Need tips on sorting some pistol brass

turtlehead · June 20, 2016, 01:36 AM

And I know about the sorting buckets but want to do this now.

I have a bucket of mixed 380, 9 and 40. Any tips for speeding this up?

jetinteriorguy · June 20, 2016, 04:52 AM

I just dump them onto a large cookie sheet and then pick out the larger .45 and .40 brass first. Then you just have to carefully look and pick out the slightly smaller .380 which is the real trick. Once you get used to it it's not as difficult as it sounds. Beside, if you miss a few .380 it's real easy to tell the difference when sizing later on.

F. Guffey · June 20, 2016, 06:33 AM

I purchased 23.000 cases from an iron and metal yard in Yonkers, NY; most of the cases were pistol. The majority of the pistol cases were 9mm and 38 Special.

I do not have anything sorted in buckets, I sort by head stamps, rather than pick up ever case and read the head stamp I bounced the 9mm cases in a container until the heavy case head stood the cases up and then covered the cases with a flat board and then flipped. The flipping left the cases upside down on the board with the head stamps up. There were only three different head stamps; FC, WIN and R-P.

There was enough difference between the 38 Special cases that most could be separated without reading the head stamp.

I found 3 Berdan primed cases and then I lost them.

F. Guffey

**Unclenick** · June 20, 2016, 07:05 AM

Set some upright on newspaper on the table. Squeeze them into a straight line between a couple of yard sticks. The .40 is tallest, so set the yardstick on top and pull sideways to knock the 40's over. The 9mm will be the next tallest. Set the yardstick on top of them and knock them over the other way. Now your 380's will be standing and the 40's will lay to one side of the line of standing 380's and the 9mm's to the other.

mrdaputer · June 20, 2016, 08:24 AM

Turtle If you only have a few to do use one of the above ideas. If you plan on doing sorting down the road I say Shell Sorter. It saves you so much time it is money well spent. Here is a link you can also youtube to see it in action

http://www.midwayusa.com/s?targetLoc...3D1%26Ntpr%3D1

F. Guffey · June 20, 2016, 09:02 AM

Quote:

If you plan on doing sorting down the road I say Shell Sorter.

mrdaputer, that is a good plan with no down side, the sorter with the smallest holes could be used to separate cases from media. I have one with two handles that works but generates a lot of noise.

F. Guffey

When I started sorting the 23,000 cases I called for help and offered to divide the cases. My help was not interested in taking the cases, he only wanted to know where the cases were; meaning he would call of he needed cases.

**Unclenick** · June 20, 2016, 09:09 AM

Berry's also makes a media separator with adjustable slit width for brass sorting, but it does cost more. However, I think the OP wanted something he could do immediately and not have to wait for an order to arrive.

F. Guffey · June 20, 2016, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Berry's also makes a media separator with continuously variable slits for brass sorting, but it does cost more. But I think the OP wanted to do this right away and without waiting for an order to arrive.

There could be an advantage to waiting, the new and improved model could have the ability to sort by head stamp.

F. Guffey

**Unclenick** · June 20, 2016, 10:29 AM

Heh, heh. Yep. All you have to do is add the convenient $5,000 optical recognition system.

turtlehead · June 20, 2016, 11:04 AM

Thanks, everybody. These were the types of things I was looking for.

Sure Shot Mc Gee · June 20, 2016, 11:07 AM

Quote:

I have a bucket of mixed 380, 9 and 40. Any tips for speeding this up?

Yup >Just don't do it again.

Otherwise suffer the same old routine since the 1860s i.e. this one goes here that other goes over there.

turtlehead · June 20, 2016, 11:17 AM

Lol. It was free and that's the way it came. Already pulled the 45s out because that was easy. I looked at the rest of them and said "No way".

Am sorting my brass as it's picked up now.

mikld · June 20, 2016, 11:32 AM

After a bit of sorting you'll prolly be able to tell the .40s from the 9mms with just a glance, but the .380s from 9mm is still a "look closely at the length" task...

TailGator · June 20, 2016, 02:44 PM

I've been separating 9 mm from .380 ACP by shaking them so they stand upright, sitting up the stragglers by hand, then looking at the heights and picking them out. Uncle Nick's yardstick trick is too cool to not try it.

jwrowland77 · June 20, 2016, 03:43 PM

Got kids? Lol

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

turtlehead · June 20, 2016, 04:32 PM

ALL DONE!

