This may be obvious to everyone, but i wanted to save time so i put 100 rounds each of 45acp and 9mm in my tumbler together. 10 minutes later 20% of the 9mm cases were stuck inside a 45 case.. Half of those required needle nose pliers to separate..DUH
Dont tumble 9mm and 45acp together
- Thread starter dudlee
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Bmac1949
Member
This one has already been covered. As per Walkalong (if I remember correctly) put the
.45's in first and let them fill up with media and the 9mm's won't be able to fit in them. Hope this helps.
.45's in first and let them fill up with media and the 9mm's won't be able to fit in them. Hope this helps.
Even worse (and don't ask me how I know this), did you know
.40 S&W will fit inside of .44 Magnum or .45 ACP
9 mm Parabellum will fit inside of all 3 above
.32 ACP will fit inside of 9mm
.22 LR will fit inside of .32 ACP
plus, any and all of the above combinations can occur if you place them in your tumbler at the same time, requiring long periods of manual separation.
.40 S&W will fit inside of .44 Magnum or .45 ACP
9 mm Parabellum will fit inside of all 3 above
.32 ACP will fit inside of 9mm
.22 LR will fit inside of .32 ACP
plus, any and all of the above combinations can occur if you place them in your tumbler at the same time, requiring long periods of manual separation.
ny32182
Member
I separate them as I drop them in, so like someone said, they all fill up with media and don't become nested during the actual tumbling. This ensures they all actually get clean as well. They will empty out and then nest in the media separator, but they usually require minimal effort to separate after that (90 percent of them have no media stuck between them).
capreppy
Member
They may start separated, but they occassionally nest. I've had a couple where it required a pair of pliers to separate them.
northark147
Member
40 S&W and .380 is the worst about it for me. I can normally tap a 9 out of a 45.
The two I don't like tumbling together is 9mm and .380. Takes good eyes to separate especially if you have a bunch of the S&B 380 that is head stamped 9mm Br C.
Another one Ive ran into problems with if someone was helping me sort brass is 40 S&W and WCC 04 stamped 9mm. Probably became a problem because my best friend helped sort a bunch of .223 and 6.8 out of my AR and didn't do so well, so I told him to read the darn head stamps.
The two I don't like tumbling together is 9mm and .380. Takes good eyes to separate especially if you have a bunch of the S&B 380 that is head stamped 9mm Br C.
Another one Ive ran into problems with if someone was helping me sort brass is 40 S&W and WCC 04 stamped 9mm. Probably became a problem because my best friend helped sort a bunch of .223 and 6.8 out of my AR and didn't do so well, so I told him to read the darn head stamps.
Cop Bob
Member
Ohhhh, That is SOoooo True.....
After I retired, I got into the scrap metal business... we buy a LOT of mixed 70-30 cartridge brass... mixed...
I recently bought another Dillon, this time a 650, and set it up in my office.. keeps me busy during the slow times... Every now and then, my nephews, age 7 and 9 come by and to keep them out of harms way in the yard, they "Help" me sort brass...
Now, over the years, I have found that I am quite capable of messing things up pretty good without help... but add those two the the mix... ohh boy.... And their most common mistake, 40's in the 45's and vice-verse, 9's in the 40's, and my favorite.. 357's in the 38's... anybody want a bunch of 357 cases with a pretty heavy bell?
I have a few stuck in a bucket in my office... as anyone tried a kinetic bullet puller on the 40-45 or the 9-40 combo yet? I don't have one here and was thinking about trying it... I don't seem the have this problem at home, but I
hAkron
Member
I have 5 separate piles when I come home with a big bag of captured range brass. Stuff that will tumble with 9mm (380, 38, 357, 9, etc) a .40 pile (40 & 10mm), a .45 pile (.45, .44, .45 long colt), usually a small pile of random brass (32, 5.7FN, .223, etc), and a 5th pile which is .22 and any other brass in too bad of shape to reload. The 9, 40, 45 and scrap all go into their own coffee can and await tumbling. The odd ball stuff goes into one of those plastic organizer drawer things while I ponder what I might one day do with it.
Once the usable stuff is tumbled it goes into these cheap plastic containers I bought at Walmart by caliber. I used to then decap and size them and move them to another container, but now that I have a turret press I just do all of that at once.
Once the usable stuff is tumbled it goes into these cheap plastic containers I bought at Walmart by caliber. I used to then decap and size them and move them to another container, but now that I have a turret press I just do all of that at once.
Assuming you dump all the empty brass in the same bucket at the range.
Cherokee
Member
What I do: Quote put the .45's in first and let them fill up with media and the 9mm's won't be able to fit in them. Hope this helps.
Put the largest cases in first, wait, add next largest cases, wait, etc.
Put the largest cases in first, wait, add next largest cases, wait, etc.
Well, it depends on your accounting method. If you keep them sorted at the range and don't count that as sorting, then you're still talking the difference of sorting once versus none!
