Standing Brass on it's Head

[SC_Dave]

I picked up some range brass the other day. After sorting, washing and tumbling I found some 9x17 in the 9x19 pile. Other than reading the head stamp the only way I knew to ferret out the 9x17 was to stand all the casings head down. It was easy to find the shorty's then. I wondered if any of you guys have every figured out a way to stand the brass on it's head quickly and easily like one can do with primers in a primer tray. I did a search but didn't find anything. Has anyone devised a way to do this?
David

 

[cfullgraf]

I suppose you could make a sorting basket that allows the 380 ACP cases to drop through and hold the 9x19 but that would be alot of work and need to be a labor of love.

I just sort by hand. After a while, you can see the different length pretty easy by sight.

 

[420Stainless]

Don't know if it would work, but I guess you could drop a hand full into an appropriate sized plastic ammo box like a 100 round MTM box and give it a shake. As they fall into the individual slots they'll all be vertical (though the head may be up or down) and you might be able to notice the short ones.

 

[tom357mag]

I lay them on there side and even know theres not that much difference I can spot the .380 pretty easy

 

[Reefinmike]

I can pretty easily spot the difference between a 380 and 9mm as well as 38&357 but i find 38&357 are just easier to stand on head. I just lay em on a towel after tumbling, and when you bunch em together, 95/100 work their way mouth up so its much easier to spot the periodic 357.

now, getting a piece of 9mm mak brass mixed in really throws me off!

 

[beatledog7]

I bought a set of these with the .380 sorter. Works very well and very quickly.

http://www.midwayusa.com/find?userSearchQuery=sorter

 

[Hondo 60]

Because .380 is the same circumference as 9MM, those sorters don't seem like they'd work.

But once you get used to the difference, it's pretty easy to see.

Plus, being shorter, the 380 brass doesn't "feel" the same when you try to resize/deprime them.

 

[SC_Dave]

Well who knew?! I had no idea they made sorters!

 

[FROGO207]

Well, the 380 in a 9MM die will go in without touching and just pop out the primer. They are not QUITE the same diameter. Or as stated, the same length. I just deprime them all together and put the 380 (that feel distinctly different) in a different container to be sized at a later time when I get to it.

 

[beatledog7]

Because .380 is the same circumference as 9MM, those sorters don't seem like they'd work

The mouths are the same, but the .380 case heads are smaller. The .380s fall through the aluminum insert, but the 9mm get caught. Tolerance has to be tight; that's why the insert is aluminum rather than ABS.

 

[Mobuck]

Most of the time, I don't find the .380's until they go through the sizer die and occasionally not until the flare/powder drop station.

 

[taraquian]

Once I have it down to the "9's" I use a straight edge to straighten out about a dozen at a time and pick out the shorties, I can even spot 9x18 pretty quick this way

 

[kingmt]

I recycle ammo trays. Throw a handful on & shake.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Hmmm...

I don't know about the sorter that was mentioned earlier, but it seems to me that it should be a simple matter to build your own sizer.

The key is to get all the cartridges to line up in one direction first. This can be done by taking a rectangular sheet of metal, maybe 12 inches long by 4 inches wide, and flexing it until you have a gentle curve. Any cartridge you place on this will naturally roll, aligning the cartridge cylinder axis in one direction only.

Build a wooden frame tray in which the sheet metal is mounted, which will keep the metal sheet in its flexed condition. The tray should have sides which are tall enough to keep the cartridges from sliding off when you tip the tray.

After building it, put a handful of cartridges in it and rock it gently back and forth. They should all roll freely and line up in one direction.

Then tip the tray slightly on its long axis to allow the cartridges to slide up against one of the long sides of the tray. All of the cartridges which end up sitting against the side of the tray will then be easy to compare to each other for relative lengths. Pick out the odd length cartridges and then remove all the rest in that row.

Repeat as necessary, adding more cartridges as required.

As an aid, you could also scribe a straight line that is 17 mm from the two long edges of the tray on the sheet metal.

As a slightly more complex alternative, build a cartridge sorter which works similar to a coin sorter.

