.380 brass in the 9mm bucket

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Goneshoot'n

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I load 9mm in fairly large quantities. Most of my brass comes from what I pick up at the range, so naturally, several .380 cases get mixed in. These are found when they go through the expanding step and there is no resistance when they enter the die. Just out of curiosity, though, I loaded a .380 case with all the 9mm. (no powder or primer) Other than expanding, nothing really feels different. It loaded fine. I REALLY like to think I am careful enough to catch this before it gets in the chamber but just like in manufacturing, 99.99% accuracy is not good enough. That's one in 10,000, which does not take that long. Should I examine every case before prep? Or would it be no big deal? Who here has actually done this? I could see it happening with other cartridges too.
 

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When I size (I'm using a single stage) the .380 case feels dramatically different. The press "short strokes" kind of - I don't feel the full length of resistance of the normal 9mm case that I do when a .380 sneaks in. It's like the handle "breaks free" before the sizing operation is done.

This is one way I find .380s that are mixed in. But I don't rely on that method exclusively. I also look at every headstamp. I do my case inspection overall when I do mouth expansion. That inspection includes look for neck cracks as well as confirming it's a 9mm case.

I keep a little checklist form with every batch. I added "Headstamps Checked" to the list of steps on this form - not only for the .380/9mm issue, but also for a .222 case (or some case like that....don't remember deets) making it into my .223 ecosystem that rattled me.

OR
 
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I closely inspect cases before I load them. 380's will feel different when you resize them and also when you bell the case mouth. But I'm not sure if you would feel this if you are loading on a progressive press.

So, I sort all of mine. I deprime mine first because I wet tumble. Depriming weeds out the stray berdan primed case too. Then I tumble them. Then I sort through them. I have a bunch of loading trays that I found at a gun show for cheap. With the cases standing on end its easy to see the 380's and even the rarer 9 X 18. The loading trays make it easy to count and easier to sort by headstamp.
 
Buddy who uses only progressive presses gave me a pile of his .45 brass recently as well as a press to borrow. Had some issues so I started pulling a few primers, some of the flash hoes were almost the size of the primer pocket. So, makes me think I need to check range/given brass more than I have been as well as flash holes.

For the .380 ask, I have taken to putting all the brass into a tray like the factory ammo comes in. Makes it a bit easier to find the short/long rounds as well as small pistol .45 brass. Adds another step but better than locking up my press.
 
For me it all starts when I get back home from the range. All collected brass gets tossed into a soft range bag so when I get home I empty the bag and start a quick sort for size. The 45/40/10 is easily separated from the 9/380. I then have an aluminum pan that take-out food comes in that the 9/380 gets dumped into. little shaking and they all stand up like primers. From there it is pretty easy to pick out the shorts. Once that is dome I store until I have time or enough to make cleaning worthwhile. After washing and tumbling I sort by headstamp. Also with this I look for crushed, damaged, or split cases. So far I haven't had a 380 get into the 9mm operation.
 
Before the depriming stage is case check, and each one goes under the eye for defects - life is too short to shoot bad brass. 99.99 times out of 100 I catch any .380 in my 9mm. That .001 time I feel it in the sizing die, no resistance whatsoever, massive difference.
 
.380 brass feels very different once you are accustomed to picking up 9mm to reload. If, they get past the "feel" test, I notice the difference when priming. The stroke is different. Pretty much what others have said.
 
I built a brass sorter where they fall into the bin with .223 before the 9mm bin. Before that I would catch them during sizing, priming and every now and then they would make it all the way to the case gauge step before I caught them there.
 
I closely inspect cases before I load them. 380's will feel different when you resize them and also when you bell the case mouth. But I'm not sure if you would feel this if you are loading on a progressive press.
Since I size/deprime all cases for hand priming on my LNL before actually loading them, it's easy to tell.

But yes, if one is doing it all in one pass it would be a little harder to tell.
 
Even if you were to load a 380, which would be at same OAL as 9 and look very funny, it shoots in any 9MM handgun. It may be higher pressure since the powder load is higher than 380, but the weird OAL will help. In other words, I don't even care, I just load and if a 380 gets in, it still fires.
 
After tumbling mixed caliber pistol brass I check them for cracks and sort them into the plastic trays from ammunition boxes people leave at the range. I can easily see the difference in height between the 380 and the 9mm cases as I only put one caliber in a tray. Although I try to be very careful I still get a 380 case mixed in with the 9mm on occasion. I load on a Hornady LNL press and I do not feel the difference when sizing. I have had these chamber in a Walther PPQ but unlike NATO Reloading, they did not fire. I inspect loaded rounds but even so every once in a while one ends up being a misfire at the range. Perhaps a Shellsorter as suggested by Texas10mm would be the way to go.
 
