X-dies with range pickup brass?

[Baron]

Hi all - given how slow I am at trimming brass (and how much I hate it), a year ago I bought x-dies in .223 and a Lyman power trimmer. I read the directions and dutifully trimmed all the .223 brass I had on hand down .010 past normal (which took eight decades).

Now, I'm scratching my head. Since I don't take note of exactly where my fastidiously over-trimmed brass lands at the range, when I get home with all my pickups, not all of which were initially mine, what's the best way to proceed? Since if the brass has never been trimmed, it needs to be overtrimmed, it seems I'm stuck unless I caliper every piece of brass and do the initial trim if necessary. Is this right?

I did read where one guy just trims to regular length and hasn't had any problems. That wouldn't be too hard - just put all the brass in the trimmer and if it doesn't take anything off, fine.

Is there an easier/better way or is everybody keeping their trimmed brass separate at the range?

Thanks.

 

[243winxb]

Caliper every piece of brass for trim length or mark the head with a magic marker, put a big fat X on them.

 

[Lothar Allen]

when im loading I set all of my ammo in a loading tray upside down and mark the head with a sharpie in a distinctive color (ie not black.) It makes it easy to separate from the other guys when we all shoot bullseye together. (we are all shooting 45s.) It is easy to tell who shot what based upon color and headstamp. You could just mark your brass before you go. Or bring a separate baggie for range brass.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Marking the brass like mentioned above is probably the best way to know which is your brass and which is a pickup.

 

[Baron]

Brilliant. Thanks fellas.

 

[AZ Chuck]

Use Layout Dye (DYKEM) Even after clean with walnut it will still show in the printing marks work well