Sort 9mm by headstamp?

Do you sort 9mm cases by headstamp?

  • Yes, it all gets sorted.

    Votes: 24 35.3%

  • No.

    Votes: 33 48.5%

  • Depends

    Votes: 11 16.2%
  • Total voters
    68
  • Poll closed .
Skgreen said:
curious how many of us sort our 9mm cases by headstamp?
Click to expand...
I sort 9mm cases by headstamp and test/check for following reasons:
  • To cull steel cases like Wolf/Tulammo and brass plated steel like some S&B cases (Now I test cases with a magnet)
  • To cull inside stepped cases that further reduce already small internal case volume cartridge
  • To separate out thicker case wall brass that will overly bulge case neck to not fully chamber when using larger .356" sized bullets (These thicker case wall brass will be used with .355" sized bullets) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/myth-busting-9mm-r-p-thin-case-wall-notion.921546/
  • When using larger Metric sized primers like Fiocchi, separate out S&B/RWS headstamp brass with tighter primer pockets (Especially once-fired brass) that won't allow seating primers even to flush to use with domestic brand primers to seat them below flush.
  • To separate out thicker case wall Starline/WIN/R-P/R-P "." headstamp brass for no bullet setback loading (For accurate reference loads, load development, myth busting threads, etc.)
  • To separate out thinner case wall Blazer/Speer/FC/.FC. headstamp brass to use with larger .356" sized bullets
  • For more consistent finished OAL - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...r-oal-consistency.911743/page-3#post-12446468
ETA - This is regarding 9mm Major brass used by USPSA match shooters. 9mm Major rounds are loaded very hot and can overly expand case, particularly case base (Think thinned, weakened brass). During resizing, if I run across a case that requires particularly more effort, I will suspect possible 9mm Major brass and check it in barrel with tightest chamber. If resized brass won't freely fall in with a "plonk" (Because carbide resizing ring won't reduce all the way down to case base), I will resize the case again but if fails the barrel drop test, it gets tossed for recycling.
 
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I have shot tens of thousand of rounds in USPSA and never sorted any of my brass. Admittedly most of that is 40S&W, 45 ACP and 38 Short Colt. Most of my brass (except 38 Short Colt) was range pickup after the matches (not during). The only thing I did was run a strong magnet through the pile to get all the steel out. My bucket of 45 brass has cases dating back to the late 40's through new once fired. It all goes through the Dillon XL 650. If it passes the chamber checker it's match ammo. I even ran several matches running reloaded Blazer aluminum 45 ACP because everyone told me it was not reloadable. It is, it just does not last more than 2-3 reloads before it splits.
 
Maybe I spend too much time in the reloading area. :D
I separate all cartridges by headstamp. I'm not a high volume shooter, but there is usually much more 9mm casings left on the ground than what I shoot. I have a 5 gallon bucket and a large Folgers (think Costco) can full of 9mm brass. All sorted.

A dozen years ago, I had an incident while loading 380 Auto using mixed cased. I kept crumpling brass at the bullet seating/crimping stage. Here it seems that I had set up the die to the thinnest walled case (.008") and had some thicker walled cases (.011") in the mix. I ended up buying a separate crimp die, but I decided after that, to separate by headstamp.
 
Sort cases by headstamps? Nope
Throw various brands of brass in the dumpster? Yep

Maxxtech
MXT
FM
Aguila
Ammoland
ZQI
WMA
Xtream
A USA
Troy
GFL
NORMA
DoubleTap
Shell Shock
TECH
OMPC
Perfecta
 
Sort 9mm by head stamp?, no not really, I do toss the S&B and hopefully miss some primer pocket problems.I do a visual on each shell before i use.
 
I sort all of my brass by headstamp. Once I settle on a pet load, unless its near max, I may load all of the oddball stuff for use in places where I may not be able to recover the brass. Even with all of the oddball stuff loaded you can go back through it and find matching headstamps if you are shooting for group size, ect.
 
I sort 9mm thick vs thin while resizing and flaring. I can tell the difference in tension between the two extremes just in withdrawing the flaring die. This gives me two different batches of brass to either sort further by headstamp or just load up for plinking as thick for jacketed bullets or thin brass for plated .356 bullets.

The more I care about accuracy and consistency, the more I sort.
 
mcb said:
I have shot tens of thousand of rounds in USPSA ... most of that is 40S&W, 45 ACP and 38 Short Colt.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reminder. :) I edited my previous post and added the following - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/sort-9mm-by-headstamp.921531/page-2#post-12683031

This is regarding 9mm Major brass used by USPSA match shooters. 9mm Major rounds are loaded very hot and can overly expand case, particularly case base (Think thinned, weakened brass). During resizing, if I run across a case that requires particularly more effort, I will suspect possible 9mm Major brass and check it in barrel with tightest chamber. If resized brass won't freely fall in with a "plonk" (Because carbide resizing ring won't reduce all the way down to case base), I will resize the case again but if fails the barrel drop test, it gets tossed for recycling.​
​
Otto said:
Sort cases by headstamps? Nope
Throw various brands of brass in the dumpster? Yep
Click to expand...
I agree and I also cull some offending headstamp brass.
 
I had stopped sorting this spring because my pistol shooting became so bad.
Then I bought a Ruger PC carbine and was disappointed because I was getting fliers.
Started sorting again and groups tightened right up, turns out military brass was causing the fliers.
For some reason the thin, cheap brass (Blazer, FC, Speer) works best for me.
 
PO2Hammer said:
Ruger PC carbine ... Started sorting again and groups tightened right up, turns out military brass was causing the fliers.
For some reason the thin, cheap brass (Blazer, FC, Speer) works best for me.
Click to expand...
Military brass tend to have thicker case wall to contain higher NATO pressures.

If you are using lower powder charges (Or less than NATO/+P pressures), thinner case wall of Blazer/FC/Speer may be expanding better at case mouth/neck to seal with the chamber to produce more consistent pressures for blowback action PCC (Dang, another myth busting thread specific to PCC and case wall thickness pending in the future :confused:).
 
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LiveLife said:
If you are using lower powder charges (Or less than NATO/+P pressures), thinner case wall of Blazer/FC/Speer may be expanding better at case mouth/neck to seal with the chamber to produce more consistent pressures for blowback action PCC (Dang, another myth busting thread specific to PCC and case wall thickness pending in the future :confused:).
Click to expand...
Yep, starting loads of Bullseye or W231 and soft brass keeps the carbine clean. (and shoot very accurately)
Looking forward to the PCC myth busting thread.
 
I haven't gotten to the point of sorting 9mm brass yet. I only shoot about 100 rounds of 9mm per month, always at the same 25' distance...so precision isn't that critical.
 
Skgreen said:
Sat down for the first time today and started sorting my 9mm by headstamp,,,,

It became obvious early-on that this would require the patience of Jobe (which I don't have) as well as result in a bunch of small batches,,,

Just curious how many of us sort our 9mm cases by headstamp?
Click to expand...
Excercise in futily in my mind, though I've seen some video of a system using optical recognition software and a digital camera that snapshots the head, then sends it down the appropriate chute. Me? I don't even make the attempt for range ammo. If you have a particular need for matched brass, just buy some new Starline and keep it separate when you shoot.
 
I did sort 9mm, mostly because it gave me oal numbers when sorted that made me happy. S+B and CBC were both harder and gave me longer oals than winchester and rem. Did it really matter, maybe not but it took variation from .007 to .002 or less going from bulk to single hs. Maybe it's pride or ocd but I'll do whatever it takes to get the best numbers possible.
 
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