Who is useing the plastic pistol sorter pans?

[Fatelvis]

I built this out of stuff I had, I did have to buy the two gears to counter rotate the shafts. It will sort 38 super from 9mm and 380 due to tight tolerance on the shafts.



Will sort a 5 gallon bucket in 15 minutes.

That is awesome! Great job in engineering and fabrication!

 

[4Baldy]

I have used them since they first hit the market. I recommended them to all who reload.

 

[lordpaxman]

It should make sorting the brass alot faster then doing it by hand. Do any of you guys have the 380acp plate

I do, and use it, and still seem to get a few .380’s into the 9mm process. One advantage of the sorter trays is getting ride of sand and other flotsam and jetsam. A lot of brass I pick up is in sandy bays and while that helps in wet tumbling, you get that brushed metal look on the cases.
As others have said, you can’t do a large full pan of sorting very well, you need to do smaller batches. You’ll figure it out pretty quick. Wear ear protection, and have several buckets ready for the sorted brass. Sometimes I’ll just pick out the .223 by hand if there’s a lot of it. Good luck.

 

[Catpop]

I can see the need in sorting large amounts of brass which is not true in my case!
I personally enjoy hand sorting to see new headstamps, new cartridges with which. I’m unfamiliar to add to my collection, etc.

 

[Highland Lofts]

The mechanical seperator looks nice and effective.
I don't have the space or the mechanical means to make one. If I did a lot more brass volume I would add on to my shed and buy a mechanical sorter.

These plastic sorting pans will be a lot better then doing the sorting by hand and will get the cases 100% sorted unlike hand sorting where no matter how carefull you are you still end up with mixed calibers.

When I called Midway yesterday they gave me a nice birthday discount.
From $63.08 down to $45.30 so I added the two pack of the fine screen caps for my Frankford
Wet Tumbler and got free shipping.

I might order another frankford wet tumbler today, i just sold another two hundred dollars in brass yesterday so I have extra cash to reinvest.
I love the wet tumbler I have, with two of them I can get more brass tumbled in half the time.

With the volume of brass I have been going through the 380 case plate will be very helpful.

 

[mstreddy]

I use the shell sorter trays with the 380 plate as well. As mentioned, don't over fill and they will work pretty well.
Now, if you have the engineering know-how of our resident mechanical genius, then you can build one like Jmorris posted.

 

[Toprudder]

Here is another method of separating 380 from 9mm. It also works for 9 mak and 38 super. I use an MTM 45acp ammo box, so that I can close the lid to flip the cases over, makes it easy to pick out the NATO headstamp for primer crimp removal. Before I flip, I inspect inside the cases looking for stepped cases and Berdan primers..

 

[Toprudder]

I built this out of stuff I had, I did have to buy the two gears to counter rotate the shafts. It will sort 38 super from 9mm and 380 due to tight tolerance on the shafts.



Will sort a 5 gallon bucket in 15 minutes.

Take my money and build me one!

 

[Highland Lofts]

If I ever go machanical I will buy one all ready made. I do not have the equipment and time tp build one.
If it goes that far it will become a job instead of a hobby.

Troy has the ability to make one and the equipment .

 

[Highland Lofts]

My separator pans with the 380 tray came in on Tuesday, yesterday i did a five gallon bucket of pistol brass, it does a good job of separatling the brass
I pre-separate the range brass first. (Rifle from pistol). Then run the pistol brass. It is so much faster then hand seperating it.
I have another five gallon bucket and about two gallons in another bucket to seperate.
Once done I will do the plastic 40cal shell holder to catch and 380 that did't get seperated.
I put the 44mag & 44spl in a small container from the top basket.
Then the 38/357 goes into another bucket that gets caught in the 40cal/10mm basket.
I dump the 40cal & 10mm in another bucket yo be seperated another time.
Then I work thee 9mm brass. The small 25acp, 22 cases and dirt, sand & small stones fall through.
I put the 380 plate in the 45 basket to seperate the 380 auyo brass.
Just like you guys said small loads at a time.
$50 well spent.
I also ordered another large Frankford wet tumbler, that came in yesterday. I will not open it unyil I get my shed remodeled.

 

[jmorris]

I dump the 40cal & 10mm in another bucket yo be seperated another time.

This little device will sort by height would also sort 357 sig from 40 with a whisker switch adjustment. Would want it fed by a collator.

 

[Highland Lofts]

What does a brass sorter like that cost?

