How to keep track of number of firings?

[markm]

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.

If your sizing die is set up right, the pockets or necks will go long before separation happens. I've had like 5 separations in over 100k rounds. And I pick up all kinds of brass with my only culling factors being split necks and loose pockets.

[Pappabear]

Mark used to use one of the stickys that come with bullets ie Sierra stickys with load data including brass, grain of powder and used hash marks to denote number of uses on our 300WM loads. But gave up on hash marks when we went over something like 10 loadings , which we were told was impossible in 300, but our 300 brass rocks on.

Now just load data because we have lost count. Most boxes of 50 have 5 or 10 missing that got smoked from extended use.

We never tried to keep track of anything other than 308 or 300.

PB

[mic2377]

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.

The amazing thing about this story is actually how many little marks the brass would eventually get on it. BR guys potentially can shoot a barrel out with 100 pieces of brass. Some anneal every firing, use bushing dies, and barely bump the shoulder back... Think like 30 firings on a piece of brass!!! And a 0.4 MOA group is not even remotely competitive.

They wonder why we use rifles that throw perfectly good brass away haha...

[markm]

The amazing thing about this story is actually how many little marks the brass would eventually get on it. BR guys potentially can shoot a barrel out with 100 pieces of brass. Some anneal every firing, use bushing dies, and barely bump the shoulder back... Think like 30 firings on a piece of brass!!! And a 0.4 MOA group is not even remotely competitive.

I bed I can do this with .308 Palma brass. .308 regulard brass and 300? Not as hot as I load them. I run them till the primers are falling out.

[T2C]

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.

I am not laughing. Benchrest shooters I know still mark their brass with a file. They also index the witness mark in the same spot each and every time they insert a cartridge into the rifle. I am not sure how much rotating the brass a few degrees will affect accuracy, but they insist on consistent indexing.

[markm]

I am not laughing. Benchrest shooters I know still mark their brass with a file. They also index the witness mark in the same spot each and every time they insert a cartridge into the rifle. I am not sure how much rotating the brass a few degrees will affect accuracy, but they insist on consistent indexing.

That is where all of the fun of shooting is LONG GONE in my opinion. Too far removed from practical application. You don't fight or hunt like that.... but to each his own.

[mic2377]

Well the typical BR shooter is vastly different than all of us M4C members... Older, probably retired, loves tinkering with stuff, and suffers from serious OCD. About as far removed as possible

[T2C]

That is where all of the fun of shooting is LONG GONE in my opinion. Too far removed from practical application. You don't fight or hunt like that.... but to each his own.

I don't find it fun at all, but I learn a lot about reloading accurate ammunition from these guys.

[Bret]

That is where all of the fun of shooting is LONG GONE in my opinion. Too far removed from practical application. You don't fight or hunt like that.... but to each his own.

I like reloading almost as much as I like shooting. For me it's not about the savings. I get real satisfaction from making quality ammunition. Part of this is keeping my brass separated by lot.

[markm]

Well the typical BR shooter is vastly different than all of us M4C members... Older, probably retired, loves tinkering with stuff, and suffers from serious OCD. About as far removed as possible

Indeed. We shot with a few of them on High Power range. They flat out told Pappabear that they were nuts, and not to get into BR type of loading/shooting. I definitely learn from their insanity. I mean... we run BR powders in our ammo thanks to them.

I love reloading too, but I had to find a balance due to limited time available. I'd love to load ammo 50 hours per week and not have to work.