.45 ACP Primer Sorter

[RedlegEd]

Hi All,
I've been quiet for a while and thought I'd make a post just to contribute. Anyone who shoots and reloads .45 ACP is very well aware of the cursed small pistol primer cases that seem to pop up more regularly in range brass, and even in the stuff we buy. In addition to eyeballing them, there are many methods to sort LPP and SPP brass, some of which are a little more tedious than others. I designed and printed a sorting tray that is easy to load with 100 cases (put it in a tight fitting box, drop in the decapped cases and shake.) The SPP brass stands proud about 1/16", while the LPP brass lays flush to the grid. Then, I just use a pair of tweezers to pull one size or the other, depending on which has less. I don't pinch the case wall, rather insert the tweezer and let it expand to grip the case and extract. Just PM me, and I'll be happy to share the .STL and .scad files for anyone wanting to print one. I recommend using a resolution of .16mm or better since the tolerances are kind of tight (it does take a long time to print, but it's worth it.) I would publish this on Thingiverse, but as @tanders posted about 3D Etiquette (https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?466211-3D-Printing-Etiquette), there are too many people who would just steal the design and sell it on Ebay. Hope you find it as useful as I did.
Ed

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[challenger_i]

Slick!

[scattershot]

Ingenious idea. I never noticed the difference in case length before. You should probably patent this.

[Outer Rondacker]

Good job I wish I was better at designing things I need and like.

[Rockindaddy]

Good idea! My Dillon chokes when a small pistol primer case gets through the case feeder and goes into the reprime stage. I pin tumble clean my brass and inspect each case before they go into the case feeder but every once in awhile one manages to get past these old eyes and stops the reloading process. The old inline CH progressive chokes too!

[Hick]

What makes them stick up 1/16? I've measured my LP brass and SP brass and they are all the same length,which seems to make sense since both SP and LP are made to chamber in the same guns and they headspace on the mouth-- so how could they be different? Not saying its a bad idea-- in fact its great-- just don't understand how it works.

[Scoutjoe]

That looks like a straight forward way to solve that problem. Good on you for designing it. I'll have to give this a print after I get my shotgun forend all jigged up.

[garandsrus]

There are nubs on the bottom of each slot. You can see them in the picture. They must be sized larger than a SP primer diameter and smaller than a LP primer, causing them to enter the LP primer pocket, with the SP pockets stay on top of the nub, leaving the case higher.

Great idea, by the way!

[RedlegEd]

What makes them stick up 1/16? I've measured my LP brass and SP brass and they are all the same length,which seems to make sense since both SP and LP are made to chamber in the same guns and they headspace on the mouth-- so how could they be different? Not saying its a bad idea-- in fact its great-- just don't understand how it works.


There are nubs on the bottom of each slot. You can see them in the picture. They must be sized larger than a SP primer diameter and smaller than a LP primer, causing them to enter the LP primer pocket, with the SP pockets stay on top of the nub, leaving the case higher.

Great idea, by the way!

@garandsrus Winner, winner, chicken dinner! You are exactly correct. I sized the nubs at the bottom of each cell to fit into a LPP pocket, but are too wide to fit into a SPP pocket, so they stick up an extra 2mm. If you notice the two cases that are flipped are exactly the same length because the nub fits inside the case mouth. Sometimes, the simplest solution is the most elegant.

Ed

[RedlegEd]

That looks like a straight forward way to solve that problem. Good on you for designing it. I'll have to give this a print after I get my shotgun forend all jigged up.

Just shoot me a PM and I'll send you the .STL file.
Ed

[RedlegEd]

Ingenious idea. I never noticed the difference in case length before. You should probably patent this.
Hi,
Case lengths are the same, just the SPP won't fit down over the nub, so it appears taller.
Ed

[JimB..]

Well done, wish I had a printer!

[Hick]

@garandsrus Winner, winner, chicken dinner! You are exactly correct. I sized the nubs at the bottom of each cell to fit into a LPP pocket, but are too wide to fit into a SPP pocket, so they stick up an extra 2mm. If you notice the two cases that are flipped are exactly the same length because the nub fits inside the case mouth. Sometimes, the simplest solution is the most elegant.

