.45 ACP Brass Primer Sorter

Ed Dwan

Ed Dwan

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2017
Messages
19
Location
Mountain Home, AR
Hi All,
I've been a quiet lurker 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 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. I'll be happy to share the .STL and .scad files for anyone wanting to print one...just PM me. 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 don't want to publish this on Thingiverse as 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

45ACP_Primer_Sorter_1.jpg

45ACP_Primer_Sorter_2.jpg
 
Jim Watson said:
My standard is Large, I have a 1050 that I would not try to change over if you paid me.
I have a .45 head and plate for my 550 when I accumulate enough Small to bother with.
Click to expand...
Jim,
I'm like you, except I have my Square Deal B set up to do SPP, so I use that for .380, 9mm, 38 Super, and SPP .45 ACP. Everything else goes on my 650XL.
Ed
 
My standard is SPP, because I have so much more SPP than LPP.

The other advantage is that if a LPP case sneaks in, I don't damage the SPP trying to prime it...I can feel the difference and just pull out the LPP case before I drop powder in it.

The only LPP .45ACP cases I keep are Starline that I use with Federal LPP for my S&W 625
 
Last edited:
Great idea, but unless you have already filed for a patent, and have a date you've lost it. An idea whose time has come.
 
PWC said:
Great idea, but unless you have already filed for a patent, and have a date you've lost it. An idea whose time has come.
Click to expand...
Hey,
Thanks for the input. BTW, I grew up in Tucson. I'm not really worried about a patent or protecting it...it's not exactly a new idea. I just put it together for 3D printing and wanted to share with the shooting community, not make a business out of it. I also posted this on CastBoolits and 1911 forum, so just trying to get the word out. I'm sure someone, somewhere, will get the STL and start selling them on Ebay. It's already happened to a couple of other items I posted on Thingiverse, so I won't be surprised.
 
Hi Ed! Nice to "hear" your voice! :)

Ed is one of the guys who got me hooked on 3D printing, and he had more than a little to do with making the plate maker tool Ammo Mike created to work so well in TylerR's project in the CastBoolits 3d collator thread. A real whiz programmer in OpenScad. (Computer programmer's cad)

Yeah, great idea! I have yet to buy or pick up any SPP's, but it's inevitable.......LPP's are disappearing.
 
Last edited:
Ed Dwan said:
Hi All,
I've been a quiet lurker 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 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. I'll be happy to share the .STL and .scad files for anyone wanting to print one...just PM me. 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 don't want to publish this on Thingiverse as 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

View attachment 1207277

View attachment 1207278
Click to expand...
Thats a cool idea!
GeoDudeFlorida said:
How many folks load both sizes?
🖐️
How many toss/recycle one size?
👎
Does anybody else collect one size and save it as a PIF or “Rainy Day” collection while giving preference to loading the other one?
🖐️
Click to expand...
I'm in the 3rd class! I save them, just because.........! I've only loaded a few of them just to experiment!
 
Ed Dwan said:
Hi All,
I've been a quiet lurker 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 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. I'll be happy to share the .STL and .scad files for anyone wanting to print one...just PM me. 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 don't want to publish this on Thingiverse as 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

View attachment 1207277

View attachment 1207278
Click to expand...
Clever!
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
How many folks load both sizes?
🖐️
How many toss/recycle one size?
👎
Does anybody else collect one size and save it as a PIF or “Rainy Day” collection while giving preference to loading the other one?
🖐️
Click to expand...
🖐️I load both sizes.
I'll start with whichever primer size is already on my LNL AP, until I run out of that primer pocket size cases, then switch primer sizes on the press.
 
Ed Dwan said:
Hey,
Thanks for the input. BTW, I grew up in Tucson. I'm not really worried about a patent or protecting it...it's not exactly a new idea. I just put it together for 3D printing and wanted to share with the shooting community, not make a business out of it. I also posted this on CastBoolits and 1911 forum, so just trying to get the word out. I'm sure someone, somewhere, will get the STL and start selling them on Ebay. It's already happened to a couple of other items I posted on Thingiverse, so I won't be surprised.
Click to expand...

You are generous with your intellectual property, but without manufacturing there is still a gap to be closed.

Many folks here have expressed a desire to purchase a tangible product from you. Google suggests there are on-demand printers who will run small lots. If you're not going to manufacture, do you have a link to someone who will? Don't mind purchasing off Ebay, but different machines produce different levels of quality. Suspect that a go/no-go primer pocket checker would require a reasonable level of accuracy...
 
Very Clever !! Do 10MM cases have the same "issue" ? I seem to remember seeing some SP cases in someones thread.

And... I would attempt to patent this... and consider selling them.
 
bfoosh006 said:
Very Clever !! Do 10MM cases have the same "issue" ? I seem to remember seeing some SP cases in someones thread.

And... I would attempt to patent this... and consider selling them.
Click to expand...
I haven't seen one in the wild yet, but I've read the same thing; they're out there...
 
JohnMc said:
I haven't seen one in the wild yet, but I've read the same thing; they're out there...
Click to expand...
You can order them (10mm SPP) from certain online vendors. I have several thousand that were cleaned to a mirror finish before coming my way.
 
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