small vs large

[lincoln45]

***new to reloading 45acp***

I pick up as much brass as possible at the range

i get home sort the brass by caliber (visual inspection)

throw the brass in the tumbler then its into the XL650 case feeder. (650 set up for LP)

every once in a while i end up with a "complete" round in the bin with no primer in the pocket.....makes a mess gotta pull the bullet bla bla bla.

so i start taking a closer look at the primer pocket and notice all of the rounds are Federal and they all have a small dot or dimple on the head stamp.

so i being the smart guy i am i figure all the Federal head stamped brass with a dimple is SP....easy enough to pull those out when i sort brass. I also pull all the Fiocchi and Blazer.

SO the question is: are there other manufactures besides Federal using SP?
i can't tell the diffrence between SP and LP visually....is there a some way to better sort LP from SP? (with primer still in case) The only SP brass i have come across has been Federal.....

[Bill Steele]

Off the top of my head, I remember Federal, Speer, Blazer, Fiocchi, Win. There are probably others. I sort by grabbing three or four at at time and looking at the primers. When compared together the small are quite obvious. I save them up and load them when I am switching from loading 9mm or 40S&W and have the small primer feed already in the press.

[shooterbill]

ATK owns Federal,Speer,CCI,Blazer etc. Fiocchi and Win NT are the only ones you shouls come across on a regular. It's nice to keep them around if you run out of large primers.

[TAS]

With practice, you should eventually be able to tell the difference just by looking but if not, it might be worth taking the extra step and depriming them first to see if it's easier for you to tell - don't know what else to suggest. Federal seems to be the most popular one that uses SP (they often come from WalMart) but I've also found them on CCI & PMC. From the other posts, it looks like there are other culprits.

[M27]

Over time sorting 1000's of rounds you will learn the visual difference sooner than you think.

the ones I see most are federal and blazer

While you learn try picking out one of each primer size and setting them on the table to reference while you sort.

[MIAMIbaseballer]

Sounds like you have mostly lg primer cases, so I'll tell you what my girl does when she's separating brass. Hold a small primer cased 45 in 1 hand and pick up a couple cases in the other hand to compare to it. It's very easy to tell the difference when you are looking at both.

I've separated 10's of thousands of pieces of brass, trust me, you'll figure it out soon enough....

[bumpo628]

I use those thin-walled plastic trays that come in Blazer Brass or Federal 45 ammo boxes to help me sort.

• I get a plastic bin and line the bottom with those trays.
• Dump a bunch of shells into the bin - they tend to fall in the slots base first.
• Any split cases in the mix should make a 'tinny' noise. Find them and cull.
• Finish filling all of the slots with shells by hand.
• While you have them case mouth up, you can inspect them for damage.
• Put an empty tray on top of the filled tray and flip them over.
• Now look for SPP's while holding an example in your hand for comparison.

This method also works well for sorting 380's from 9mm and 9mm from 40 S&W. 380's sit a little lower in the tray, so you can see them by looking at an angle. The 9mm are pretty obvious compared to the 40s in the tray, but not so much loose in a bin. The other good thing is you're getting a count at the same time.

[NiteQwill]

The idiot who came up with SPP for .45 cases should be hung... :P

Frankly, it's only getting worse with how much it is being used...

[wtkaiser]

I agree with NiteQwill, and I don't even load/shoot .45. Having two different primer pockets in the same caliber simply makes no sense!

[ExtremeX]

It’s a huge inconvenience I have to deal with when sorting brass… I typically sort by caliber first because I don’t look at head stamps since .45 cases are so easy to spot and I just quickly throw em into a different bin. Then I have to sort my sorted brass.

Sometimes it works in my favor, like if my press is setup for small primer for my .223 ammo, I just load the small primer .45 at that time so I don’t have to change out the priming system for large.

I would still prefer all the cases share the same primer size; it makes life a lot easier.

I would say at least 20% of my brass is small primer and mixed head stamp.

[Kappy]

I just don't understand why they would do it except to screw reloaders.

[bumpo628]

I just don't understand why they would do it except to screw reloaders.

They must be having technical difficulties getting the LPP to qualify as "non-toxic". So to meet the perceived market demand, they changed the tooling on their cartridge dies to accept the NT SPP's.

/That being said, damn them all to hell: NT SPP in 45ACP are the debbil

[bandook]

If you tumble, the SPP shells are usually cleaner inside than LPP.

[bandook]

The idiot who came up with SPP for .45 cases should be hung... :P

Frankly, it's only getting worse with how much it is being used...

I agree. My last haul from the range was almost 50/50.

Benefit of loading LPP I that if you get a SP case, the press will stop short and you can remove the case.

[Bill Steele]

If you tumble, the SPP shells are usually cleaner inside than LPP.

Not after I have reloaded them with WSP and Bullseye..