How do you sort 40 brass?

MrDontPlay · April 5, 2012, 06:04 PM

I've been picking up my brass for a while now. I have a box here, a half box there, bags of stuff I found on the range ect. With my revolver brass I can keep all of it so I keep it in the original box and reload them 50 at a time and put them back in the original box with load data writen on top. With my 40 I never find all my brass, and I often find other people's brass. Is it important to sort the brass? If so how do you sort yours?

ScottRiqui · April 5, 2012, 06:06 PM

Other than culling out aluminum, steel, and obviously-damaged cases, I don't really do much sorting on my pistol brass.

mumbo719 · April 6, 2012, 04:21 AM

Quote:

ScottRiqui: Other than culling out aluminum, steel, and obviously-damaged cases, I don't really do much sorting on my pistol brass.

Pretty much the same here. I sort by caliber, and inspect every case for damage. Keep brass cases and discard the rest.

TMD · April 6, 2012, 04:42 AM

I have two buckets for each caliber I reload. One is for the dirty brass and the other is for the clean brass.

dacaur · April 6, 2012, 05:46 PM

+1, I dont sort any pistol brass..... For my .308 though, I have remington brass I bought as loaded ammo and only use that. When I pick up .308 off the ground, It goes in a separate bin, to be saved for the day I finally get my M1A....

Misssissippi Dave · April 6, 2012, 06:14 PM

You can sort it by head stamp. I just separate re-loadable from non-loadable. I trash the junk. It is good to separate by caliber while doing this.

Don P · April 6, 2012, 06:16 PM

1 piece at a time from the bucket of mixed 38 spl, 357 mag, 9 mm, 40S&W and 45 acp.

huntinaz · April 6, 2012, 06:40 PM

Same here, for auto pistol brass I don't sort by headstamp.

thedaddycat · April 6, 2012, 07:38 PM

I hand a bunch of brass over to my CDO (that's OCD but in alphabetical order...) teenager and she sorts it by caliber and headstamp for a penny a piece. She will sort out a couple thousand and even if there's only a single peice of brass of each of a dozen headstamps they will ecah be in their own bag, tin, cup or whatever she has on hand to sort into. That is unless I tell her to just sort all the .38 Special or .357 magnum or whatever by caliber and not by headstamp.

jepp2 · April 6, 2012, 09:03 PM

Quote:

With my 40 I never find all my brass, and I often find other people's brass. Is it important to sort the brass? If so how do you sort yours?

For my 40 I sort by headstamps, but I may have a lot more brass on hand than you do. I would suggest you be cautious about picking up other people's brass unless you are sure it is factory. Many folks discard their brass when it is near the end of it's life and you may not want to load that. Brass fired in some pistols with large chambers or inadequate chamber support may require special handling.

I don't necessarily feel it is required to sort by headstamp, but due to differences in neck thickness, I would prefer everything I am loading and shooting be similar for setback (neck tension) reasons.

Miata Mike · April 6, 2012, 10:23 PM

I sort all Winchester in one bucket, and all other head stamps in another. There was a lot of Winchester white box shot around here last year.

Huskerguy · April 6, 2012, 10:34 PM

I purchased a few thousand here and there and after sizing I check with a case gauge to find the brass shot in a Glock. I learned this the hard way.

Rangefinder · April 7, 2012, 08:01 AM

Not much point in sorting pistol brass. As stated, pick out the aluminum, steel, and the ones that are obviously damaged, and roll with it--that can all happen at the depriming stage anyway. The closest I do to sorting pistol brass is yellow brass gets loaded solid and nickle gets loaded Hollow-point. And the ONLY reason for that is for quick recognition in the box or at a glance because I have a dozen or so loaded spare mags.

CrustyFN · April 7, 2012, 10:48 AM

I sort it out from all the other calibers and then give it to friends that shoot 40.

buck460XVR · April 7, 2012, 10:50 AM

Quote:

I sort it out from all the other calibers and then give it to friends that shoot 40.

..........same here.

huntinaz · April 7, 2012, 12:26 PM

Quote:

I sort all Winchester in one bucket, and all other head stamps in another. There was a lot of Winchester white box shot around here last year

I used to do the same thing. My reasoning was that I would load the win brass and know it was mine. The other stuff I picked up I'd sell, since I was picking up more than I was shooting. Just a way of seperating once fired from stuff I'd possibly reloaded many times. After Obama was elected though, I don't find much. Everone has started picking it up. Bummer.

Latesvak · April 7, 2012, 06:47 PM

All I tend to do is clean and inspect all the casings and check for splits and cracks then it all goes in the to be loaded bucket. Other peoples brass it just all stays together just check them ALL.

