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Case Sorter


FlFlash

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Funny they're claiming "patent pending". We've had very similar ideas posted here over the years, including the slot dimensions, which would be big-time prior art. Maybe they can get a design patent and hope that's good enough. Hate to see them burn $5K on a nice plaque though.

I built some sized screens and tried it. The concept works, but is still kinda slow with a lot of brass unless you have a big screen. I'm not sure that a 5-gal-bucket lid screen is big enough. Make 'em 2+ feet square and they'd work a lot better with the usual bucket-o-brass.

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Hmmmm... Looks like it might actually save some time... :cheers:

There was a previous thread in the reloading forum about case sorters. A forum memeber posted the pictures, I had a solid works designer friend make some cad drawings and then had 3 different sized plates laser cut. I then attached the plates to boxes like gold sifters. Works great when I come home with a 5 gallon buck of mixed brass.

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sorting .45-.40-smaller is OK,but what about 9mm-38-super and 38 supercomp or Lapua or TJ? If I still have to sort all that I might as well just do the 6 bucket toss I currently do. You all know it, 1 bucket of range brass and 5 buckets to sort into, a TV with a good movie and an hour or so of so-called spare time. Pick-Look-Toss repeat.

Jim

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sorting .45-.40-smaller is OK,but what about 9mm-38-super and 38 supercomp or Lapua or TJ? If I still have to sort all that I might as well just do the 6 bucket toss I currently do. You all know it, 1 bucket of range brass and 5 buckets to sort into, a TV with a good movie and an hour or so of so-called spare time. Pick-Look-Toss repeat.

Jim

Yeah....did that yesterday morning, sitting on the deck. I just used 3 paper bags for .45, .40 and 9, and two plastic bags for 38 superish stuff, and trash -- anything that's not any of the preceding. I pour a bunch of mixed brass into an old serving tray then pick out the .45, then the 9mm, then dump whatever's left into the .40 bag, discarding trash along the way. Sounds like what you do, more or less.

I wish there were a faster way, but it's efficient enough to limit wanting to spend any money on a different solution.

I also hate that you can look at a tray of .40 brass for 10 minutes, poking and shaking and STILL find 9mm cases when you're reloading.

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I got one of these the other day. Sorted a 5 gallon bucket of mixed range pick up brass. Mixed .45, .40, .38 Special and 9mm. I sorted the whole bucket in 15 or 20 minutes. :cheers:

First pass sorts out all the .45. Second screen sorts out .40 which lays sideways on the screen and .38 Special which hangs down through the screen, caught by the rim. What you have left is all 9mm, .38 Super etc. The 38s will still be easier to sort by hand with the .40s out of the way. <_<

It went pretty good by throwing a double handful on the screen, shake and dump. Then repeat. :)

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Screens have a tough time telling 9xwhatever and the 38 super variants apart since they sort on case diameter. Mine can dump the smaller-than-9 brass, but I'm still left with a tub of mixed. If there's only a few of the exceptions, shake-n-listen works ok, but otherwise it's back to pick-and-look.

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Being mechanically inept, I'd surely ruin more than twice 40 bucks worth of materials (and probably draw blood as well) if I tried a DIY project. I also have relatively limited space, so something compact is nice. I might just try it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I got one of these the other day. Sorted a 5 gallon bucket of mixed range pick up brass. Mixed .45, .40, .38 Special and 9mm. I sorted the whole bucket in 15 or 20 minutes. :cheers:

First pass sorts out all the .45. Second screen sorts out .40 which lays sideways on the screen and .38 Special which hangs down through the screen, caught by the rim. What you have left is all 9mm, .38 Super etc. The 38s will still be easier to sort by hand with the .40s out of the way. <_<

It went pretty good by throwing a double handful on the screen, shake and dump. Then repeat. :)

Thanks for the review.

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It works as advertised. The trick is to not overload it and also try to seperate cases that are stuck together as you sprinkle them into the trays.3-4 handfuls at a time seem to work best. Rimmed cartidges slow the process down such as 44mag and 38/357 because you have to pick them out as they hang through the slots by the rim. I sorted through 3 five gallon buckets in just under two hours. It normally takes me about a week to sort one bucket by hand. This is well worth the $40 investment. I had one bucket that was only 9/40/45/and 38 super. I sorted that one fast......in like 30 minutes.

Edited by 00bullitt
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Mine's on the way.

I shoot regularly with some buddies at our bimonthly IPSC matches and we pick our brass up and dump it in a common bucket for sorting after the match. We have a few 9mm variants, but it's all "competition caliber" brass that we have at the end of the day, our own and what others don't want.

This should make the sorting faster, leaving more time afterwards for drinks, smokes and shooting the breeze :cheers:

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Mine's on the way.

I shoot regularly with some buddies at our bimonthly IPSC matches and we pick our brass up and dump it in a common bucket for sorting after the match. We have a few 9mm variants, but it's all "competition caliber" brass that we have at the end of the day, our own and what others don't want.

This should make the sorting faster, leaving more time afterwards for drinks, smokes and shooting the breeze :cheers:

You are my hero Doc ;) Will it sort my nickel out too? :P

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  • 3 months later...

Got mine in over the weekend. I had about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket filled with assorted brass from last season. .45, .40, 9, .223, .380, .357 SIG, 10mm.

Took me less than 1/2 hour to sort them all. More time was spent picking out the 357 SIG (easy to spot) 10mm and .223 than anything else. .22 and .380 fall right out, so life is good. I absolutley would recommend this to fellow shooters. I might even take it next time I run stages. Just pick up brass, throw it in and let it sort out.

I felt like a gold miner with his pan....

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More time was spent picking out the 357 SIG (easy to spot) 10mm and .223 than anything else. .22 and .380 fall right out

Just curious, on the machine I built .380 and .223 fall into the same bin (.22's, 25's, and 32's are sotred before) . Where do the .223’s go using the shellsorter?

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I contacted Shellsorter.com and bought 10 of them for Space City Challenge as prize table items...they gave us a great deal. Also bought one for myself. Can't say enough good things about them. I spent 2 hours sorting through a 5 gal bucket of crap range brass...bunch of aluminum and steel...would have been much faster if I didn't have a bunch of nested brass. NO .40 fell in with the 9mm and no .45 fell in with .40. Can't say about 223.

These brass sorters are awesome and they are cheap considering everything else in our sport...now, if they could only read headstamps...

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More time was spent picking out the 357 SIG (easy to spot) 10mm and .223 than anything else. .22 and .380 fall right out

Just curious, on the machine I built .380 and .223 fall into the same bin (.22's, 25's, and 32's are sotred before) . Where do the .223’s go using the shellsorter?

Sorry, .223's go into the 9mm tray.

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I collect once fired from an indoor range and may have to invest in one of these..... if you guys will re-post a report after you have tried this product.

Because a lot of CCW pistols are fired at "my" range I get a lot of .380... that crap drives me nuts.....and this tool probably won't help me with that issue:(

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I collect once fired from an indoor range and may have to invest in one of these..... if you guys will re-post a report after you have tried this product.

Because a lot of CCW pistols are fired at "my" range I get a lot of .380... that crap drives me nuts.....and this tool probably won't help me with that issue:(

A lot of my brass comes from indoor ranges as well, and I can tell you this is wonderful. Oh, there is that odd one where it nestles in a 9, but otherwise the little fellows drop right through.

It is money well spent.

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