how does everyone mark their brass to make it easy to find amongst everyone else's brass? picking up only my brass is a real problem for me.

Yes I do, just take a sharpie and draw a line across the base, easy when they are in the box. You can even use colored sharpies

Pick a nice sharpie color combo to call your own. I use a black and red stripe across the base.

sounds like the Sharpie trick is common knowledge that i was never taught. appreciate very much!!

or even better is an ink stamp pad in a nice bright color. I used to do that with shotshells... Always shot metallic on my own ranges

I mark 9 mm with a black sharpie, not sure why. I do pick up my own brass where possible, but I usually pick up a few of the range brass to make up for the ones I missed of my own.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

I haven't marked brass in many years. I pick up whatever brass I find, and don't pay any attention to brand. I later sort and pitch the odd stuff. I am no longer shooting in competition where I am concerned about picking up somebody else brass. I usually leave way more than I pick up.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

If you order a few million rounds, you can have your name stamped on the head.

The only brass I mark is small primer .45 ACP, so I can separate it When I get home.

By the time I can afford to do that, I will no longer need to be bothered picking up brass after I shoot


I have gone to shooting nickel brass in my common auto loader cartridges like 9MM Parabellum, 357SIG, 38 Super, 10MM Auto, 45 ACP when I am at a public shooting facility.

Some of the cartridges that I shoot that are not available in nickel are cartridges that we seldom encounter . . . 22TCM, 475 Wildey, etc.

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"Acta non verba"

I don’t mark brass for ownership, I don’t have that problem. I do mark cartridges by colored marker across head to ID different powder loads when sighting in. I use the wide markers. Not wanting to make a project out of it, one swipe does it. Usually mark in .5 grain steps.

If you don't want to bend over...
and don't mind what people think of you..........

I go to the Dollar store and but a $1 , kids butterfly net and
hold it between the grip and my hand, to catch the ejecting brass cases.
The small bamboo handle is not a problem for my large hands.

At a table, I use a large cardboard box with the top flap up,to catch the brass.

I hate chasing down auto pistol cases !

Same here. I color code different loads and take a strip of drafting tape and indicate what the load is and color code to match the brass. When I chrono my loads I take the coded drafting tape and put it on a page in my log and record the results with it.

I shoot a revolver and put the fired cases in a brass bag. No bending over, no losing brass, no sorting mine from everyone else's.

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protocalldesign.com

The only brass that I mark are my 38/44 loads so I'm able to tell the difference between them and my normal 38 Special loads.

I've done the marking, etc. Being a slow learner, it's taken me many years to realize that with handgun brass, it's much easier just to use all the same brand brass (maybe even the same lot if bought in bulk). I buy plastic ammo boxes and put detailed information regarding the load on the outside of the box.

I've found one load per cartridge works very well (regardless of the number of guns that load is fired in). One exception has been a .38 Special wadcutter load for my Model 52 S&W as it won't chamber anything but the wadcutter load with the bullet seated no higher than the overall length of the brass.

I still experiment with different loads on occasion in several handgun cartridges, but usually go back to whatever load I had been shooting. Brass is more expensive than ever, but still cheap when one considers how many times a case can be loaded. Once-fired brass, all with the same headstamp, is an even better deal, particularly when you buy 500 or 1,000 pieces.

Range pickup brass is fine, but it will never work better or shoot more accurately than brass that is all the same and has been fired the same number of times. Brass case walls vary in thickness; you can feel this when you seat a bullet. "Tight" brass may size your cast bullet down smaller than you want.

It's a convenience not having to separate brass.

great ideas here......i like the idea of wide black markers with maybe a normal red or bright color. i don't mind bending over to retrieve brass if it can be identified. my eyesight is too poor to read headstamps. i've never seen a marked case at our range.

Exactly the same thing I do. I also use a single brand of brass for each caliber, in case the mark comes off. If you shoot a semi auto, this is the only practical way to recover your brass unless you catch it in a net.

A sharpie, I put a stripe at the base for each reload, this way I know its mine, and how many times I reloaded it....

I did the cardboard box trick today. Works great! From now on there will be a folded down box in my car. I used to avoid shooting my semi-autos at the outdoor range because I didn't want to have to chase down my brass. Problem solved!

Someone suggested Dykem layout fluid. It comes in blue and red.

i agree with post 15, works all the time

I am going to offer a more permanent solution I adopted after drilling the primer pockets of Starline .445 brass for rifle primers.
Involves more work but only needs to be done once.
Get a small letter punch or 2.
Think I got these at Brownells or Sinclair.
For the rimmed brass I used a length trim die (I had never used) mounted
upside down in the top of the press to hold the brass.
Then locate the letter(s) on a blank area of the base and tap with a hammer.
Presto. A semi-custom headstamp only you have.
Pic gives an idea how this can look.

I realize this may not be too practical for the auto brass but
thought I'd toss it out anyway as another method of marking brass (for good).

I do also use the magic marker method brought up above.
In addition, I have used stickers with the load written on them pasted on the base of 12ga. shells.
Kind of wary of that last one as bits of sticky paper can work their way into the firing pin holes.
Snapcaps with spring loaded brass "primers" can also leave brass bits in the firing pin hole and bushing.
These can usually be blown out with air or solvents.

Attached Images

R-punched-Starline-445-2-arrow.jpg (105.0 KB, 30 views)

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

I bought cheap nail polish at the dollar store. Got a bunch on sale for 10 cents each. I use different colors to show loads, seal primers and show ownership. Red is for hot loads, green for mild ones.

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Front sight and squeeze

I was a high power service rifle shooter for many years (I shot .308 in an M1A) and during competitions it was incredibly hard for shooters to collect their brass due to everyone shooting winchester or RP. I bought 1000 RP nickel plated brass and everyone knew which brass was mine. I even had people bringing my brass to me, saying "here, this is yours"! I know it is harder brass and needed a little less powder but it was worth it! When I went to .223 in my Colt AR-15 MT6601, I shot only yellow win brass and the confusion began again!