Using sheet metal and wood, frame up something which first aligns all the cartridges in one direction. Then have it drop the cartridges down a slide big enough to allow them to roll on the slide with precision.

The slide should ultimately narrow down in widty to match the length of the 19 mm cartridge. As that point, the slide should be beveled at the edges to nudge the 17 mm cartridges to the center of the slide.

Now cut a hole centered in the slide which matches the length of the 17 mm cartridge. The shorter cartridges will drop through the hole while the longer ones pass over it.

 

[Rule3]

Better than sliced bread! I my days of brass scrounging this really. really helped. When it first came out it was not this expensive.

Sort everything down to 9mm and 380, then sort that separate with the metal insert. Do not overload the the tubes or it will not work as well.

http://www.midwayusa.com/find?userSearchQuery=sorter

 

[helotaxi]

I just look at the case head before I put it position on station #1 of the press. Takes an extra half second. The 9mmBr headstamps are the ones that throw you off, but you learn pretty quickly to recognize the headstamp.

 

[GLOOB]

+1 to Mobuck. Sort out any you happen to notice. But don't sweat the ones you miss. The rest will "declare themselves" while you're sizing or flaring. Easy enough. On a SS press, anyway. I suppose on a progressive, these cases can mess with your mojo.

 

[dragon813gt]

Shell Sorter /thread

I can tell you it 100% works as advertised. It's saved me countless hours sorting range pickups over the past year. The 380 insert works flawlessly. You just can't do a large lot at once as the holes will fill with 9mm cases. It's worth the price if you sort a good quantity of brass regularly. I bought mine directly from the manufacturer: http://www.shellsorter.com/


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[PhotoBiker]

I've been able to catch most of it by the time I recap. Flaring definitely weeds out the rest. I am getting to the point of even picking it out on the ground at the range now (though I still throw it into my "Unsorted Dirty Brass" container and worry about it later.

I think my next gun will be in the caliber I have the most brass lying around. Right now .380 edges out .40 ACP so it looks like I might be getting a Sig P238 soon ;-)

 

[GLOOB]

Yeah, those 40ACP cases must be as rare as hen's teeth. I've never seen a one!

 

[evan price]

I dump brass in a plastic tray with an open side. Shake them flat. I can pick out the 380s and makarovs by sight. Takes a few minutes, but I also can pick out the junk brass for scrap.

 

[Captaingyro]

+1 for the aluminum sorter. It works. You don't need the plastic tubs; just the metal plate for sifting out the .380's.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Since I do everything in "lots" of 100, I have taped a couple of plastic ammo trays (from the boxes) together and I dump the brass in then pluck out the "shorties" and refill until I have a 100 count, then they go into a ziploc baggie.

 

[fguffey]

“I wondered if any of you guys have every figured out a way to stand the brass on it's head quickly and easily like one can do with primers in a primer tray. I did a search but didn't find anything. Has anyone devised a way to do this?”

I did not figure ‘it out’, I am not that vain, it has something to do with gravity, while sorting 23,000 mixed cases it was found to be easier to stand up cases by shaking the container/tray up and down, once the cases stood up with the heavy end down a flat plate was placed over the mouths of the cases, like magic, once the tray and flat plate was rotated, the cases stood heads up. Sorting by head stamp was made easier. LC, Federal, Winchester and Remington, cases I do not keep were also separated, then there were the two Berdan primed cases, after sorting and tumbling, they disappeared. All the cases came from a range that uses new ammo and new pistols/rifles. Rifles were confined to 30/30 and 223.

Pistol cases were 38 Special+p, 45 ACP, 44 Remington Mag, 10 MM, 40MM and 9MM, then there were the small ACP cases, sorting was slowed down by the case in the case inside of the case. Sort first then tumble.

F. Guffey

 

[jcwit]

Pistol cases were 38 Special+p, 45 ACP, 44 Remington Mag, 10 MM, 40MM and 9MM, then there were the small ACP cases, sorting was slowed down by the case in the case inside of the case.

Using onion bags for sorted brass elevates that problem.