Sorting Brass Results

[NavyVet1959]

The local indoor range that I used to be able to buy brass from quit sorting it and just sells it by the pound these day. They said that it wasn't worth it anymore to hire someone just to sit there and sort brass all day.

I needed some 9mm brass and figured that was what most people probably shot anyway around there. Besides, I was curious what the percentage of the various calibers I might get after running through a few pounds of it. Plus, the weather was nice, so it was a good day to take the bike out for a ride. I picked up 20 lbs and they had it boxed up in two 10-lb boxes -- each of which fit perfectly in each side of my saddlebags.

One I got home, I washed, sorted, and dried them. Here's the result of one of the 10-lb boxes:

.45ACP	brass	62
.40SW	steel	10
.40SW	brass	171
9mm	steel	131
9mm	brass	480
.380	brass	112
.357 mag	brass	7
.38 special	brass	27
.38 special shortened	brass	2
9mm	aluminum	19
.22 LR	brass	109
.22 mag	brass	8

Plus a couple of loaded .22LR and 9mm rounds.

So, for $12.50, I ended up with 757 pieces of brass in calibers that I reload for (i.e. 9mm, .45ACP, .38 special, .357 mag, .40SW). Or $16.51 per 1000 pieces equivalent.

And a couple hours of my time cleaning, sorting, and counting...

Don't know if I'll do it again, but it was interesting to see what the percentages were for the various calibers.

I didn't factor in the gas to go over there -- probably 2 gallons. I figure I would have been out riding anyway and this just gave me an *excuse*.

Now I'm curious if that .380 brass can be reloaded to 9mm OAL and shot in one of my 9mm guns. Hmmm...

[corbinace]

Doesn't the 9mm head space on the case mouth? In reality, the extractor may hold on to it enough for plinking purposes, if it will stay on with the smaller head.

[NavyVet1959]

Doesn't the 9mm head space on the case mouth? In reality, the extractor may hold on to it enough for plinking purposes, if it will stay on with the smaller head.

I'm not too concerned with that since I already use .40SW brass in 10mm handguns loaded to 10mm OAL and pressure. Plus, Rowland relies on the extractor to hold .45ACP and .45 SUPER rounds in his .460 Rowland chamber on his converted M1911s and Glock 21s.

I'm thinking if the bullet is long enough, there might still be plenty of brass holding onto it even loaded longer than .380 normally would be loaded. Just resize the .380 brass with the 9x19 dies. Maybe good for shooting when you can't necessarily recover your brass.

Even 9x19 brass is a bit short to load some bullets to the SAAMI max OAL. For example, if you load the Lee 105gr SWC to 9x19 max OAL, you get this:



As you can see from the following photo of just the bare bullets, there really isn't much of the bullet being held by the brass in this particular situation. Basically one band of the bullet is still in the brass.

[corbinace]

Very interesting indeed. Thanks for the follow up.

[NavyVet1959]

One of the interesting finds was a couple of 9x19 cartridges that I originally thought looked like steel, but they were non-magnetic. They are kind of like a dark oil rubbed bronze look, nearly black in color.

[RogerDat]

If I am willing to spend the time I can sort before I buy. Even with that over time I have a coffee can of 9mm from it being caught inside or on other brass. Same for the 40's the end up getting caught up inside the 45 acp or on the 223/5.56 brass. 357 mag or 45 colt is almost nonexistent. Did find a bunch of 44 mag once. That was nice surprise. One time I hit a batch that was the most reloaded 38 special known to man. I guess the reloader finally decided to just go shoot it and let the brass go. Swear the neck was worn to a knife edge and some you could almost shake the primers out. So how long does it take to wear the nickel off to the point the brass shows through?

[NavyVet1959]

If I am willing to spend the time I can sort before I buy. Even with that over time I have a coffee can of 9mm from it being caught inside or on other brass. Same for the 40's the end up getting caught up inside the 45 acp or on the 223/5.56 brass. 357 mag or 45 colt is almost nonexistent. Did find a bunch of 44 mag once. That was nice surprise. One time I hit a batch that was the most reloaded 38 special known to man. I guess the reloader finally decided to just go shoot it and let the brass go. Swear the neck was worn to a knife edge and some you could almost shake the primers out. So how long does it take to wear the nickel off to the point the brass shows through?

