tracking brass

[Flashkayak]

How do you keep track of how many times your brass has been loaded and fired ?
Flashkayak

 

[Walkalong]

Labels.

On the boxes loaded rounds are stored in, on the bins the fired brass is kept, and in the boxes where the tumbled brass is waiting to be loaded.

 

[W.E.G.]

 

[ReloaderFred]

For handgun brass, I just shoot it until it either splits, or in the case of semi-auto brass, gets lost. I've never found a need to count how many times a particular handgun case has been reloaded, as I depend on inspection to weed out worn out brass.

For rifle calibers, it depends on what it's loaded for. Serious hunting rounds are loaded with once fired brass, but plinking stuff is loaded in whatever brass the caliber is.

I have buckets and buckets of brass, and not enough years left to worry about counting how many times it's been reloaded............

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[BYJO4]

I have always kept my rounds sorted by the number of times reloaded and I use labels on to do so.

 

[newfalguy101]

pretty well along the same lines as ReloaderFred, load hunting rounds with once fired, or new, otherwise load em till they die or go the way of the second sock lost for eternity

 

[Lost Sheep]

How do you keep track of how many times your brass has been loaded and fired ?
Flashkayak

I don't any more.

Welcome to the forum and to reloading. I see from your other posts that you shoot and reload for handguns. Manual action rifle shooters find it useful to count the number of times brass has been shot. Semi-auto rifle shooters, not so much and handgun shooters hardly at all.

Why?

Semi-auto fired bottlenecked cartridges generally should be full-length resized (to ensure reliable feeding and chambering). Bolt-action, single shot rifle shooters generally shoot lower quantities and can pay more attention to each individual cartridge case, tracking their individual lives (or each individual batch's lives).

Keeping track of how many times a case has been fired and how many times it has had its shoulder bumped back will give clues to performance and, if one cartridge case shows signs of incipient head separation or case-neck cracking its similarly-aged brethren are probably not far behind in the need for annealing or discard. So, for bottlenecked cartridges, there is considerable value in knowing how many times a case has been neck-re-sized, full-length-resized, annealed, etc as well as if the loadings were mild or hot. Just like airplane engines have their hours assiduously tracked, brass can benefit by keeping a history.

When I started out shooting and loading (at the same time), I kept each box of 50 (my first gun was a .357 Magnum Dan Wesson revolver) together and inside the lid of each box was a piece of paper with spaces for the load data of each reloading/firing cycle. I carefully kept each batch of 50 cases in its own box and recorded the loads.

That lasted about 7 cycles. I asked myself, "What value is all this effort?" Mildly loaded, my brass seemed on the road to lasting forever. One batch I loaded hot suffered a significant percentage of split cases the next time out. So I determined that there is SOME value to knowing the history of my brass. But I decided there was not enough (for my style of shooting) to justify the effort. If I stressed my brass (like silhouette shooters and the like) I would do it, but I am not, so I don't.

Just as some high-accuracy and well-organized and meticulous shooters will weigh their brass (and even their primers) and derive significant benefit from their efforts and others (like me) do not, you will have to make your own decision.

For my semi-auto guns, the mixing of my batches of brass on the ground with each other and with other shooters' brass makes keeping track pointless.

Good luck. Good shooting.

Lost Sheep

 

[gonoles_1980]

I've given up on my wife's 9mm. When I come home with double the brass she shot, I don't know the pedigree of the brass. I can do it with my revolver easily.

 

[Otto]

Depends....

If it's 9mm Major, it's never reloaded and left on the ground.
If it's 45 ACP, I load it till the headstamp wears off.
If it's 223, it's loaded as long as the primer pockets are tight and it isn't split.
If it's 357Sig, I toss it when the neck tension diminishes.

 

[jcwit]

I have 5 .223 cases that have been reloaded approx. 70 plus times now. Only reason I know is the fact I keep a record of how many times the rifle has been fired and those 5 cases are the only ones that have been fired in that rifle for the past number of years. Those 5 cases have been bumped a few times but other than that they continue to be good to go.

All other cases are of no consequence, got much more important things to worry about.

 

[gamestalker]

Like others, I don't worry about it. Instead, I focus on inspecting, or reading it for fatigue signs during preparation. If I used a count to determine when my brass is done, I would have wasted an awful lot of good brass, an awful lot.

