How important is Brass Sorting

[Shadow]

I know i've read it i many places and seen it here---to sort and seperate your brass by manufactures. Well i bought a package of 300 mixed heads tonight and set down and started sortting them out ,,i ended up with 23 different names. Some of these i've never herd of.
CBC --17
HSM-- 6
PMC --25
GFL-- 3
S&W--22
WW--10
Speer-13
WCC--5
MRP--1
TZZ--1
PPU--1
*I*--3
*^*--2
SB AC--2
Aguila--2
Fiocchi--2
IK 03--3
ZERO--3
Federal-32
Blazer-39
R-P --70
Winchester - 63
W-SUPER-W--2
What do you all do ,when yo get a lot like this?

 

[mkgr22]

What caliber is that mess?

 

[outdoorguy]

It depends on what you are loading for. If you are loading your bench rest rifle for 1/2 MOA target shooting, sorting makes sense. If you are loading your handgun for plinking, load'em and shoot'em.

 

[billybob44]

^^^+1

It depends on what you are loading for. If you are loading your bench rest rifle for 1/2 MOA target shooting, sorting makes sense. If you are loading your handgun for plinking, load'em and shoot'em.

I would venture to say, due to the brand coverage, that you have 9MM brass?
I would say that it came from a "Pay Range" (Probably from Don's-HA HA)
You do need to sort out+discard to the scrap bucket, any berdan primed cases first.
You will find that some brass has thinner walls than others+will have less neck tension after sized then the ones with the thicker walls. This is why for your most dependable loads you need brass with common headstamps.
If some of the less common name brass decaps real,real easy, you should discard, due to enlarged primer pockets.
You should do well with:
W-W
R-P
Federal
PMC
Midway
CCI/Speer/Blazer Brass
Fiocchi
Hornady
Norma

And probably a few others.
Again, if the primers come out very easy, discard..Bill.

 

[antsi]

Agree with outdoor guy - for handgun range ammo it really does not make much difference.

If this was all rifle brass, I'd probably dump it in the brass recycling bag - unless maybe I was just wanting to make some random plinking ammo.

 

[Shadow]

Im sorry <slap forhead> i thought i wrote what size brass i had bought.. Its 38 spl,,,i did get over 300 pieces for $5.00. Thank you all for your advice,,,ooooo and by the way i've never been to Don's ,lol.

 

[Robert Richardson]

Load and shoot the good ones.

 

[g+16]

just stay away from anything that say's AA-American Ammo, or anything steel cased

 

[jdhaines]

I recently received almost 4000 9mm brass cases. I've been sorting through it and have a "mixed" bag that looks like the list you posted. Far and away the majority were about 50% Winchester and 40% F-C (which I think is federal cartridge).

I've just started with a Hornady LnL. One reloading friend uses a RCBS progressive and loads whatever comes up next. Another friend uses a Dillon and says he sorts and only shoots winchester as the other stuff won't prime correctly. I'm not sure yet what to do...but I figure sorting it couldn't hurt. Perhaps I'll try to load the same headstamp until I run out of brass and then re-adjust and check after every new manufacturer?

 

[blue edge]

If it look good and its brass, I reload it

 

[red_zr24x4]

Never sorted brass by headstamp.
1 pick out berdan/steel.
2 look if its military/remove crimp.
3 look for cracks.
4.prime.
5.load.
6.shoot.
repete steps #3to#6

 

[DHolder]

S&B primer pockets are TIGHT. I've heard to stay away from AMERC, the brass is supposed to be weak?

 

[billybob44]

One more thing..

One more thing on mixed brass-drag a magnet through the pile of brass before you work it at all==You might be surprised??






PS: I throw out the steel case "Brass" myself..Bill.

 

[wolfman]

I've heard to stay away from AMERC, the brass is supposed to be weak?

If it aint cracked ,,,,, shoot it till it is

 

[FERLACH]

I clean my brass first, then check for cracks at the neck, throw those away, then load.

 

[Water63]

I have mixed 38 brass and I don't sort if it aint cracked or steel load and shoot. I never load target stuff very hot so some of my brass is over 30 years old.

 

[Aszerigan]

Far and away the majority were about 50% Winchester and 40% F-C (which I think is federal cartridge

Correct, FC is Federal Cartridge.

The problem you're going to run into is breaking your decapping pins on:

PPU- Prvi Partizan (Yugoslavian)
CBC- Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (Brazilian)
and
GFL - Giulio Fiocchi (Italy)

These guys use either especially heavy crimps or superglue on their primers, and it seems when I break a pin, its one of these three. The primers just don't want to come out.

 

[DustyDawg48]

Never sorted brass by headstamp.
1 pick out berdan/steel.
2 look if its military/remove crimp.
3 look for cracks.
4.prime.
5.load.
6.shoot.
repete steps #3to#6

Glad to know I'm not the only one who does exactly this!

It is funny because I can almost tell the manufacturer of the brass by how easy/hard it is when I seat the bullet or primer; Win and Fed are similar but other manufacturers and tight. I reload for IDPA and scrounge brass after the match getting a whole cornucopia of brass. I missed 2 *bad* cases; one had a mangled rim and didn't properly eject and another had a bulge that I somehow missed and it didn't completely chamber.

I think if it were a high-pressure round like .357 or .40 I might do a better job of getting rid of unknown brass but I shoot .45 primarily and have always been good to go with any brass along as there weren't any cracks.

 

[xring62]

Doesnt matter with pistol,sorting just a waste of time. I have noticed with 9mm rem brass they seem to be not as thick and ' fall' though the Lee factory crimp die,but doesnt matter still.

 

[pinhead56]

Never sorted brass by headstamp.
1 pick out berdan/steel.
2 look if its military/remove crimp.
3 look for cracks.
4.prime.
5.load.
6.shoot.
repete steps #3to#6

Just what I do for 9mm and 45acp, except would add "repeat steps #3to#6 until the cases split". Brass can be reloaded an amazing number of times before this happens.

ditto on the Amerc stuff, just pitch it. Not worth the trouble it causes. I can not get a primer seated in this stuff. Sometimes 9mm S&B is tough to prime also.