Sorting brass: why I hate the .40 S&W

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Badger Arms

Badger Arms

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So the wife's out of town... Fix the car, clean the fridge, Gun-Kote some mags, sort some range-pickup brass...

Did the devil design the .40 S&W!? back in the day, we had two types of brass... the .45 and the .38 Super. Of course, some sissies shot the 9mm and there was a bit of confusion sorting the sissy brass from the .38 Super. Then some other sissy would be shooting some .380.

So, here's the drill... shake the brass on a plastic bag so most of them are mouth up... take my sorting tool. What, you don't have a sorting tool? It's a .38 special or .357 magnum cartridge. Rim slips into a .45 and the mouth slips into a .40 S&W. I sort the .380 by grabbing suspect cases with a .380 pinched between my thumb and finger. I can size them pretty quick that way. Wound up with a box of .38 Super mixed in too. That used to be easier without the 9mm's laying around.

Also, who invented the Berden primer? What a farce. Gotta get my tactical light and glue it to the side of my head and look REALLY close to tell. Then I figure out what headstamps are Berden and sort that way.

No kidding, 40 pounds of Berden primers this run-through. About a pound of rejects, stepped-on, dented, and corroded cases. Only about a handful of nickel-plated. Got me some .30-30 and .22-250 but I don’t have them guns. And, no, there wasn’t a point to this thread. Just pondering.
 
Hiram Berdan a New Yorker invented the Berdan Primer, ironically the Boxer primer was invented Edward M Boxer in Woolwich England. Both were invented in 1866.

Surprisingly Berdan Primers are more popular in Europe, and Boxers are more popular in the US, go figure.
 
DoubleAction, that's nearly exactly how I do it. What's the marker at the lower left for?
Click to expand...

I use the marker to record quantity on the bags, in a lots of 100 per bag.
 
Surprisingly Berdan Primers are more popular in Europe, and Boxers are more popular in the US, go figure.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of rock & roll record sales concerning Elvis & Beatles records in the U.S. and England. :) Bass-Ackwards!
 
Badger Arms,

I hate the .40 S&W - period.
TPTB "said" 10mm was the ultimate, just, well, the dang gun did not fit everyone's hands, nor body type in toting the darn thing all day...so they wimped it down and came up with a .40.

The devil himself must have really been happy when he convinced Browning to make a High Power in .40.

You don't do a BHP in .40, BHPs are 9mm!

Now I like 9mm, .38 Super, 9x23, 45ACP, still that <expletive> ,40 fired from ugly plastic guns with too much recoil, gets 9mm brass inside the .40, and .40 inside the 45ACP.

Oh, I just hate the casing of a .40 period as well.
Cut a .40 and 9x23 in half and compare.

If memory serves, the 9x23 goes back to somewhere around 1900.


Everything we need, was invented by 1935, unless one needs a .44 mag, then we bump up to the year 1955.
 
Wait until you start finding .45GAP brass in your range pickups.
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No.
That ain't gonna happen.
I have not shot on a public range in forever.
Nobody had a .40, much less a 45GAP where I used to shoot, on private places.
I mean...we had the cops shoot out back of one gun shop, but we would not let them shoot .40s on these private ranges.

"Step out of the vehicle and leave that <expletive> .40 in the car" we said. "I have my BHP/1911/ Colt Woodsmaster...various revolvers...so I can I come play too?" - LEO replied.

You think I am kidding, I am not.

Oh, for fun, I added a bunch of red 28 ga hulls to some red 12 ga hulls for this LEO.
He was relaoding 12 ga and getting some quality practice with his issued shotgun.

His wife hated his issued .40 cal weapon.
She went nuts over a Rem 1100 in 28 ga, and of course one day one followed her home along with a MEC Reloader, and components, minus some hulls.
She and I "just happened to run into each other" that day...*ahem*

Timing is everything and this LEO was about to go nuts, as to how come some red hulls were smaller than others...
When his wife walked in and showed him the new 1100 "he bought her".
"Honey, there is a MEC reloader and stuff in the trunk of my car, do you mind getting those for me?"

