Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Reloading equipment, methods, load data, powder and projectile information.

Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by juststarting » 26 Feb 2016, 8:42 pm

I generally keep batches of brass, for example, 20 factory cartridge, fired and reused - I will mark them (once fired, twice, etc) and keep them separate from other brass. I am thinking that way I roughly know when a batch is on the way out. However, I do ignore the actual charge in each one of those cartridges, when I sort them out in batches.

Is this something people do or is it just me being paranoid and OCD?
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by on_one_wheel » 26 Feb 2016, 9:25 pm

Iv done my best at keeping them in groups of 50 all fired the same amount of times, labled on the box.
Lately I've messed things up a little by weighing and sorting my brass by weight.

Most of my brass is on its 5th or 6th fireing and I'm getting the odd crack ... its almost time for me to turf the lot and break out the shiny new stuff.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by happyhunter » 26 Feb 2016, 10:17 pm

It's common for reloaders to batch cases by reload cycle. Eventually you will have to anneal the case necks or turf the cases.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by TheDude » 26 Feb 2016, 11:25 pm

I buy a few hundred at a time for each rifle I load for and sort and batch them into lots of 100. I then only load full batches to keep track of times fired and when I last annealed.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by Wm.Traynor » 27 Feb 2016, 9:48 am

juststarting wrote:I generally keep batches of brass, for example, 20 factory cartridge, fired and reused - I will mark them (once fired, twice, etc) and keep them separate from other brass. I am thinking that way I roughly know when a batch is on the way out. However, I do ignore the actual charge in each one of those cartridges, when I sort them out in batches.

Is this something people do or is it just me being paranoid and OCD?


I keep them separate from other cases, whether they are in factory packs of 20 or bulk unprimed cases. Mark the container. Keep records of reloading details, number of times fired, times FLS, times NS. Watch for signs of incipient head separation. If you keep the "batches" separate you will know which box each individual cartridge comes from. Therefore there is no need to label each individual.
When target shooting my 223, virgin brass was sorted in to "lots" with a weight variation of no more than 0.2gn. That keeps you busy :twisted:
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by bigfellascott » 27 Feb 2016, 2:59 pm

Nup I never worry about it, I just toss em when they show signs of getting past their best by date.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by yoshie » 27 Feb 2016, 7:16 pm

I mostly shoot pistols, i keep my light paper punching cases seperate to my steel punching cases. I've had 20+ reloads from light wad cutter 357 loads that i shoot ISSF, full power metallic silouette dont last as long.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by brett1868 » 27 Feb 2016, 7:30 pm

bigfellascott wrote:Nup I never worry about it, I just toss em when they show signs of getting past their best by date.


I'm with the bigfella on this one, if it's for hunting I just inspect at each reload and toss anything that looks suspect. It's hard to keep lots of 100 as I tend to lose the odd case here or there and can't be ass'd looking for them. I do however batch and track the Cheytac, 416 & 50 cases as I'm chasing maximum accuracy from them and every little bit counts.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by Baldrick314 » 27 Feb 2016, 7:38 pm

I haven't previously. I'm in the process of shooting off all my .308 stock so I can do a uniform case prep on all of them and then either weight batch them (most likely) or measure their water capacity and batch them (if I can be bothered/ find the time). I'm thinking I'll anneal them all so they're at the same stage and going forward I'll anneal every 4th or 5th loading
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by 5Tom » 29 Feb 2016, 12:28 pm

I keep reloading the same lot of 50 until I get any signs to turf them.

I have kept to the same brand per batch so case volume is the same.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by Baldrick314 » 29 Feb 2016, 3:17 pm

5Tom wrote:I keep reloading the same lot of 50 until I get any signs to turf them.

I have kept to the same brand per batch so case volume is the same.


There's no guarantee that case volume will be the same just because they're the same brand. They should be similar but I've seen large variations in capacity within brass from the same manufacturing batch let alone just the same brand
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by Gwion » 29 Feb 2016, 3:30 pm

Yes, as best as possible.

You will find the occasional oddball that is way out of spec and an overall weight difference spanning a number of grains, depending on brand quality , etc. I have 200 OSA 223 brass that i batched into 100 'heavy' and 100'light'.
The Norma brass for my target shooting is in two batches of 50 and in each of those i did my best to graduate for minimum deviation from shot to shot. It's way over kill for my standard of shooting, but i need all the help i can get! These cases live in their own spots in the container, i even clean them by hand with 0000 steel wool while inspecting them for re-priming. Only ever come out of their little cubby hole and back into it. The load shoots around 0.3" @ 100yd.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by Tiiger » 03 Mar 2016, 10:09 am

juststarting wrote:Is this something people do or is it just me being paranoid and OCD?