Latesvak

MikeRussell · April 7, 2012, 09:04 PM

I sort in to two coffee containers...
1) Winchester brass
2) everything else

I do load development and match ammo in Winchester brass. Everything else is used for range practice.

Jim243 · April 7, 2012, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Is it important to sort the brass? If so how do you sort yours?

It's important to sort it out from the 45 ACP and 9mm brass, otherwise I just load them and shoot them.

Jim

MrDontPlay · April 8, 2012, 08:39 PM

Thanks guys!

WESHOOT2 · April 10, 2012, 08:16 AM

For the 40 S&W, I sort like this:

-I have new unfired cases; I load them by brand (and size them before using).

-I have confirmed once-fired-only; I used many, sorted by brand, when manufacturing cop training ammo.

-I have 'used' cases, and sort by headstamp, and use ONLY for easy-shooting loads.

RobertInIowa · April 10, 2012, 10:16 AM

Just sort the good from the bad. If you're not shooting competitively then there's no need to sort further.

thump_rrr · April 10, 2012, 02:58 PM

If the brass looks a little Glocked I'll pass it through the Lee Bulge Buster.
If it looks really Glocked I flatten it for scrap.

The last thing I need is a ruptured case.

thedaddycat · April 10, 2012, 07:08 PM

OK, I don't have anything chambered in .40 Smith and all the range brass I pick up gets passed on to a friend who does. What's the deal with Glocks? I take it they're hard on brass. What's the big cult following if they're so hard on brass that you can't (or probably can't) reload? Is it that they're just a "rich man's" gun?

On a side note, I've seen a post or two here where someone's using .40 brass and swageing lead into it to make bullets for I think .44 cal. I do know that if a .40 case gets into one of my .44 mag cases it fits tighter than the "9 in 40 in 45" combo...

deepcore · April 10, 2012, 11:24 PM

Unsupported chamber...."Glock bulge"...see thread:

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=475906

April 5, 2012, 06:04 PM	#1
MrDontPlay Senior Member Join Date: December 25, 2010 Posts: 587	How do you sort 40 brass? I've been picking up my brass for a while now. I have a box here, a half box there, bags of stuff I found on the range ect. With my revolver brass I can keep all of it so I keep it in the original box and reload them 50 at a time and put them back in the original box with load data writen on top. With my 40 I never find all my brass, and I often find other people's brass. Is it important to sort the brass? If so how do you sort yours? __________________ Someday I'll be good enough to know if a gun is accurate or not.

April 6, 2012, 06:16 PM	#7
Don P Senior Member Join Date: December 17, 2005 Location: Swamp dweller Posts: 6,187	1 piece at a time from the bucket of mixed 38 spl, 357 mag, 9 mm, 40S&W and 45 acp. __________________ *NRA Life Member, NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, NRA Certified Pistol Instructor,, USPSA & Steel Challange NROI Range Officer, ICORE Range Officer, ,MAG 40 Graduate* *As you are, I once was, As I am, You will be.*

April 6, 2012, 06:40 PM	#8
huntinaz Senior Member Join Date: September 21, 2010 Location: az Posts: 1,332	Same here, for auto pistol brass I don't sort by headstamp. __________________ "When there’s lead in the air, there’s hope in the heart”- Hunter’s Proverb "Feed me, or feed me to something. I just want to be part of the food chain." -Al Bundy

April 7, 2012, 08:01 AM	#13
Rangefinder Senior Member Join Date: August 4, 2005 Posts: 2,017	Not much point in sorting pistol brass. As stated, pick out the aluminum, steel, and the ones that are obviously damaged, and roll with it--that can all happen at the depriming stage anyway. The closest I do to sorting pistol brass is yellow brass gets loaded solid and nickle gets loaded Hollow-point. And the ONLY reason for that is for quick recognition in the box or at a glance because I have a dozen or so loaded spare mags. __________________ "Why is is called Common Sense when it seems so few actually possess it?" Guns only have two enemies: Rust and Politicians.

April 7, 2012, 10:48 AM	#14
CrustyFN Senior Member Join Date: June 4, 2006 Location: West Virginia Posts: 2,258	I sort it out from all the other calibers and then give it to friends that shoot 40. __________________ I don't ever remember being absent minded.

April 5, 2012, 06:06 PM	#2
ScottRiqui Senior Member Join Date: January 27, 2010 Location: Norfolk, VA Posts: 2,905	Other than culling out aluminum, steel, and obviously-damaged cases, I don't really do much sorting on my pistol brass.