Taking nice, neat, sorted piles of brass and mixing them together doesn't make any sense to me. Tumbling takes minimal effort and attention. Sorting requires maintained attention. Just wait till you have enough to tumble one caliber! If you don't have enough brass to wait that long, buy some more!
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chez323
Member
LOL...... I learned this lesson the hard way too......
hAkron
Member
Also, if you get some 'nesters' tapping the butt of the case flatly on your bench will loosen the pair better than trying to pull them apart.
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Miata Mike
Member
I only tumble one caliber of hand gun brass at a time. I will mix and match rifle brass.
Plastic shell sorters makes sorting range brass a breeze.
Plastic shell sorters makes sorting range brass a breeze.
I'm so moronic that after tumbling 45 and 9 together, I inadvertantly put a
45-with-a-9-inside into my resizing die. The 9 got stuck on the depriming pin shaft (this is a Dillon Square Deal B), way up high where I couldn't see it. The 45 resized fine and got reloaded just fine. But the next 45 to enter the resizing die... the lever was REAL hard to pull, so I looked up in there and geez, I thought I broke my machine. Luckily, I was able to pull the 9 out with needlenose pliers and everything was fine. What can I say, I need to learn everything the hard way.
9mm. Adorable little things, but mischievious.
45-with-a-9-inside into my resizing die. The 9 got stuck on the depriming pin shaft (this is a Dillon Square Deal B), way up high where I couldn't see it. The 45 resized fine and got reloaded just fine. But the next 45 to enter the resizing die... the lever was REAL hard to pull, so I looked up in there and geez, I thought I broke my machine. Luckily, I was able to pull the 9 out with needlenose pliers and everything was fine. What can I say, I need to learn everything the hard way.
9mm. Adorable little things, but mischievious.
Frequently I do not have enough brass of one caliber to fill the tumbler. So, why waste tumbling time? Tumbling takes longer than sorting in my reloading room.
Still don't get it. Tumbling takes ME as long as putting the brass in and screwing on the lid. Sorting takes considerably longer. Even if you only tumble 1 lot a day, the brass will wait till tomorrow, or next week, or next month. It's not like you can't load ammo while your tumbler is going.
If you have such a pittance of a particular caliber, surely you aren't going to bother setting up your press to reload that handful of cases? So you're going to sort it, tumble it, and then re-sort it how many times until you have enough to bother with?
When I come back from shooting, I sort my autopistol brass into 3 bins: .380/9mm, .40, .45. Revolver brass stays separated by caliber, even by headstamp when practical. E.g., I have a few hundred cases each of .357 Magtech and Fiocchi brass, and I tumble them separately. No machine will sort by headstamp! If any or all bins are too small to bother with*, I let them lay until there's enough. The brass doesn't go anywhere.
If I don't have enough ammo and brass to wait it out, it's time to buy more!
*Which is a rarity!
Usually happens when I find a caliber I wasn't shooting that day!
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SpamHandler
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In circumstances such as this I just put the cases in the vibratory polisher, sans media and let it run for about 30 seconds. Caution, it is LOUD! Use hearing protection. A short burst is usually adequate to knock the errant grains loose and allow the cases to separate.
What ever process that works for you is the one to use. I get your process but your process does not work for me.
I prefer to keep my brass resized and cleaned then stored away for future reloading. I process fired brass shortly after shooting so as to not accumulate much unprocessed brass. I can tolerate short sessions of resizing. Long sessions of mindless work is not to my liking. Even on the progressive, I do not resize at the same time that I reload, in part because the press mounted priming systems are not reliable enough for me. It is one of my idyosyncracies. Reloading the cases is a different matter, I like to load cases almost as much as "unloading" them.
Also, I hate the sound of the tumbler. It runs only when I am not in the room.
I can process a tumbler of brass, including clearing the flash holes and sort the brass in about 5 minutes. Even with tumbling cycles of only 30 minutes or so, tumbling takes longer if I tumble brass separated by cartridge. If I can do one tumbling cycle, I do not have to go back to the reloading room multiple times to process the brass. "Miller" times starts that much sooner.
So, a process to be able to combine different diameter cases in the tumber would be a benefit to me.
Well no wonder our divergent preferences. It takes me the better part of an hour to sort my brass after a shooting session. And even if I didn't sort it, it would still take near the same amount of time to tumble. I.e., I typically shoot enough where I have 3 tumblers full of brass, anyways.
Also, I prefer to accumulate large batches of unprocessed brass. That way I can size/prime a large batch one day, using up whole trays of primers and leaving any left over cases for next time. Then flare 'em, fill 'em and seat 'em another day. That way I get a lot of ammo in each of my "lot numbers," rather than a bunch of mini lots all mixed together, where one day my priming touch or die setting might have been slightly different from the other.
Also, I prefer to accumulate large batches of unprocessed brass. That way I can size/prime a large batch one day, using up whole trays of primers and leaving any left over cases for next time. Then flare 'em, fill 'em and seat 'em another day. That way I get a lot of ammo in each of my "lot numbers," rather than a bunch of mini lots all mixed together, where one day my priming touch or die setting might have been slightly different from the other.
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