What would you pay for case prep?

EddieCoyle

Consigliere
Moderator
NES Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
21,325
Likes
9,769
Location
Northern, MA
Feedback: 160 / 0 / 0
This thread got me thinking...


What would you be willing to pay (per 1000 cases) to have your rifle brass prepped as follows?

Cleaned
Resized
Trimmed to a uniform length
Primer pocket swaged
Case annealed

I'd like to get an idea of payback before I drop $6K on equipment.

I'm thinking 223/5.56 only to start.

You'd get your brass back ready to load.
 
I don’t care about annealing. So excluding that maybe ~5 cents per case?
I’ve used this company before if you’re interested in comparing rates. Roughly 5 cents each depending on the volume which includes return shipping. If you beat their pricing (and offer annealing for those who want it) even better.
 
EC I would love to see someone in MA offer these services if it was beneficial to all involved.

Would be interested in revolvee case prep down the line if you head that way.

Best of luck, [cheers] Matt
 
There is already someone on this site that does this on a pretty large scale. I have purchased 3k of the .223 brass from them and also sold them buckets of my unprepared brass.
Not that there isn't room for more but just an FYI.
 
I just ran this "scenario" through my head the other day, I was approached with a 5 gal pail of .223/5.56 once fired, no prep. I told him to take .05 off of what I can get processed rifle brass for and then I would purchase all of it. It was also in a deal with a bucket of 9mm. Now that I stare at all this unprocessed rifle brass I think it may be closer to .06 or .07 per case, not looking forward to it, I have processed many rifle brass, not much fun, would rather be pouring lead or loading brass!

Hope this helps.

PS. want to buy some unprocessed brass? ;)
 
There is already someone on this site that does this on a pretty large scale. I have purchased 3k of the .223 brass from them and also sold them buckets of my unprepared brass.
Not that there isn't room for more but just an FYI.
Who
 
This thread got me thinking...


What would you be willing to pay (per 1000 cases) to have your rifle brass prepped as follows?

Cleaned
Resized
Trimmed to a uniform length
Primer pocket swaged
Case annealed

I'd like to get an idea of payback before I drop $6K on equipment.

I'm thinking 223/5.56 only to start.

You'd get your brass back ready to load.
Thats the rub , $6k in gear to be anywhere near efficient. Was looking at some ennealers. None are what I would call "commercial" grade. No case feeders and such.
Looks like 10 sec or so in the flame.
How do you do a ROI on that set up?.
 
Thats the rub , $6k in gear to be anywhere near efficient. Was looking at some ennealers. None are what I would call "commercial" grade. No case feeders and such.
Looks like 10 sec or so in the flame.
How do you do a ROI on that set up?.
Not commercial, but at least automated...
 
I paid $.05 last year from a guy in NJ on the USRifleTeams site...I think he stopped doing it already.

The best thing about his service is he separated all the brass at the end of the process during final inspection into groups that met his standards for match brass and those that did not (dings/imperfections/etc.)
 
I think you should consider the option of not annealing.
I can get 223 done for $45 per 1000 shipping it to Virginia. Annealing would up that cost to around $100. Not saying it's not worth that, but I probably wouldn't opt for it. Or maybe I would; I don't know.
 
This thread got me thinking...


What would you be willing to pay (per 1000 cases) to have your rifle brass prepped as follows?

Cleaned
Resized
Trimmed to a uniform length
Primer pocket swaged
Case annealed

I'd like to get an idea of payback before I drop $6K on equipment.

I'm thinking 223/5.56 only to start.

You'd get your brass back ready to load.
Personally, I wouldn't pay for it at all. Skinflintness (probably not a word) is partly why, but mainly because I enjoy the whole reloading process. I find it kind of relaxing; even the tedious stuff like case prep.
Having said that, if I were still shooting at a competition level I might be interested in prepped brass just to save some time.
 
I'd say $75/k for high-quality (Scharch machine-level) batch-processing of crimped Lake city 5.56 would be a no-brainer--my brass in/my brass out, from a known-competent individual.

I agree with PacMcD that annealing should be an a la carte item.

I was interested in annealing 1K of chopped Lake City brass before converting it to 300 Blackout. Small-batch annealing (lots of 250) of precision cases would be another item altogether.
 
Last edited:
And it was at this point, that the forum moderator realized asking a bunch of shills, flints and cheap-asses, what they would pay for a service.

"NEVER AGAIN!" he yelled at the sky, shaking his fists in frustration.
Lmao I was thinking the same
 
This thread got me thinking...


