Fast way to sort 45 ACP L & S primed range brass?

[broomhandle]

Hi All,

Small primer 45 brass is a problem for me![smilie=b: There has to be a better way to separate the brass, then sorting through ever case as it comes out of the media separator!

Any idea's?

Thanks in advance,
broom

[Bazoo]

Use a large primer pocket cleaner to check them. Mount it on a board or bench. When you grab a case pass it over the primer pocket tool on its way to the sizing die. You'll feel the difference between them and it might not take much extra time. Just what came to my mind.

[broomhandle]

Hi Bazoo,

That's a good thought!
I was thinking about some type of quick bulk guide. To lining up say 50 cases.
So I can just pick out the small cases. The only idea I came up with was a bullet box with a second hinge, so I can just push out the small primers.
If I don't get a better idea here I'll give your idea & mine a try!

Thanks for your reply,
broom

[ioon44]

I just look at the primer and put the small primer in one box and the large primer in a different box, I don't know how it could be any simpler.

[Sig556r]

I just sort them out from the tumbler. Shake them in a wide container to keep the case mouth upright then grab them by the handful to check headstamp. There maybe some other brands but 90% are mostly Speer & new FC hs that have small primers.
If still too cumbersome for you, use handheld when priming, you'll know which ones are SP pretty quick. No need for pre-sorting.

[lightman]

I'm another that just eyeballs them as they come out of the tumbler. Like Sig556 says, most are Speer and Federal and the letters on those headstamps are different than their large primer brass. Yeah, its still a pain!

[BigAlofPa.]

I put them in there own bin as i go though them. Often wondered why 45acp is the only one's that have 2 different size primers.

[Dan Cash]

Feed them all to the Dillon 550. If the large primer balks on seating, remove the case and throw it in a dedicated coffee can. Another reason a non automatic advance on a progressive press is a good thing.

[Conditor22]

put them in a bullet box and check them with a flat head screwdriver. If the screwdriver doesn't fit, use it to flip the case out.

or just put a row of brass between 2 fingers and check them.

[gwpercle]

I just look at the primer and put the small primer in one box and the large primer in a different box, I don't know how it could be any simpler.
It might seem tedious but inspecting every case, everytime it's going to be reloaded is a very smart thing to do....you can catch a lot of things that way.
There are no awards given for speed in reloading eyeball each case .
Gary

[kayala]

I just stand them primer up after SS tumbling and visually inspect. If I miss any my 650 will let me know and that case would go to a different bin. Once I get enough SP cases accumulated I can make a batch with SP.

[ReloaderFred]

I put them in there own bin as i go though them. Often wondered why 45acp is the only one's that have 2 different size primers.

There are also small pistol primed 10mm cases. I have about 500 of them. And don't forget the large and small primed .400 Cor-Bon cases, too. In the past, there were also large and small primered .357 Magnum and .38 Special cases, so it's not a new conundrum.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[BigAlofPa.]

Thanks for the heads up on 10mm cases. Mine are starline brass. I don't find any at the range. But one day i will. I been lucky with 38 and 357 brass all small so far.

[44magLeo]

One quick easy way to sort them is by not sorting. Buy just large or small. Which every you prefer.
Don't pick up range brass leave it for some else.
Leo

[broomhandle]

Hi All,

I was hoping someone had a better idea!;-) I have been doing it just like all of you for years! It's just a little annoying to look at each case. YES! it is a built in quality check for split cases or other issues.
I use to be a brass rat (hoarder) but I'm better now! LOL

Thanks for the reply's,
broom

[Conditor22]

Never shoot large and small on the same trip.

Has anyone found the large primers are a little hotter than the small?

[ReloaderFred]

Never shoot large and small on the same trip.

Has anyone found the large primers are a little hotter than the small?

