A few quick dollars?

[Rusty Barrels]

Sometimes I take my daughter to the Fish & Game for some fishing and I think of all that brass lying around at the range. She loves to gather it all up (there's almost never anybody shooting!). I am wondering if it would be worthwhile for us to take a little time to gather some up everytime we're there and when we have a lot to sell it to scrap yard. Is this just plain foolish? Is my daughter exposing herself to lead by handling empty cartridges? Don't laugh at me! I wouldn't ask if I had a clue!

 

[hminsky]

Sometimes I take my daughter to the Fish & Game for some fishing and I think of all that brass lying around at the range. She loves to gather it all up (there's almost never anybody shooting!). I am wondering if it would be worthwhile for us to take a little time to gather some up everytime we're there and when we have a lot to sell it to scrap yard. Is this just plain foolish? Is my daughter exposing herself to lead by handling empty cartridges? Don't laugh at me! I wouldn't ask if I had a clue!

rubber gloves would be smart in any case

 

[coastie]

You would probably make better money selling it as brass to other reloaders than going to the scrap yard. I am always on the hunt for .308 and 7.62x39 brass. Either way gloves are a must.

 

[Rusty Barrels]

Well, this stuff tends to lie on the ground for a while... it generally doesn't look suitable for reloading unless people are willing to clean it first. Anyway, I thought some brass is not suitable because it's not strong enough. Do you guys feel comfortable just picking it up off the ground like that without knowing exactly what it is?

 

[Adam_MA]

Other than the brass that I have already fired, I am not above picking up extra brass laying around on the ground, or picking some out of the brass bucket. I treat it as I do any other fired brass. It gets de-primed, and thoroughly cleaned and then of course inspected. If it passes my inspection, it goes on to be fired again. If it fails, I squeeze the case mouth closed with pliers (so I don't confuse it again) and I throw it into my "bad brass bucket".

I think for your time and money, it would be more worth your while to sell it as scrap. If you were going to sell the brass to be used for reloading, you would most likely want to clean it at least enough so you can inspect it, and then sort out the undesirable brass, then post it for sale, ship it to someone etc. If you scrap it, you just throw it into a 5 gal. bucket, and bring it back when it's full.

I went to one of the ranges I belong to one day, and there was a guy collecting brass on the pistol range. I walked up, put my stuff down and got talking to him. I found out, he isn't a shooter, doesn't own a gun, and doesn't care to own a gun. He has memberships at several clubs, pays his annual dues, and only goes to the ranges to pick up spent brass to return as scrap. This is his only source of income, it's all he does and is completely happy about it. We got talking some more, and he was telling me, that between the 6 ranges he belongs to, if he really hustles, he can clear $1000 a WEEK!

There's money to be made, that's for sure...

 

[TY43215]

To answer direct to the question

Yes, you are exposing your daughter to lead hazards. There is lead on the ground in the dirt and she will inhale the dust as she picks through the dirt for the brass. She will come into contact with it when she picks up the brass.

Is it worth it??


Since lead poisoning is a cumulative process, it would not be worth it for my child to be exposed. What I do as an adult in picking up brass is my business as I know the hazard and also test regularly for lead levels.

 

[C-pher]

My co-worker had a good friend that's retired that does just like Adam said...he goes to his club every morning and picks up brass.

My buddy ends up with a crap load of good brass...the other guys collects it and sell it as scrap.

I guess that he just good a 55 gallon plastic drum to the scrap yard and made a few grand off of it..

He just sweeps everything up...so he spends some time sorting the steel from the brass... And while steel is about 60 bucks a ton...it's still money from the scrap man! Even if it is only like 4 bucks for the amount he ends up getting he said, "Hey, I'm going there anyway."

Makes sense for me. I'm not sure that I would have my kid collecting it... I think that I would just sweep it all up and go from there.

 

[Rusty Barrels]

Yes, you are exposing your daughter to lead hazards. There is lead on the ground in the dirt and she will inhale the dust as she picks through the dirt for the brass. She will come into contact with it when she picks up the brass.

Is it worth it??


Since lead poisoning is a cumulative process, it would not be worth it for my child to be exposed. What I do as an adult in picking up brass is my business as I know the hazard and also test regularly for lead levels.

Holy Smokes! There's no sense risking it. If I pick up some brass I'll leave her out of it!

I won't be scrounging around like that other guy (up to $1000/week!?!?) but I thought if I spent a little time picking it up I could put the proceeds toward more ammo. There is a scrap yard in the town where I work that accepts brass.