Marking shells?

[gmaske]

I'm thinking on reloading the 7.62x39 Russian. The thing about this is I'm shooting an SKS and the shells go everywere. There are usually gobs of Berdan primed brass laying everywere. I was thinking on hitting the brass with some red lacquer but I'm thinking it won't last threw the firing cycle. Has anybody tried this or got any ideas?

 

[I_Like_Pie]

I use a sharpie on all my shell shuckers to reclaim range brass...works great even with dirty powder. Black or blue show up well. Once I get a box reloaded I simply draw a line straight through the rows...primer and all

Much easier than paint...

 

[contender]

A lot of USPSA competitors mark their ammo. Most use some form of marker on the primer end of the cartridge. In fact, there is also a special tool that puts stripes on the side of the case to personalize their brass. I have seen them in the ads in the USPSA magazine called "Front Sight."

 

[Yosemite Sam]

Someone around here recently suggested a bingo marker works well for this.

-- Sam

 

[maxpress]

i use a bingo marker red: hot load blue: mild loads. i guess it would work for that to though.

they make a brass catcher for the sks. its kinda a mesh bag that clamps onto the rifle. and they are inexspensive

 

[OldSmoke]

Some folks draw a ring around each cartridge case each time it is fired to keep track of the number of times it's been reloaded. There is a limit on the number of times a case can be safely used with some loads, in some guns.

 

[Enigma]

Your average SKS is way, way overgassed. A fella over at the Cast Boolits forum wrote a thread, complete with pictures, on how to reduce the gas pressure in your SKS and still allow it to operate. Let me see if I can find it and post a link here.

Well, here's the article, but no pix: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthr ... gas+piston

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I mark a little bit of my brass, though it's for ID purposes before firing, not for "pick up" ID afterwards.

I use a Magic Marker to color the entire primer. Most of the color disappears during the firing cycle, but a little "ring" of color between the primer's edge and the case usually remains that's easy enough to see.

Rick C

 

[Sonnytoo]

I just used "cold blue" with a cotton swab to quickly "draw" a circle of blue around my new .44 Special brass. It makes a nice blue mark that will not fade. I just rotated the swab around the brass up close to the case neck; after each ten, I used a wet paper towel to stop any further chemical action, then a paper towel with acetone to make sure things are completely dry, then blew the finished 100 cases dry for 30 seconds with a leaf-blower.
I considered marking the base of the case and said no. I want the case to be identified while I'm in the loading process, including adding powder. If I later put a .44 Special case in my maggie by accident, no harm done.
I label all of my ammo boxes anyway, so if the brass base is the only part of the case that's visible, that's okay.
Sonnytoo

 

[il Padrino]

I use finger nail polish on/around the primer, it serves 2 functions, it helps seal the primer and helps mark and identify my hot hunting loads.
And its available in different colors if you wish to do any color coding.

 

[gmaske]

Thanks for the replies! The idea was to be able to easily spot MY brass from all the trash on the ground. It would need to really stand out. I might try red magic marker and color the whole shell and see if I can spot them after firing. Right now I'm shooting Berdan primed brass so I can experiment and leave em lay. If I can find a reliable way to mark them I'll buy some brass and start reloading. The magic marker shouldn't gum up the dies neather

Thanks again!