In the limited testing I did with my favorite load, I found less than 25 fps difference between the two, which is just about within the average velocity spread for the same load. I only tested 25 rounds of each, but it was enough for me to conclude there was no difference, or at least not enough difference, to notice. All of them also hit the same point of impact at 25 yards, too.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[ReloaderFred]

Thanks for the heads up on 10mm cases. Mine are starline brass. I don't find any at the range. But one day i will. I been lucky with 38 and 357 brass all small so far.

Al,

It very unlikely that you'll find any large pistol primed .38 or .357 brass. They stopped making it back in the late 1950's to early 1960's. When I started loading in 1963, the local gunshop had two large fish bowls of .38 brass that they sold for .01 cent each. One bowl contained large primed brass, and the other one contained small primed brass, your choice. I still have a few in my collection.

The small pistol primed 10mm brass I have is Federal NT headstamped, and the small pistol primed .400 Cor-Bon is Starline, though at one time they also made .400 Cor-Bon with large pistol pockets.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Chainsaw.]

A couple folls have done some experiments in 45acp with small primer vs large primer. Surprisingly the small primer edged out the large for accuracy.

No ideas on how to separate them faster.

[fatelk]

7.62x39 brass comes in large and small primer pockets too.

[country gent]

Make a simple pin gage from the back end of a drill bit. the go pin is sized to just enter an LPP pocket and it wont enter an SPP. A nice wood handle on the end and leave the pin bout an inch long. A piece of 3/8" or 1/2" slightly tapered with radius on each end is comfortable to hold. Drill the center hole for the pin and form handle then glue pin in handle. A nice oil finish.

[starreloader]

Just recently cleaned out an old PD armory storage room.. Got a little over 2000 cases of 38 and 357 that had large primers.. The brass had been there for years.. Fred said it best about the 38 L/P brass, we both were loading back in the 60's and when the change over to small primer came along it was a pain for awhile sorting the small from the large.. Actually sold the large primer 38 & 357 to guy thought it was neat.. Also got a couple boxes of NyClad 38 ammo in the clean-out.

[Plate plinker]

Waiting for JMORRIS to chime in I believe he fabricated a sorter.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

Young grandchildren.
Their eyes are way better than ours.
Reject rate <1%, and you get a great bonus on interaction.
Their attention span is no more than 30 minutes. So is mine.
Sort a pile, wash up, eat ice cream. All are happy.
PS Don't worry about those rolling around the place. If you step on one, the smile that put it there is bigger than your snarling.

[cas]

I sort them while I'm picking them up off the ground. Large primer go in the bag, small primer go over the berm... and back to hell where you came from!!! ;)

[Petrol & Powder]

One quick easy way to sort them is by not sorting. Buy just large or small. Which every you prefer.
Don't pick up range brass leave it for some else.
Leo

When I go to a range used by others, I have a hard time leaving brass on the ground.
9mm & 45 ACP brass comes home with me whether it was from my gun or not. The rimmed revolver stuff is almost always mine, although I do pick up some strays occasionally.

[Texas by God]

I sort them while I'm picking them up off the ground. Large primer go in the bag, small primer go over the berm... and back to hell where you came from!!! ;)
You are dang skippy, amigo!

[ghh3rd]

I always figured that a mole from the anti gun crowd introduced small primer 45 acp brass just to annoy us. ;-)

[jmorris]

I built two different methods. This one I suppose would be the fastest because they are sorted out as I load. No “extra” time involved.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7vSEAqkZw

[jmorris]

This is the other machine, fed with a collator, deprimes then sorts by pocket diameter.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJgU3-OXuUU

[Mr. Don]

Low tech. Large pocket reamer. If it fits goes in a bucket. If it don't it goes inna bag. I find way more LPP. You can sort while watching TV.

https://i.postimg.cc/sfKRCzMH/spp45a.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[mdi]

Just eyeball them. Place a large primed case, head up, on your bench. Place a small primed case on your bench head up. Pick up a case to be sorted and look at the primer pocket. If you can't tell, just compare to one on the bench. After a while you can tell the difference with just a glance...

[Hickory]

If small primer pockets are such a good idea, brass manufactures should have discontinued making large primer pocket cases. In 4-5 years the switch would been realised.