I encountered a quite a few where the 9mm was inside of the .40SW and that was inside of the .45ACP. If you could consistently do that, it would be an efficient method of shipping a lot of brass in one of the USPS flat rate boxes.

I guess the small amount of .22LR that I found is an indication that it still hasn't come back like it used to be 8 years ago. Back then, it wasn't uncommon to take a 500-round brick to the range and shoot it in one day.

[RogerDat]

I did see a couple or three 5 gallon buckets that looked to be mostly 22 LR but you are right NavyVet those are few and far between. I'm guessing those might have been some sort of classes, training event, or competition. In the general run of things I see maybe a handful every two or three pails. Heck I have more than that unfired left over from Y2K.

[CraigOK]

One of the interesting finds was a couple of 9x19 cartridges that I originally thought looked like steel, but they were non-magnetic. They are kind of like a dark oil rubbed bronze look, nearly black in color.

browning?

[Mytmousemalibu]

Brass that has been outside in the dirt in standing water will turn that really dark color. One of the ranges we shoot at has a lot of water drainage problems we end up always end up picking up a lot of left behind. The stuff that was in areas of water turn really dark, they look like dingy steel case before it rusts. Looks horrible but cleans up just bright & pretty like any other.

Also I tried to shoo of a feral cat at the old house, grabbing a piece of unknown primed brass just for the bang. Dropped it into my TP9 and click.....Nothing. Tried again, nothing. It was .380 I had grabbed. it drops into a 9mm chamber far enough the firing pin won't reach. As expected though, the case head is smaller than 9mm. I probably wouldn't try to 9mm'er the .380 brass. One is poor fit and the other is reduced case volume, even with seating way out. Not really worth the hassle in my case.

[NavyVet1959]

Brass that has been outside in the dirt in standing water will turn that really dark color. One of the ranges we shoot at has a lot of water drainage problems we end up always end up picking up a lot of left behind. The stuff that was in areas of water turn really dark, they look like dingy steel case before it rusts. Looks horrible but cleans up just bright & pretty like any other.

It's an inside range with concrete floors that they sweep up often, so I don't think it is that. It's not dingy looking though, just a dark, but shiny oil-rubbed bronze color.

[fatelk]

I've seen both Hornady and Browning brass like that; it's a blackened nickel plated brass. It's actually good brass. I found a whole bunch of Hornady .223 brass once. Usually don't find rifle brass as the scroungers get it all, but everyone must have thought it was just Russian steel cases.

[NavyVet1959]

I've seen both Hornady and Browning brass like that; it's a blackened nickel plated brass. It's actually good brass. I found a whole bunch of Hornady .223 brass once. Usually don't find rifle brass as the scroungers get it all, but everyone must have thought it was just Russian steel cases.

Yeah, it looks like nearly a blue steel. It's not magnetic and feels too heavy to be aluminum, so I put it with the rest of the brass cases.

[NavyVet1959]

Well, I processed the second 10-lb box this evening and this is what I got out of it (along with what I got out of the first 10-lb box).

CALIBER	MATERIAL	BOX #1	BOX #2	TOTAL
.45ACP	brass	62	68	130
.45ACP	steel		1	1
.40SW	steel	10	9	19
.40SW	brass	171	290	461
9mm	steel	131	180	311
9mm	brass	480	496	976
9mm	aluminum	19	10	29
.380	brass	112	89	201
.357 mag	brass	7	8	15
.38 special	brass	27	25	52
.38 special shortened	brass	2		2
.22 LR	brass	109	138	247
.22 mag	brass	8	7	15

The totals that are in bold in the rightmost column are calibers that I reload and are brass. I'm just going to assume that the rest of them are scrap for now.

That gives me 1634 pieces of usable brass for $25 or the equivalent of $15.30 per 1000.

Not a single piece of the other handgun calibers I reload -- 10mm, .357 SIG, .44 (special or mag), or .45LC...

I'm not sure what those 2 pieces that I listed as ".38 special shortened" are about. They seem to be about the same OAL as a piece of 9x19 brass. I wonder if someone was making 9mm Federal or .38 S&W out of .38 Special brass...

[Tackleberry41]

40S&W is a cut down 10mm case. Where a 380 is a completely different case from a 9mm.

