How strict are you with organising brass by times fired

[sha]

e.g.

If you've got a tonne of 3x and just a handful of 4x fired brass, do you bother managing the 4x lot?

Or just chuck them in with the 3x fired lot and forget about it?

[Hardcast]

I try to rotate my brass evenly if I'm not reloading a whole box at a time, so I would try to keep them seperate, but honestly, 3 or 4 times fired is neither here nor there with most calibers.

If it were a new caliber to me like a Magnum or one of the hot ones, I keep them seperate for a while until I knew how long they last.

I also keep different brands seperate.

I generally anneal my cases after 5 reloads, just to keep them more supple.

If I was prone to loading 'hot' then I would keep a close eye on the brass after 2 or 3 reloads.

[Jack V]

+1 on Hardcast's comments.

Buy a Doctors Otoscope their cheap . You can then see inside the brass . After a while you get to see a shadow forming inside the case at the solid head / case wall junction . Combine the visual inspection with the feeler technique and you will learn when to dump the cases .

I keep a good track of times fired , for annealing as well as how long they last .

[brett1868]

I reload in sessions and assign a batch number to each lot then record all the info in a spread sheet. I record all the usual load data, powder lot no, projectile lot no and how many times the brass has been fired and now that I've got an annealing machine I'll be recording the last anneal data. Have been thinking to write an MS Access database and generate some barcodes to track but that's just a little too OCD, even for me. I shoot / reload 8 calibre's with up to 9 different loads for each which makes for a pile of data.

[Tiiger]

Being off by one shot count isn't going to be the end of the world.

I'd try not to make a habit of it though.

If you're mixing higher shot brass with a lower count and you repeat it over and over 1 over could eventually 5 or 6 etc. and you're continually doing it and letting a count slide.

[RealNick]

If you're worried and it's literally "a handful" maybe just chuck it for peace of mind.

What's it going to cost you? $5?

Or give them to someone at the range who want's them.

[petemacsydney]

I'm a bit particular about it, just formed habbit.

I mark the base with a nico pen. a system of lines etc that tell me how many fires they've had. obviously it comes off during cleaning, but i just remark after cleaning and loading. makes it pretty simple to keep track of them. seeing as its simple, i just keep them all separated.

That said my batches are pretty big, so not dealing with a handful of 1 off's

[Warrigul]

i'm a bit particular about it, just formed habbit.
i mark the base with a nico pen. a system of lines etc that tell me how many fires they've had. obviously it comes off during cleaning, but i just remark after cleaning and loading. makes it pretty simple to keep track of them. seeing as its simple, i just keep them all separated.
that said my batches are pretty big, so not dealing with a handful of 1 off's

I actually file a notch in the rim of each .303 every time I seat a projectile. You can fit about 35 notches on each case.

I batch my 7.62 and all the rest keep it in its box or case with all the data.

[Bennybigbores]

Very particular myself if they haven't split they have fired between one and one hundred rounds if they've split they've fired to many. That my counter!

[petemacsydney]

I actually file a notch in the rim of each .303 every time I seat a projectile. You can fit about 35 notches on each case.

I batch my 7.62 and all the rest keep it in its box or case with all the data.

Wow, never thought of that, how deep r the notches? Presume quite shallow?

.

[Warrigul]

They don't need to be big or deep, I use a needle file and about three strokes.

Read about an old bloke putting notches in his 30/06 cases and thought it was a good idea so I have done it for about five years now.

[bigfellascott]

I never worry about keeping count, when they split they get tossed.

[on_one_wheel]

I keep them in batches of 50 in case card boxes, with a label for load data and one for times fired witch just says x 4 , once the box is spent I put another dot sticker over the last and wright x 5 on it.

[Pom]

I actually file a notch in the rim of each .303 every time I seat a projectile. You can fit about 35 notches on each case.

Interesting system.

[Lorgar]

Strict... ish.

In working up loads for my 308 brass I ended up with a spread of 2-5 shot brass in all sorts of quantities. About 400 brass in total.

I mixed a few 2 with 3... 4 with 5 shot.... Once I got them all up to 5 shot though I'm been conscious of keeping them together.

After selling my 308 all my brass was necked down to 7mm-08 and trimmer, and inspected for any flaws. None to be found.

Shooting them since then with no problems.

[headspace]

Not at all really. When they get hard to chamber they get FL sized and trimmed. That's about it. I use only one brand of brass for each rifle though, mostly Winchester, but I use Norma for the 223 Heavy.
JD

[Gregg]

I did organise them once upon a time.

These days I just shoot and check cases for problems as I reload.

I pretty much go through a batch per shooting session so there isn't much opportunity for it to get too far out of order.