I operate a rifle range, have for about 20 years, and until about a year ago we would leave the brass casing from the ammo on the ground or piling it. I have tens of thousands of pounds of brass, aluminum, and steel casings piled up now. So we decided it was time to begin sorting it, and taking it to the scrap yard, yielding about a dollar a pound for the brass, which 80% of it is. So it has to be sorted out before they will take it.
We have been shoveling the brass into 5 gallon buckets, pouring it on a sorting table, running a magnet through it to remove anything magnetic, removing all rocks (amount of rock ranges from 25% to 0%) by hand, and removing all aluminum by hand; leaving us with buckets of rock, buckets of aluminum, buckets of steel, and sweet, sweet buckets of brass. The 0% rock buckets of brass I can sort 50 pounds in about 30 minutes. But the rockier stuff can take an hour or two for the same weight, and I simply don't have time, and despite the awesome pay, I'd rather never sort another bucket of brass again in my life. Its a terrible, mind numbing, depressing task.
Wondering if there is a way to throw it all in something that can hold 500 pounds of the mixed product, and separate it all for me using heat.
If you haven't already figured this out, I know nothing about this kind of thing other than different metals have different melting points and that what I am asking for is NOT easy if not impossible.
Is there a way?