To sort or not to sort 38 special cases

[greenwart]

I came across a deal and acquired about 2000 38 special cases. They are about 60% brass and 40% nickel plated. About 1/3 are +P. I usually sort but it always seems like a PITA. I always come back from shooting and they are all mixed up again and I will end up with 48 of one type and 97 of another. Those missing cases must be having a party with the solo socks that never make it back from the dryer.. I will usually make a pile of all the odd ball cases load them up and give them to someone else to shoot. Is there any significant differences in cases between the major manufacturers?

Bob

[sealer]

probably no need to sort for casual plinking, but i still do it anyway
YMMV, Dennis

[00buck]

Are they all the same length?

[troyboy]

I sort all brass by headstamp.

[roberts1]

im a nonsorter but I only do casual shooting. Ocasionally though, I do run across a short one while crimping.

[lancem]

38 special with target loads, no way would I mess around with sorting. I clean them, toss them in the case feeder and go. If I've loaded one I've loaded 30,000 over the years and never have I sorted a pistol case, other than those pesky small primer 45 acp.

[greenwart]

They are all between 1.145-1.150.

[dubber123]

Knocking around cans at 25 yds.? probably a waste of time. Trying to shoot 1" groups at 50 yds.? It certainly helps.

[ruizhernandeztrust]

I only sort to separate nickel plated cases and plain brass. I don't bother sorting different head stamps.

[dragon813gt]

Separate brass from nickel. Trim each type to the same length. Load and shoot. Pistol brass is easy. Load till they fail. I don't keep track of times fired like I do w/ rifle brass.

[waco]

I am a lazy SOB. I do not sort .38 cases. But I only plink. nothing serious.

This question is like a lot that have to do with casting and reloading. you can get as picky as you want to, or just reload safe useable ammo. It all depends on YOUR standards.

When I shoot steel at 900 yards, yeah, I nit pick everything. Beer cans at 20 yards with my K-38....NO.

[dragonrider]

I sort brass from nickel, that's it. I really do not like nickel cases. I put all nickel cases, no matter the caliber, into a medium flat rate box and when it is full I will give it to someone.

[rmatchell]

I only shoot 38 spl with family for fun so no real sorting. I do however pull out any military cases I find, but not for any real reason I guess.

[TMenezes]

I'm also a non sorter for general range loads. Only time I make the effort is for some special +P hunting or defense type loads.

[rking22]

Only sorting is for wadcutter loads, some cases get a bit-o-belly when fed a wadcutter. Why sort brass from plated ?? Am I missing something? If it's a 38special I'm gonna shoot it till it splits

[Pepe Ray]

Waco, Post #11, has it right.
It all depends on what you demand/expect of your ammo.
If you've ever done a serious study of a wide assortment of 38 Spl. cases, you'd discover that they are not all constructed the same.
F.I. G.I. brass is invariably much heavier, ie. smaller combustion chambers. Cases from original wad cutters are thinner with straighter inner walls to accommodate
wad cutter configuration. etc.
For casual plinking, just be safe.
Pepe Ray

[rintinglen]

When I shot PPC, I had Federal Wadcutter cases that were kept religiously for matches only. My practice brass was everything else, unsorted, except that I threw out military and S&W head-stamped brass. Those were so thick that they would ruin an otherwise promising group.

[StrawHat]

When I shot PPC, my match ammunition was loaded into cases with the same headstamp, I had buckets of the stuff. For practice, I loaded my recipe into what ever brass I had on hand (also buckets of the stuff). The difference in scores was not enough to concern me. I still preferred match stuff to be all the same, but they both shot the same.

[opos]

I never load standard loads in cases marked +P and never load +P in standard cases..not so much for me but in case someting happened to me and the +P's in standard cases fell into someone elses hands than may not have a modern, +P rated handgun...I'd hate to see some of my +P's end up in my old Saturday Night Special RB31..might be a nasty surprise as the RB frame is pot metal and they are known to come apart at very unexpected times.

[mold maker]

Nickel from brass only, because tumbling nickel till the brass is cleaned, wears the nickel thin.
While all shooting is serious, I do it only for fun, and SD. In both cases min/can at 25 yd is good enough. With my old eyes that's the best I can do with a hand gun.