How to keep track of number of firings?

[TomMcC]

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.

When it comes to BR its worst than that. The guys I knew that were in to it didn't actually touch the rifle (except the trigger) when they touched one off...its interesting shooting I guess, but i wouldn't find it fun either.

[markm]

Yeah. Mechanical Engineering more than shooting. If that's their thing, then cool.

[Gunnar da Wolf]

I know guys who shoot BR, the Unlimited guns are like miniature artillery. IMNSHO BR and Trap shooters have figured out how to take “fun” completely out of shooting.

I use paper Post It Note tape to label boxes of loaded ammo. Load data, number of loadings, date, etc. once a box of ammo is expended the brass and tape either go in a plastic bin or freezer zip lock bag till next loading.

[markm]

We try to keep bolt gun paired with a specific 50 round box too. That generally works.

[Vegas]

I use Evernote on my phone to keep track of round count. Dry wipe board at my bench has the number of times fired for each brass type. I usually stick to lots of 50 for my bolts guns too.

[Uni-Vibe]

So, to get back on track:

the consensus is that I don't need to count to four and then scrap 'em? Even though I full-length resize, I can more or less treat them like pistol cases, and only scrap them when the neck cracks or the primer pocket gets loose?

[Bret]

I wouldn't agree with that, but others would. A loose primer pocket or split case neck would cause me to scrap the entire lot. You might base the count on how many times you have to trim to length.

[TomMcC]

So, to get back on track:

the consensus is that I don't need to count to four and then scrap 'em? Even though I full-length resize, I can more or less treat them like pistol cases, and only scrap them when the neck cracks or the primer pocket gets loose?

Also look for a thin ring around the mid-section. It's an indication of an impending case separation.

[Nightvisionary]

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.

No, I have not had any problems. Years ago when I first started reloading I used to check every case for potential stretching of the case head on the inside of the case with a sharpened paper clip bent into a tight L shape. Now like MarkM I mainly check for loose primer pockets but between sorting, trimming, chamfering, primer pocket cleaning, crimp removal, tumbling, priming, etc I handle the brass more than enough to detect any issues.

[markm]

etc I handle the brass more than enough to detect any issues.

Exactly. Neck splits are easy to spot or feel when I neck size. And loose pockets get set aside for their last firing before the scrap bucket.

Separations should be exceedingly rare if the sizing die is set up correctly. I'd guess that separation is 5 thousandths of 1 percent in my loading history for .223.

I did have a separation issue in .308 when I first started loading. I set the sizing die to a gauge instead of to our bolt gun chambers. The gauge works great for auto loading rifles, but sizing to the chamber in bolt gun is what I had to do to quit ruining brass.