I'm sure it is out of my buget.

 

[RainDodger]

I volunteer at a state run range and we use those pans. They work quite well and sort well enough for us to bag range brass by caliber... at least until lately. Now we can sort brass by hand because there's only a handful!

 

[Highland Lofts]

I can get another 1'100 pounds of range brass but they want a dollar a pound more then were I generally get it from which drives the price up.
With high ammo prices and non-availablity range brass is getting harder to find.

 

[Mike Kerr]

I have the shell sorter set and also the 380 plate. I've had it for about 5 years and the most important thing IMO is to do the separating by caliber in small batches. If you keep the work load to a few hundred at a time you have enough to establish a work process that works efficiently for you and it will not wear you out. I've tried the 70lb to 100 lb lot at one time and You are in the BRASS Business not the reloading hobby enthusiast crowd. There is a distinct difference especially after the first time of a large batch overload. Every thing can become a separate chore if you have to clear your reloading area etc. etc. Usual product kinks to work out but it is not as bad as trying to duplicate JMorris set up. He is in a higher engineering class.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I've tried the 70lb to 100 lb lot at one time and You are in the BRASS Business not the reloading hobby enthusiast crowd. There is a distinct difference

I am in the reloading crowd, I take my grandson out shooting every weekend from spring until snow comes. Then on weekend days when we don't have rain through out the winter. We go from 8 -8:30 in the morning until late evening.
I load on the average 400 to 500 cartridgrs a week on my two Hornady Single-Stage presses for him to shoot up. At nine years old I would bet a dollar a shot him against any average Joe the same rifle or handgun.
We are loading up right now to go for the day.

I bought a Dillion 650 a T-7 turret a lee turret and I have three single stage Lock n Load presses and I will be buying a Hornady AP press when I get my tax return in.
I have over a hundred sets of dies and buy more when I find them at a decent price.
I have sold thousands of dollars of brass and did some good trades for powder, primers and other gun related stuff.
It is a fun way to get things you need.

 

[KentM]

After seeing Toprudder's video (above) using the tray from a factory ammo box, I decided to try it. WOW! It works great, fast and simple, and it is FREE. I shoot 9mm so I don't have any factory trays with .40 or .45 size grids. But I do have a drill press and a 1/2" forstner bit. So I made my own sorting tray with 100 holes in it. The trick is to make the holes close together and all the same depth so you can spot the .40s and .45s that stick up above the ever-present 9s. Also, make the holes deep enough that the 9mms are either flush or only slightly above the rim. (This assumes that most range brass will be 9mm, even if what you want is the .40s or .45s.) If the casings stick up too far above the plane, horizontal casings will get caught on them and it will be harder to get a full tray of casings. This goes for factory trays too - if the casings stick up too far it won't work as well.

As the video shows, the .40s and .45s stick up higher, and the .380 autos are slightly below the level of the 9mms.

I first sort out the odd .22s using a grid that drops the .22s through but holds anything larger. It came free with my house, which has forced air heating and air conditioning. When not using it I keep the grid in one of the heating ducts so I won't lose it. Like I say, it came with the house! Yours probably has some too.;>)

 

[Highland Lofts]

That video of the plastic ammo tray for the 9mm is a blessing.
After useing the sorter pans I can do the old ammo trays to make sure there are no smaller or larger cases mixed in with the caliber I am sorting plus it gives you a accurate number of cases instead of weighing them out.

I haven't tried it yet, but will here in the next couple of days.
I just sent 10,000 9mm cases to Michigan a couple of days ago.
I have 2,500 - 9mm going out on Monday and two more 2,500 orders to get out next weekend.

This will.help.out on makeing sure they get 100% 9mm cases.

I am happy I started this thread, the plastic ammo trick is the cats arse.
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Besides being a brass horen i am a reloader as well.

I took my nine year old grandson out shooting this morning with three friends. We left a lityle after 8 this morning and got back home at 4:30 pm.

We shot up fifteen pounds of brass excludeing 22LR.



223, 300 blackout, 243, 308, 300 Win Mag,
20 gauge, 12 gauge,
38spl, 357mag, 44mag, and lots of 22lr.

A nice relaxing day out in the Cascade Mountains.

 

[Highland Lofts]

The plastic sorting trays are working out fantastic.
I cut the bottom of a three gallin bucket out and booted in the 380acp plate. It works fine.

If I had of know sooner I would of bought these a couple of years ago.


A big Thank You to Troy for reccommending them to me.