How to keep track of number of firings?

[Uni-Vibe]

Loading for AR, I use once fired brass, load it four more times, and then scrap it.

How to keep track of the number of firings? Soon you have a pile of twice fired, four times fired, etc. How do y'all keep track?

[Arik]

Don't reload but I've read people use markers. 1 line/ring/notch = 1 reload, 2 lines/rings/notches = 2 reloads...etc..

Or change colors or add colors. Whatever makes more sense to you

[T2C]

It's easy. Keep brass separated in coffee cans, boxes, whatever and track how many times brass in each container has been fired. I've been doing this for over 35 years with 30-06 brass, 7.62x51mm brass, etc.

If you are training at the range by yourself, police the area you are going to shoot in before sending rounds down range. Only collect brass known to you.

When in doubt, throw it out.

[mic2377]

I keep everything in 50 or 100 round lots. These are kept together and therefore number of reloads can be tracked. This is also facilitated by the use of a brass catcher.

Honestly the big motivation for me keeping them separate is avoiding trimming. If I keep my brass separate, generally cases can go 3-4 firings without trimming. This really cuts down on labor. I HATE trimming.

[Nightvisionary]

I don't. I just visually inspect and cull when needed.

[Bret]

How to keep track of the number of firings? Soon you have a pile of twice fired, four times fired, etc. How do y'all keep track?

Discipline! I keep all of my brass sorted by lot. The exception to this is if the year of manufacture is on the headstamp, then I treat them all as one lot. I never fire two batches of ammo with the same headstamp during a range session. This method obviously won't work if you used mixed headstamp once fired brass from the start.

[markm]

I don't. I just visually inspect and cull when needed.

This. I tried keeping track of brass, and it became an unmanageable nightmare. I recycle brass when the pocket is loose.

[Uni-Vibe]

I don't. I just visually inspect and cull when needed.

And you don't have any problems, e.g. case head separations? I run pistol brass until the mouth splits, but I was always told that full-length resizing limited semi-auto brass to about four or five reloads.

[mic2377]

And you don't have any problems, e.g. case head separations? I run pistol brass until the mouth splits, but I was always told that full-length resizing limited semi-auto brass to about four or five reloads.

Brass failure can happen. But if you discard brass with loose primer pockets, and don't run mega hot loads, the rate of failure is pretty low.

The failure mode I have seen the most in 223 brass is neck splits. But those don't necessarily harm the gun or cause a stoppage.

How many reloads you get is really dependent on many factors. I have fired military 308 brass in my 308 AR past 8 firings with no issues, albeit with mild loads and the brass looking kind of beat up by that time.

[Ned Christiansen]

You guys will laugh at this. It's not a suggestion in the OP's context but just, I think, interesting.

A guy who mentored me in accuracy and rifle construction, and life in general, was a benchrest shooting legend in the '70's, and before, and after. He also made the dies that winning benchresters used to make their own perfected bullets (among those who used them to great success was Walt Berger, yes, that Berger). My friend's name was Bob Simonson.

Now bearing in mind that benchresters will shoot a whole season or maybe more on a small quantity of meticulously-prepared cases, this was Bob's method for tracking how many times each piece had been used: file a tiny notch in the edge of the rim. Obviously not for us.

I long ago gave up trying to track this and preemptively discard cases. Neck splits and easy-seating primers are what I use, too.