GS

 

[J_McLeod]

I've also wondered about this and am interested in the answers. I reload .223, .243 and .308, but only .223 in quantity. I have so much brass from many ranges and guns that there is no way to tell how many times they've been loaded. This worries me because it's a bottleneck case.

 

[rcmodel]

A bent paper-clip to feel inside the case for a stretch ring is all you need to know.

If you can feel it, the case is nearing a head separation.
It's toast, toss it.

Other then that loose primer pockets can be felt when re-priming.
If the primer goes in too easily, the case is toast, toss it.

rc

 

[Tony k]

I use an electric engraver on the head of my high-power rifle brass since it's lower volume and easy to track. Just a light line for each time it's been fired. Much shallower than the headstamp markings.

9mm, .45auto, and .223 is higher volume shooting and that would be too time consuming. I just shoot it till it fails or I lose it.

 

[FROGO207]

I pretty much am in the same group with Reloader Fred. I have a LOT of once fired brass that has been polished and sorted then put in gallon freezer bags for storage until I need them. Some calibers I have multiple 5 GAL buckets full waiting. Otherwise I shoot, inspect, reload until they are toast then recycle them.

 

[Flashkayak]

Thanks to everyone. All I reload right now is 38 special for my S&W 642.
Eventually I may do .223 if my son has his way. Also possible 308 for my model 99 savage if I start hunting again. don't think I will bother to keep record of 38 special brass as I check them over pretty close when Im prepping
Thanks again for the replys
Flashkayak in Emmett, Idaho

 

[mtrmn]

When my brass gets in such bad shape that I don't think it'll be safe or function much longer I trash it. Or when I lose it shooting semiautos. I don't keep track of any of my brass other than picking it up when I find it. I don't have much free time to spend on my gun hobbies and trying to keep up with several thousand rounds in like 15 or 20 calibers is wasting time that could be far better spent. JMO

 

[Coldfinger]

Pistol brass i just dont care. Shoot it till it falls apart.
Rifle brass i only care if I am loading to hunt after initial load with new brass it is relegated to paper punching until i see some stress at the shoulder or the neck splits.

 

[z7]

I am new, so I am taking extra time to know everything I can, which includes times fired. I have batches of 50 RDS for 233, 308 and 40s&w. When doing a workup I mark each adder rung with a sharpie. If I am simply shooting before the rounds go into a box I tap the base of the round on am ink pad and color the head stamp/primer black. I can easily distinguish my brass from range extras I bring home. I keep my batch together, label the bag with times fired and move on. Imagine I will stop doing this eventually but I want the data for times fired right now

 

[J_McLeod]

For those that answered this way, why do you pay more attention to your hunting loads? Are they that much hotter than your paper loads?

 

[FROGO207]

I use once fired or virgin brass for hunting loads. The reason is IF something goes crazy wrong that would be the time I would end up with a case head separation thus a disabled rifle. Not worth taking that chance by being a little cheap. How many hunting rounds does one need to have on hand anyway? Just save enough good clean OF brass for your hunting needs. We are not talking blasting ammo here.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Hunting load brass gets more attention than range brass simply because of the use. For instance, several years ago I hunted moose in Northern Alberta, which for me was probably a once in a lifetime hunt. I didn't want to put out about $5,000 for the trip, tags, guides, riding my ATV 26 miles to the base camp, etc., and blow the whole thing on a bad round for what could have been the only shot I would get.

The same applies for elk hunting within the state. I'm not going to drive to the Eastern part of the state, after getting drawn for a tag, etc., and have a bad round screw up an opportunity for a year's supply of meat because it malfunctioned in my rifle.

If you have a round that isn't perfect on the range, it's no big deal, but if you have one miles back in the woods, it's a really big deal.......

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[gamestalker]

With 38 spcl, the only issue I've had after dozens of times being reloaded has either been neck splits, or neck tension. Obviously either of those wear signs are easy to spot and cull.

GS

 

[Sunray]

"...I've never found a need to count how many times a particular handgun case has been reloaded..." Absolutely. Shoot 'em until you get one cracked neck/case mouth, then pitch that one and anneal the rest. None of which applies to handgun brass. It just gets pitched when it cracks.

 

[Hondo 60]

I keep 'em in MTM ammo boxes.
They come with labels.

I also made up some of my own.
Here's a couple of PDFs.


Reloading Labels 1-10

Reloading Labels 11-20