That wasn't so bad. Standing the cases up was key.

F. Guffey · June 21, 2016, 09:33 AM

Turtlehead, just north of me there was one of those motor rage events. A driver allowed himself to be provoked and then he rolled the window down and started shooting.

After the road was cleared traffic was allowed back on the highway. And then someone got the good ideal to stop/divert traffic to allow for cleaning the highway for evidence; the pistol used was a 9mm. And I wondered what chance they had of finding those cases after most of them were embedded into tires and hauled off.

F. Guffey

turtlehead · June 21, 2016, 09:45 AM

Well I hope everyone was OK and the brass was found and could later be reloaded.

jmorris · June 21, 2016, 01:39 PM

This is the best method I have come up with so far, for sorting brass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFw7IcQUmgs

turtlehead · June 21, 2016, 01:55 PM

That's nice, jmorris.

Send one of those over.

Overkill777 · June 21, 2016, 03:59 PM

Once I get it sorted down to 9mm and 380, I start standing them all up with the head stamp up. I sort them by height as it's much easier to see the difference with them standing. Then I look at all the head stamps to verify nothing like 9mm Makarov got mixed in.

DaleA · June 21, 2016, 05:49 PM

If you just want a mental trick to make you feel better about this tedious task tell yourself you've 'hand sorted' the cases and made sure there's no split cases or other similarly distressed cases in your reloading bucket---and it's true.

briandg · June 22, 2016, 04:01 AM

I use wooden trays that came from cigar boxes. The tray is flat, has sharp corners, and makes it as easy as falling off of a log to count afterwards. dump the unsorted brass into a pan or other flat container. grab it by the handful, sort out the large ones, pour the small ones into the tray. it takes little effort to line them all up with base down. sorting 40 from 45 is ridiculously easy, and working on your 9 and 380 brass is as simple as going over the tray visually and pulling the short ones out of the stacked 9 brass with any tool that you have handy. I've even used a pen that tapers conveniently enough to grip the .380 mouth and then shake off into another box.

The box works so well for me because it confines them absolutely into a block, doesn't allow them to tip over, and the corners and edges are completely square.

F. Guffey · June 22, 2016, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Well I hope everyone was OK and the brass was found and could later be reloaded.

No, two people died and then there is that part about 9mm cases landing with the heavy side down. If they were going to search for the cases they should have searched first before opening the highway to traffic; if a case landed on its side air turbulence could stand it up.

I thought a better place to look for shell cases would have been tire repair shops if drivers noticed an unusual tapping sound made while the case head wore down.

That happened top me, I had a few thousand cases that required the primers to be removed. I was using an old press without a catcher and did not care where the primers went. When finished I walked through the primers; many of them embedded into the neoprene soles of my shoes. For a short while the primers made an interesting sound. And then I had to fly from Newark to DFW. While in line I noticed three passengers ahead of me take their shoes off (they were from India). Out of sympathy I removed my shoes. The inspector wanted to know what all of those little round rings were in the sole of my shoes. I told them there were knobbiest for grip in ice and snow.

F. Guffey

F. Guffey

Longshot4 · June 25, 2016, 06:57 PM

I'm not big for spending much to get the job done.

I recently scrounged up a few hundred mixed pistol cases from the out door range. The 45s had 380s, 9s and 40s in them and on down the line... The first thing I did was put them in a bucket of running tap water for several min. to get rid of the mud and organic matter. After rinsing well and straining. I put them back in the bucket.
I covered them with white vinegar stirred a bit and let set for 10 min. Then flushed well with water and put through the strainer again to remove the last of the debris and water.
After flipping the clean cases in the strainer for a min. to get most of the water out. I took them out side in the hot sun to sort and dry on a old towel.

