.380 ACP the weeds of 9mm farming

[Helocat]

I don't shoot .380 ACP, don't have a single chamber for them. BUT I do shoot allot of 9mm my boys and I always pick up our brass and any other left behind at the range. So .380ACP does sneak in. Punching out 3k of 9mm this week I had the case feed system jam 8+ times over a .380 trying to sneak in. AND one full .380 actually get loaded. Visual inspection of loads going into storage containers netted that little gem.

I have standing rules with my boys to toss any 380ACP they find to the side burm at the range to keep it as far away from our brass bags. But the dam things keep sneeking in.

I visually hand sort our brass in a tray under light. It's usually just 9mm, 300blk, 223 and 308. Easy to sort. I have kept the 40SW's in the safe when running the 9's as I get tired of pulling stuck 9 out of 40 cases.

Any tricks anyone uses to sort out 380ACP?

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[jordanka16]

I have seen some ridiculously elaborate machines match shooters use to sort them out. I can usually feel them when I size, but it still gums up the works. Sorry I dont have an answer but I would also love to know what people's solutions to this issue are.

Also, sorting out small primer .45, pretty sure they were invented by anti-gunners just to piss me off.

 

[DizzyJ]

Also, sorting out small primer .45, pretty sure they were invented by anti-gunners just to piss me off.

 

[DizzyJ]

I have caught 380 many times in my progressive. Only thing I can say, is be vigilant with your inspection process!

 

[Mark W.]

My grand daughters sort my brass (with a double check by grandpa) they have good eyes. But since I load each round separately I don't find a problem. I can see where volume loading with a progressive press could be a problem.

 

[RVTECH]

but I would also love to know what people's solutions to this issue are.

All 'pick up' brass gets laid on a table rim side down for a quick inspection and cull of any .380.

 

[Mikej]

My grand daughters sort my brass (with a double check by grandpa) they have good eyes. But since I load each round separately I don't find a problem. I can see where volume loading with a progressive press could be a problem.

Same here. Not the grand daughters, but single stage operator. That shorter straight wall case is very evident on the down stroke!

 

[Certaindeaf]

It's the Russians. More tinfoil!

 

[Tilos]

This guy has a simple way...

 

[Helocat]

Also, sorting out small primer .45, pretty sure they were invented by anti-gunners just to piss me off.

I dont shoot .45 but I keep hearing about these older small primer cases out there. Man that would suck for one to slip in, be deprimed and an attempt to stuff a large primer in a small pocket.

I have caught 380 many times in my progressive. Only thing I can say, is be vigilant with your inspection process!

I thought I was but the dam things kept showing up. It was only a .003% fail rate so staticstily not all that bad. Hell the FDA allows a higher % of "insect fragments" in packaged spices. But its still a pain in the bubblegum.

My grand daughters sort my brass (with a double check by grandpa) they have good eyes. But since I load each round separately I don't find a problem. I can see where volume loading with a progressive press could be a problem.

Its still me at the bench sifting through the brass. Back in college on the single stage press never had this issue. Heck on the Dillon 550 progressive never had this problem. Just picking up a bastard child .380 ACP feels wrong and know to toss it. Its using the auto case feeder were the trouble starts.

All 'pick up' brass gets laid on a table rim side down for a quick inspection and cull of any .380.

With three teenage boys shooting our brass bag grows about 300-500 pieces of brass each time we go out. It gets dumped into a general storage bag until brass sorting and cleaning day comes around. Then I am looking at processing 3k of brass, sort then set up for what ever process I am going to do with it, depending on what the caliber is. I would love to do rimside down but, time would not be on my side.

Same here. Not the grand daughters, but single stage operator. That shorter straight wall case is very evident on the down stroke!

Ya single stage press is where its at to sort out any odd balls.

This guy has a simple way...

Hmm I like this. I will give this a shot to see how it goes. I am good at catching the 40SW brass usualy hugging the 9mm. Of course sometimes get the perfict trifecta and have a .45 holding a .40 holding a 9mm, all jammed together by corncob media.

Great sugestins fellas!

 

[TheGameMaster]

Federal makes all their 45 brass with small pistol primer pockets now. CCI Blazer Brass, Federal Hydra-shock, Federal American Eagle, etc. are all Small Pistol Primers now. Military Federal is still large pistol primers, but has the crimp which is just as annoying. So if you sort out all the Federal/CCI, you shouldn't have any problem as far as 45 goes.

