To sort, you wouldn't use the formatted field at all you would sort on the
unformatted table field.  Notice I suggested formatting at the form/report
level rather than in a query.  It is when you format in your query that you
run into the sorting issue if you have formatted your date thereby turning
it into a text string.  Text strings sort character by character, left to
right (which is why October comes before February) whereas unformatted date
fields are sorted in numerical order.