sorting pistol brass

I run it all through my 1050 once. Any brass that causes even a slight problem gets pitched. Usually lose about 15-20% on that first loading of raw brass due to primer pocket issues, or issues with the rim.

Then I mark all the bottoms with a black sharpie, and only reload brass that is black marked. Way fewer problems using brass that I know feeds nicely with my machine.
 
CeeZer said:
I used to do it, now just tossing brass that is causing too much trouble reloading it (like ECCO brand or so) and inspecting for splits and such, better to find damaged brass before you load it:

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I'm sure you know this but I'll post it anyway for the newbie's. A cracked piece of brass has a distinctive ring to it when it bangs into other brass. Try this; take as many good brass as you can hold in your cupped hands. Roll/shake the brass between your hands. Study the sound that is created. Now substitute a piece that is cracked for one of the good ones. Shake the brass again, listening to the sound it makes. You will here a distinctive high-pitch "tinkle". Shake the brass until you get familiar with that sound. If you keep your ears open, you will catch most cracked brass long before it makes it to the press.

Try it!:)
 
BCboy said:
Anyone else sort there pistol brass by headstamp? I never did befor , but for some annoying reason I started too...
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Hah, same thing happened to me. For the first two years, I only bothered to sort 10mm (kept the better brass for full-power loads), and then all of a sudden I started sorting em'all. I think it happened around the time I started tumbling...

Joe, that's interesting, I'll try it out. Surely there's a specific tone for every calibre! That'd be a fun skill to master, perfect reloader's pitch.

Now, am I the only one who wouldn't hesitate shoot those cartridges CeeZer posted?
 
Well I wouldn't say there is a difference in pitch for different calibers, but there is definately a difference between cracked and un-cracked. Most of the time you can hear it when you pick up a handful at he range or when you throw the spent brass into the bag. You can even pick it up by running your fingers through your container of brass before it goes into the tumbler. Once you learn it, any time the brass rattles you will hear it.

I would mark CeeZer's rounds with a marker and then shoot them, just to help make sure they hit the recycle bucket after.
 
I sort by caliber. That's it. And since I started getting processed brass from Custom Reloading Services I haven't even done that in ages. For any military type pistol (Glock, Sig, CZ, Beretta etc) there is zero need to sort your brass by manufacturer. You will see no difference.
 
joe-nwt said:
Well I wouldn't say there is a difference in pitch for different calibers, but there is definately a difference between cracked and un-cracked. Most of the time you can hear it when you pick up a handful at he range or when you throw the spent brass into the bag. You can even pick it up by running your fingers through your container of brass before it goes into the tumbler. Once you learn it, any time the brass rattles you will hear it.

I would mark CeeZer's rounds with a marker and then shoot them, just to help make sure they hit the recycle bucket after.
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that totally works! picked up a handful of brass yesterday and something sounded wrong. Sure enough there was a cracked case in the pile.
 
I sort by caliber, then tumble, then load. I examine each case while loading, and toss the brands that give me grief, Non-tox, stressed or just ugly-looking. :D That's my reasoning for not having a case feeder, gives me a chance to examine the brass.

My range pickup brass is mostly once-fired since people shooting there on weekends are mostly walk-ins that have no guns or ammo of their own, so they have to buy ammo at the club store. Having said that... I did end up reloading several cracked cases once, so thanks for the tip!

As Canuck223 would say, I have OCD and I know it, so I resist the urge to sort by headstamp. :D
 
I just got my first batch of 9mm brass to sort through last night, and caught myself wondering if I was still sane - sorting through by hand. I must be becoming a CG nut. Having fun doing it though
 
With shooting IPSC you will get a mixture back if any at all, so I just inspect for cracks, pick out the stones, tumble and into my Dillon 650. I can load 800 an hour if my primer tubes are preloaded and have done a good job of sorting so no sneaky 9's make their way in to stop the works.
 
jdman said:
Holy sweet flying f**k! I get nowhere near that many loaded in an hour! :confused: 300 maybe...... is yours auto fed or something?
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My best day was 1200 45 acp in 1 hour with a dillon XL650 with case feeder. No auto feeder just everything handy while going for it.
I have 20 large primer tubes full. 500 cases in the auto feed at a time, the rest sitting in a bag ready to go, and a pail more down by my feet. Powder close by and the powder hopper full. Lots of lights to see that everthing is funtioning well. Go hard and then don't move arm for 3 days!!
 
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