.40 S&W brass

[buckey]

Have around 8 or 9 thousand once fired .40 S&W cases and am wondering if there is still a market for them or to send them to the scrap yard this week?
Thanks

[totaldla]

Yep, there's still a market. There's lots of guys like me that love once-fired 40sw brass.

[oldmanFCSA]

I have 3000 pieces of new Starline 40S&W brass,

But every time I've listed it for sale, all I hear is "crickets".

Make me an offer seemed like a chance to sell. BUT.................

Its in a large ammo can - will hold until someone wants it.

[44 AMP]

It was very popular for a few years, LOTS of brass was made, is still being made, interest and demand is less than it once was.

Good usable brass in any caliber is always worth more than scrap brass prices. ALWAYS. Just because there isn't a huge interest today doesn't mean no one will ever want it again.

[rc]

Long term that brass doesn't take up much space and it can be sold by the pound to people who don't want to pay 5 cents to 8 cents a piece for used brass. You might get a couple of dollars a pound for scrap and it would cost probably over $100 to replace. 40 may not be as popular as it once was, but it is still a popular defense option. I bet demand for ammo and brass is down simply because 9 has much cheaper bullets available and all components are up right now leading to lower demand for brass to reload overall. It would probably be worth taking to a gun show to trade if you are going to a show anyway.

[Marco Califo]

One thing I think you should expect is that some range brass may have been fired through early Glocks.
When I bought 40 SW range brass I found it necessary to inspect every case around 1/4" from base/rim, looking for bulges that can be fixed, and "Glock smiles" which should be discarded and are not safe to reload and fire. Good lighting and a case gauge helps.
About 15% were trashed. About 30% went through a Lee Bulge Buster, some more than once. I labeled my inspected brass.
Around that time I bought Starline new 40 SW, in brass and nickel plated. I load the new brass.

[oldmanFCSA]

I hate Glock brass that has Bulged !!!!!
Back in 2005 I loaded some range brass and shot it in my Beretta 96, only to have multiple cases stuck in chamber requiring a brass punch to remove.

That's when I learned about the bulge.

The LEE Bulge-Buster die requires the case to be held in a shell holder and upon insertion of case into die the bulge is pushed down towards extractor groove and inward on diameter. Result is some of the bulge may still exist. Not Good.

I thought about the process and the un-supported Glock chamber design that allows brass to flow out & down at same time.
I came up with a process that pushes the bulge material back up & in on diameter returning the material to the original location. This was done with a 0.423" carbide die body that will allow for complete push thru. To get the proper push on material, the case needs to go thru die butt first which requires a push button of case internal dimensions mounted to the ram. Works great !!! I've tested cases with loads near maximum and individually examined each and every case with no failures in previous bulge area.

Side effect - I installed a decapping pin in top of pusher which will deprime the case as it is pushed thru the special sizer die. It does involve placing case over pusher with case flash hole on decapping pin. A screened pan separates primers from cases.

As far as I know, this process only works on a 40S&W as case rim diameter is same as case body diameter and the case is of straight-wall design.

Y.M.M.V.

[Nathan]

There is value at some price. I’d pay shipping for them and slightly above scrap rate for 1000 or so.

Some guys look at the price of new and mark down 20%….there is no market at that price for 40 today.

[Nick_C_S]

Has 40 S&W really fallen that far out of favor?

I don't own one because I'm mostly a revolver guy and my compact carry is a 9mm. But it would seem to me that 40 S&W sits squarely in the "effective personal protection" window.

??

[Marco Califo]

40 SW is extremely popular in Law Enforcement and Corrections officers. It is not going away.

[Sevens]

.40 cal was an extremely popular option during the 10 years of AWB silliness where everyone was limited to 10-round capacity magazines. 10 rounds of .40, if you can handle the recoil and muzzle flip is more effective than 10 rounds of 9mm.

Since the sunset of the AWB and the fact that every .40cal pistol holds less ammo than the same size/model of 9mm pistol, it's popularity has dropped. And since so many LE organizations have moved to or back to 9mm, the popularity of .40 has REALLY dropped.

However... it's all relative. .40's popularity has dropped like an absolute rock, perhaps more like a boulder off a cliff. But it's rise was meteoric and it's popularity at one time was gargantuan, so it had a long way to fall. It would be accurate to say that today, right now might be the least popular that .40 S&W has ever been since it's introduction. But even though that might be true, it's probably still a current top-5 in center fire handgun-specific ammo.

Also, you can measure popularity in a couple different ways. Measure by ammo sales or look at current guns being produced or watch as new handguns are being debuted to see if a particular caliber is offered. Any way you slice is, the popularity of .40cal is at it's lowest now and diminishing, but it's still near the top.

[Marco Califo]

Delete

[Nathan]

40 s&w is suffering the same as the M1 Garand.

Basically better design of SD rounds driven by the FBI test protocol drove the FBI from 38 Spcl and 9mm to 40 s&w. There were intermediate stops. 10mm, God’s round(45 auto) and 357 mag.

40 was established and all was great. Then years of hiring women, non-military background males and other less weapon focused Leo drove police departments to push the 9mm button again. Fortunately, with the test protocol crystal clear and billions spent developing 9mm, the 124gr and 147 gr bullets, developed for the velocity gave pretty good performance. If not, they slowed the velocity until they got penetration right.

All this created decent 9mm rounds that work lots of the time.

I would suggest it your split times are good with the 40, that you make the step up. My splits are ok in a 5” gun, but in the 3” guns, I still need 9mm/38 spcl.

What’s worse is I think there are people in the world that think the 9mm is better than 40 or 45….even with the same splits.

9mm is enjoying an assumption and gun shop talk saying it is just as good as 40/45. I’d predict we have another Miami style shootout in the next 10 to 20 years that makes 40 s&w more popular, but maybe I’m wrong.

[buckey]

With my luck I'll scrap my excess .40 brass and next year the .40 will make the same come back as the .10mm.

[Nathan]

Why not sell it for $50 per 1000 shipped?

[rc]

Would it fit in a medium or large flat shipping box? Weigh it and people can estimate how much brass that is and the total cost depending on the flat rate box it fits in.

[buckey]

Might have to check USPS about flat rate shipping? Stay tuned.

[Marco Califo]

When I bought 40SW range brass it was always in flat rate boxes from "Precision Once Fiewd Brass". They used to sell direct to reloaders. They went our of business.

[zeke]

For years it was the most found brass on our range. It would appear most dedicated brass scroungers already have a lifetime supply.

[buckey]

Scrap price is $2.15 per LBS, 1000 cases = 10 LBS =$21.50, Shipping close to $20.00 = $40.00 + plus time and travel.Not a lot of meat left on the Bone ?

[Nathan]

Looks like new brand name is about $220-250 shipped. Used is like $50 - $80 with mos closer to $55.

Yea, I would think you would have to sell for $50 or so shipped. Maybe pirate ship could get the shipping down a few bucks. For $50-$60, some are cleaned.

[totaldla]

Originally Posted by buckey

With my luck I'll scrap my excess .40 brass and next year the .40 will make the same come back as the .10mm.

If you live in SW Idaho I'll drive over and take it off your hands.