He only left .40 cal brass once on a private range.
I often got lit up for no reason down a stretch of road while a LEO just grinned and gave me a hard time.
All in fun...

Still it does get one to wonder when the lights get lit up behind you...

He was able to transition to a 1911 later on...he was soooo happy about that.
 
quit your WHINING! you get the stuff for free. there shoud be some labor invovled! take the bendan primed stuff, throw it in a barrel, when the barrel is full, take it to a metal recycler, and bring home a check big enough to buy a bunch of new ammo!
 
Eb1 said:
sissy huh?
Click to expand...

I bought a 9mm for my daughter. She was popping away (7-years-old at the time) and she starts eyeballing my 1917 I was loading with full moon clips at the time. I told her if she could dry-fire it on double-action, she could shoot a clip (don't get me started on clips vs. magazines). She tried her darndest but could only pull it all the way through with two fingers. She still hasn't shot it, but then again, she got old enough to think these things through.

So, yes, 9mm is a sissy gun. That's why I own... well, none of your business.
 
Wait until you start finding .45GAP brass in your range pickups
Click to expand...

I'll take any you got. My biggest headache is those stupid, sissy .45APC's. Do you have any idea how many .45's you have to go through to get 1 GAP round?:cuss:

Now .40SW's are worth the work, I love 'em and got 12,000 all cleaned, head stamp sorted, sized, deprimed, and clean. :D

shake the brass on a plastic bag so most of them are mouth up... take my sorting tool. What, you don't have a sorting tool? It's a .38 special or .357 magnum cartridge. Rim slips into a .45 and the mouth slips into a .40 S&W. I sort the .380 by grabbing suspect cases with a .380 pinched between my thumb and finger.
Click to expand...

Huh:eek:

I use the screens and 5 gal buckets taken from 3 50 gal drums of every caliber you can imagine. It's not that hard and after you've done it a couple of times you can pretty much tell which ones are Berdan's just by reading the head stamps.
 
Wait until you start finding .45GAP brass in your range pickups.
Click to expand...

Or even worse, the small primer .45ACP "WinNT" ammo!

Still 9mm is the worst for sorting with 9x17, 9x18, and .38 Super mixed in.

--wally.
 
Wah, wah, wah. Just be glad there is free brass laying all over to pick up. One day we might be moaning about the good old days when we had to pick 9's out of .40's, & .40's out of .45's, and then the dang .380's that slipped through....:neener: :evil: :D


....and I just clean and put aside the .45 GAP's. I figure someone will want them one day......
 
[/COLOR]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eb1

sissy huh?
I bought a 9mm for my daughter. She was popping away (7-years-old at the time) and she starts eyeballing my 1917 I was loading with full moon clips at the time. I told her if she could dry-fire it on double-action, she could shoot a clip (don't get me started on clips vs. magazines). She tried her darndest but could only pull it all the way through with two fingers. She still hasn't shot it, but then again, she got old enough to think these things through.

So, yes, 9mm is a sissy gun. That's why I own... well, none of your business.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:.........
 
Last edited:
Eb1 said:
Last edited by Eb1; Today at 07:07 PM. Reason: No reason to provoke and egotistical person on the internet.
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Dude, it was meant as a joke. Ha ha, funny. How does this get me labeled as "egotistical?" How is this comment meant NOT to provoke?
 
Yeah, I had a .45 Colt wind up with a .40 stuck in it recently and broke a decap pin.

I think I have 2-300 of those GAP cases floating around. Its so disappointing to find them mixed in thinking they are ACP.

Don't get me started on Seller & Belloit. Some of their cases are steel, washed in brass with red primer sealer. Some of their cases are brass, with red priemr sealer. Some of their cases are Berdan, some are Boxer, both in the same calibers, and both with red primer sealer. I almost have to look inside every single S&B case and then magnet-check them.

Oh well, at least there's brass still.
 
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