[mdi]

It's just business, no conspiracy. NT ("green") ammo started with small primers. I've heard a couple different versions why (small primers were the only "lead free" primers available at the time, and small primers worked better with the larger flash hole. I can't confirm either right now without researching), and in real life it's no big deal. I started reloading in 1969 and learned quite early to inspect all my brass before any processing begins...

[Pete44mag]

I use a double sided Lee pocket primer cleaning tool in a Makita right angle a low RPM. I decap the brass then run it thru the large end. If you get a small pocket you know right away. I can do about 400 pieces in a half hour. The benefit is you get clean primer pockets and that's not a bad thing!

[ghh3rd]

Even if they stopped making small primer pocket 45. acp we will still have to check for ever.

[willowbend]

I traded a small quantity of 40 S&W cases for a very large amount of small primer 45acp some time ago. 45acp was the only caliber with large primer I load on the 650xl. until these run out I don't have to change out the primer setup and I'm leaving them laying on the range for the next guy. Other than that they are nothing but pure evil put on this earth by the devil himself to torment my eyes.

[ioon44]

Not having to change out the primer setup is handy for loading .45, 40 & 9 mm.
After I started dealing with .45 small primer brass I developed a habit of looking at the head stamp on each piece of brass before placing in the 550 shell holder. When loading 9 mm I have caught .380, 38 super & 9 mm mak before putting them in the 550.

[reddog81]

I grab a handful at a time and just look at the primer size. I’ve found it much easier to spot the small primers when looking at a batch of 10-15 cases at the same time. It’s also much quicker to do a dozen at a time. I throw all the SPP’s into a bucket to be used at a later date.

[RoyEllis]

I save all the SP & junk brass I run across.....scrap dealer near me will buy brass or trade 2lb lead for 1lb brass. WIN!

[alamogunr]

I wish there was a cheap way to acquire all the small primer 45ACP brass that others are scrapping. It sounds like it would be almost 100% once fired. I have gone to SP 45's to avoid changing size on the Dillon 550B. I don't load anything but pistol on it. .45 Colt and larger are done single stage.

Regarding sorting, I'm sure there are some SP cases mixed with the LP cases I have on hand since I purchased some of it and picked up the rest. I'll let the Dillon find the LP cases that I miss in those buckets.

On a side note, most of the SP 45's I have are headstamped Blazer. I've never been curious enough to check manufacturer. Federal and Speer are next.

[ioon44]

Most of what I find are Fed head stamps then Blazer also Win, FC, GFL and a few others show up in range brass.
When I started shooting SP brass, a lot of shooters would give me SP brass they did not want.

[mjwcaster]

Until I achieve jmorris ability I just sort while inspecting after cleaning.
After having some spider egg sacs in my brass and at least one get loaded I implemented a better inspection method.
I just use plastic ammo trays from factory ammo, Federal 45acp is my standard, I keep 12-15 trays just for sorting, and use them for multiple calibers, especially sorting 380 from 9x19 and the occasional 9x18.
Just take a bucket of cleaned brass and pour handfuls if brass onto the tray, shaking it a little.
The trays fill up fast, most cases mouth down with only a few cases upside down (or is it right side up?).
I use forceps to pull the upside down cases and flip them or a small screw driver to push them up from the bottom of the tray.
I can then inspect the case head and primer size, again using forceps to pull out cases.
After first inspection flip the tray quickly onto the bench and remove.
Then I inspect the interior sides and mouth of all cases with a flashlight.
Lastly place the cleaned/inspected cases in a container with a tight fitting lid to keep insects/debris out.
More work than I like, but I now prefer fully inspected brass.
And it isn’t a bad filler job, something easy to do while having a drink, listening to tunes and enjoying some good weather or watching a sunset if I set up a table outside the garage.




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[ioon44]

Spider egg sacs in brass is a real pain to deal with and one of the reasons why I inspect all range brass as I deprime.

[kevin c]

Until I achieve jmorris ability...

