Need tips on sorting some pistol brass

[Overkill777]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.