It's good practice to know at least roughly where your brass is up to use wise.

I just shoot/reload/shoot without really checking much until about 5 shots because I'm comfortable the brass will be more than ok up until at least then, then I start checking one by one and tossing anything suspect from there which usually isn't for a few more shots anyway, but just to be safe.

Marking 1x1 might be a bit painful, maybe look at grabbing a couple of 20 or 50 cartridge holders and group them by box, rather than one by one.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by juststarting » 03 Mar 2016, 10:13 am

1x1?
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by sandgroperbill » 03 Mar 2016, 10:53 am

one by one, one at a time
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by juststarting » 03 Mar 2016, 11:29 am

I don't understand the context in which that was used, as it applies to my original question, I think.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by Redwood » 03 Mar 2016, 2:20 pm

I think I interpreted your post the same way Tiiger did from the sounds of it.

"I will mark them (once fired, twice, etc) and keep them separate from other brass."

I thought you mean write 1, 2, 3 etc. on each case as you use it. He's saying get box which holds 50 brass shot X amount of times instead of labelling them individually.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by juststarting » 03 Mar 2016, 2:37 pm

Ooohhh no, no, sorry. I meant batches. Box of once fired brass, box of twice, etc. I keep them in batches by how many times they have been fired and actual batch (like box of Federal or box of PPU). So if I have 20 Federal (1 box) and 40 PPU (2 boxes) all twice fired, I will have them in three separate batches - 'twice fired and then split by batch (box). I am only a little retentive.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by Khan » 11 Mar 2016, 11:11 am

Makes sense.

Good to have a grasp on where in their life they're up to. With whatever brand of brass you're using you'll get to know about how many times fired they get to before the failure rate increases and you need to check more carefully.

Wouldn't hurt for accuracy either, if you've got new cases in with 20x fired and trimmed ones and everything in between you're going to have a little spread of case capacity through thinning and trimming.
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by on_one_wheel » 18 Apr 2016, 11:09 pm

I've just started a new method of batching my brass. It wont work for everyone but for those who stick to one type of load it might.

I've got brass here that's more than 10 years old !
It can get hard to keep track of it all especially when you want to start batching by weight of brass after you've started batching by number of times fired.

Im now only running one small batch of brass , just 60.
3 disposable boxes of 20.
They will be reloaded untill the necks split or they show any other signs of trouble.
It will be much easier to keep track of, they will be worn out in less time but will have the same amount of fireings as normal.

Another advantage I can see is that they will be fresher, no more loading for 12 months worth of shooting and using 12 month old ammo.
I can also change my load and not have 200 pluss of my old load to pull apart.

Thats the plan anyhow
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by juststarting » 18 Apr 2016, 11:18 pm

on_one_wheel, that's roughly what I've been doing.

Assumption (for a newbie like me) that brass is batched in order to identify when a given batch is ready for the rubbish bin, based on one or more cases from the same batch showing signs of bad wear or split necks... Do you then bin the entire batch; or only the cases in question and just keep an eye out on the rest; or milder loads, etc?
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Re: Reloading - do you keep brass batched?

Post by Harper » 26 Jul 2016, 2:36 pm

juststarting wrote:Assumption (for a newbie like me) that brass is batched in order to identify when a given batch is ready for the rubbish bin, based on one or more cases from the same batch showing signs of bad wear or split necks... Do you then bin the entire batch; or only the cases in question and just keep an eye out on the rest; or milder loads, etc?


Once one in a batch has failed definitely start keeping an eye on the rest for failure, but it doesn't mean you absolutely must throw the lot out.

Case consistency and flaws vary so the difference in life between 2 cases in the same batch can significant.

Some guys don't batch at all, they just check each case individually and could have new brass in with 20x fired brass. As long as it all checks out there is no harm.

Saying that though, if you're worried or just don't want to worry about it throwing the lot after a few start to fail makes some sense.

If you get 15 - 20 shots out of a batch then a few fail and you toss the lot, it's not like you haven't gotten your monies worth from them.
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