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For those of you with extensive .45 ACP experience, is it worth sorting .45 ACP brass by manufacturer?
It looks the same and seems to shoot the same for me, but for real accuracy, is there a difference?
I like to do the reloading right but I don't want to waste time unnecessarily.

Thanks!
 
All of my pistol reloads are mixed brass, and seem to be as accurate or more so than factory loaded rounds.
I don't sort pistol brass by manufacturer.
 
Unless you're shooting it out of a match grade gun for bullseye, I wouldn't bother.

For rifle, different story imho.
 
I have sorted them, on occasion when I'm feeling particularly persnickety, but other than scrapping the AMERC brass it never seems to make any difference.

I have gotten to a point recently, with practice, where I can shoot more accurately with a pistol. With my favorite revolver I can fairly consistently keep them in 1.5" @25 yards (on a good day with a rest). I've been meaning to really work with my 1911 and see what it's capable of. This would be an interesting experiment, to see what I end up with for an accurate load, and how much difference variables like that make.
 
NOT EVEN TALKING about steel cases. So, assuming that all of the cases are reloadable brass (of good quality).

Separate.....
Large primer and small primer.

Then....
IF you want to spend more time on the project.....
By Brand/Mfn

IF, you're anal....
By Lot# (and/or add, how many reload cycles)

For plinking ammo....Large vs small primers, is enough. But that's only my $0.02.;)

Aloha, Mark
 
Yep I agree with y'all. Long time 45acp reloader. I only sort large primers from small primers. Small primer pocket brass go in the trash barrel. Picked up almost 200 once fired 45acp brass last week at the range. Score! Threw them into the tumbler when I got home. A really good range day all the way around. :)
 
Save those small primer .45s! Throw them in a milk jug. Once full it's worth about $35 at the scrap yard ... or you can do what I do. Once I have a fairly large batch I load them up and shoot them. They make good brass for shooting in the field where you can't find your empties, or at indoor ranges or matches where you can not pick up your brass.

Just a thought!
 
I've found that small primer brass is every bit as good as large primer, if you have a bunch and keep them separated. I have a couple thousand and like them just fine.

Like I mentioned before though, there is one type that goes straight into the recycle bucket. I actually found a couple recently, hadn't seen any in quite some time.

IMG_9347[1].jpg
 
I've found that small primer brass is every bit as good as large primer, if you have a bunch and keep them separated. I have a couple thousand and like them just fine.

Like I mentioned before though, there is one type that goes straight into the recycle bucket. I actually found a couple recently, hadn't seen any in quite some time.

View attachment 724806
Haven't heard of A-MERC before, why do you toss them, why do you consider them inferior? enquiring minds want to know...
 
Haven't heard of A-MERC before, why do you toss them, why do you consider them inferior? enquiring minds want to know...
Back in the day when I first started loading random range brass in .45acp and 9mm, I began to notice a trend. Nearly every single time I had a malfunction with my reloads, the brass involved was headstamped "A-MERC". A friend then showed me some ammo he bought at a gun show that malfunctioned terribly in his 1911- factory ammo with the same headstamp. A google search shows that it's a common complaint: terrible quality ammo.

I did read somewhere that they had used different components over the years and some of their brass isn't that bad, but I don't take chances with it, and just scrap any I find.
 
Save those small primer .45s! ...They make good brass for shooting in the field where you can't find your empties, or at indoor ranges or matches where you can not pick up your brass.

Exactly. Waste not yadda yadda. When I get enough I load them with 180gr SWCs and put them aside for situations where I would rather not shag my brass too. Steel matches or deep woods camping/plinking have been my main uses for these.
 
For those of you with extensive .45 ACP experience, is it worth sorting .45 ACP brass by manufacturer?
It looks the same and seems to shoot the same for me, but for real accuracy, is there a difference?
I like to do the reloading right but I don't want to waste time unnecessarily.

Thanks!
No, but nowadays you do have to sort to find the small primer vs large primer 45ACP brass.
 
Fortunately, my eyes are still pretty good and I have no trouble picking out the small primer pockets. I have a couple of hundred small primer pockets and thousands of large primer pocket 45 ACP brass.
 
You could always sell your small pocket brass to guys like me!

i have no use for large primer personally, and with today's shortages you can always use SRP as a backup if you run small primer brass
 
I prime on a Lee auto-bench prime, and it's as simple as setting up for large, running the mixed stuff through, and the small pockets are the ones that go clink instead of sliding a primer home. Easy way to sort out the small ones! I like the large primer stuff, just because large primers tend to last longer on store shelves than small, but I save the small for situations where I won't be picking it up. ( I'm lazy at matches, and would rather focus on shooting, than brassing)
 

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