High Copper Prices Create Market for Unwanted Cartridge Brass

With Copper Exchange prices edging towards $4.00/lb, cartridge brass in any condition is worth saving. (Prices reached $4.50/lb last year!) Even worn-out, split, or Berdan-primed brass with negligible value to reloaders can be worth real money given current scrap metal prices. People commonly leave .22 LR casings on the ground because they can’t be easily reloaded. Nowadays, it may be worth saving brass of any kind. In California, scrap metal dealers are paying $1.75 a pound for used cartridge brass — including buckets of used .22 LR casings.

Of course, if you have good pistol and rifle brass that’s worth reloading, don’t take it to a scrap dealer. You should be able to get more money selling the brass to reloaders via Forum Classifieds or Gunbroker.com. However, if you’ve got buckets of old, split, tarnished brass, .22 LR casings, or Berdan-primed cases and you don’t want to take the time to clean, inspect, and sort your cases… maybe you should just sell ‘em for scrap. For someone with hundreds of pounds of miscellaneous brass, current scrap prices can be attractive. In the past, at ranges, we’ve seen scores of milsurp Berdan-primed cases left on the ground since they are not easily reloadable. Now, we predict those cases will be collected and sold for scrap.