"Marking" brass?

[recoil junky]

OK, here's the skinny. I have three .223's (3rd on is not in my possetion yet) and I'm in need of some way to "mark the brass. I have two of them covered, the "old" 788 just gets plain old brass colored brass and the SPS gets nickle.

Is there some way I can "dye" the brass for the "new" 788? Something that will stay on in the tumbler? Black Sharpie comes off in the first pass through the tumbler. When I'm out shooting, all the brass gets put in the same bag and gets sorted out after the smoke clears. I could sort it as it's fired, but in the heat of battle when the critters are coming right for me (see Charlie Sheen in "Hot Shots part Deux) it gets to be a pain in the keester.

RJ

[subsonic]

You can file small notches in the rim, just make sure they will still extract.
 
1 mark for this one, 2 marks for that one, no marks for the other one.
 
Or just use brass of a different headstamp for each.

[Gmoney]

RJ,

I do this to separate my 3 guns all based on the .223 case since most shoot the Vmax.

I simply take a black sharpie on the case head and make an "X" on top of it.  Has worked for me just fine in bolt guns and AR's.

I also try to shoot a different bullet in each.

[sakorick]

RJ,

I simply take a black sharpie on the case head and make an "X" on top of it.  Has worked for me just fine in bolt guns and AR's.

Me too! and you can use black for one, green for another and a big red X when the primer pocket gets loose....I've got a bucket of them waiting salvage now. Regards, Rick.

[gitano]

The direct answer to the question:

Is there some way I can "dye" the brass for the "new" 788?

is, "I know of no such dye."[/SIZE][/FONT]
 
I gather that the point of separating the brass is so that all of the brass from a specific rifle remains with that rifle throughout it's useful life? If that is correct, and again if I interpret your post correctly, the sequence of events is:
 
1) Load ammo using brass specific to each rifle, i.e. "brass" for rifle 1; nickle for rifle 2, something else for rifle 3. (This of course assumes you are not full-length resizing as that process renders all need for having brass be unique to a rifle unnecessary.)
 
2) Shoot ammo at charging animals: "Brass" cases from rifle 1; nickle cases from rifle 2; etc.
 
3) In the heat of the battle, simply throw all empty brass in one container.
 
4) After fending off the hordes, throw all empty brass in the polisher together.
 
5) After polishing, sort empties in order to load specific brass for a specific rifle.
 
6) Return to "1".
 
If that sequence is correct, and I have the 'picture', then I know of no mark that will survive the tumbler except a physical one like a notch in the rim.
 
I have tried scratching a code in the case wall and writing over it with a Sharpie in hopes it would not be polished out of the scratch. That lasted no more than two polishings. The same principle applies to marking the head with colored ink (like Sharpie). The hope was that the marker color would stay in the depressions of the lettering of the head stamp. Again, I have been unable to get past two polishings using that technique.
 
The only thing that has worked for me is filing a notch in the rim, OR full-length resizing.
 
Paul

[recoil junky]

gitano you are correct in your reasoning. I only neck size.

But, but, but, filing 500 rounds of brass will take weeks!! It's bad enough having to prep that much new brass. Trimming, flash hole deburring, chamfering and now FILING. Oh well, that seems to be the simplest thing.

I was hoping for a color scheme to make the sorting easier. Maybe I should have the "new" one bored out to .223 AI. Hmm I like the sound of that already

RJ

[gitano]

Maybe I should have the "new" one bored out to .223 AI.

There ya go.
 
Paul[/SIZE]

[Alboy]

Do you have the different head stamps available? that could work. Like Subsonic asked? that has worked on 38 specials for me in the past.

[subsonic]

Throw a cut-off wheel in your Dremel tool (you do have a Dremel, right?) and bump the edge of the cases against it. Very quick to mark them that way.

[recoil junky]

I have 3 diffrent head stamps all in the same ammo can, but most of it is WW and Remington with a few Federals thorwn in for good measure. I tend to stay away from federal brass because on it's smaller case capacity. The first old 788 doesn't care in the least what brass it gets. The SPS brass is all Remington nickle.

Yuh gotta remember the old peepers are kinda squinty these days, so it has to be pretty obvious.

The more I think about the .223 AI, the better it sounds.

I may leave the "new" .223 as is and rebarrel the "old" .223 as it's seen more rounds than a P51 in a dog fight up against a mess of Messerschmits.

RJ

[Gmoney]

The .223 AI is a fantastic cartridge no doubt...

I almost went that way with a new build I have in the works but delved slightly off this plan...

[RatherBHuntin]

I like the different headstamp idea the best, would be leary about getting a cutoff wheel anywhere near a case.  Even the rim, as my luck would put the extractor right over it and it would pull through.

[LvrLover]

Could you stamp them on the head with something like the numbered punches I use for marking parts when taking apart an engine? Or would that affect the brass adversely?

[subsonic]

FWIW, I marked some cases with a Sharpie marker and ran through my tumbler for about 3hrs. The Sharpie was still readable, but dull. Could be re-marked each time....?

[JaDub]

Give your `marked` casings  a shot of automotive carb cleaner spray to instantly remove the sharpie markings.  I mark my casings that way too.