As far as 380 goes; if your creating reduced range ammo with lite bullets (115gr or less), you can shoot the 380 just fine. It will headspace on the extractor, but is such a low pressure round, it won't damage anything, except maybe the case might get mangled. You may have to pock the case out with a pencil if it gets to mangled; but I've only ever had to do that once. I've never have had an issue with them otherwise. They shoot just fine in my 9s using light light bullets. Its just a waste of good 380 brass, which is more expensive than 9. They are a bit hotter and noisier than standard reduced target 9. However, if your making high performance 9, then you'll want to make sure you get the 380 out of your progressive process. You can over load them, especially if your using a fast powder like tightgroup or 700x. But if your using unique or hs-6 or power pistol, you'll be fine. The load data for the slower powders is almost identical for 115gr in both 9 and 380. But if your loading heavier bullets, like 124s or higher, you definitely want to get the 380 out of your process. If your loading lite they can squib, and if loading heavy they can get stuck in the chamber.

Rodney

 

[Helocat]

As far as 380 goes; if your creating reduced range ammo with lite bullets (115gr or less), you can shoot the 380 just fine. It will headspace on the extractor, but is such a low pressure round, it won't damage anything, except maybe the case might get mangled. You may have to pock the case out with a pencil if it gets to mangled; but I've only ever had to do that once. I've never have had an issue with them otherwise. They shoot just fine in my 9s using light light bullets. Its just a waste of good 380 brass, which is more expensive than 9. They are a bit hotter and noisier than standard reduced target 9. However, if your making high performance 9, then you'll want to make sure you get the 380 out of your progressive process. You can over load them, especially if your using a fast powder like tightgroup or 700x. But if your using unique or hs-6 or power pistol, you'll be fine. The load data for the slower powders is almost identical for 115gr in both 9 and 380. But if your loading heavier bullets, like 124s or higher, you definitely want to get the 380 out of your process. If your loading lite they can squib, and if loading heavy they can get stuck in the chamber.

Rodney

Rodney, Good info. However I have no need to make any special 380 loads. Yup its all about keeping range 380 from sneaking into my 9mm brass. I am also going to start kicking the rocks around my shooting area on the club range to make sure there is not any foreign brass to sneak into my 9mm.

I also realized about a month ago I took two people from the Netherlands shooting. They helped pick up brass. I bet that is where it came from!

 

[ageingstudent]

This guy has a simple way...

This. That's how I do it.

 

[DizzyJ]

This. That's how I do it.

That's pretty damned slick!

 

[nammac]

This guy has a simple way...

Pretty slick and efficient way to help sort out pesky off caliber cases. Much quicker than my hand inspecting process...

 

[Member 5605]

@Josh89 like them for some odd reason.

Mine make it to sorting and are usually caught but then upon the depriming I can feel the give.

 

[Alvrez]

That's a slick process. I don't have that much brass around but definitely something to remember.

IMHO, 380 brass is like rabbits, if they get into your stock they will start breeding.

 

[gmerkt]

I've been hand loading for close to 40 years. I haven't yet graduated to progressive but I can see how .380's getting into the 9mm's would be a problem there. I find the odd .380 in 9mm range brass. For me, it's not a problem. They get easily caught during the sizing process. For me, pretty easily seen even with old eyes.

The case block trick shown in the video is a good idea. Introduces another time-consuming step, something to get your kids or grandkids to do for pocket money.

 

[American123]

One idea I have that won't 100% prevent your problem but it will help mitigate it.

If you have the option to at wherever you are shooting. Completely sweet the area you will be picking up brass. Basically pick it all up before you do your shooting, out that brass in a separate container. Then when you do your shooting the brass that is left to clean up should ideally only be your brass. This reduces the volume that you have to be as diligent checking for the .380 and therefore makes your time spent checking the other brass more effective because you will have less total brass to look over.

 

[ron]

Just finished a 2K batch of 9 mm. I hate those 380 cases sneaking in there. I can usually tell
the difference in resistance sizing the 380 brass. I am also finding 38 S&W brass?
Load on the Dillon 550. Visual inspect each case for powder charge before setting bullet
on charged case. Too many rounds loaded in one day. My right wrist swollen and painful.
Going to have to take a couple days off from reloading. I still have 5K of brass to load.