Sorting range pickup brass

Rusty Gun · Jan 16, 2018

Any of you reloaders that pick brass use the “shell sorter” which is the three different color plastic trays with slots in the bottom.. I guess you throw brass in the top one and shake it to get the smaller cases to drop to the next level.

If you use this little magical device does it work as good as they say it does? I can see it dropping the .22 and debris out the bottom and sorting bigger cases like 45 acp and rifle brass.... but what about the .380 and 9mm? I assume you still have to look for the 9mm nested in the 40S&W and 40 in the 45 cases but those should be easy to see and I inspect every case anyway.

I spend at least an hour manually sorting brass after every range trip and would rather be cleaning guns or reloading during that time.

Txmark · Jan 16, 2018

I use mine a lot. They work great for rough sorting. I wish that I had ordered the 380 plate, eventually I will.

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sucker76 · Jan 16, 2018

Dad loves his. He also has the three colored trays. he says It cuts his time down sorting brass. It does not sort 380 and 9mm well. I'm not aware of a 380 sorter. I'll look into that.

schmellba99 · Jan 19, 2018

I've always wondered if those work well. I still do the old school sorting by hand, but I don't pick up as much brass as I used to either. One of the perks of the time spent over the years is a pretty solid inventory of brass developed, so not a huge pressing need now like there used to be.

Deavis · Jan 20, 2018

schmellba99 said:
I've always wondered if those work well. I still do the old school sorting by hand, but I don't pick up as much brass as I used to either. One of the perks of the time spent over the years is a pretty solid inventory of brass developed, so not a huge pressing need now like there used to be.

They work fine, but don't expect magic. The 380 plate helps, but fat cases won't fall through. We use them even after diameter and height sorting.

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ROGER4314 · Jan 22, 2018

I have always enjoyed sorting range pickup brass. First, I sort for caliber then by head stamp/manufacturer. In .45acp, the small primers get culled and saved elsewhere. I buy stacks of baking pans at the Dollar store and sort by hand into each pan. It's best to buy all the same type of pan, because they all nestle together and take up less space.

Flash

Deavis · Jan 24, 2018

I've got an opening for a sort guy, come to Austin and you can sort enough range brass to fill your heart full enough for 5 lifetimes!

orbitup · Jan 24, 2018

Deavis said:
I've got an opening for a sort guy, come to Austin and you can sort enough range brass to fill your heart full enough for 5 lifetimes!

Can we take it home?

Gummi Bear · Jan 26, 2018

I have the sort trays, and they work pretty well.

I still haven’t figured out how the 380 plate is supposed to work, it doesn’t seem to separate anything. I’m probably using it wrong. I just go through all my 9mm brass when I dump it out of the tumbler.

I don’t bother sorting pistol ammo by brand, I’m not that awesome of a pistol shot, but I love to plink steel, so I go through quite a bit.

I only pick out small primer 45. It jams up in the 550 press. Thankful it’s not terribly common. I have only accumulated a quart ziplock full over the years.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...

Henry David Thoreau

deemus · Jan 26, 2018

I like doing it by hand. Relaxing.

snakeye · Jan 28, 2018

deemus said:
I like doing it by hand. Relaxing.

So do I...I sit in my recliner with a cold beer and coffee jugs all around me and sort brass while watching tv....do the same thing hand priming....life is good

Rusty Gun · Jan 28, 2018

Well I splurged and ordered the slotted pans from brownells today they had freight shipping on everything. Spent an hour setting at the bench sorting on Saturday that I should have spent cleaning guns or drinking coffee with my beautiful bride.

Will give you a report as soon as I get them and run a batch of range brass through them.

TheMailMan · Jan 31, 2018

I love my Shell Sorter trays.

I start with the .45 ACP tray, I shake it over a 5 gallon bucket. This keeps the .45 ACP, .44 mag and all the #1 shell holder brass in the tray.

Then I take the 10mm tray and sort what fell in the bucket. This keeps all the 10mm .40 short and week, .38/.357 in the tray.

Then I take the 9mm tray and sort what's left in the bucket. This keeps the 9mm, .38 Super, .223 in the tray.

I'll take a look in the bucket and pick out the .32 auto, .32 revolver stuff, .30 carbine out of the scrap.

Now to sort the .40 short and weak and 10mm brass I take a plastic .45 acp ammo tray, the kind that comes in a box of ammo, and start dumping brass over it. The brass has a tendency to fall into the holes with the case mouth facing up. This allows me to pick out the taller 10mm cases and find those odd .357 Sig brass. You can do the same thing to separate .45 ACP from .45 What Was Glock Thinking? brass.

I sort .38 SPL and .357 brass the same way.

Since I'm too cheap to buy the .380 metal plate I use a .40 short and weak ammo tray and sort my 9mm and .380 the same way.

I do my best to keep things separate. A .40 Short and Weak case really fouls up my 10mm loading on the Dillon 650. So does a .38/.357 case mixed in the 10mm brass.

A .380 case in the 9mm brass is harder to catch, they get through till they hit the RCBS lock-out die.

Deavis · Feb 6, 2018

orbitup said:
Can we take it home?

Only the stuff you bring!

Rusty Gun · Feb 7, 2018

Deavis said:
Only the stuff you bring!

View attachment 130715

A pretty impressive setup can you explain a little about what is shown. Clearly this is some kind of “industrial” brass sorting equipment designed for a very high volume. What are we looking at, why is it needed and what are the capabilities.

Deavis · Feb 8, 2018

It's how we sort brass from our customers. From right to left, roller sorter (diameter), bowl sorter (height), and a rifle/pistol sorter. Not shown is the trommel that sorts out 22, debris, and removes steel that is the first step or the 223/BLK bowl.

Roller gives you buckets by diameter which then need to be sorted out. So your 40 diameter bucket has 40, Sig, 10mm, 38, 357, and junk like 9 shot in 40. You throw it in the height sorter and it separates out all of those. Same for the other buckets. 223 and 380 end up together, so you throw that into the rifle/pistol sorter to get them sorted.

rp- · Feb 9, 2018

Deavis, If you still need some help over the summer I can come up on Sundays and help a few hours again if you'd like.

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gummy · Feb 10, 2018

I also really like doing it by hand. I also use a single stage press... I think I shoot to reload instead of the other way around.

Rusty Gun · Feb 10, 2018

gummy said:
I also really like doing it by hand. I also use a single stage press... I think I shoot to reload instead of the other way around.

I have the same concerns. I have actually caught myself thinking that I need to shoot up the reloads so I can reload them again. The Dillon 550 makes lots of ammo real fast.

rp- · Feb 10, 2018

Rusty Gun said:
I have the same concerns. I have actually caught myself thinking that I need to shoot up the reloads so I can reload them again. The Dillon 550 makes lots of ammo real fast.

I have thought the same. Though my pro1000 doesn't crank it out as fast I suppose.

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Sorting range pickup brass

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