Marking shells?

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gmaske

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
78
Location
Colorful Colorado
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?
 
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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...
 
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."
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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!
 

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