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Identifying Cases Between Firings

JD Tactical

Private
Minuteman
Jun 5, 2020
10
1
Curious if anyone has any tricks to doing this. I have been color coding my firings by using the Dykem paint pens in various colors.

No color= Unfired
White= Fired once
Blue= Twice
Yellow= Third
Red= Fourth

Only downside is you get a little bit of paint specs on your bolt face that rub right off. Might try sharpie?
 
I have ammo in 100 round boxes that have 2" pieces of tape that tell me what I've done to that set. If you wanted to, you could notch each rim of a case for every time it's been fired with a jeweler's file. 1 notch, reloaded one time. 2 notches, twice etc. The dykem/Sharpie/paint wears off if you tumble a while or use SS pins. it can last a while in the extractor groove though. You can alternate headstamps too if you're worried about mixing sets of brass. I have seen some people use micro-stamps to mark case heads too, but that starts to sound more like work to me.
 
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I only keep count on the boxes they are in with a fine Sharpie.
I have tried using a scribe on the headstamp area and that does work to a point. Then they are too hard to see with my old eyes.
Your idea of different colors will only give you Rainbow gay brass BTDT.

I really don't know of a good solution to your problem, But I Understand. FM
 
Curious if anyone has any tricks to doing this. I have been color coding my firings by using the Dykem paint pens in various colors.

No color= Unfired
White= Fired once
Blue= Twice
Yellow= Third
Red= Fourth

Only downside is you get a little bit of paint specs on your bolt face that rub right off. Might try sharpie?

I keep my cases together as "lot" in a large plastic freezer zip lock bag. Like I have 200 cases in one bag that have all been fired the same amount of times and don't process them until they are all fired the same amount. And in the zip lock back of cases I keep a paper log what was done for each of the times I processed them. So, I have several bags of cases that way with different amount of firings and/or types and sizes of cases.
 

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The problem I have is that I load our 300 RUM hunting loads for myself and two buddies. I can't trust them to keep them separated haha. I just get a bag of brass from them at the end of the season.

And yes the Dykem does come off in the tumbler so I have to tumble in lots based on the firings which can be a pain with assorted brass but it works.
 
Well don’t load for them until they give you all the brass back fired.

Or don’t load for them at all until they learn the minimal amount of discipline it takes to keep track.
 
microstamping 😜

In all seriousness though, organizing and documenting is the only thing that has worked for me. Ziplocks, masking tape on my ammo boxes with all the specs in sharpie, spreadsheets on the computer.
 
I feel notching them might be the best.

I've tried paint pens and sharpie. They both dissappear after SS wet tumbling. I might just not tumble anymore to retain the colors.
 
Or don't load for them at all because the second the gun goes blows up any reason, your friend now becomes your enemy when he learns he could sue you for everything you own because you don't have liability insurance because you don't have a type 6 ffl.....
 
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Nothing gets the blood flowing like a case head separation in a magnum cartridge or a squib load in a revolver!
 
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I keep 800 pieces of 6X47 brass in 100 rnd MTM boxes, and put them back in the same box they came from to track how many times they’ve been fired. Once the primer pockets start going I’ll start weeding them out till I’m down to 400, then I’ll throw them all out and start over...

I like to be able to shoot at least two, 2 day matches in a row without reloading.
 
If you drink coffee you have plenty of empty cans to store and label to keep things organized. I make a check list that stays in the can that tracks each stage as a working document to keep me straight.
 
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