Sort 9mm by headstamp?

[Skgreen]

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?

 

[n2omike]

I do NOT sort 9mm by headstamp.
Pretty much anything pistol is shot offhand, so tiny fractions of a minute of angle are not important. lol I also don't load at MAX pressure, so no concerns there. As for length, I don't bellmouth and crimp the cases, so no need for keeping things ultra consistent length wise. With FMJ bullets, all you need to do is neck expand, and the bullets go in just fine.

 

[Blue68f100]

For my more accurate ammo yes. RP gets sorted out and stored due to thinner wall thickness. For general plinking NO.

 

[hk940]

Pistol cases don't get sorted, I have shot some 1917 and reloaded mixed them with some 1999 brass, some war years brass did have a smaller primer diameter.
Rifle brass will get sorted and weighed, some RP.223 brass was 11g heavier than Federal .223 brass!

 

[2ndtimer]

I sort Federal, Remington, Speer/Blazer, Winchester, S&B and Magtech. Everything else goes into “miscellaneous” for 115 gr TMJ practice/plinking loads. The headstamp sorted loads get 115/124 gr Speer Gold Dots or RMR Nukes.

 

[9mmepiphany]

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,,,

The trick is to not sort every headstamp, but only the ones you want for a specific purpose/reason

In 9mm, I sort out Starline and Federal for competition. I use Blazer for load developement. I sort military cases out to have their primer pockets swaged. I sort R-P out due to their thinner case walls. All other cases go into my Misc box for practice ammo

 

[Walkalong]

The trick is to not sort every headstamp, but only the ones you want for a specific purpose/reason

This.

For years I never sorted 9MM brass, but then got into 9MM more as my recoil tolerance waned, so I was shooting it a lot more, especially 124s at 1050ish from a 5" 1911.

I had so much 9MM brass I had picked up over the years it finally dawned on me I had no excuse not to sort out a big batch, which I did. I have done no big tests, but one thing I am sure of, I get fewer misses where I did it all right and it should have hit the target, but didn't. So yes, it shoots tighter over many rounds.

I too scrap crimped primer 9MM, I simply have too much to bother with it. Buckets and buckets.

 

[entropy]

There are some that have an internal ring inside for the bullet to sit on. (Assumedly) Maxx something or other? I toss those when I'm packing up 9mm for future reference. Otherwise, no, I don't sort by headstamp.

 

[Bwana John]

I have seen as much variance in weight between same headstamps as I have seen between different brands.

 

[Highland Lofts]

My grandson does all of the shooting and he shoots alot so I don't seperate it at all. He shoots very well.

 

[MikeInOr]

My carry 9mm ammo is all Federal nickel cases, I bought it that way. Practice ammo is practice ammo and it gives me no practical advantage to sort by head stamp.

 

[Akula69]

I sort out the Speer, which get True Blue and a 147 Grain G2 projectile. All the rest go into range rounds (except for Winchester - those get scrapped straight out). The Speer is generally consistent in weight from case to case, the FC is the most inconsistent. Some of the foreign cases are so consistent I've stopped weighing them.

Like @Walkalong I have 5 gallon buckets of 9MM waiting for me to get to them...someday.

 

[rperyam]

I sort out Winchester brass for FMJ, Speer for JHP and Federal for Lead bullets. Each uses a slightly different load and powder. This way I can open a box of reloads and know what it is. All others go in a bucket and are reloaded with foreign primers (mostly from Argentina) and whatever odd lots of bullets I have.

 

[sparkyv]

In 9mm, I sort Federal, Speer/Blazer, Winchester, all the rest go into the scrap metal bin. I find RP especially insidious as the rim slips off of the shell holder, and S&B have tight primer pockets.

I sort Federal, Remington, Speer/Blazer, Winchester

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

If I get bored I will. My wife likes puzzles so every once in a while we will sit down and sort brass together. It usually turns into a competition and when that happens, she always wins. And no I don’t let her win. The girls got skills.

 

[P Flados]

I use CCI, Blazer and Fed mixed together as my primary source that I use for full power cast bullet loading.

For one specific gun and reduced power loads, I either use the above or sometimes I load a batch of Winchester.

I save RP even though I do not seem to pick up much. When I get a big enough batch I will use it for something.

Different brands have thicker (or thinner) and/or softer (or harder) brass. 9mm brass can "swage down" cast bullets and cause leading. Some of the odd ball and imports seem quite a bit harder / thicker.

Using specific brands helped me "fix" my ammo to where I could shoot it in multiple guns without problems.

 

[JerkyFreak]

I sort according to how much of what I have. If I have more than 500 of a specific headstamp, those get sorted out. Anything less than 500 go in the plinking bin.

S&B brass take more effort to size so they are kept appart. The wife's pistol shoots particularly well with GFL brass. Sig brass need slightly more care when resizing but shine up very nicely. The maxtec brass is loaded slightly hotter for guests whose pistols stove-pipe with my loads.

In all cases shooting sorted brass gives smaller groups overall. Brass from the plinking bin is not particular precise but does provide great fun shooting tins on the farm.

To add; all my cases/cartridges have dedicated ammo boxes. Makes them easier to store and count.

 

[SingleActionAndrew]

Not 9mm, but starting last night I'm sorting my 45s by head stamp/maker after press testing 100 reloads. Shown are the first box. Mixed brass 5-8 loadings, then press against bench. 16/19 IMI allowed significant set back, 1/1 TZZ and 1/1 Aguila allowed minor set back. I could not induce set back pushing against the bench with any other head stamp (Starline, Win, Fed, Rem). Maybe the mil brasserie have less spring back. My JHP loads which are less expanded have no tension issues with same brass of same lineage, but smaller expander.

 

[243winxb]

9mm Luger range brass gets "inspected", not sorted . The appearance & extractor marks tells me if its been reloaded. One brand has tiny flash holes, make larger or scrap.

Set back may be a fault of the sizing die or an oversize expander. Thin walls, maybe. Brass spring back can be another issue.

The NEW manufacture Remington 9mm factory ammo has given no problems. Reloaded it works correctly. My Taurus G3C accuracy is the same with range or Rem brass. Using new RCBS dies.

 

[Skeptic13]

I never sort pistol brass. Not worth the effort.

 

[noylj]

If shooting a ½ MOA firearm, I'll sort cases. For 25 yds or less, Pistol or rifle, you are wasting time and feeding your OCD.

 

[rfwobbly]

The only brass sorting I use is a matched set of 100 pieces of 9mm brass that are only used for Load Testing. They came from 2 identical boxes of ammo bought on the same day. I've found that matched brass like this is good for dropping the SD numbers by at least 10.

Low Standard Deviation numbers, as reported by the chrono during Load Testing, give me an indication of how precisely the ammo was loaded. Since on-target accuracy is nothing more than having the gun do the exact same thing over and over, a low SD number tells me how close the ammo was to being consistently the same.

 

[dh1633pm]

Don't have the time. Not doing match shooting. Good enough is good enough.

 

[lordpaxman]

I’ll sort out a specific HS for development purposes only. The crimped variety wasn’t much of a problem on a LNL and isn’t an issue on a RL1100.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I sort the most common head stamps and the rest go to the mixed can. I keep Rem, win,pmc,gfl,fed, and s&b because I get a lot of them. I don't have buckets full of brass but I have enough.