Brass sorter with live ammo
- Thread starter gunnyee12
- Start date
I'd be in there sorting it by hand for weeks, and loving every minute of it!
I'm with you there. Something very cathartic about sorting ammo into piles by caliber. And a nice spreadsheet to keep track of all the treasure ....
That seems like an odd way to sort ammo, but each to their own I guess lol. In the OP's situation though, it's the mass of the other rounds I'd be considering.
I'd say this has all the makings of a good Mythbusters episode. I remember they did one episode trying to set off a bullet by hitting it with a hammer. It was a center fire round so of course none of them got it to work. If they had tried that on a rimfire round, they would have gotten a lot better results. I'm going to miss that show
OK, I can see that I should have explained a bit more.
The point being that here is little actual inherent danger from handling or dropping ammo. Ammo that explodes when you drop it from waist height whether single or mixed would be quite abnormal. I'm not saying it's impossible - just that it would take some contriving and not something that we generally need to worry about - just the like gasoline in your car's fuel tank, there is a possibility of an explosion but not many of us actually lose sleep over it. :0
I'm just teasing you jethunter. We both agree that it's a very low probability. I've handled, reloaded, and dropped more rounds than I care to think about. Including dropping loose packed 525 brick of Blazer .22 ammo with no ill affects other than making a mess My (relatively moot) point was that it's not the mass of the .22 rounds I would consider. It's the mass of the larger rounds mixed in (eg a 45-70 round dropping on to a .22 rim vs a .22 round just falling on the ground).
Personally, when I unload and show clear, I roll my gun over 180 degrees and let the round fall in to my weak hand, just because I'm too lazy to look for it and pick it up after lol
My (relatively moot) point was that it's not the mass of the .22 rounds I would consider. It's the mass of the larger rounds mixed in (eg a 45-70 round dropping on to a .22 rim vs a .22 round just falling on the ground). Personally, when I unload and show clear, I roll my gun over 180 degrees and let the round fall in to my weak hand, just because I'm too lazy to look for it and pick it up after lol
OK, I can see that I should have explained a bit more.
The point being that here is little actual inherent danger from handling or dropping ammo. Ammo that explodes when you drop it from waist height whether single or mixed would be quite abnormal. I'm not saying it's impossible - just that it would take some contriving and not something that we generally need to worry about - just the like gasoline in your car's fuel tank, there is a possibility of an explosion but not many of us actually lose sleep over it. :0
I'm just teasing you jethunter. We both agree that it's a very low probability. I've handled, reloaded, and dropped more rounds than I care to think about. Including dropping loose packed 525 brick of Blazer .22 ammo with no ill affects other than making a mess
Personally, when I unload and show clear, I roll my gun over 180 degrees and let the round fall in to my weak hand, just because I'm too lazy to look for it and pick it up after lol
Oh, you were TEASING; I just thought you were a bit slow - sorry.
Dropping the unloaded round in your hand isn't lazy, it would be stupid to drop a cartridge in the dirt for no reason, and I don't know anyone that would do that on purpose.
SLOOOOWWWW? You must have been talking to my ex-wife lol
And at the end of a stage, all the cool kids do the rack-n-catch thing. I'm just not that cool yet haha.
And at the end of a stage, all the cool kids do the rack-n-catch thing. I'm just not that cool yet haha.
Oh, you were TEASING; I just thought you were a bit slow - sorry.
Dropping the unloaded round in your hand isn't lazy, it would be stupid to drop a cartridge in the dirt for no reason, and I don't know anyone that would do that on purpose.
Those sorter trays are not expensive and can break down the mix for you quite a bit. The rimfire will all fall through, so you the trays over a bucket. Just go in small batches and you can get each tray down to a few different cartridges per tray instead of 20.
Those of you who wanted to know.... ammo was from a buddy's buddy who apparently collected this ammo for years, and just recently decided he wasnt going to shoot it and wanted to get rid of it, so thats how it ended up in my mancave.
The sorters worked awesome! First I hand picked most of the rifle stuff then the rest i just did hand fulls through the sorters. After sorting most of it this weekend there's actually not as much rifle and pistol ammo as i thought there would be, reason being most of the crates actually had 1-2 layers of shotgun at the bottom that took up most of the space. Rimfire on the other hand, i never expected to come out with what i did. For me this is almost a life times worth of 22lr. I still think i did good for what i paid though.
Heres what i came out with
The 22lr is in a Home Depot 5gal pail. By my calculations there should be approximately 18000rds in there
2 crates of mixed shotgun
Mixed rifle
Mostly 9mm, but some 38super, 380, 7.62x25
40cal, 10mm, 357sig on the left. and 45acp, 44-40, 45colt, 44mag, etc on the right.
and a box of 38/357mag
The sorters worked awesome! First I hand picked most of the rifle stuff then the rest i just did hand fulls through the sorters. After sorting most of it this weekend there's actually not as much rifle and pistol ammo as i thought there would be, reason being most of the crates actually had 1-2 layers of shotgun at the bottom that took up most of the space. Rimfire on the other hand, i never expected to come out with what i did. For me this is almost a life times worth of 22lr. I still think i did good for what i paid though.
Heres what i came out with
The 22lr is in a Home Depot 5gal pail. By my calculations there should be approximately 18000rds in there
2 crates of mixed shotgun
Mixed rifle
Mostly 9mm, but some 38super, 380, 7.62x25
40cal, 10mm, 357sig on the left. and 45acp, 44-40, 45colt, 44mag, etc on the right.
and a box of 38/357mag
I was also leary about any reloads. Im not too sure yet what im going to do with it. The rim fire stuff i know im safe with. The shotgun im 99% certain they are factory. The rest im not too sure. I dont have most of the guns to shoot these with anyway.
I would be uncomfortable unless I looked at every head stamp myself. There are many cases that are very similar in size but can cause issues in some chambers. For example, a .270 .280 or .30.06 would all fall through the same sorting slot. I expect a .22-250 and a .243 could easily end up in the same tub. It is an astonishing find, and you may get lots of usable ammo out of it, but I think I would want to do it by hand in good light (I'm old).
This is correct.
30-06, 270, 308, 8x57, 9.3x62, 280, 280AI, 7x57, 25-06, 243, etc. etc., would all fall through the same slot. You have to check them all individually by hand and eyeball regardless, so a sorter isn't going to save much time.
Can you go back and ask your buddy's buddy if he reloaded any of that rifle or pistol ammo? And while you are talking to him, make him an offer for the guns related to all that ammo. If he's not shooting anymore you could get some great deals
I will be going through all the rounds individually by hand. I only used the sorters on the pistol ammo. This was great as it sorted all the 9mm and similar in the bottom tray, all the 40cal and similar in the middle tray (this tray also sorts the 38/357mag as the holes catch the rim and does not fall through to the 9mm tray.), and all the 45cal an bigger in the top tray. Anything smaller than 9mm fell trough all 3 trays (ie 25auto, 32 auto all the rimfire etc.) The rifle stuff i hand picked out of the lot as they were easy to see and grab.
Last edited:
Can you go back and ask your buddy's buddy if he reloaded any of that rifle or pistol ammo? And while you are talking to him, make him an offer for the guns related to all that ammo. If he's not shooting anymore you could get some great deals
Might have to ask him about the guns. I know he doesn't reload though, so im not sure if he'll no the answer to that.
buzzmagoo
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- sprucewood Hallows Eastern Townships
OK ! It's official I am totally jealous! Most of it looks pretty clean and Usable afew reloads here and there and some dings and dents but for the most part totally Usable. The stuff that 's questionable break it down for components. A labor of love by the bucket load.
