Well it would seem that the days of finding mountains of empties in the brass barrels at the ranges and clubs are gone. Lately I have been buying brass at flea markets. There is always plenty of it, and around these parts the normal price is about a dime per piece for the conventional cartridges, a bit more for magnums. Of course you don't know if it's been once-fired or fired to near death, but it's worth a gamble to me. Once a brass buzzard, always a brass buzzard.

I would inspect each one but have no problem loading them

I'm a brass horder myself. I collect even the ones I don't reload for. Those will either be traded or given to someone who can use 'em. I have several firearms that have never digested a factory round since I've owned them.

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NRA Life Member

Is "ditto" long enough to be considered a post?

I've got at least half a dozen different kinds of brass that have been sorted and tumbled, yet I do not personally own a gun to shoot them from. One example is 38 and 357. I have a bunch of both, but don't have a gun for them...YET!

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IME, the best used brass are the ones that are very clean, exhibit no resizer marks, the primers may still have sealant around the pockets and the rims may have no or only one extractor mark.

With handgun brass where I can see into the interior, I only take the ones that still show lots of shiney brass on the inside of the case. I never take the ones that are heavily carbon coated as that's a tip-off of a heavily used case.

After I retired, I used to shoot on Mondays at my local range. It was a brass scrounger's paradise as a lot of brass was often left over from the weekend shooters. The shorter distance pistol ranges was especially bountiful since many new shooters shoot there and few of them reload. I took home a lot of once fired brass from that part of the range.

The last time I purchased used, once-fired brass it was from MidwayUSA and they sent me all commercial 9mm Winchester brass. If you're paying a dime for each case, that sounds about right for rifle brass but a bit high if it's handgun. Have you check the net for used brass dealers? There are some there the last time I looked.

I guess I've been out of touch with reality for a while. I had no idea that brass had become so valuable.

About fifteen years ago, while employed as a police officer, I worked part time as a range officer at a gun store shooting range. A lot of city folks came in there and shot and would just leave the brass. I started bringing an empty range bag to work and would take it home every night packed with new, once-fired brass. I still have a pretty large supply. I'll have to make sure that my kids know not to just give that stuff away. They will probably need the money.

I've pretty much gotten out of the habit now. I have my own range at my house and friends come by to shoot and many of them don't reload. I seldom save brass now but I may start again. Back in the day I would pounce on brass while it was still hot.

Bob

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At our annual deer rifle sight-in days, which I conduct with two other line coaches, we put a clean 5-gallon bucket at each shooting bench. All once-fired brass comes home with the range detail guys. Most shooters use factory ammo and put the fired brass back in the boxes.

I gave up on diving into the range brass barrel long ago because most of the brass was many-times loaded cases and were discarded by a knowledgeable reloader. I only bring home brass I know is once-fired.

Webley

Truly the Lord doth smile down on thee . . .

Marshal Kane,

The Lord also smiled on me. In 1988, I bought a 60-acre farm in rural PA. The land is hilly with half crop fields and half woods. I have 5 ranges on the land; the longest is a lasered 400 yards in the big hayfield with two gongs and a target frame and a shooting bench. I gave up on public ranges long ago with all the petty rules and armed idiots.

Webley