Learned a brass lesson

[Executive]

I shot at the indoor range today. Aside from the guy at the end of the line who kept stealing my .45 brass it was a good day. It became a better day when I swept up the .22LR brass for the old timer shooting next to me. As I dumped it into the scrap brass bin I noticed a TON of .45ACP .38, and .357 brass inside. I did the reloader version of dumpster diving and walked away with about 300 rounds of what looks like once fired in each caliber. My lesson came later when I put a mixed batch into my case tumbler. Funny how .38 seems to get wedged right into the .45 case with small bits of media wedged into the gap. From now on I'll polish my brass in organized and segregated groups. What a PITA separating the stuck pieces...

 

[jhrosier]

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

Wait til you get a 9mm stuck inside a .45 the same way.

we've all been there

 

[Lugnut]

Aside from the guy at the end of the line who kept stealing my .45 brass it was a good day.

Sorry, that's not really that funny but I couldn't help myself. I could just imagine the look on your face.

Wrt separating brass... yes, I always do it now.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

I've felt your pain.

From experience, you can tumble most any bottle neck rifle brass mixed.

Avoid tumbling .223 with 40sw 9mm or .45, they also will lock together and .223 with 9mm can cap off the .223 and prevent the insides from getting cleaned.

9mm telescopes into .40sw and 40sw telescopes into .45acp. I've run batches of .45 where I've had a few 9mm and 40sw escape my eye during sorting and they almost invariably end up all captured inside a .45 case.

I sort all my pistol brass by caliber, the extra effort pays off with not having to pull them apart as you experienced.

 

[Executive]

Sorry, that's not really that funny but I couldn't help myself. I could just imagine the look on your face.

You would not mind but this was brass that was quite literally falling at my feet. At one point he took a broom and swept the area in front of my station from an adjacent station. Finally I caught him and made eye contact. He had three or four cases in his hand and I just put out my hand. He did his best innocent/ignorant expression: "Are these yours?" You bet, buddy. I'll stripe my rounds with a unique color marker from now on. (And as one smart gunny told me this morning, bring that marker along to tag anything else that comes my way from the end of the line... )

 

[matt]

I shot at the indoor range today. Aside from the guy at the end of the line who kept stealing my .45 brass it was a good day. It became a better day when I swept up the .22LR brass for the old timer shooting next to me. As I dumped it into the scrap brass bin I noticed a TON of .45ACP .38, and .357 brass inside. I did the reloader version of dumpster diving and walked away with about 300 rounds of what looks like once fired in each caliber. My lesson came later when I put a mixed batch into my case tumbler. Funny how .38 seems to get wedged right into the .45 case with small bits of media wedged into the gap. From now on I'll polish my brass in organized and segregated groups. What a PITA separating the stuck pieces...

It is worse with 9mm... I had the exact same problem over the weekend, except I didn't notice as soon as you did...

I inspected and sorted my brass before going in the tumbler. Then I tumbled 9mm, then .45ACP. No problem, right? Except a few 9mm cases were still in the media and every one of them lodged into the .45 cases! but since the are the same length, it is not obvious like with .38/.375. In fact I found they would feed nicely through my case feeder into the press where it would push the depriming pin up and I didn't notice anything unusual until I went to seat the bullet (still getting used to the feel of the press).

What a PITA.... Now I watch a little more closely...