What goes wrong

It got mixed, or it corroded

On this page11

Headstamps got mixed Firing counts got lost Bullet weights got mixed Gas checks vanished Brass tarnished Cast bullet lube migrated Case lube got inside a case mouth The solvent degraded its container Labelled by colour The fix is thirty numbered jars with liners References

Mixed brass has to be sorted by hand. There is no other way back.

Headstamps got mixed

Two makers of the same calibre in one jar. Case capacities differ, so a load worked up for one is a different load in the other, and sorting them is a hand job.

Firing counts got lost

Once-fired and five-times-fired brass in the same container. Brass work hardens and eventually splits, and the count is the only warning.

Bullet weights got mixed

A 150 and a 168 grain look similar in a jar and shoot to different points. Weighing them apart is the only route back.

Gas checks vanished

Small light copper cups in a jar sized for brass, hiding under everything. The smallest containers on the shelf exist for parts like these.

Brass tarnished

An unlined jar in a damp garage over a winter. Tarnish is cosmetic until it is not, and a liner costs almost nothing.

Cast bullet lube migrated

Warm storage and a container that let it spread. Then it is on the next thing in the tray and on the hands that reach in.

Case lube got inside a case mouth

Which is a contamination problem rather than a tidiness one. Lube and open components on the same bench, in the same session.

The solvent degraded its container

An ammonia-bearing copper solvent in the wrong plastic. 56 glass containers here and 78 PP are the two answers.

Labelled by colour

Which fails for around one in twelve men and fails for everybody under a garage light. Numbers on the body of the container.

The fix is thirty numbered jars with liners

One size, clear, lined, labelled on the body with calibre, grain and firing count. Dull, and it is the whole of the sorting problem solved.

References

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. The reloading and shooting shelf is 539 rows: 251 containers and 288 closures. 5 mL to 500 mL with a median of 177; 17 containers at 15 mL or under, 25 at 30 or under, 60 at 60 or under, 116 at 120 or under. 117 PET, 78 PP, 56 glass. 210 jars, 27 bottles, 12 tubs and pails, 2 tubes. 91 clear, 47 white, 32 amber, 26 black, 24 natural. Closures: 221 continuous thread, 22 dome lids, 18 lug and twist, 9 liners and sealing discs, 6 round tubs, 5 phenolic, 4 specialty.

The archetype behind this shelf is store-small-dry: 15 to 500 mL, wide mouth, PP and PET and glass, cold, solid, chunky, scooped, with "small dry parts, wide mouth to get fingers in, clear so you can see what is inside" as its stated reason. Eleven of the thirteen leaves are small dry parts and the shelf is 210 jars against 27 bottles, which fits. It describes the powder and primer leaves too, and should not.

Written from 27 CFR 555.11 and 555.141, and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. No storage quantity limits for smokeless powder or primers appear here: those come from NFPA 495 and from state and local fire codes and they vary. The reason given for keeping powder in its original container is the industry's stated reason, not a regulation and not something this property has independently verified. Nothing here addresses who may manufacture ammunition for sale or how any of it may be transported.