This is where I remove the smaller cases from the larger ones. In the afternoon sun the heat will dry the primers in about a hour or two. If I need to speed up the process. I will get out my trusty heat gun and set the temp for about 500> degrease. I place the cases in a cooking tray or bred pan I picked up for a buck at a garage sail and heat up the cases. As I go I watch the inner case flash hole to see that the water is dried up. Then I might tumble but only for a hour if needed. Ideally that is a good time to size and punch out the primer and prime if needed.
Then put them in a gallon zip-lock and put the information on the bag. They will be ready to go for a quick loading when needed.

June 20, 2016, 01:36 AM	#1
turtlehead Senior Member Join Date: October 20, 2015 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,203	Need tips on sorting some pistol brass And I know about the sorting buckets but want to do this now. I have a bucket of mixed 380, 9 and 40. Any tips for speeding this up?

June 20, 2016, 07:05 AM	#4
Unclenick Staff Join Date: March 4, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 21,063	Set some upright on newspaper on the table. Squeeze them into a straight line between a couple of yard sticks. The .40 is tallest, so set the yardstick on top and pull sideways to knock the 40's over. The 9mm will be the next tallest. Set the yardstick on top of them and knock them over the other way. Now your 380's will be standing and the 40's will lay to one side of the line of standing 380's and the 9mm's to the other. __________________ Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle

June 20, 2016, 09:09 AM	#7
Unclenick Staff Join Date: March 4, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 21,063	Berry's also makes a media separator with adjustable slit width for brass sorting, but it does cost more. However, I think the OP wanted something he could do immediately and not have to wait for an order to arrive. __________________ Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle

June 20, 2016, 10:29 AM	#9
Unclenick Staff Join Date: March 4, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 21,063	Heh, heh. Yep. All you have to do is add the convenient $5,000 optical recognition system. __________________ Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle

June 20, 2016, 11:32 AM	#13
mikld Senior Member Join Date: February 7, 2009 Location: Southern Oregon! Posts: 2,891	After a bit of sorting you'll prolly be able to tell the .40s from the 9mms with just a glance, but the .380s from 9mm is still a "look closely at the length" task... __________________ My Anchor is holding fast! I've learned how to stand on my own two knees...

June 20, 2016, 04:52 AM	#2
jetinteriorguy Senior Member Join Date: April 28, 2013 Posts: 3,175	I just dump them onto a large cookie sheet and then pick out the larger .45 and .40 brass first. Then you just have to carefully look and pick out the slightly smaller .380 which is the real trick. Once you get used to it it's not as difficult as it sounds. Beside, if you miss a few .380 it's real easy to tell the difference when sizing later on.

June 20, 2016, 06:33 AM	#3
F. Guffey Senior Member Join Date: July 18, 2008 Posts: 7,249	I purchased 23.000 cases from an iron and metal yard in Yonkers, NY; most of the cases were pistol. The majority of the pistol cases were 9mm and 38 Special. I do not have anything sorted in buckets, I sort by head stamps, rather than pick up ever case and read the head stamp I bounced the 9mm cases in a container until the heavy case head stood the cases up and then covered the cases with a flat board and then flipped. The flipping left the cases upside down on the board with the head stamps up. There were only three different head stamps; FC, WIN and R-P. There was enough difference between the 38 Special cases that most could be separated without reading the head stamp. I found 3 Berdan primed cases and then I lost them. F. Guffey

June 20, 2016, 08:24 AM	#5
mrdaputer Senior Member Join Date: December 14, 2013 Posts: 493	Turtle If you only have a few to do use one of the above ideas. If you plan on doing sorting down the road I say Shell Sorter. It saves you so much time it is money well spent. Here is a link you can also youtube to see it in action http://www.midwayusa.com/s?targetLoc...3D1%26Ntpr%3D1

June 20, 2016, 11:04 AM	#10
turtlehead Senior Member Join Date: October 20, 2015 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,203	Thanks, everybody. These were the types of things I was looking for.

June 20, 2016, 11:17 AM	#12
turtlehead Senior Member Join Date: October 20, 2015 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,203	Lol. It was free and that's the way it came. Already pulled the 45s out because that was easy. I looked at the rest of them and said "No way". Am sorting my brass as it's picked up now.

June 20, 2016, 02:44 PM	#14
TailGator Senior Member Join Date: May 8, 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 3,787	I've been separating 9 mm from .380 ACP by shaking them so they stand upright, sitting up the stragglers by hand, then looking at the heights and picking them out. Uncle Nick's yardstick trick is too cool to not try it.

