Do You Sort Brass

[red rick]

Do you sort your brass by head stamp ( rifle & pistol ) ?

Do you leave rifle brass after it has been trimmed a certain number of times ?
I read in Lymans to discard rifle brass after it has been trimmed 4 times .

Rookie just trying to learn .

 

[jwrowland77]

Sort: rifle yes, pistol no.

If dies are adjusted correctly, you can get more than 4 loadings. Take a paperclip and check to see if there's a dip in the case or not.

 

[myFRAGisFUBAR]

I don't sore any brass unless the headlamp becomes problematic for some reason.

have some ar15 brass going on 7 firings. Just don't load to the max and make sure the dies are adjusted right. Take care of the brass and it will easily get more than 4 shots.

 

[ReloaderFred]

I sort rifle brass from pistol brass, but that's about it, unless I'm loading something special. Otherwise, it all goes through the presses and into boxes.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Elkins45]

Rifle yes

Pistol no

 

[plmitch]

Yes on both. Most I wont use more than three or four times.I cull out the junk like S&B to toss in the trash.

 

[jmorris]

I cull some headstamps and primer pocket size in pistol brass. Depends on what I am tring to get out of the finished product with rifle. Sometimes headstamp alone is not enough and sort them by weight as well, sometimes mixed brass is fine too.

 

[GLOOB]

I mainly sort headstamps when I acquire excessive amounts of brass that I know to be truly once-fired and which I do not need in my rotation. It's only for brass that is to be set aside.

For my working supply of brass, it's mostly mixed.

I pay attention during flaring. Anything that doesn't provide enough resistance gets tossed - sometimes these have cracked case necks, but most of them are just plain wore out or overworked, and I haven't started to bother with annealing. Paying attention here also weeds stray 380 and mak cases out of my 9mm.

Also, I pay attention during priming, and if any primer pocket is too loose, I reclaim the primer and toss the case. This is pretty rare for me, but I come across one every blue moon.

 

[cfullgraf]

Handgun - no except when I have some specific problematic head stamps, they get culled.

Rifle blasting ammunition - no.

Rifle for a specific purpose or match shooting - yes. I generally buy a single head stamp and keep those cases separate from other cases.

Some cartridges such as 221 Remington, "to sort or not sort" was easy as Remington was the only supplier of cases. Until recently, I just bought some Nosler 221 Remington cases.

 

[witchhunter]

Rifle yes, always. Pistol, no, except .357 Mag hollow points in nickel while soft point go in brass. 38, 45, no except all carry ammo in nickel.

 

[[email protected]]

I always sorted rifle brass and even go to the trouble to sort military brass by year (LC09, LC10, LC12, etc and so on).
Pistol yes too.

 

[edfardos]

Rifle yess, pistol no.

i keep groups of 50 together, and mark the box/bag with the number of times its been fired as a group. After 7 firings it gets tossed. At that point a bunch already have neck splits anyhow.

 

[Walkalong]

I shoot pistol brass until it splits.

Some is all the same head stamp because I bought it, such as .32 Long and .32 Mag, others are mixed, such as .45 Colt, and some like 9MM, are a horrid mix of range brass, despite the fact I have enough to sort out a bunch all the same headstamp.

I shoot rifle brass until the neck splits, the primer pocket gets loose, or it shows signs of an internal rut.

My match brass for .308 is all Lapua all the same lot, shot the same number of times and fully prepped.

My .223 blasting/plinking ammo is mixed range brass. I have a batch of 500 all the same headstamp .223 brass, but it doesn't shoot all that much better than mixed and I am not shooting matches with it anyway, just having fun.

Much of my other rifle brass is all the same headstamp. I don't do anything special to prep it, just trim, chamfer, deburr, and clean the primer pockets.

 

[Skinnedknuckles]

I load 9 mm and .38 Special and I sort both by headstamp. I sort the 9 mm because I once read an article that made a persuasive case for improved accuracy and reilability that made enough sense to me that I've followed it since. I sort .38 Special because I find that different headstamps "feel" enough different, particularly in the sizing die, that I just don't like it and am willing to spend the time sorting. Besides, sorting gives me one more chance to look at the brass and cull out problem cases. And like others, there are some headstamps that I'm prejudiced against (Aguila, Herters, WCC, others) and automatically cull out. YMMV

 

[gamestalker]

I sort rifle brass, not handgun though. I find sorting rifle brass to be very important due to variations in thickness, which can have significant effect on pressures. The number of times it's been trimmed has no bearing on it's integrity.

As to the life of rifle brass, that is determined by it's wear characteristics. If the primer pockets get loose or it begins to exhibit incipient head separation, or the neck develops splits, it gets scrapped.

Handgun brass will either develop neck splits, primer pockets will get loose, or neck tension degrades from thinning out.

GS

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

I don't yet reload for rifle. I used to sort my pistol brass but after coming here to THR and reading that most don't sort it I was freaked out...so, I started saving range brass and loaded up a few tests with mixed brass.

Now I don't sort it anymore...I do throw out some when resizing as I can feel them by headstamp and don;t want 'em for one reason or another. But I have found that mixed brass shoots in 9mm and .380 just fine. I'd do it in .32 but nobody at the range shoots .32 'cept for me most of the time so it's all my brass anyway.

VooDoo

 

[mstreddy]

As many here, I sort my rifle by headstamp. In 223 and 308 it's a necessary step to separate by crimped/non-crimped primers. Also, keep track of the FC batches that neck split on the second firing.
In pistol, don't sort 9mm, just look for the occasional Berdan primed, and the pesky FC NT with crimped primers and very tight pockets. I do sort 38 spcl and 357 as they feel different during size, flare and seat/crimp, at least for me.
And 45 ACP gets sorted for large and small primers, but not by headstamp.

 

[Blue68f100]

Rifle yes. Pistol depends on caliber. With the SP 45 acp you need to sort if you pickup range brass. If your a BE shooter you probably will too. But for general shooting it may not be required, all depends on your goals and skill set.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I sort all my brass by headstamp but in reality it's not necessary especially handgun brass. Rifle brass is a little bit more touchy because the neck tension will differ with brass thickness.

 

[Constrictor]

I always sort by brands and finish on all cases rifle and pistol.

 

[JohnM]

Only for a few rifles used for long range off a bench. And I do sort and keep track of the brass I use to make my 30 Herrett cases.
Otherwise no.
Pistol brass I just shoot till it splits.

 

[bob4]

Now sorting rifle brass/hunting loads. Not handgun as of yet anyway.

 

[Potatohead]

Yes on both. Most I wont use more than three or four times.I cull out the junk like S&B to toss in the trash.

plmitch, what did S&B do to you, pillage your village?

I think I read a post of yours a day or two ago about how bad they suck-





To the OP, i sort both...wouldnt consider doin it any other way, either. IT MUST BE DONE! THINGS MUST BE ORDERLY AND IN NEAT LITTLE GROUPS

 

[JohnM]

I've got some S&B brass, I don't recall running into any problems with it.

 

[mgmorden]

About the only sorting I do is to weed out SP .45 and crimped 9mm. Other than that - nah. I'm lazy . I do have a big magnet I'll run through the pile of cases though to pull out any brass-plated steel that might have snuck in there.