Ed

Got it! neat! although I use both types and never had any trouble sorting them by eye-- an even simpler solution (I just put all the cases in the plastic trays primer side up and the smaller ones are obvious).

[Walter Laich]

sent a PM for the files

they are coming out with .45 Colt in SPP, now--another project for you?

walt

[Baltimoreed]

Smart idea. But I deprime and reprime on my Dillon or Lyman TMag presses. By the time I deprime my 45acp brass just to check them in your handy dandy primer sorter I could just look at the primer and sort them then. I shoot a variety of 45 ammo and when I collect enough I vibrate them all at one time. I then sort them—.45acp [small and lg primers], .45long colt, .455 Webley [small and lg primers], .45 cowboy special and .45 Schofield. But it’s still a smart idea.

[Brassmonkey]

I like it! I sort a 5gal bucket at a time with a fast and friendly Brass case inspection machine. Gets fed by a standard case feeder.


Quick vid. The standard Dillon case feeder I’m using makes it miserably slow to use, but I have a new plate that I haven’t used yet it’s supposed to double the speed.

https://imgur.com/a/DlByosX
https://imgur.com/a/DlByosX

[35 Rem]

I hand sorted about 1,500 recently and thought I had them all in the correct piles. When I went to seat primers I found that a simple visual isn't 100% trustworthy. I do aim to go to great lengths to never shoot SP and LP 45 ACP at the same time so they never get mixed again! :) This would be a handy tool for sorting.

[Walter Laich]

I hand sorted about 1,500 recently and thought I had them all in the correct piles. When I went to seat primers I found that a simple visual isn't 100% trustworthy. I do aim to go to great lengths to never shoot SP and LP 45 ACP at the same time so they never get mixed again! :) This would be a handy tool for sorting.


As I have aged, 78, I have found that my visual sorting skills diminish. It would be worth it to me to use this. I already deprime off the machine so I can wet tumble and this would be a small addition to the time needed to reload.

going to give it a try and report back

[psychodad]

Printed one the other day. Works perfect. Simple & effective.

Thanks for sharing.

[Walter Laich]

this is the cat's meow--showing my age with that phrase

another use for the box is to dump the loaded cartridges in and you can feel for high primers.

going to build a box to keep the shells contained over/in the box when loading it. Something in thin wood that would the box would sit in. Probably no bottom on it--just place it over the tray and dump the brass in

this idea is a great one.

[Bmi48219]

RedLegEd, That’s one heck of an idea!

[Walter Laich]

ended up using a cardboard box--wooden box will happen once the heat index drops below 110°

probably come up with a way to mount it on top of a tumbler--hand shaking is OK but a bit slow

did over 400 in less than 10 minutes--it works great!

hopefully, I'll never need to use the .45 Colt one but I'm ready if/when the SPP ones start showing up in quantity

[sierra1911]

ended up using a cardboard box--wooden box will happen once the heat index drops below 110°

How do you get all of your projects done in the 2 days a year when the heat index is that low?

[Half Dog]

That is a great idea!!

[Walter Laich]

How do you get all of your projects done in the 2 days a year when the heat index is that low?

actually, it's 3 days
and then it does cool off when the hurricanes come through

I do get up at 5:30 so I can get to the gym then shop for my child-bride and do a bit of puttering in the garage

[speedyr]

Printed one of these this week and it's fantastic!!

Many thanks and appreciate the effort!

[nicholst55]

Great idea - if only I had (or could afford) a 3-D printer. Someone should patent this idea and manufacture them for sale. Then, when someone else with big cash comes along, they can sell the rights to them!

[scattershot]

actually, it's 3 days
and then it does cool off when the hurricanes come through


My brother lives in Dallas, and th other day he told me that he was planning to be cremated when he dies, just o he can cool off.

[scattershot]

In case anyone was wondering, I think small primers are here to stay. I just bought some Federal HST ammo, and it came with small primers.