And yea 9mm can nestle in a 40, and 40 in a 45. I learned not to tumble them together as they can be pretty hard to get apart if a little media gets in there, and also wont polish. Some is worse than others like a 40 deep inside a 45 colt.

I dont mind buying unsorted brass. I have a big bag of 9, 40, 45acp. I often end up with less than 50 where you cant make a box with a common case. I keep em separated, and eventually come up with enough to make 50. And theres a big bag of mixed for ea caliber, just the oddball stuff where theres only a couple. Can be used for plinking.

Guess depends on the range what you get. Guy I knew worked at an outdoor place. It was rare to find anything outside of 223, 9mm, 40, or 45acp. The good stuff was usually not left by shooters. When hunting season would start up you might find a box of 270, 30-30 etc where somebody made sure the scope was on for hunting season. But I have little use for a box of 20 of something, if its not something I already have.

[Eddie2002]

Surprised you didn't pick up any .32 or .25 pistol brass. When I brass rat at the range I'm always coming home with a couple of those two calibers.

[NavyVet1959]

Surprised you didn't pick up any .32 or .25 pistol brass. When I brass rat at the range I'm always coming home with a couple of those two calibers.

I was a bit surprised also... When I had previously bought *sorted* brass from that range, I had encountered both .32 and .25 brass stuck in some of the other calibers.

[dragon813gt]

I honestly thought this was a thread about sorting by head stamp. I could understand them not wanting to pay someone to sort them that way. I was not expecting they were different cartridges. Personally I would never buy that way. And I'd imagine the range could make enough off the sale of brass to buy a sorting machine.

[NavyVet1959]

I honestly thought this was a thread about sorting by head stamp. I could understand them not wanting to pay someone to sort them that way. I was not expecting they were different cartridges. Personally I would never buy that way. And I'd imagine the range could make enough off the sale of brass to buy a sorting machine.

There's no way I would sort by head stamp. That would just be way too painful on my old eyes. Besides, it's just handgun ammo, not benchrest shooting.

About halfway through the 2nd box, I noticed that I had something with slots in it that were the right size to let everything through except .45ACP. Basically toss a double handful onto it, shake it a bit, and then collect the .45ACP that would not fall through. If I decide to do this again, I'll probably create a couple of panels with different grid sizes for the other calibers. Even just filtering for .45, .40, and 9mm/.380 would take care of most of the sorting. A rare earth magnet is good for removing the steel cases and there were not that many aluminum ones, plus they tend to stand out somewhat.

[RogerDat]

Well, I processed the second 10-lb box this evening and this is what I got out of it (along with what I got out of the first 10-lb box)......


....The totals that are in bold in the rightmost column are calibers that I reload and are brass. I'm just going to assume that the rest of them are scrap for now.

That gives me 1634 pieces of usable brass for $25 or the equivalent of $15.30 per 1000.

Not a single piece of the other handgun calibers I reload -- 10mm, .357 SIG, .44 (special or mag), or .45LC...

I'm not sure what those 2 pieces that I listed as ".38 special shortened" are about. They seem to be about the same OAL as a piece of 9x19 brass. I wonder if someone was making 9mm Federal or .38 S&W out of .38 Special brass...

Well at least the stuff that is brass that you don't shoot will go toward offsetting your purchase price if you sell it to a scrap yard.

I found the only thing that worked for me was to sort before I buy. I can go through about one 5 gallon bucket of brass in an hour or a hour and a half at most.
BUT that is partly because I am sorting to pull out fewer calibers, if it isn't one I want I dump it in the bucket of scrap I'm not purchasing. So 38, 357, 44 mag, 45 colt, 223 or larger rifle go in one of 4 buckets in front of me everything else in my lap tray is just dumped into scrap on my side bucket. I used to pull out 45 ACP if I was seeing 1x fired and drop them in a coffee can for a friend that used my bench, he passed on so now it is just one of those 4 groups.

NavyVet is sorting everything and that would take much longer. As was the range when it sorted it I imagine. If the range was sorting it all by caliber then a brass sorter with angled rollers would probably pay for itself in short order. Not 100% sorted but certainly pretty close, and finding the 357 mixed in the bucket of 38 brass would not wreck anyone's day.