marking your most prized brass.

[FlyinBryan]

i have some pmc brass that ive decided to press into service by removing the primer crimp on. its several hundred rounds that i know are once fired, from my rifle, and would really like to be able to easily pick out of the brass bin without having to read every headstamp.

what im wondering is would a magic marker on the case head be permenant enough to weather heavy tumbling? or is there a better way to positively i.d. the lot so that i can spot them at just a glance.

i might be just picking them out of a few hundred, or maybe sometimes way more, like picking them out of a bin of 1000, so i really am looking for something that stands out.

any ideas or methods you guys use???


thx, bryan.

 

[Ed_E]

what im wondering is would a magic marker on the case head be permenant enough to weather heavy tumbling? or is there a better way to positively i.d. the lot so that i can spot them at just a glance.

Generally no. I mark my brass with a Sharpie after I load it. Sometimes use different colors as an indicator of how many times I have reloaded that specific brass.

 

[bullseye308]

Fill in the headstamp with black nail polish.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

My eyes aren't what they used to be so when I have some brass I want to find easily I usually tumble it separately. I know that takes more time but like I said, my eyes aren't what they used to be. Since I load several handgun calibers along with a few rifle calibers I always have something to keep me busy while the extra batch of brass is cleaning.

Just a thought...

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

I believe its Lyman that make little bags, that go in the tumbler for this purpose.

 

[memphisjim]

um get that ink that glows in black light
cosmic reloading could be fun

 

[Eric F]

I agree with the sharpie I do it but you need to redo it almost every time I tumble brass. If finger nail polish were cheaper I would color all my primers in blaze orange.

 

[moooose102]

from my experience, sharpie markings come off in the tumbler. what i have done in the past is to take a SMALL SHARP file, and make a small notch on the very outside of the head of the shell. you can go a step further, by making certain that it aligns with a certain number, or letter on the headstamp. that way (as long as you are taking notes) you could do this repeatedly with different sets of cases in the same caliber. hope this is usefull to you.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

I segregate my brass, it takes some time but I feel it's worth it. after 4-5 loadings I check closely for neck/case splits and if so I put 'em into the 'shoot and scoot practice' can.
bottleneck cases I'll trim to length a couple times but after that into the 'shoot and scoot' can.
BTW I've found PMC to be good brass.

 

[helz_mcfugly]

being that you use "Lee" reloading products, surely you can find some type of nail polish made by the same company that will make it through the tumbler. my wife loves their press on nails by the way.

 

[rcmodel]

Anything you put on it, the tumbler will take off.
That's what they are supposed to do.

If it's already segregated from your other brass, just keep it that way in zip-lock bags, or coffee cans.

After you shoot it again, just keep it segregated again.

As for having to look at it?
You should be inspecting it all when it comes out of the tumbler anyway.

rcmodel