Berry's Rotary Brass Sorter/Media Separator

[Guest]

Berry's has a brass sorter that looks like a media tumbler. Looks interesting.

I have a 3-pan sorter set, but this looks like it might be easier and the cost isn't bad.

Has anybody had any first hand experience with one yet? If so how well did it work?

[bfalcon00]

Hmm looks interesting. I too use the pan sorter and it works well enough. Probably won't rebuy the berrys one, but I might have went that route first if it had been available.

[Graham Smith]

One advantage I can see is that it might let you sort your brass while separating the media, saving the extra step. Depends a lot on how pure the brass supply was to start with. If it's all mixed range brass, you likely won't save much time.

Now, if they could just come up with a sorter to remove the 9mm stuck inside the .40's

Edited July 16, 2015 by Graham Smith

[Steve RA]

And the 40s inside the .45s. Hurts when you get a triple header.

[Solvability]

http://www.berrysmfg.com/product-i15215-c47-g8-b0-p0-NEW_Rotary_Brass_SorterMedia_Separator.aspx

[slavex]

oooohhh

[Steve RA]

Not sure you would want to do the brass and media together as whatever you were sorting would end up in the media.

[Ken_Bird]

Really !

[pme166]

It looks like my old Midway one.

If mine broke, I would replace it that day, and pay overnight shipping. 3 pans take forever (yes I have them also) but the rotary dump gets things empty faster and more consistently. Yes you get the 40 in the 45 problem and actually many more interesting problems but still it works well. Mine is now quite old. Probably 99 vintage and gets used a lot. Midway used to make really good products back in the 90's and my 1292 tumbler and the media separator were a package. Both are still chugging along.

Get one. You will like it.

[Steve RA]

Was your old one a case separator or just a media separator ???

[v1911]

Unless it can sort out .380 from 9mm, I haven't much use for it.

[UFO]

I won one at the Area 1 match. Works great.

[JJP161]

I just saw that the other day and was very intrigued as well. I sort a lot of brass and if this is faster than the 3 pans I am in. Sounds like I will need to give one a try.

I won one at the Area 1 match. Works great.

[9x45]

9mms get stuck inside 40S&Ws, 40S&Ws get stuck in 45acps.... I have the 3 pan set and they sorta of work ok if you fish out all the .223Rem brass first.

[jmorris]

One advantage I can see is that it might let you sort your brass while separating the media, saving the extra step.

Having tumbled mixed brass before myself, this is a bad idea.

[njl]

One advantage I can see is that it might let you sort your brass while separating the media, saving the extra step.

Having tumbled mixed brass before myself, this is a bad idea.

Yeah...this is a media separator that can alternatively be used as a brass sorter...doing the two processes at the same time wouldn't make any sense. It looks like they either modified an RCBS rotary media separator or ripped off the design and modified it a bit.

[Guest]

Well, I ordered one and have used it a few times now. I wanted this primarily as a case sorter, but as a media separator it works as good as any. BTW, it looks like the housing and basket have a lot in common with the cabela’s/RCBS type media sorters.

Here are some pros and cons of the Berry over the pan sorters:

Cons - Larger, takes up more room to store.

There is a learning curve to get the knack for using it and some trial and error in setting up the grate spacing. Not hard, but it took me a couple of tries to find what works best for each case size.

The adjustable grate spacing mechanism is simple and will probably last, but am glad it came with a lifetime warranty (maybe this should be a Pro?).

Still have to do some hand sorting to pick out the hitch hikers, odd ball cases, etc.

Pros - Once you get the knack it is easy and clean to use.

It does a good job sorting the 9/38 super cases, from the 40 cases and 45 cases.

The grate spacing is infinitely variable via a bullet shaped knob on each basket half. With a little practice I was able to set it fine enough to do a decent job separating 38 super from 38 supercomp.

It is less tedious than using the sorting pans. (If you use pans with a 5 gal bucket/vibration device that might not be the case.)

This is actually a pretty nice concept and it works as advertised. Great for sorting the basic pistol sizes, but you will still have to hand pick the 9mm, 38 super/supercomp, 380, etc. In use it reminds me of microwave popcorn – when you first start cranking you can hear lots of thunking of brass falling out and as you crank the thunking of the falling cases diminishes. I found it best to go back and forth and then around a few times, vs just going around and around.

In practice I found that using this to do majority of the sorting, then using a sorting pan to catch any stragglers was a pretty quick way to sort.

Overall, I would recommend this for someone who finds the pans to be tedious, or if you want a media separator and don’t mind spending a little more to get the case sorting feature.

[Doc10mm]

Well, I ordered one and have used it a few times now. I wanted this primarily as a case sorter, but as a media separator it works as good as any. BTW, it looks like the housing and basket have a lot in common with the cabelas/RCBS type media sorters.

Here are some pros and cons of the Berry over the pan sorters:

Cons - Larger, takes up more room to store.

There is a learning curve to get the knack for using it and some trial and error in setting up the grate spacing. Not hard, but it took me a couple of tries to find what works best for each case size.

The adjustable grate spacing mechanism is simple and will probably last, but am glad it came with a lifetime warranty (maybe this should be a Pro?).

Still have to do some hand sorting to pick out the hitch hikers, odd ball cases, etc.

Pros - Once you get the knack it is easy and clean to use.

It does a good job sorting the 9/38 super cases, from the 40 cases and 45 cases.

The grate spacing is infinitely variable via a bullet shaped knob on each basket half. With a little practice I was able to set it fine enough to do a decent job separating 38 super from 38 supercomp.

It is less tedious than using the sorting pans. (If you use pans with a 5 gal bucket/vibration device that might not be the case.)

This is actually a pretty nice concept and it works as advertised. Great for sorting the basic pistol sizes, but you will still have to hand pick the 9mm, 38 super/supercomp, 380, etc. In use it reminds me of microwave popcorn when you first start cranking you can hear lots of thunking of brass falling out and as you crank the thunking of the falling cases diminishes. I found it best to go back and forth and then around a few times, vs just going around and around.

In practice I found that using this to do majority of the sorting, then using a sorting pan to catch any stragglers was a pretty quick way to sort.

Overall, I would recommend this for someone who finds the pans to be tedious, or if you want a media separator and dont mind spending a little more to get the case sorting feature.

How many cases can you process at a time?

[Guest]

I found between 1-4 cups of brass in the basket works well. Too many and the smaller cases won't get swirled in the basket to reach the grate and fall out.

It is faster to do several smaller loads rather than try to do a huge load. I find that to be the case with the sorting pans, too.