How Anal Are You in Sorting Brass?

ledavatar · February 22, 2007, 08:30 PM

Recently I discovered that not all Speer stamped brass are created equal. There is "SPEER 45 AUTO" and "SPEER .45 AUTO". The same goes for Independence - "*I* 45 AUTO" and "*I* .45 AUTO". Also, some Winchester brass heads seem to have polished & rounded edges (and thicker lettering) while others are more square. Do you guys separate those out? I know it probably makes zero difference when shooting, but hey, as long as you're sorting you go all the way!

rickh · February 22, 2007, 08:43 PM

Since 98% of my .223 reloading and 100% of 9mm and 45 ACP is for target practice and I just throw em all together and deal with them as I prep. If I run into a mil crip, do it on the spot, too long, make a pile and trim em all at once.
If for hunting... I do us all the same head stamp and get as close as I can to the same case length, prep all hunting brass the same and measure every charge.
When doing 5k rounds trying to sort by head stamp jsut aint worth the effort to me.
Rick H...

rwilson452 · February 22, 2007, 11:14 PM

The different head stamp tells me the brass was made with different dies. for 45ACP it shouldn't make a measureable difference. If this was brass for your 1000 yard rifle I would separate them. The real test is case volume. if they have the same volume there is no difference. The metalurgy used to make the buttons that the brass is made of is closely controlled and is the same in every batch as they can make it.

mrawesome22 · February 23, 2007, 12:20 AM

I'm very anal about initial case prep. I don't care about headstamp blemishes, as long as they function. If you're going to throw out a piece of brass for a missing period, then I would say you are the anal retentive grand master LOL.

Crosshair · February 23, 2007, 01:06 AM

Here is how I sort my brass.

1. Fired
2. Resized/deprimed
3. Primed
4. Loaded.

cheygriz · February 23, 2007, 12:38 PM

Since I don't use reloads for self defense, I don't sort pistol cases. For hunting handloads, I do sort, and I perform full benchrest type case prep. But that's one box of 20, that will last for 2 or 3 years.

I'm extremely anal about quick, one shot kills on living things, so I load for the best accuracy humanly possible.

For the range, if it hits COM, it's good enough!

Poodleshooter · February 23, 2007, 05:09 PM

For .45's, I prefer to sort by caliber

I've never noticed much difference in my cases,other than having a few case brands that I prefer to trash rather than reload.
Then again,I'm not a good enough shooter to really be able to tell.

T-Mac · February 23, 2007, 06:35 PM

Poodleshooter...

yer killin me.

skeeter1 · February 23, 2007, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Here is how I sort my brass.

1. Fired
2. Resized/deprimed
3. Primed
4. Loaded.

Yep, that's exactly the way I do it as well. A few cheap GladWare containers to keep them in each stage, and it works for me.

When it comes to charging and loading, I use a reloading block. I put the primed shells in the block upside-down, and one-by-one turn them over, charge them, put in the bullet, crimp them, and put them aside.

Yes, I'm anal about this, but this regimen has also resulted in zero squibs and zero double charges. I think I'll stick with it.

ledavatar · February 24, 2007, 07:26 AM

Damn, really?!? No one sits in front of the TV for hours and sorts brass headstamps like I do?

I've been going insane yesterday over the 5 variations of the SPEER yellow brass I found:

SPEER 45 AUTO (with thick bolded lettering)
SPEER 45 AUTO (with thin lettering)
SPEER 45-AUTO
SPEER .45 AUTO
SPEER 45:AUTO

They probably do this to differentiate the various loadings, but since I'm so cheap I can't buy them all to compare.

I dug through the trash bin one day and got a whole bunch of discarded ammo boxes and now for some reason I feel need to load the right headstamped brass for that box with the listed bullet type.

I've shot mixed brass before, and it made little difference in shooting, but I guess I just have tons of brass where sorting makes sense. If you have 1000 bullets to load and 5000 pieces of brass, don't you want to find matching 1000 brass to load those 1000 bullets?

rwilson452 · February 24, 2007, 09:26 AM

If it's a .45ACP I wouldn't bother. If your just got to sort, sort by weight. Much more effective. After you resize they all have the same size opening. In fact, they will be more uniform than factory ammo because you used the same die for all your brass.

Hint: the bullets can't read the head stamp

I've shot mixed brass before, and it made little difference in shooting, but I guess I just have tons of brass where sorting makes sense. If you have 1000 bullets to load and 5000 pieces of brass, don't you want to find matching 1000 brass to load those 1000 bullets?

boojo35 · February 24, 2007, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Here is how I sort my brass.

1. Fired
2. Resized/deprimed
3. Primed
4. Loaded.

These are necessary steps in the sorting process. I found that sorting mine in the tumbler is the best.