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Brass, brass, and more brass.

3K views 33 replies 19 participants last post by  olfarhors 
#1 ·
Okay, I have a lot of semi-auto brass. Since I rarely go out on holiday weekends I have been working on brass management. Finally got it all sorted. A few weeks ago I took care of all the revolver brass, deprimed, cleaned, and most of it reloaded and ready to go.

Yesterday from 7 am until 11pm I had the tumbler running getting as many 2# batches of brass cleaned as I could. The last batch of .45acp will be going in the tumbler in about an hour when the current batch is done. Finished depriming all the .380 this morning, have 3 batches to run through the tumble. That will take the rest of the day tumbler time wise. Can't believe the amount of .380 brass I have picked up from the range. Used to be rare to find it, now it seems a lot of people are shooting it. I estimate close to 1000 cases in the 6.5 pounds I have.

I'll off and on work on depriming 9mm today, and at least have enough to run a few batches in the tumbler tomorrow. My goal is to have all the pistol brass deprimed and cleaned by the end of the month.

Then I'll think about all the .223/5.56 brass I have accumulated. I don't shoot a whole lot of .223/5.56 so a decision will have to be made with the brass I have collected over the years.

For now, I am getting ready to start sorting the .45acp brass I have done. Should be interesting to see the ration of small vs large primers.
 
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#2 ·
I'm just getting into the reloading world. I am beginning to see what the term brass management means. I'm using ziplock bags but I already am finding it gets confusing as to what stage each lot is in and I don't exactly have a ton of brass either.
 
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#3 ·
I try to keep my brass sorted shortly after picking it up... 9mm, 40, 45, 380, .223 and "other". Other being everything else I pick up.

The pistol brass goes into a container under my bench until I have enough to tumble. The other brass goes into zip-lock bags until the spirit moves me to sort it all out.

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I don't deprime pistol brass before tumbling, once tumbled it goes into the "ready to load" large plastic covered bins. This really cuts down on the "in process" stages of brass, it's either dirty or clean.

I now have a universal de-primer, so rifle brass is a little easier as I don't have to clean before de-priming. De-prime, tumble, size, trim if needed, prime, load.
 
#31 ·
I try to keep my brass sorted shortly after picking it up... 9mm, 40, 45, 380, .223 and "other". Other being everything else I pick up.

The pistol brass goes into a container under my bench until I have enough to tumble. The other brass goes into zip-lock bags until the spirit moves me to sort it all out.

View attachment 188105

I don't deprime pistol brass before tumbling, once tumbled it goes into the "ready to load" large plastic covered bins. This really cuts down on the "in process" stages of brass, it's either dirty or clean.

I now have a universal de-primer, so rifle brass is a little easier as I don't have to clean before de-priming. De-prime, tumble, size, trim if needed, prime, load.

Organization is key!
 
#4 ·
well I got full 2 pound coffee cans of dirty 9 MM, 38 Super in both Nickle and brass, 10 MM , 45 acp and a 3/4 can of 380 that's all dirty and needs processing.
actually ran out of clean 10 MM and 45 acp brass to load.
I hate to clean brass!
I could open up the gallon Zip lock bags of 9 MM a 45 acp and use that I guess but its all once fired but is ready to reload.
 
#5 ·
I keep my 45acp organized....I clean it all, size and deprime it all, clean the primer pocket, everything, then put them in separate freezer sized ziploc bags by manufacturer, with one ziploc for miscellaneous brass. When I'm ready to load some, I pick 100 or 200 out of the bag or bags I want, and all that I have to do at that point is bell it and prime it (in the same step), dump powder, and seat the bullet.

Everybody has to have their own way. I can't imagine doing this for multiple calibers because quite frankly it takes up too much space in my cabinet. When I'm ready to do 223, I usually start at the beginning for all of that brass. Sometimes I'll clean, trim, and size 223, but I usually keep it all in one ziploc bag after it's ready to go.

For 9mm, I clean it, size it, clean out the primer pocket, and they all go into a 5 gallon Lowes jug. When I want do do some 9mm, I just open that jug and grab some.
 
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#9 ·
...already am finding it gets confusing as to what stage each lot is in...
I keep my brass in 50 or 100 round plastic boxes that are themselves kept inside .50 Caliber ammo cans.

To keep track of what stage each batch is in, I use Avery 6007 stickers (Avery® 6007 Self-Adhesive 1/2" Foil Star Labels, Assorted, 440/Pack | Staples®) and put a different colored one on the box at each stage. When I shoot the reloaded cartridges, I take the stickers off the top and start again.
 
