Sorting brass

[JimConway]

Guys
I just found a simple approach to sorting range brass that works very well.

" The Shell Sorter is a simple product designed to reduce the time spent sorting brass by caliber, allowing you to enjoy more time reloading and shooting.

The Sorter simply sits on top of a common 5 gallon bucket, with a few shakes your brass is sorted by caliber. The Shell Sorter is comprised of three pans designed to sort several common calibers.

The yellow pan sorts out 45 ACP and larger shells. The blue pan sorts out 40S&W and 10mm. The black pan sorts out 9mm and .380, and all smaller shells fall through the slots into the bucket.

The fastest way to sort is to stack all three of the pans together with the yellow pan on top, and the black on the bottom, in that way all your brass is sorted at the same time.

If you sort before tumbling as is recommended, most shells that are inside of each other will come apart with the shaking and are sorted correctly. However, if you tumble first, those are likely to jam together with small bits of media, and sometimes those require a pliers."
http://www.shellsorter.com/index.html

$40.00 plus shipping

 

[Lugnut]

I've used this and it's a nice product. Sometimes the shaking doesn't separate the smaller cases from the larger ones but it certainly speeds things us a bunch.

 

[doobie]

Looks nice if you shoot all four of those calibers....

 

[dwarven1]

Sweet...

 

[Cross-X]

This is a great product!

Even better, that small company order fast shipping.

 

[cdkayak]

Sounds like the grain size analysis for soils.

Looks like a good product. Only change I'd make is to keep them from seating down on each other as much to allow more brass to collect between them.

 

[Scrivener]

It is certainly simple. However, $40 for 4 plastic sieves strikes me as a tad exhorbitant.

 

[dwarven1]

Kind of depends on how much you like - or dislike - sorting brass, doesn't it?

 

[Cuz]

Kind of depends on how much you like - or dislike - sorting brass, doesn't it?

Amen to that!!! Although it also depends on how well it works. $40 is darn cheap if it really does work. As I think the steps thru using it I'm guessing it may speed things up a bit, but I wonder if it will at least cut your sorting time in half?

-Cuz.

 

[jkelly]

As a hand loading quality control step I tend to only pick up (and keep) brass that I’ve shot. I do most of my sorting at the range as I pick up and segregate each piece of brass by manufacturer (usually), caliber and sometimes by the gun or action it was shot from. So $40.00 dollars for the sieves that would seldom help me seems a lot.

But I can see, if you pick up large quantities of multiple calibers that as an initial sort, having different size sieves that the cost might not be prohibitive.


Respectfully,

jkelly

 

[JimConway]

Cost

As someone said the brass sorter sounds expensive. In my mind it is dirt cheap. Last weekend we sorted over 3000 rounds of brass in less that 40 minutes. I expect to sort another 5000 rounds this weekend.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

It works for sorting but does nothing to aid in inspecting brass, something that I do as I sort.

 

[JimConway]

In actuality. if you sift small lots, 20 to 40, at a time it allows fast inspection of the brass. It, unfortuneatly, does nothing about cleaning or lubricating your brass. No matter how you cut it, it saves a lot of time and gives me time to load more rounds.

 

[Scrivener]

It works for sorting but does nothing to aid in inspecting brass, something that I do as I sort.

Mine gets inspected twice; the initial sorting by caliber and again when I sort by manufacturer.

 

[Lugnut]

As a hand loading quality control step I tend to only pick up (and keep) brass that I’ve shot. I do most of my sorting at the range as I pick up and segregate each piece of brass by manufacturer (usually), caliber and sometimes by the gun or action it was shot from. So $40.00 dollars for the sieves that would seldom help me seems a lot.

But I can see, if you pick up large quantities of multiple calibers that as an initial sort, having different size sieves that the cost might not be prohibitive.


Respectfully,

jkelly

Here's the real benefit that I see. After shooting an IDPA/IPSC match/practice you end up with a ton of mixed brass. Some of the people that hang around want .45s, some want 9mm, etc. Separating the brass then and there by caliber is a huge help.

Although it sucks that it can't sort out the aluminum and steel cases!

 

[dwarven1]

Although it sucks that it can't sort out the aluminum and steel cases!

A magnet will help you with the steel cases...

 

[jkelly]

Here's the real benefit that I see. After shooting an IDPA/IPSC match/practice you end up with a ton of mixed brass. Some of the people that hang around want .45s, some want 9mm, etc. Separating the brass then and there by caliber is a huge help.

Although it sucks that it can't sort out the aluminum and steel cases! ---Lugnut

It absolutely makes sense if you need a coarse sort as you said. It won’t help (much) with 9mms inside .40s or .40s inside .45s but if you sort large quantities of mixed brass then it sounds like a real help. Especially helpful if you’re sorting thousands of cases like Mr. Conway is.

Nice to speak with you by the way.

Respectfully,

jkelly

 

[icyclefar]

It is certainly simple. However, $40 for 4 plastic sieves strikes me as a tad exhorbitant.

oh come on now ............. isn't someone gonna jump on the lawyer for complaining about the price

 

[dwarven1]

oh come on now ............. isn't someone gonna jump on the lawyer for complaining about the price

Nope. $40 for 4 pieces of plastic is exorbitant... but as they probably have it patented now (I sure would!), they can ask what they want... and they'll probably get it, too.

 

[Executive]

Mine gets inspected twice; the initial sorting by caliber and again when I sort by manufacturer.

I've been wondering about this (and am not particular about the brand of brass I reload). Do you notice a siginificant difference among several brands of brass? My 1911 and my 226 in .45 and 9mm respectively, do not "like" any one brand over the other.

 

[dwarven1]

If I'm remembering this correctly from when I used to reload, different brands of brass will have different internal volumes due to thickness of the brass, etc. If you're trying to make target loads - exceedingly accurate loads, that is - this can lead to variations in velocity even with the same powder charge.

 

[matt]

Nope. $40 for 4 pieces of plastic is exorbitant... but as they probably have it patented now (I sure would!), they can ask what they want... and they'll probably get it, too.

Hard to patent that... not impossible, but hard. I don't think it would pass the sniff test as it would be "obvious to someone skilled in the art". My guess is the reason it is expensive is simply because the volume is low.

Mr Scrivener, of all people, should know that people are often willing to pay high fees rather than do their own work! For instance, one might expect gun owners to study the law so as to stay out of legal hot water and not need an attorney...

 

[Scrivener]

If I'm remembering this correctly from when I used to reload, different brands of brass will have different internal volumes due to thickness of the brass, etc. If you're trying to make target loads - exceedingly accurate loads, that is - this can lead to variations in velocity even with the same powder charge.

Exactly.

Also, to toss any "AMERC" or Winchester NT brass.

As for what people pay for, there are some on this board who can't - or won't - grasp the obvious, no matter how often it is spelled out for them. FORGET them actually doing their own research.

 

[jkelly]

Do you notice a siginificant difference among several brands of brass? My 1911 and my 226 in .45 and 9mm respectively, do not "like" any one brand over the other.---Executive

It is possible to have a problem with different brands of ammunition. You can also have problems with the same brand and same lot of brass if the brass is shot in different guns.

One of my 625s does not like brass shot in a semi-auto so I segregate brass shot in that 625 from other 45 ACP brass shot in other guns even though the brass was purchased new in bulk.

My 945 does not like brass shot in some of my other 45s, I guess that’s do to sloppy chambers.

Some guns will have function problems with different types or different brands of retail ammunition while the brass from these problem rounds may be reloaded and produce no problems.


Respectfully,

jkelly