Many aspire, but there can be only one...

[Bazoo]

I use both large and small. Mostly large of recent though. If primers get scarce again come time they try to ban guns, I'll have more choices.

I'd love to come across a stash of large primer 38's and 357's. I think they're neat.

[onelight]

I built two different methods. This one I suppose would be the fastest because they are sorted out as I load. No “extra” time involved.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7vSEAqkZw

Those machines are amazing thanks for showing them.

[mattw]

I put them in there own bin as i go though them. Often wondered why 45acp is the only one's that have 2 different size primers.

They did this to 10mm for awhile, really hated it.

[Burnt Fingers]

I'm lazy. I sort on the 650. If the primer doesn't slide in I pull the brass and take a look. If it's a small primer it goes in a bucket.

[country gent]

A piece of plexi glass on a stand with a accurately scribes ring the size of a small pistol pocket could be used case under and look thru the marked lense it the ring is the size of the pocket then its spp if bigger its lpp. would show at a glance easily.

[toallmy]

I sort them the first time , and then it's just a matter of not mixing them in again . All new to me brass gets deprimed ,washed , polished , separate by head stamp , and a good look at before going into rotation . Over size flash holes , spiders web , rocks , split or cracked necks on and on a lot can happen to a piece of brass that hits the ground .

[David2011]

put them in a bullet box and check them with a flat head screwdriver. If the screwdriver doesn't fit, use it to flip the case out.

or just put a row of brass between 2 fingers and check them.

Is that a straight blade flat head or a Phillips flat head? :kidding:

Easiest way to sort the brass is no different from any other task we don’t like. Just get after it. Since it’s not demanding like handloading you can have pleasant distractions. I’ve had sudden stoppages with my 550 and .45 GAP out of bags of purchased brass, too. They don’t feel any different than ACP when I grab one from the tray and stick it in the press.

Bullseye shooters like the small primer .45 cases. The theory is that the SPP is less powerful and therefore less likely to displace the bullet before the burning powder pushes it down the bore.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

Most of the methods require decapping prior to checking. I started looking at a pile I had, and there were few small primer cases. I then decided that when the ole Dillon 550 comes to a halt, I'll throw the offending case into a bucket for my buddy who wants them and saves the large primer ones for me.

[WardT]

I line up a 1/2 doz or so between 2 popsicle sticks. Small primers will stand out when they are in a straight line.

[Muddydogs]

All this hand sorting and standing them up to look at the primer pockets takes a bunch of time if your running a 1000 pieces at once. Easiest way I found that can help with the reloading process is resize them on a progressive with the large primer seat in place. If the primer seater enters the pocket then its large if not its small and I pull it from the shell plate. Goes really fast on the LnL AP with my 3D printed case feeder. I actually set the press up last night to run a batch of 1000 pieces of 45 brass.

[jmorris]

That’s still twice the work.

[Willbird]

I built two different methods. This one I suppose would be the fastest because they are sorted out as I load. No “extra” time involved.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7vSEAqkZw

Does that sort out the ones that need the crimp removed from the primer pocket ?

[Kevin Rohrer]

I keep things simple and use the Mark-1 Eyeball prior to cases going onto the Dillon.

[oteroman]

That auto eject unit I believe Ammobot is marketing. It is about 700 bucks.
It can be seen on their website.
It is designed to be an add on to an Ammobot. I suppose if you are a tech guy uncoils make it work w/o an Ammobot. This is designed to work on a Dillon 1050. You also need to remove the swage rod and replace it with a primer sensor.


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[oteroman]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SWfUs-VS4JQ



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[Winger Ed.]

A couple folls have done some experiments in 45acp with small primer vs large primer. Surprisingly the small primer edged out the large for accuracy.

That's what I've heard, its an accuracy issue.
There also are some benchrest rifle cartridges available with small primers that normally use large ones.

These folks that can hold a one hole group over the curvature of the earth can tell the difference,
but I don't think one over the other would matter much for me.