I load on a Dillon 650 and IMHO it's really easy to tell if a .380 slips in. They require almost NO effort to resize.

However....I don't do any real brass prep on 9mm cases other than running them through a vibratory tumbler to knock the dirt off.

Also on the 650 .380 brass rarely survives the prime seat. The rim is smaller and they usually pop out of the shell plate when I try and seat the primer.
 
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Even if you were to load a 380, which would be at same OAL as 9 and look very funny, it shoots in any 9MM handgun. It may be higher pressure since the powder load is higher than 380, but the weird OAL will help. In other words, I don't even care, I just load and if a 380 gets in, it still fires.

Ditto. It's happened to me from oncet or twicet. It goes BANG! No harm done.
 
Because of numerous problems with 9mm brass, I do a multi step process.

1) Visual inspection using .308 loading trays. This gets the FM stuff, the .380s, split cases, & trash inside the case.
2) Size. This gets any missed .380s.
3) Chamber check and inspect the primer pocket. Get swelled cases.
4) Finish the reloading process.
 
I cull my 9mm brass in any event. Like alfsauve, I've had issues with 9mm in the past, so I watch them pretty closely, and I only keep certain headstamps. If you shoot a lot and don't check your brass as closely (which I understand...) I would probably go the sorter route.
 
I usually de-prime with a Frankford Arsenal hand de-primer. This will always catch the 380's.
No matter what though, I do a final sort and inspection before reloading. I use a similar method like in the video below.



I use the 100 round 9mm plastic boxes and do exactly what the video shows. I can easily pick out the 380 and I do a visual inspection of the case mouth. I then take another 100 round plastic box and cover the top of the first box and then turn it over. The cases fall into the second box and then I can look at head stamps and further examine the cases. I close that box up and it goes on the shelf with the others. When I am ready to load I open the box and use a piece of cardboard from a note pad, cover the top and flip it over on my reloading table. I slide the cardboard out and lift the plastic box and I have 100 cases ready to load.
I know it's overkill to some, but that what I do. I have buckets of clean brass and this way it is just a double check. I'm always surprised at how easily a 380 case can get by occasionally.
 
This works ^^^

I like to use the .45 acp trays that have square holes, and they are much faster. I think the trays come from Remington .45 ammo.

It is really easy to spot .380, .40 and .45

And, you can put a board over the tray and flip everything over so you can inspect for military crimps (if you are so inclined)/
 
I like to use the .45 acp trays that have square holes.........
And, you can put a board over the tray and flip everything over so you can inspect for military crimps (if you are so inclined)/

I couldn't find any ammo box trays like I wanted and realized that my .308 reloading trays were perfect. I too flip them over, but into a second tray to check the bases.
 
I come home from the range each weekend with more than a 5 gallon bucket of brass. I have the three tray shell sorter set and I normally have half a bucket of 9/380 brass. I use the ammo tray system above for sorting but I use a Rubbermaid dishpan with two layers of 6 trays in it. I don't need 9mm brass but I do need 380. The 9mm gets scrapped. I can sort through the half bucket of brass in about 30 minutes.
 
I am being serious here. Why all the expense and time to do all this sorting and checking, etc, when you know the .380 will fire in the 9 MM? Just shoot it. Also, I agree with one fellow here. Dillon shell holders will not accept .380 as they slip right through (using 9MM holder), so its not even possible for the .380 to make it even 1 station around the cycle. Well, anything is possible, but it would be pure luck. Tell you guys what.

I will put up on my site a 380 shot in a 9MM, and I will overload the hell out of it, just to show an example that it doesn't matter at all. The bullet looks super weird too, like way too long.
 
You don't have to check every case.

If you line up the 9mm brass on the bench, it's easy to see the shorter .380 Auto/9x18 brass.

This is what I do when I sort brass. I take a few hundred cases of mixed brass at a time and sort them by diameter first and then check the height. When you have your pile of 45ACP, you'll notice the 45 GAP right away, pile of 38 spl, you'll notice the 357mag, 40S&W you'll notice the 10mm, and with 9mm, you will notice the 380s.
 
I come home from the range each weekend with more than a 5 gallon bucket of brass.

Sorting large quantities of mixed brass is why I built this machine.

 
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