#10 ·
I've found that ziplocks work good for brass that's still dirty and decapped. Once it's ready to load, then you can put it in folger's cans. the maxwell house don't seem to hold as many. Prior to sorting, 5 gallon buckets work good.
 
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#11 ·
I am getting close to pulling the trigger on one of those FA Platinum Tumbler kits. That they come with 5# of SS pins is a big hook as it's a 35-45 dollar item. I am still pretty set on dry tumbling with walnut for the 9mm, 380 Auto, and .45 ACP. They come clean while leaving the primers intact with maybe 6 hours +/- in the HF Dual Drum. Depriming/priming is done on press. The .38 Special/.357 / .44 Magnum wants to keep that burn mark around the case mouth without many more hours. Those and the rifle brass will be relegated to wet tumbling with pins and that FA unit has a much greater capacity.
 
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#18 ·
After I'm caught up I'm going back to sorting after each range trip into quart containers I have marked for each caliber. Tumbler is rated for 15# which comes out to 2# of brass. Depending on caliber that comes out to 2/3 - 3/4 full quart container. When a specific container gets filled to the line I'll deprime and tumble right away. No more deprime/tumble marathons. That worked for 3+ years and I should have stuck to it.
 
#19 ·
Tired of hearing the tumbler so only did a couple batches of 9mm. Been working on de-priming 9mm off and on all day. Just might get them all done by the end of the day. Not sure how long it will take to run them all through the tumbler, maybe by the end of the month they will all be tumbled.
 
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#20 ·
I sort at the range. An advantage of shooting wheelguns a lot. Brass doesn't have to hit the ground unless you decide to allow it to. Just kick the empties into your hand or into the bag directly.

Every caliber shot (or picked up, I carry spares just in case) goes into a different bag. I shoot one caliber at a time and pick up what's been fired before I move to a different one. I use cloth change bags like the ones the bank uses for dirty brass. I got a bunch 20 years or more ago.

Once I get home, they get gone through again (there's no such thing as sorting too many times- especially if you shoot a couple rounds that are really close in appearance, like .45Colt and .44 Special or Magnum) and tumbled. Once they are tumbled, they go in a bin (cheapo plastic ones meant for office use that stack on each other) marked with the caliber in question where they sit until I reload them.

I prefer to start with cleaned, fired brass. If I go through the hassle of depriming and resizing (and checking the sort one more time) them, I might as well load them while I'm at it. If I'm shooting rifles or loading pistol caliber hunting ammo, I clean the primer pockets before priming. Otherwise, there's not enough difference to bother with the extra step.
 
#22 ·
Can't believe the amount of .380 brass I have picked up from the range. Used to be rare to find it, now it seems a lot of people are shooting it. I estimate close to 1000 cases in the 6.5 pounds I have.
Yep, used to be hard to find for sale in a lot as once-fired. Now there's lots of it and it goes unsold at $40 / 1,000.
 
#25 ·
MY range/Gun shop has Ladies day on Wednesdays, so IF I need more 380 brass then I just go down on Wednesday or Thursday morning, plenty to be had.
 
#26 ·
I finished my 45acp brass cleaning binge, all of that brass is now cleaned, sized, and in the right ziploc bag. I'm finishing up 9mm right now, then I'll be done with cleaning brass for awhile. Whew.

I had to change out my corn cob media, I think it's time to change it when it starts becoming sticky. :eek: It was still cleaning fine, but it was time to change it after a couple of years :D
 
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#29 ·
Mine is all loaded up, and no time for the range. :(
Hopefully I can get to the range a few times this month.
 
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#30 ·
i only pick up my own rifle brass because of the risk of picking up brass near it's lifetime. when i left rifle brass behind it was because I had decided it was past it's lifetime.
when i competed in highpower shooting, i'd make a batch of about 1000 rounds of brass that i had fired of the same head stamp. that brass would be reloaded and reshot for 6 cycles then retired. I would only reload when i had shot all the batch. if there was a small overlap i would mark the base to make sure one reload cycle did not mix with the other. That way i retired the brass before there was danger of case head separation. I was shooting semi-auto rifles(M1A and AR) so case stretching was a fact of life.
 
#34 ·
well got all my dirty 380, 38 Super, 45 acp and 10 MM brass all resized and cleaned in the right cans for storage, now got about 900-1000 9 MM cases and I will be caught up--
 
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