Sorting handgun brass...worth it?

Status
Not open for further replies.
AJC1 said:
When you have 99 federal do you a. Leave the last spot empty. B. Put in a nickle federal case or c. Anything to fill the spot. It's an ocd nightmare. :)
Click to expand...
I failed to address the actual scenario earlier…

I don’t put cases nor cartridges in trays or boxes, only baggies, so any void isn’t obvious. But, I NEVER mix brass with nickel even of same brand. Don’t know why, just don’t.
 
mikle76 said:
I've always sorted but I wonder if it's worth it from a hunting pistol/revolver standpoint. What about pistol caliber carbines/single shots with a little longer range? Any accuracy advantage realized?
Click to expand...

Sure it can. You would have to test yourself to see if you and your firearms do better with your load in the same vs mixed brass.

There are lots of shooters, even competitive ones that shoot mixed brass. The games they play are not benchrest matches though.
 
mdi said:
One of these things is sorting brass by headstamp.
Click to expand...

Fine Figure of a Man said:
When laying on my death bed, I'm confided that I won't look back and regret not having spent time sorting handgun brass.
Click to expand...

It's funny... people do things for different reasons. While I will spend time sorting and culling brass, I won't 'waste' time cleaning my firearms... unless they really need it, while some people will detail strip their weapons after just a few rounds, but not sort brass for reloading.
 
CQB45ACP said:
So what are you looking for and do you find it and stuff like that?

If I end up doing this too I’ll blame you forever!
Click to expand...

Peace of mind. I only load 50 or 100 pistol loads at a time. I weigh the brass and put them in groups within a gr. of each other. I weight the bullets, I use Hornady for 99% of my pistol rounds, so far I've never had to have different groups. I load each group, and then weigh the finished round. and case gauge them. This way I know if there are any double or 0 powder loads. I use a LCT for pistol loads. Rifle loads I use trays and visually check the powder load, and use a Rock Chucker. It doesn't take much time using a digital scale.
 
I sorted 9mm brass by headstamp when I first started reloading. I used a single stage press and learned that I could feel the difference between headstamps. When all the same headstamp brass was used, I could feel the difference if something was wrong with that round. It was actually kinda neat that it was noticeable.

Later on, I had a bunch of mixed brass that didn't have enough of any single headstamp to make a box, so I loaded it all for a trip to an indoor range where I would lose much of the brass. It all shot fine.

Now that I have a progressive, I can't feel the difference in an individual case or round, so that part didn't matter anymore. Now I only sort out the "stepped" brass cases and load them for use where I'm going to lose most of the brass.
 
irishlad said:
Peace of mind. I only load 50 or 100 pistol loads at a time. I weigh the brass and put them in groups within a gr. of each other. I weight the bullets, I use Hornady for 99% of my pistol rounds, so far I've never had to have different groups. I load each group, and then weigh the finished round. and case gauge them. This way I know if there are any double or 0 powder loads. I use a LCT for pistol loads. Rifle loads I use trays and visually check the powder load, and use a Rock Chucker. It doesn't take much time using a digital scale.
Click to expand...
Darn it!! Sounds like a plan. I’m only loading by one or two 8 round magazines at a time now. All manual, so weighing is no big deal. Darn it again!!
 
Fine Figure of a Man said:
When laying on my death bed, I'm confided that I won't look back and regret not having spent time sorting handgun brass.
Click to expand...
Well, now, I can tell you for a fact, when I was laying on the gurney watching the EKG readouts go flat - while I was still conscious - I did NOT even once think about whether or not I had sorted the brass I was leaving behind. It never even crossed my mind.

What did cross my mind is, “I wonder how I’m still conscious when my heart’s not beating?” I asked the cardiac surgeon that question on the way to the Cath Lab but he was a little busy to answer right then. Forgot to ask later, :(
 
For me it all depends upon the situation, number of firings that brass has seen and especially brass length. For example I do separate my Winchester and Starline .45 Colt brass due to the latter being a half a rim shorter so to keep OAL and crimps / cannelures consistent I do keep them apart. Ditto for .357 mag.
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
Well, now, I can tell you for a fact, when I was laying on the gurney watching the EKG readouts go flat - while I was still conscious - I did NOT even once think about whether or not I had sorted the brass I was leaving behind. It never even crossed my mind.

What did cross my mind is, “I wonder how I’m still conscious when my heart’s not beating?” I asked the cardiac surgeon that question on the way to the Cath Lab but he was a little busy to answer right then. Forgot to ask later, :(
Click to expand...
Love this story it’s kind of nostalgic.

While I was in the cath lab watching the cath/stent procedure live on a white & black monitor (not black & white), I thought the empty LAD looked a little like the Mississippi River but without water in it. Then, BOOM, the stent was put in place and “water” rushed south to Gulf of Mexico.

I immediately felt like a million bucks and told the doctor. He laughed and I said maybe that’s what you should charge.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

N
  • Locked
Pistol brass... worth sorting?
Replies
14
Views
873
Hondo 60
Hondo 60
P
  • Locked
Head stamp sort or not?
2
Replies
49
Views
2K
Mad Chemist
M
P
  • Locked
Sorting mixed-caliber brass
Replies
8
Views
862
LAH
LAH
Bayourambler
  • Locked
Personal experiences with weighing brass.
Replies
24
Views
839
murf
murf
E
  • Locked
Brass Cost?
Replies
4
Views
572
EddieCoyle
E
Back
Top