New Law Ensures Military Cartridge Brass Won’t Be Scrapped

U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R, OK), successfully added an amendment to the committee-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, making military surplus previously-fired small arms cartridges available for commercial sale with certain restrictions. It also requires the U.S. Secretary of Defense to ensure compliance with managing commercial sale of spent ammunition.

Sen. Inhofe drafted this provision in response to the controversial destruction of once-fired military brass in recent years. Some military base commanders had arranged with ammunition manufacturers to have once-fired brass demilled and sold as scrap metal. However, the cartridges are worth far less as scrap metal than as reloadable ammo components. The U.S. Treasury was losing money since it was not recovering the full value of the cartridge brass in the surplus marketplace.

“My amendment provides a unique opportunity for the commercial sale of spent small arms cartridges,” said Inhofe. “This is beneficial from a cost saving standpoint. Having worked on this issue for some time, I am pleased to have made this progress. Those that care about Second Amendment Rights have put much effort into this as well.”

NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox said, “It is common sense that serviceable and safe military spent brass cases are made available for commercial sale as military-sourced spent brass cases are of the calibers most widely used for marksmanship training and competition by civilians. In addition to being a revenue source for military bases, reloaded ammunition costs considerably less, and every gun owner and hunter can appreciate the savings during these tough economic times.”