar different]

 

[moar different]

Attempt at humor that I’m just not getting?

sure seems that way zippy

 

[Bumper]

Looking up scrap brass, it's only fetching $1.05 a pound. Not sure that's up to date. Bigger cities, Reno, Lost Wages, will have scrap metal places where you might get some money for your effort.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

I shoot a fair amount of .22LR and .17HMR, especially now with the scarcity of other calibers. I always collect my casings when I'm done shooting, I believe in being a responsible steward of the land. I keep my centerfire casings to be reloaded, but I know rimfire can't be reloaded. Any suggestions as to what to do withe the brass? Just regular recycle? Trash? I don't like the idea of throwing brass in a landfill.

Actually, you can reload rimfire ammo, it just takes time and one of these kits.
Sharpshooter 22 Long Rifle Reloader - 22LR Reloader

Other uses as stated would be as jacket material, or melt them down and cast other useful things out of them.
Cartridge brass, which is alloy 260 brass also called yellow brass, melts between 1,660 and 1,710 ° F, and is pretty easy to cast into all kinds of things. Paper weights, obscene lawn statues of your mother in law, door knockers, door knobs, cane handles, AR10 receivers, etc.

 

[moar different]

Looking up scrap brass, it's only fetching $1.05 a pound. Not sure that's up to date. Bigger cities, Reno, Lost Wages, will have scrap metal places where you might get some money for your effort.

just google las vegas scrap prices ffs
https://www.scrapmonster.com/scrap-yards/prices/las-vegas/127

 

[VegasJen]

I'm not going to collect brass to recycle. I'll collect it and if someone wants it, it's theirs to do with as they wish. I could fill a five gallon bucket and the scrap value probably wouldn't pay for the gas round trip to Vegas and back.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

There are two scrap metal yards in Pahrump, both are on Mesquite, about a mile east of 160, up at the north end of town. They are on the left side of Mesquite, opposite the entrance to the dump.

 

[VegasJen]

I'll keep that in mind, but it will still probably take me a good 2-3 years to fill a bucket.

 

[FlyingZebra]

Jen you're right about scrap value.

If you get a sizable pile of rimfire brass, let me know.

 

[Maxcarp]

Rimfire brass can be made into 223/5.56 bullets,but it takes a special swaging tool which is expensive.It also takes some lead wire for the core.I looked into this back in 2013 during that panic.From the reports I read from the folks who made the bullets,they work out quite well.

 

[FlyingZebra]

Rimfire brass can be made into 223/5.56 bullets,but it takes a special swaging tool which is expensive.It also takes some lead wire for the core.I looked into this back in 2013 during that panic.From the reports I read from the folks who made the bullets,they work out quite well.

This is where some of the major bullet making companies got their start, also RCBS

It's an old-school shootist geek hobbyist niche.