Why You Should Save Your Brass!

Brass saving is an often neglected aspect of shooting here in the US. while there are many reloaders here, there are even more that after every range trip leave their brass behind. Granted that there are guys who wise up to this and make every opportunity to collect this reusable gold, what does this say for your average hobby shooter? In the forums you hear the occasional guy complain that he is sweeping up the range brass into a bin or the such. Its often quite rare to hear anyone speak of anything remotely close to saving brass outside of the reloading community. So here are some reasons to save your Brass.

Weapon Maintenance and Safety
Many Guys can go near the service life of their weapons without running so much as a patch down the bore of their weapon. While this is disturbing to some of the more serious shooters it is a fact of the hobby. Inspecting your brass after shooting can be indicative of critical component issues such as headspace and checking whether your own handloads are overpressure. This can be seen by looking for issues like the above bulged brass, or in some scenarios popped primers, or primers out of the pockets. While its not critical to look at these every time you shoot it is good to see periodically.

Collectors Value
Believe it or not some people collect brass from a certain era. For some its indicative of a time period (usually a particular war or conflict), or they make jewelry and accessories from it. In other cases maybe the cartridge is just rare and out of production. Currently I have a bit of a love of old brass shotgun hulls, not necessarily because I would load them up but because they would fit perfectly with a western diorama that I was building. It tends to be a little more of a hobby of gun historians.

Cash Value
If you collect brass in any decent amount of volume guys will actually buy the brass off of you. Granted you will need it in some sort of bulk packaging and it will need to be in decent pre-inspected condition, but on reloaders forums and even locally at gun shows the stuff sells. Its not exactly something to get too excited about seeing as you really can't get away with more than $10 per 100 cases unless again it is some wildcat or rare cartridge. But come on shoot 2 boxes of white box and bag $10 back towards more ammo! who's complaining?

Reloading/Handloading
There may also be that rare occurance that you may be a handloader, or it may be possible that you are interested in starting down the path of handloading. Either way buying once fired, new, or your own range pickups you will need the brass. When its on the ground and still warm is often the most "free" way to get it. If you are going down this path make sure to stock up on coffee cans, plastic tubs, and Lots of raw reloading materials. This will ensure you keep your barrel warm and your reloading skills sharp. *as much as your wallet permits that is*