how do you organize.....

[mjbgalt]

i am trying to get organized with my handloading...how do you guys keep track of how many times a cartridge has been reloaded? i full-length size all mine, and i know this works the brass more than neck sizing...so i try to keep track of how many reloads i get before i need to toss the case.

what tips or tricks have you learned?

-Matt

[dw06]

I have the fifty round flip top plastic boxes for each caliber I load for,I put one of the load stickers that come with some bullets inside the lid and record all load data on it.At the bottom I put a mark each time I resize the brass,that way I know for sure how may times its been reloaded.When that lot of brass is discarded put new sticker on and start again.

[The Sodbuster]

I make small boxes out of 7/16" oriented-strand-board and divide them with partitions made from 1/8" hardboard.  This creates 4-6 pigeon-holes.  Each pigeon-hole contains brass that's been loaded and fired the same number of times. 

[Graybeard]

I gave up trying to keep up with how many times my brass had been loaded about 30 years ago. It was just too much trouble for what little gain it might give me. When I shoot I don't just shoot from one batch for the most part and when I'm done ALL the brass from that day goes in one or if needed into two tumblers for cleaning. No way to sort it back out once that's over with and I'm NOT gonna go sorting into small lots for cleaning and then try to keep up with it all the way. I suppose if one's goal was less than 1/2 MOA groups it might pay off in the long run but for my purposes it just don't seem to matter.

I know folks tho who are meticulous at keeping lots of brass together and never cleaning one until all are ready and then put just that one lot in the tumbler and always keep up with such. Man life's too short for that for me.

[Questor]

For rifle brass and magnum handgun brass, just like dw06.

For low-pressure target pistol cases I don't keep track.

[mjbgalt]

i am so glad you said that GB. I got a promotion at work and am now GM of a million-dollar-per-year restaurant with one other manager and a crew of 30 and i just don't have time to screw around with more tedious things.

 

-Matt

[jack19512]

how do you guys keep track of how many times a cartridge has been reloaded?

I don't.   

[Val]

I don't keep track either, however, I do a careful visual inspection of my brass during case prep before reloading.

[Tn Jim]

Same as Val and GB. Careful inspection goes a long way.

[Don Fischer]

It's really quite simple. Try to remember to put a mark on the box each time you reload it. That failing, when the primer pockets get to big, load one more time and throw it away. If the case gets a split anywhere, throw it away. I guess that the only thing organized about me is that all the cases in a box are the same brand. But now and again I actually do start out to be organized. Only usually last's about a day tho!

[Questor]

mjbgalt:

You've got it backwards. Work is tedious. Reloading is fun. 

[davem270win]

I have a 3 ring notebook, with a divider for each gun, so my 1st .22 caliber is 22A, the second is 22B, etc.

I mark each lot of brass for a speicific gun as 22A1, 22A2. The lot may be 20 rounds, 50 rounds, or 100 rounds, whatever container it is in.

I have a pre-printed sheet in a notebook for each lot of brass, and I check mark when procedures have been done: tumbled, inspected, resized, trimmed, annealed, etc. and end with a Ready-to-load Date, and a Date-loaded Date.

IF I keep it up, I can always know where a specific lot of brass stands. So when I wnat to load something, I can see which lot is ready, and pull it from the shelf.

I also keep my firing logs, info on the gun, pet loads, and keeper targets in the same place.

I can keep all my stuff in one large 2" notebook. Pretty handy right on the bench.

[Questor]

I should probablly tell why I'm fussier about my rifle and magnum handgun brass. These are high pressure cases that I use principally for hunting and don't plink or do casual target shooting with them. I want only good, relatively new brass going through my hunting guns. I'll reload 44 magnum five or six times before discarding it. But I only use 44 magnum brass that's been reloaded no more than twice for hunting. After four loadings, my rifle brass is replaced too.  Same rule applies to shotshells -- low-pressure target loads are reloaded to the point of failure. Hunting shells are based on fresh hulls.

If I got into rifle target shooting or back into handgun silhouette, then I'd load them more.

[Graybeard]

Rudy I'm still reloading .44 Magnum cases I bought over 30 years ago. Got no clue how many times they have been loaded but for many years me and my shooting partner only had enough cases to get us thru one or at most two weekends of shooting back when we were competing regularly. So we loaded them up every week or two for several years. Loads from them today are still just as accurate as back then.