April 6, 2012, 04:42 AM	#4
TMD Senior Member Join Date: August 9, 2011 Posts: 1,293	I have two buckets for each caliber I reload. One is for the dirty brass and the other is for the clean brass.

April 6, 2012, 05:46 PM	#5
dacaur Senior Member Join Date: March 16, 2010 Posts: 733	+1, I dont sort any pistol brass..... For my .308 though, I have remington brass I bought as loaded ammo and only use that. When I pick up .308 off the ground, It goes in a separate bin, to be saved for the day I finally get my M1A....

April 6, 2012, 06:14 PM	#6
Misssissippi Dave Senior Member Join Date: December 5, 2009 Posts: 1,411	You can sort it by head stamp. I just separate re-loadable from non-loadable. I trash the junk. It is good to separate by caliber while doing this.

April 6, 2012, 07:38 PM	#9
thedaddycat Senior Member Join Date: September 25, 2011 Posts: 388	I hand a bunch of brass over to my CDO (that's OCD but in alphabetical order...) teenager and she sorts it by caliber and headstamp for a penny a piece. She will sort out a couple thousand and even if there's only a single peice of brass of each of a dozen headstamps they will ecah be in their own bag, tin, cup or whatever she has on hand to sort into. That is unless I tell her to just sort all the .38 Special or .357 magnum or whatever by caliber and not by headstamp.

April 6, 2012, 10:23 PM	#11
Miata Mike Senior Member Join Date: May 22, 2010 Location: North East WI Posts: 418	I sort all Winchester in one bucket, and all other head stamps in another. There was a lot of Winchester white box shot around here last year.

April 6, 2012, 10:34 PM	#12
Huskerguy Senior Member Join Date: March 28, 2009 Location: Kansas Posts: 348	I purchased a few thousand here and there and after sizing I check with a case gauge to find the brass shot in a Glock. I learned this the hard way.

April 7, 2012, 06:47 PM	#17
Latesvak Junior Member Join Date: March 29, 2012 Posts: 4	All I tend to do is clean and inspect all the casings and check for splits and cracks then it all goes in the to be loaded bucket. Other peoples brass it just all stays together just check them ALL. Latesvak

April 7, 2012, 09:04 PM	#18
MikeRussell Senior Member Join Date: December 29, 2006 Location: Carencro, LA Posts: 335	I sort in to two coffee containers... 1) Winchester brass 2) everything else I do load development and match ammo in Winchester brass. Everything else is used for range practice. __________________ Mike Russell

April 8, 2012, 08:39 PM	#20
MrDontPlay Senior Member Join Date: December 25, 2010 Posts: 587	Thanks guys! __________________ Someday I'll be good enough to know if a gun is accurate or not.

April 10, 2012, 08:16 AM	#21
WESHOOT2 Senior Member Join Date: February 20, 1999 Location: home on the range; Vermont (Caspian country) Posts: 14,324	specifically For the 40 S&W, I sort like this: -I have new unfired cases; I load them by brand (and size them before using). -I have confirmed once-fired-only; I used many, sorted by brand, when manufacturing cop training ammo. -I have 'used' cases, and sort by headstamp, and use ONLY for easy-shooting loads. __________________ . "all my ammo is mostly retired factory ammo"

April 10, 2012, 10:16 AM	#22
RobertInIowa Senior Member Join Date: March 4, 2012 Location: Iowa Posts: 149	Just sort the good from the bad. If you're not shooting competitively then there's no need to sort further. __________________ Guns don't kill people, fathers with pretty daughters do. Two wrongs don't make a right, but three comes pretty close. Proud NRA member

April 10, 2012, 02:58 PM	#23
thump_rrr Senior Member Join Date: October 12, 2010 Posts: 403	If the brass looks a little Glocked I'll pass it through the Lee Bulge Buster. If it looks really Glocked I flatten it for scrap. The last thing I need is a ruptured case.

April 10, 2012, 07:08 PM	#24
thedaddycat Senior Member Join Date: September 25, 2011 Posts: 388	OK, I don't have anything chambered in .40 Smith and all the range brass I pick up gets passed on to a friend who does. What's the deal with Glocks? I take it they're hard on brass. What's the big cult following if they're so hard on brass that you can't (or probably can't) reload? Is it that they're just a "rich man's" gun? On a side note, I've seen a post or two here where someone's using .40 brass and swageing lead into it to make bullets for I think .44 cal. I do know that if a .40 case gets into one of my .44 mag cases it fits tighter than the "9 in 40 in 45" combo...

April 10, 2012, 11:24 PM	#25
deepcore Senior Member Join Date: July 24, 2010 Posts: 364	Unsupported chamber...."Glock bulge"...see thread: http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=475906