What should we run as the next 'Design Challenge Competition' ? Give us your suggestions!

I am looking for a way to sort Pistol or Rifle Brass by Head Stamp.  There are sorting trays to sort by caliber that are inexpensive and easy to use, but sorting by Head Stamp is a time consuming manual operation.  For example I reload 9mm and .380 Pistol Brass and 2.23/5.56 Rifle Brass. Each manufacturer places a head stamp mark on the base of the brass cartridge that identifies the Caliber, Manufacturer, and Brand of the ammunition.  Examples of Head Stamps can be found at:  https://afte.org/resources/headstamp-guide. (Click on first stamp to bring up additional examples.)  This machine could operate similar to the M & M Sorter except that the brass would first have to be oriented base up then drop into a caliber specific holder and be placed under a camera.  Next an image would be captured and rotated to the same orientation as the various images assigned to specific buckets.  When a match is found, the machine would send the brass to the correct bucket.  Any unmatched images would result in the corresponding brass being sent to the discard bucket to be processed again when a different mix of Head Stamps are being sorted.  The machine would need to maintain a database of Head Stamp Images that could be assigned to various buckets as needed.  Also there would need to be a way to change the caliber specific holder when sorting a different caliber of brass.

The advantage of reloading ammunition is that one can tune the ammo to their specific gun to achieve the greatest accuracy and most consistent shots.  By sorting by Manufacturer's Head Stamp, minute differences in case volume can be more closely controlled.  Ammo is manufactured to specific external tolerances, but variations in case wall thickness between manufactures and within the same manufacturer can affect the internal case volume, so it is still necessary to weigh each case to maintain close tolerances.    Other factors (but not all inclusive list) affecting shot accuracy include the powder charge, bullet weight, and bullet seating depth.

In case you may be concerned, I shoot only paper targets at an approved firing range.  There are various competitions where one can win prizes and more importantly bragging rights.

Certainly an interesting idea, and would work well for you, you should certainly work on it and we would love to hear about it!

As a Design Challenge... a firearm or ammunition challenge does not have international appeal.  

Certainly an interesting idea, and would work well for you, you should certainly work on it and we would love to hear about it!

As a Design Challenge... a firearm or ammunition challenge does not have international appeal.