What would you be willing to pay (per 1000 cases) to have your rifle brass prepped as follows?

Cleaned
Resized
Trimmed to a uniform length
Primer pocket swaged
Case annealed

I'd like to get an idea of payback before I drop $6K on equipment.

I'm thinking 223/5.56 only to start.

You'd get your brass back ready to load.
Any kick back to the Mill? Just LOL. Jack.
 
Not commercial, but at least automated...
The markII and the case feeder - if ever in stock is about $2k
Not one to drop 2k on a machine for personal use. For limit ed run.

My my thinking was
I have 10k p!us 223 close to 5k 30-06 IF I was to have it all done at once I basically would not need to prep 223/30-06 for several years. Vs prep of 100-250 ever now and again.
I dont know about you guys but i can feel the difference on my brass when i trim or resize brass after 4+ reloads.


Anyhow just a thought
 
I paid .06-.07/ to get 1500 LC 5.56 processed including swaging the primer pocket. No annealing. Totally worth it.

Edit: it was 0.075/each with return shipping. Still totally worth it.

Trimming brass with my Lee trimmer in a vice and cordless drill sucks. It's OK for 100's, but tedious for large lots. I trim .223 brass before the first reload, and again for the 4th; I've not found them to exceed max case length in that time with my loads. I reload them 5 times and have never had a case head separation. I paid to get 1500 processed; that means I've got 4500 uses before I need to re-trim.
 
Last edited:
Since we're on the subject, I would also be happy to get some .308 brass sized/swaged/trimmed in the future. The guy I used before only does .223 as EC is looking to do.
 
I have a bucket full of LC once fired .223 / 5.56 that I would pay to have processed. At 1X, I don't think it needs to be annealed but later I'd want that.

$75 / 1000 with return shipping the going rate? A little less if dropped off and picked up?
 
Since we're on the subject, I would also be happy to get some .308 brass sized/swaged/trimmed in the future. The guy I used before only does .223 as EC is looking to do.

Nope. I was saying $50/k for everything. Someone asked what I would pay. Thats what I would pay. Which is probably why I process tens of thousands of cases myself currently. Lol
 
Nope. I was saying $50/k for everything. Someone asked what I would pay. Thats what I would pay. Which is probably why I process tens of thousands of cases myself currently. Lol
Fair enough. Cost is a big part of why we reload. I certainly don't save anything, but I do get to shoot a lot more.

I have a bucket full of LC once fired .223 / 5.56 that I would pay to have processed. At 1X, I don't think it needs to be annealed but later I'd want that.

$75 / 1000 with return shipping the going rate? A little less if dropped off and picked up?
That's what I paid; maybe there's cheaper out there. Maybe you can be EC's first customer [smile]
 
I have a bucket full of LC once fired .223 / 5.56 that I would pay to have processed. At 1X, I don't think it needs to be annealed but later I'd want that.

$75 / 1000 with return shipping the going rate? A little less if dropped off and picked up?
my 223 is 5x or more. Why Im thinking of annealing? I figure even if I get 3000 cases prepped and annealed Im good for a long time and can start tossing them as primer pockets open up.
if I get 3000 processed thats another 15k loading potential?
eh right now it sits waiting. I got my first neck split on my current 250 pc batch so they will get scrapped. I will grab another 250 from the 1x pile and keep going.
 
I haven't looked in a long time, but in the CMP forums there was always someone processing brass that everyone that would just stop doing it. They seemed to get interested, start the service, then sell it or just plain disappear a year or 2 later. Feedback was positive on the services from the various people, but it seemed like they lose interest, or the labor (time) involved just wasn't worth it.
Most of the processors would offer some type of sorting, usually by headstamp.
Most of them had sources of once fired lake city brass they would process and sell by the lot.
 
I haven't looked in a long time, but in the CMP forums there was always someone processing brass that everyone that would just stop doing it. They seemed to get interested, start the service, then sell it or just plain disappear a year or 2 later. Feedback was positive on the services from the various people, but it seemed like they lose interest, or the labor (time) involved just wasn't worth it.
Most of the processors would offer some type of sorting, usually by headstamp.
Most of them had sources of once fired lake city brass they would process and sell by the lot.


There's no way I'd clean, resize, and trim brass for under $0.10 per case. It seems like that's going to be too expensive for most people.

If you add in sorting, I wouldn't do it for less than $0.50 per case. Look at every one and make a decision? NFW.

For the same amount of time spent, I can make more money on OnlyFans.com
 
Back
Top Bottom