Collector Value For Old Brass

[DLS]

Hello folks!

I bought a large batch of military .30-06 brass recently and in it were a fair number of cases with head stamp dates in the 20's, 30' and 40's. This is fired brass. It looks to be in good shape with no corrosion that can happen from corrosive primers. I loaded up some 1943 cases and fired them in my 1943 Garand as it seemed fitting to do so. The brass functioned perfectly by the way.

So … any collector's value for brass this old? There are a handful of cases from the "teens" and a few '08 and '09s in the mix that I'm keeping regardless. These are just too cool to shoot. The other stuff though … what do you think? I have not found anything on the web regarding this … only collector info related to fully loaded cartridges so I'm doubting there is much value other than its value as reloadable brass.

Thanks for any comments or ideas.

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[Andy54Hawken]

I loaded up some 1943 cases and fired them in my 1943 Garand as it seemed fitting to do so. The brass functioned perfectly by the wa

Very cool...!
I have shot some round ball that has been cast with an original mold for a 1860 Colt Army revolver , in my original Colt and replica 1860 Army revolvers....

Other than folks who like to keep things matching...I can't see much dollar value ...but the cool factor is there for sure.
Andy

 

[DLS]

My thinking too, but thought I'd ask. I have a '42 Garand and a '44 Springfield that will get matching brass as well. It just seems like the right thing to do! <GRIN>

 

[CLT65]

I have a bunch of the same kind of stuff. I even have numerous old live rounds from the same era.

As near as I can tell, there is really no collector value to empty brass, unless it's in an extremely rare cartridge. Even old live rounds aren't worth much of anything unless they're quite rare or in original boxes. They made so many millions upon millions of them that even stuff from the teens and '20s is pretty common still. The oldest ammo I ever shot was .45 acp ammo dated 1914.

I have hundreds upon hundreds of WWII 30-06 brass that I still reload and use in my M1s. I agree, it seems like a very fitting use for them. The older WWI and earlier brass I just don't know what to do with either. They're really not worth anything, but it seems a shame to use them up and scrap them, so I just sit them aside for posterity.

 

[Legion489]

CLT65 has the right idea. Old brass in and of itself doesn't seem worth much unless special in some way (used by Teddy Roosevelt on his African hunt), or a very rare case to begin with. Old brass is not especually good for reloading either. Brass age hardens, various air pollutants will wreck it, corrosive primers will wreck it, on and on. Sure I got ammo from the 19teens-1920s, 30s-40s, most of which still shoots (most of the time), but trust my life to it or brass that old? Nope. A blown/split case head, separation, whatever will really set your day back even if nothing is serious hurt.

I am not saying having a display of brass from 1862 on through 2019 isn't neat, but really, for shooting, let it rest. New brass isn't expensive and the old brass is better as a display to show what it was like back in the good old days.

 

[gmerkt]

I guess I'm not the only odd-ball that keeps this fairly valueless stuff. Like others have said, I've got some old service .30-06 brass as far back as the 20's. I used to reload and fire them but now I've retired most of the old stuff. I even keep "early" 7.62mm NATO and 5.56mm.

 

[DLS]

Well I decided to keep everything from the '30s and older. I've loaded up the '40s and '50 stuff and so far it's functioning fine. I'll anneal them all before another loading though.

It just didn't seem right to not keep the old ones … especially those dated in the teens and the "aught" years!.

 

[DLS]

I should add that these have all been loaded pretty light. I want easy on the op-rod rounds for the majority of my mil-surp shooting. So I'm not stressing the brass like a full power service load would.

I'm not opposed to shooting full power loads in my guns, but when most of the time it's my boys and I doing gravel pit shooting or 100 yard standing competitions among ourselves it seems prudent to go easy on the rifles and the pocketbook with lighter loads.