SORTING BRASS—-YUCK!

[1mil-high]

I noticed a set of the brass sorting trays in the classifieds just now. Just a heads up.

 

[amboy49]

Tell your wife she needs to add this duty to her “to do” list. She can fit it in right after the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, grocery shopping, lawn mowing, car repairs, wood splitting, etc. Make sure she understands this isn’t just a casual requirement -and also make sure she knows there is a deadline. If she wants to have the kids help that’s on her. Also, you can gently council her the first time she doesn’t remove the .380 cases from the 9mm. However, more severe discipline is necessary if she continues to screw up. The sooner you get a handle on this the better.

Signed,

“Divorced and penniless due to unfair property settlement and alimony payments”

 

[Doublehelix]

Tell your wife she needs to add this duty to her “to do” list. She can fit it in right after the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, grocery shopping, lawn mowing, car repairs, wood splitting, etc. Make sure she understands this isn’t just a casual requirement -and also make sure she knows there is a deadline. If she wants to have the kids help that’s on her. Also, you can gently council her the first time she doesn’t remove the .380 cases from the 9mm. However, more severe discipline is necessary if she continues to screw up. The sooner you get a handle on this the better.

Signed,

“Divorced and penniless due to unfair property settlement and alimony payments”

Haha! That approach should go over well...

In all seriousness, I sorted a 5 gallon bucket of brass last night using the trays that we are recommending to the OP, and while they are a true blessing, they are not perfect by any means.

A couple of points to make about the sorting trays:

• I advise you to keep the batches small, just pour a small amount into the trays at one time. It is easy to get impatient and add too much brass. It actually takes longer to sort this way, so rather then speed things up by adding more brass, it actually slows things down.
• 9mm brass gets stuck inside of the .40 brass. I shoot a lot of .40, so this is really a pain for me. It takes forever to go through the pile of .40 and pull out all of the 9mm brass that gets stuck inside. .40 brass also gets in the .45 brass, but it comes out on its own with a good shake in the pans. No big deal there.
• .380 brass is still difficult to separate from the 9mm, even with the optional metal tray insert that is designed for this task. It becomes almost impossible to get the .380 out if you have too much brass in the tray (see bullet point #1). Keep the batches small.
• You will get 10mm brass mixed in with the .40. No way to separate it using the trays. Have to sort that out by hand. Total pain in the butt!
• Same thing with .38 Super and .38 Super Comp in with the 9mm. Has to be culled by hand later.

Even with these issues, the trays are sent from heaven!!! Seriously!!! I would never even think about sorting brass without them, but as I said, they are not perfect, and there are a few gotchas that you need to be aware of.

 

[amboy49]

I thought the sorting trays were WAY overpriced at $40 for 3 pieces of plastic . . . . . .but I bit the bullet( pun intended) and bought them. THE best money spent that actually works as advertised and is a HUGE time saver. Having to sort a handful of cases at a time is real pain in the butt. Spreading all of them out on a cookie sheet to sort is just as bad. I use a case feeder and still get the occasional .380 in the 9mm cases, but far less using the trays than before by hand sorti;g.

Suggestion: Buy the trays.

 

[ZbornacSVT]

We keep the sorting tray sets in stock at the shop, fyi.

https://www.bobcatarmament.com/shell-sorter-shell-sorter-brass-sorter-set.html

 

[cz75b]

I sorted a 3 gallon bucket of 9mm with some 380's mixed in and found a method on google using a plastic ammo tray from factory ammo. Scoop brass until the tray is full (goes fast). The 380's are noticeably shorter....I found abut 200 mixed in the bucket and it took a total of about an hour and I suspect there were several thousand 9's in the bucket. Used a pencil eraser to lift the 380's out then dumped the 9's in another bucket.

 

[RipkinC]

Another vote for the trays