sorting brass

If you are going to make a habit of it, a set of brass sorter/sifters will make your life much easier. Midway sells them for ~$41 + shipping, and Dillon sells the same set for $40 + shipping:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/847836/shell-sorter-brass-sorter-9mm-luger-40-s-and-w-45-acp-3-bowl-set?cm_vc=ProductFinding

https://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/25434/catid/8/Shell_Sorter

I'll add, you may want to sort before tumbling as they will nest within each other and get stuck with media.
The dreaded 45 > 40 > 9 stacks.

I'm too cheap to buy the sorting trays. Before tumbling, I just hand sort the brass while listening to a baseball game using old pipe tobacco tins to hold each caliber. Even with sorters, I would have to hand sort 38 specials/357 mags., 44 mags/44 specials, 32 long/32 mag, etc. I keep one container for calibers I don't reload.

Jeff

I dump all of my collected range brass in a plastic tub and sort it by hand after hunting season is over and during the slow winter months. A collection of loading trays help segregate by caliber and brand. I agree, tumble calibers separately or you will have several locked together. I use plastic coffee cans for storage. They are air tight and stack well. WARNING, this is addictive!!!

Shell Sorter Brass Sorter 9mm Luger, 40 S&W, 45 ACP 3 Bowl Set have used them for years and worth every cent I spent on them. $40 is not going to break the bank and they last a life time. You get to spend more time reloading or enjoying the family.

Dump all dirty brass in a 5 gallon bucket and sort it into smaller coffee cans when I have nothing better to do and am stuck on conference calls.

I sort my 9mm put and don't touch it again (too cheap to bother reloading on a single stage) and my .380 and .45 gets sorted and tumbled separately. Everything else gets separated for later use or trade.

You also need to buy the separate metal plate that sorts 380 out from the 9mm.

You can only throw a handful in for it to work. If it is overloaded not so good.

You can probably live without it. I bought mine years ago and it was not this expensive.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/27...sorter-380-acp-adapter-plate?cm_vc=sugv270949

I just dump all of my brass in a tub then when I have enough to tumble, I sort it, tumble it and store each caliber in separate plastic storage boxes that you can buy at Staples. When I need it, it's GTG.

You should inspect each case before any processing, so just looking at it and dropping it into a different box/can/pile is no big deal. I started reloading for revolvers and it was easy to keep the brass separate (load, shoot, dump empties back in box). I still sort, by headstamp, most of my brass, but for a few calibers it's just outta habit and not really necessary(45 ACP, 9mm, .38 Spec.). All my rifle brass is sorted. When working up a load I sort by headstamp, but usually after I find the "perfect" load I'll relax and often use mixed brass...

I dump all mine into a large plastic food saver container, then hand sort and seperate into smaller food trays by caliber. It gives me a chance to find cases with splits or other things that warrant scrapping.

When tumbling, I'll let 380, 9mm, 9mak, etc tumble together. Same with 44 spec/mag, 45ACP/LC. As long as the case mouths can't mate, it's ok. I only sort further after they are clean.

Candyman87 said:

Dump all dirty brass in a 5 gallon bucket and sort it into smaller coffee cans when I have nothing better to do and am stuck on conference calls.

Click to expand...

I wondered who that was on the call the other day...

Plunk! Plunk! Plunk!
You forgot to go on mute.

I built this, sorts a 5 gallon bucket in under 15 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFw7IcQUmgs

hamp sandwich said:

When tumbling, I'll let 380, 9mm, 9mak, etc tumble together. Same with 44 spec/mag, 45ACP/LC. As long as the case mouths can't mate, it's ok. I only sort further after they are clean.

Click to expand...

Me too.

JMorris, that sorter is awesome. Nice work.

I love that sorting machine! Kinda simple and complicated at the same time! A real Rube Goldberg testament.

But I just sit and sort my 9, 40's, and .45's by hand and then tumble
clean.

be safe

Even if you get and use a super, automated case separator, you still hafta inspect them. A case separator won't pick out Berdan primers, or aluminum/steel cases, or show split mouths...

MDI raises a great point. I typically have to do a detail sort after they are clean. It's easier to spot berdan flash holes in a cleaner case on many rounds, and splits and cracks show up clearly on a clean case. The steel and aluminum stuff is easier though. Aluminum is easily spotted and picked out. For steel, I use a strong magnet. I get the steel/aluminum out before cleaning.

Mine's not as fancy as this....



and its old, from back in the day before I got bionic knees.
I shoot on a piece of BLM land and I clean up my brass after shooting and sort as I go.

I do it the hard way. I sort them by hand before I tumble them.

Last sorting session I engaged in was about a month or so ago, in which my DIL dumped a bunch of bags of range brass on my bench. When I finally finished I had several thousand pieces of .40 cal alone, 4 or 5 hundred 45 acp, maybe 15 hundred 9mm, a hundred or so of .380, and a little bit of 44 mag, .357, 38 spcl, and a few scarce odd balls like 25 acp and such.

Then I started on the bottle necks, which ended up being at least 1k of .223 with a mix of other stuff, .270, 30-30 lots of that, 30-06, ,308 lots of that, 300 wm, and few ultra mags and SAUM's.

It took me at least a week to get it all done, but the pay off is usually pretty worth while. I trade for reloading components, and even though he calculates it's worth by the pound, he always kicks me a little extra when it's sorted and tumbled.

GS

Rule3, Post 9, listed a metal plate that sorts 380's from 9mm. That is all I reload now and that plate would be handy for my use but I'd like to fit it into a pan or a can. Rule3, can you tell me what is the approx diameter?

Thanks.

Two ways to sort 380 from 9x19, by diameter (380 is smaller) or length (380 is shorter).

A slot like the shell sorter or tapered rollers covers the diameter direction, to sort 38super (OD of .406) from 9mm (OD of .394) from 380 (OD of .374) you are only looking at a .032” change between the three.

A device like this one can sort by length.

http://vid121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/brass/9mm380.mp4

A case tall enough triggers the switch that opens the trap door. A short one rides around to fall out a different hole.

I pretty much sort as I PICK the stuff up as a member picker I get first dibs, Pistol stuff all goes together in a 5 gallon bucket and the rifle brass into some 2 gallon buckets I have hooked together. the pistol empty's gets dumped on the sorting table at the club. When people are going thru it to find what they want they are required to put unwanted stuff in the marked boxes.

The rifle brass I sort my self keeping a keen eye out for what I want, 243, 7mm08, 308, 300 win mag, 220 swift. I normal do this on a rainy day in my man cave listening to the oldies station. I sort all the other stuff into card board boxes which I return to the club. After not being claimed by any members it is sold to non members, gun/reloading shops and the real crappy split case and other junk sold to a scrap yard.
Last year the club sold 900 pounds of junk cases.

Al