How does everyone store and organize their brass?

Potshot21

Potshot21

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Apologies if this is something that has been beaten to death already, I did a search but came up empty.

Curious to see some other people's solutions to storing and sorting brass. I'm setting up a "gun room" and am looking to get a nice setup going. I was previously storing my brass in dollar store Tupperware containers, but they are flimsy and fragile at best.

Worse yet, since the whole room setup/renovation started, I have lost track of what stuff was twice or thrice fired. Going to probably discard some as a result of that mix up.

Any words of wisdom or just tips and suggestions welcome!
 
any brass i'm using goes in 50 or 100 round boxes. not using but in factory bags stored in my brass cupboard. i use zip lock freezer bags for used brass not currently using and write on the freezer bags status eg once fired etc. prevents issues. also label to what rifle it was fired in.
 
Don't worry too much about once and twice fired brass. I have some brass that I still use going into a 7th or 8th barrel. Anneal it and carry on.

All my brass is weight sorted into MTM 50 boxes. Once all of one weight is fired (maybe 500-600 rounds) it gets dumped into a cardboard and labeled. Ready to anneal, resize, trim and reweigh before being primed and put back into the MTM 50 boxes. Once primed they stay in that box labeled by weight until loaded. Every case in the bow will weigh with .5 gr of each other.
 
I store a lot of brass, simply because I reload for 40+ different cartridges.

I have brass that is over 100 years old, I reload it a couple of times per year and in some instances for close to 50 years.

Depending on the brass, throwing it away after 5-6 reloads is a waste of good cases. You also need to learn how to take care of your brass, especially if it's good quality. Most isn't bad, but there are always exceptions.

For the cartridges that I shoot a couple of times per year, such as the 8mm Kropatschek and 577 Snider, I found several shelving units that extend from floor to ceiling.

Each of these lesser used cartridges resides has their own compartment on those shelves. I have cheap plastic bins that I picked up from Princess Auto to keep the fired cases/new cases/loaded ammo separated from each other.

For cartridges that I shoot a lot of, I use a similar system, but with larger bins.

I also have bin racks, that I keep new brass in, if I have large quantities of those cases. I picked these up from Canadian Tire and they're stackable, on wheels. I double stack these bins, to save space. These bins are for 7x57,30-06,6.5x55, 308win,223rem,243win,22Hornet, etc. I like to have new brass on hand for new to me rifles or special load development.

Of course, I don't know your particular space limitations or how many different cartridges you reload for.

The bins from Princess Auto or Canadian Tire, come in several different sizes. They also have types that are closed and open, mount on wall racks or rest on shelves, or are stackable. They're cheap and easy. If your brass is fired but not reloaded yet, there shouldn't be an issue with open tops.

There are all sorts of variations of this, Folger coffe cans for instance work just fine.
 
Plastic salad containers.

Come in several sizes with resealable lids perfect for sorting brass.

Completely see through and easy to clean

Only hard thing is to get the stickers off.

I just take a bit of paper 3 x 5 and write the size of the brass with black marker and dump it in with the brass.

Remarkably strong even when full. You can stack the large ones at least 4 high when full before risk of the bottom one getting squished.
 
zip lock baggies, 2L ice cream tubs (the plastic ones), milk crates full of zip lock baggies, ammo cans.

What ever fits the shelf / space and holds the required quantity of brass. Labels on the outside, or at least visible from the outside of the container help as well.

As far as the number of firings, unless I was competing, I wouldn't worry about it, as long as the brass isn't in danger of head separation, (usually caused by excessive headspace and/or excessive full-length sizing). If you're worried about the necks work hardening, set those aside, and look at annealling down the road. Or, sell those cases to someone with less stringent requirements. This, of course come from my frugal nature....
YMMV
 
i use 2 or 3 gallon buckets stacked for the calibers i use alot of, the rest gets put in ziplock bags with a printed label with whats inside and the QTY, then it all goes into those plastic milk bag containers.
 
Mine is a big mess of Ziploc bags inside of bigger Ziploc bags, stored neatly in a cupboard under my bench. And in several milk crates beside my bench. Its an nicely organized mess.
 
I picked up some lockers off Kijiji (like the ones you see in schools). I built shelving in them and use the clear ziplock brand containers to store the brass on the shelves with labels for rifle calibers. I use coffee cans or ziplock bags for pistol brass.
 
I use the clear, heavier plastic nut containers from Costco. They are square and stack well.
Can see at a glance what is in them, and how much. On the lid I put the chambering with
a permanent marker. Works for me. Dave.
 
Freezer bags of same headstamp and caliber into Caliber shoebox sized, or larger transparent storage container with a lid. Sort by headstamps into cat treat container before going into zip-lock freezer bags.





and some 20mm ammo cans
 
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oh my

I store brass using almost all the mentioned items

cookie tins, ziplock bags, MTM containers, coffee cans, large stackable bins (Princess Auto had them on sale again $3.33), film cans (not the little ones but the big ones from movies, again Princess Auto about 16" round and 1" deep), small stackable bins, cardboard boxes, ammo cans, and from the range it comes home in a sand bag and gets sorted when I get around to it.
 
Haha, I see we all have nearly the same system of organization all around! Must be a reloader's thing!

I may have to upsize the cabinet I was planning to buy, looks like the farther I go down the rabbit hole, I'll be thankful for the extra storage space.
 
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