Lesson learned: separate your brass before tumbling

[RogueSniper]

Well, this is a first for me.

I got back from the range yesterday. I was shooting multiple calibers: 9mm, 40S&W, 45ACP, and 44Rem Mag. As usual, I police my own brass and tossed them into my bag. Got home and got lazy and dumped them all into the tumbler. After running it through the media for 10-15minutes, I dumped them all out into my sieve and separated them and went to bed.

This morning, I'm separating the brass because I wanted to reload my 44Rem Mag. As I start depriming the cases, one just won't go through, so I stop. I looked inside and it looked strange. I couldn't put my finger on why, so I put it aside and finished the rest.

I looked at the little culprit and compared it to the others.
#1 - it felt heavier than the others
#2 - the walls looked thicker
#3 - the case looked shallow.
A 40S&W case fell inside the 44Rem Mag!

When I tried to deprime this one, it rammed it in almost flush to the mouth. I know it probably isn't worth the trouble to get that 40S&W out but I'm low on 44Rem Mag brass.



Lesson learned

[Jak1]

I hate to admit it, but I have done the same thing. Ruined both cases as I was using a Dillon and was moving right along.

[RogueSniper]

I could knock the primer out of the 44Rem Mag and using a really thin tap and push out the 40S&W case but I think it'll only mess up the 44Rem Mag. I'll just tape that messed up case on my tumbler to remind myself to separate by brass. I know Dillon sells this really cool brass separator. Has anyone tried it?

[Fjold]

I've rammed 9 mm cases into 40 cases. 40 cases into 45 cases, etc. it happens all the time.

Usually I will feel it as it the depriming pin hits the inner case and I can stop myself and just take the offending small caliber case out but sometimes you just ruin both cases.

[tpuig]

Right now I'm in the process of tumbling and prepping a lot of older brass of various calibers. Found a couple like that. Some .380 and 9mm nest inside the .44 and .45. But I haven't loaded any. Luckily I found them first so I know what to look for before really getting into it...

[anyracoon]

I have had a set of those brass seperators for almost a year. They work great!

[bfoosh006]

Sadly...been there, done that..... 'ornery little cusses aren't they...

[bohoki]

it must have been heaven reloading back before the 40 s&w came out

allways getting 9s jammed in 40s and 40s in 45

[RogueSniper]

it must have been heaven reloading back before the 40 s&w came out

allways getting 9s jammed in 40s and 40s in 45

Exactly. It doesn't matter if you're shooting 40s or not, somehow you end up getting one or two mixed in your brass. 32autos fix in 9mm, 9mm fit in 40s/45s, 40s fit in 44Rem Mag ... just like those Russian (Matryoshka sp?) Dolls.

[bfoosh006]

Clever comparision photos...

[bruceflinch]

Been there, done that, didn't buy the t-shirt...
Now you are wiser, like me!
Those brass separators work good with just a few handfulls of brass at a time.

[ballistic]

This is why I seperate brass before tumbling.
.45acp, 45 colt, and .44 revolver brass can go together.
9mm, 38 super, 38 special, and 357 mag brass are allright together.
One case stuck inside another still slips through sometimes.

Oh, and don't get me started on .380 brass.

[ivanimal]

I could knock the primer out of the 44Rem Mag and using a really thin tap and push out the 40S&W case but I think it'll only mess up the 44Rem Mag. I'll just tape that messed up case on my tumbler to remind myself to separate by brass. I know Dillon sells this really cool brass separator. Has anyone tried it?

This little set has saved me hours. Dont buy the smaller 380 plate unless you shoot a lot of 380 and 32 together. You will have to sort 380 fro 9mm by hand. I still get the 40 cal in the 45 on occasion........nothings perfect

[CGT80]

Those separators work pretty well. It takes a little while to run 3 gallons or so of brass through those, one tray at a time, but then when I lay all of the brass from one sifter out on a towel, I can quickly sort whats in that group. By using the sifters I kept most of the dirt and 22 shells from ending up on the towel that I hand sort on. When I sift the brass I pick the rifle cases out since they take up a lot of room and are easy to spot at that time.

The sifters are like the ammo/nut wizard. They are not perfect, but it is definitely worth using them.

[cdrxls]

the seperators are fine for a couple of bags of mixed brass, anything more, you'd better wear gloves, mask and earplugs. when they came out with the seperator, it was a godsend, now it's time to make it sort faster

i made a 45 brass seperator using 1x1/2 wire mesh and a rotary media seperator. works very well. now time to deal with the 40S&W and 9mm issue