Saving brass

M

Micro man

New member
Just getting to the point in my reloading hobby where I am starting to accumulate a supply of brass mainly 38 sp and 9 mm. I have been shooting alreadyloaded ammo and saving brass to reload. My question is do I need to keep the brass separated by maker for BEST reloading practice or does it not matter. Also what do members use to store their brass in. I have read its best to keep air out and others says it does not matter.
Micro man
 
The 38 brass I would definately sort and load in batches of matching brass. They may vary slightly in length, and different brass has different lifespans. It makes for bett consistancy, and is easy to keep sorted and togther.

I gave up on trying to keep 9mm sorted. I lose some every time i shoot, and /or come home with different brass than I left with. I only sort 9mm if I'm making some kind of prescision load, otherwise my only concern is whether or not primers are crimped.
 
I've been reloading off and on for more than 30 years and I still have and use brass that I've had from the beginning. I don't separate brass for rimmed pistol cartridges, but I do for .40 cal S&W and for rifle. Since the rimmed .38/.357 type hulls headspace on the rim it doesn't hurt to mix and match.

I store the hulls in coffee cans, plastic containers, it keeps the dirt and bugs out of them. I wash the hulls in a citric acid/water solution before loading. If I was shooting bench rest and such I would use appropriate measures to make for more accurate shooting.
 
I sort all my cases by brand & do my best to keep track of how many times they've been loaded... lately I've also begun to buy bulk ammo with good brass, & keep a reserve of factory ammo, & shoot & reload over & over a set quantity ( 250 - 500 ) cases, until I start having issues, then I dig back into the factory ammo for another 250 - 500, then buy a replacement amount of factory ammo

that said... I do not sort my CAS cartridges by brand, as I seem to get back 10% that were not mine to begin with, but match my caliber... since those are generally lighter loads, & short range minute of steel plate accuracy needed, if the case length is a little off... no problem... if they are far enough off to notice during loading, i'll toss them off to the side until I get enough to justify trimming a batch
 
When I first started reloading, I shot only revolvers, so it was easy to keep brass separate, but 28 years later, I don't bother with separating brass or counting reloads (except I have some .44 Magnum brass I use exclusively for a rifle and heavy loads I keep segregated). I have personally run "experiments" with some of my more accurate loads in .38, .44 Mag., and 45 ACP and found not enough difference to be noticeable between all the same brass/headstamp and mixed cases.

So, my answer would be nope, it ain't necessary or good handloading practice to sort handgun brass. But there exceptions to every rule as some handguns are indeed "accuracy machines" (Contenders, XP100, Freedom Arms, custom Bullseye guns, etc. :D)...

Brass cases are just brass alloy tubes as far as storage goes. I only insure they don't get wet, and keep them in anything from plastic zip-lok bags to mayo jars to shoe boxes to gallon pickle jars...
 
The only time sorting by headstamp matters to me is when I load defensive rounds. I want consistency in the OAL so I sort through the brass I have already processed and ready to go, and select a single brand. Everything else is for target and I don't care about the length of the case size, staying within a specific OAL range (9mm).

Since you don't trim .38 and seat and crimp at the cannelure, why should size matter?

Good luck. Be safe.
 
Saving brass...

Micro Man--For any sort of pistol shooting, IMHO, the brass manufacturer does not matter. With my .357 Mag rounds, I check for case length and trim the overlong ones, just to keep the crimp the same on all the rounds.

I shoot league competition, and nobody who reloads, who I've talked to, sorts their brass by manufacturer or anything else. "Ya reload and shoot it until it splits," is the usual statement. This for both rimmed (as in .38 spl or .357 mag) and for rimless (as in .45 acp or .380.)


With pistol shooting, there are so many other factors that influence the results (biggest one factor being "operator error") that the case manufacturer difference just doesn't come into play. If my shooting skills were at a state-competition level or higher, I might, repeat, might, have to re-think this.

Rifle shooting, that is a horse of another color.

Storing brass--Handiest thing I've found is plastic 1-gallon ice cream buckets. They're durable, free, and I've got a lot of 'em.
 
Lowes has a handy (1 gallon?) paint bucket with lid that I keep my 9mm cases in.

Most are fine but S&B and other weird stamps like Ammoload are usually culled as their construction is very different from the usual Federal etc.
 
After tumbling pistol brass, I size and expand the case mouth so the cases will be ready for loading later. All are sorted by headstamp bagged in Ziploc sandwhich bags and labeled;100 or 200 per bag depending on case size. Over flowed Folger coffee cans long ago. Moved to plastic cat litter, cat food and laundry detergent pails because they are more easily managed than 5 gallon buckets within the confines of a narrow closet.

Labeling the sorted brass makes it easy to load up S&B cases for use at lost brass matches.
 
I've always sorted my brass until I started loading for the 9mm. I sorted the first time through and did notice some differences in how they felt when sizing, seating in the press. I stay well below max loads and use this ammo just for plinking. Since it all cycled well through my pistols I no longer sort for the 9mm.
Since I don't load such a high volume for other cartridges, I still sort for them.
A lot of my brass gets stored in plastic baggies until sized and prepped and then into ammo boxes. No issues so far after 20+ years.
 
Coffee cans, shoe/boot boxes or any other container with a lid will do. No need to sort the brass either.
Handgun brass rarely requires trimming so there's no need to sort for length.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top