Sorting Brass

[EddieZoom]

I usually do a decent job of sorting brass (my own + range pickups) but lately I'm thinking my "eyeball test" isn't as accurate as it once was

Specifically, 380's are sneaking into my 9MM stash and putting a kibosh on my reloading sessions.

Short of sorting brass by headstamp (which honestly I'm probably never going to do for pistol calibers) what can I do to improve my process ? What works for ya ?

[billyb]

I run my gun club's indoor range on Saturdays and I sort a lot of brass. I bought a set of the plastic brass sorters, the ones with the slots. They make short work of a big pile of brass. But the 380's still get stuck in the bigger cases. Still have to be careful sizing on the 650.

[toallmy]

It seems my reading glasses don't seem to work as good as they once did , so I picked up one of those large adjustable magnifying glass with a light on it .

[ioon44]

I deprime and inspect all my range brass and sort by cal. before wet tumbling. The best way to separate 9 mm and .380 is to set them on the bench then the shorter .380 are easy to catch.

The only head stamp sorting I do is to cull odd head stamp 9 mm and keep U.S. made brass. Also the longer the session the more mistakes as my eyes get tired.

[BNE]

I deprime and inspect all my range brass and sort by cal. before wet tumbling. The best way to separate 9 mm and .380 is to set them on the bench then the shorter .380 are easy to catch.

The only head stamp sorting I do is to cull odd head stamp 9 mm and keep U.S. made brass. Also the longer the session the more mistakes as my eyes get tired.

I agree. I pick all non 9 mm and .380s out then set them on my bench and sort by height.

I still find some .380s once in a while when loading. Have to stay vigilant.

[jmorris]

I have devices that sort cases by length but 380 is also smaller diameter than 9mm.

This is a pretty simple sorter I built that drops them, and others into different bins based on diameter.




May be a little overboard for some but I have automated machines to process and load, if you feed them the wrong thing, they are not much better than a manual machine.

[jdfoxinc]

Grafts makes a metal plate you put in the 9 mm sorter that allowed .380 and smaller to fall through.

[kayala]

Same as BNE, I stand them on flat surface and sort by height. For me it's even more "fun", cause I shoot 9x18Mak which I convert from 9x19...

[Mytmousemalibu]

I bought a set of Shell Sorter baskets with the .380 plate added in. The pesky .380 brass is the bain of my existence, it will foul up my 650 in a hurry and it drives me mad! Since getting those, life has been drastically improved! They do a good job and really cut down on the time to process brass.

[reddog81]

Usually once a year I sit down and sort out all the 9mm I've collected. It's a hassle but I always find a handful of .380 cases that were missed when first sorted. Additionally I think it is a good idea to sort out any crimped primer pocket brass or cases with an internal step. Leaving these cases could easily result in problems. Since you have to inspect each head stamp you might as well sort at the same time.

I have a dozen ziplock bags for different head stamps. I lay them out in Alphabetical order and it makes it pretty easy to toss each piece of brass into the appropriate bag. One bag for each - Aquila, Blazer, FC, GFL, RP, Speer, WIN, etc. Any uncommon head stamp I don't worry about and toss all of them into grocery sack - ammoland, tulamaxx, military, etc all get set side.

[John Boy]

The best sort of brass is a set of eyes on the head stamps

[dragon813gt]

Shell sorter w/ the 380 plate: https://www.shellsorter.com

Worth every penny. I was stopping at the range every day after work to pick up brass. Took little time to sort a five gallon bucket. And non slipped into the wrong batch.

If you go this route I will give you a few pointers. Don't stack the baskets on top of each other like they show on their site. Start w/ the largest and go down in size. Don't overload the baskets. You have to be able to shake the cases around if you want them to fall through. This is especially important w/ the 380 plate. The slots will eventually become blocked by the case they're meant to stop. So if you have a bunch of brass on top there's nothing you can do except dump the basket and start over. It's a minimal investment and it works well.

[MUSTANG]

Sort by height; use a bright light shown from the side of stack of mixed brass to ensure that the height difference is more visible.

[EddieZoom]

I have devices that sort cases by length but 380 is also smaller diameter than 9mm.

This is a pretty simple sorter I built that drops them, and others into different bins based on diameter.




May be a little overboard for some but I have automated machines to process and load, if you feed them the wrong thing, they are not much better than a manual machine.

WOW....you da man !!!

[mdi]

Initially I sort by headstamp, primarily looking for questionable manufacturer's and military brass. Since I reload on a Co-Ax it's no big deal if a 380 gets in with a batch of 9mm, as even if I'm not paying much attention when sizing, a 380 will zip right through a 9mm sizing die. Very noticeable and when the case is removed from the press it's placed in another pile...

[Tom W.]

I'll just use a magnifying glass and a magnet.

[Budzilla 19]

Set them up on the table, pick out the shorter .380 brass, and go from there. Yeah, it’s slow and labor intensive, but it’s surely worth it. Just my .02.

[Uncle Dave]

Shell sorter w/ the 380 plate: https://www.shellsorter.com

Worth every penny. I was stopping at the range every day after work to pick up brass. Took little time to sort a five gallon bucket. And non slipped into the wrong batch.

If you go this route I will give you a few pointers. Don't stack the baskets on top of each other like they show on their site. Start w/ the largest and go down in size. Don't overload the baskets. You have to be able to shake the cases around if you want them to fall through. This is especially important w/ the 380 plate. The slots will eventually become blocked by the case they're meant to stop. So if you have a bunch of brass on top there's nothing you can do except dump the basket and start over. It's a minimal investment and it works well.

Yeah what he said!

[rondog]

I stand them up too, but I use an old, rusty, retired baking (cookie) sheet. The .380's and Makarovs are easy to separate from the 9 Lugers this way, I use large tweezers. It also gives me a chance to look in the cases with a flashlight for pebbles and crud, and spot Berdan primed brass. I find a surprising amount of Berdan primed 9mm.

[lightman]

I stand them up in loading blocks, base up. I have about a dozen that I bought at a gun show for $1 each. I sort by caliber and head stamp and cull any undesirable head stamps. This makes it easy to separate the 380's and 9 X 18's from the 9 X 19's. And the 32's! This works ok as a hobby but if its a business you should go to something faster.

I save all of my range brass until hunting season is over and sort it during the slow winter months when I get cabin fever. This can use up a few weeks by the time I sort it, deprime it, tumble it and put it away. And then I will have a marathon loading session!