June 20, 2016, 03:43 PM	#15
jwrowland77 Senior Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Conway, Arkansas Posts: 1,398	Got kids? Lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

June 20, 2016, 04:32 PM	#16
turtlehead Senior Member Join Date: October 20, 2015 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,203	ALL DONE! That wasn't so bad. Standing the cases up was key.

June 21, 2016, 09:33 AM	#17
F. Guffey Senior Member Join Date: July 18, 2008 Posts: 7,249	Turtlehead, just north of me there was one of those motor rage events. A driver allowed himself to be provoked and then he rolled the window down and started shooting. After the road was cleared traffic was allowed back on the highway. And then someone got the good ideal to stop/divert traffic to allow for cleaning the highway for evidence; the pistol used was a 9mm. And I wondered what chance they had of finding those cases after most of them were embedded into tires and hauled off. F. Guffey

June 21, 2016, 09:45 AM	#18
turtlehead Senior Member Join Date: October 20, 2015 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,203	Well I hope everyone was OK and the brass was found and could later be reloaded.

June 21, 2016, 01:39 PM	#19
jmorris Senior Member Join Date: November 22, 2006 Posts: 3,077	This is the best method I have come up with so far, for sorting brass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFw7IcQUmgs

June 21, 2016, 01:55 PM	#20
turtlehead Senior Member Join Date: October 20, 2015 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,203	That's nice, jmorris. Send one of those over.

June 21, 2016, 03:59 PM	#21
Overkill777 Senior Member Join Date: January 4, 2015 Posts: 267	Once I get it sorted down to 9mm and 380, I start standing them all up with the head stamp up. I sort them by height as it's much easier to see the difference with them standing. Then I look at all the head stamps to verify nothing like 9mm Makarov got mixed in.

June 21, 2016, 05:49 PM	#22
DaleA Senior Member Join Date: September 12, 2002 Location: Twin Cities, MN Posts: 5,313	If you just want a mental trick to make you feel better about this tedious task tell yourself you've 'hand sorted' the cases and made sure there's no split cases or other similarly distressed cases in your reloading bucket---and it's true.

June 22, 2016, 04:01 AM	#23
briandg Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2010 Posts: 5,468	I use wooden trays that came from cigar boxes. The tray is flat, has sharp corners, and makes it as easy as falling off of a log to count afterwards. dump the unsorted brass into a pan or other flat container. grab it by the handful, sort out the large ones, pour the small ones into the tray. it takes little effort to line them all up with base down. sorting 40 from 45 is ridiculously easy, and working on your 9 and 380 brass is as simple as going over the tray visually and pulling the short ones out of the stacked 9 brass with any tool that you have handy. I've even used a pen that tapers conveniently enough to grip the .380 mouth and then shake off into another box. The box works so well for me because it confines them absolutely into a block, doesn't allow them to tip over, and the corners and edges are completely square. __________________ None.

June 25, 2016, 06:57 PM	#25
Longshot4 Senior Member Join Date: February 22, 2014 Posts: 868	I'm not big for spending much to get the job done. I recently scrounged up a few hundred mixed pistol cases from the out door range. The 45s had 380s, 9s and 40s in them and on down the line... The first thing I did was put them in a bucket of running tap water for several min. to get rid of the mud and organic matter. After rinsing well and straining. I put them back in the bucket. I covered them with white vinegar stirred a bit and let set for 10 min. Then flushed well with water and put through the strainer again to remove the last of the debris and water. After flipping the clean cases in the strainer for a min. to get most of the water out. I took them out side in the hot sun to sort and dry on a old towel. This is where I remove the smaller cases from the larger ones. In the afternoon sun the heat will dry the primers in about a hour or two. If I need to speed up the process. I will get out my trusty heat gun and set the temp for about 500> degrease. I place the cases in a cooking tray or bred pan I picked up for a buck at a garage sail and heat up the cases. As I go I watch the inner case flash hole to see that the water is dried up. Then I might tumble but only for a hour if needed. Ideally that is a good time to size and punch out the primer and prime if needed. Then put them in a gallon zip-lock and put the information on the bag. They will be ready to go for a quick loading when needed.