How do you keep track

[PWC]

I have never seen this question addressed. After you trim your brass, how do you keep track of those that are trimmed?

I am speaking primarily about bottlenick rifle cases.

Say in a lot of 50 there are 10 that need to be trimmed. The other 40 are somewhere between min and max. After you trim the 10, how do you mark them to keep track of the number of times they have been trimmed? If you don't mark them, the next time you shoot that lot, there are 8 that need to be trimmed; maybe they are first time trim, maybe second time trim how do you know?

For myself, at each trim I use a small triangular swiss file to file a small "nick" in the case head rim for each time the case has been trimmed. During case prep I check the heads and after 5 "nicks" if it needs trim the case goes to the recycle can and the lot size decreases.

Five is an arbitrary number I established for myself and it works for me.

I am interested in anyone else's method.

[S.A. Boggs]

I load in lots, never smaller then 500 @ a time and group accordingly. Right now I am looking at about 10,000 5.56 during the fall months. As they are shot, the brass will go into a collection can [s] for reprocessing later as everything is done in a batch.
Sam

[nf1e]

I use a Giraud trimmer and run every piece of prepped brass thru it for a test before final trip in the wet tumbler and then dryer.

[Sunray]

Trimming isn't done often enough to bother keeping track. Case lengths are checked every time using your calipres set at the Max case length and put in a bin to keep 'em separate. The chances of any case stretching enough 5 times without something else causing it to be pitched are slim.
"...speaking primarily about bottlenEck rifle cases..." You're speaking of just bottlenecked cases.
"...about 10,000..." Should keep you out of trouble until Christmas in front of the TV with your calipres.

[Dan Shapiro]

As Mr Boggs says, I do everything in lots. Usually 50 rounds in each lot. Whether they get 'trimmed' or not, they're all in the same lot. After 5 re-loads, I just toss them in the recycle bin.

[p246]

Same thing. I have enough brass to do 50 lot boxes same same. I reload until I loose primer pocket. I anneal so I usually don’t loose case necks. I have had a few showing signs of the case head starting to separate. If I find one of those the whole 50 goes.

If you are working with limited brass you could mark base with permanent marker. I use hash marks to show runout and it stays on well, just an idea.

[togor]

Pretty much what others say. Put a caliper on the case. If it doesn't need trimming, it goes into the "ready for primer" bucket. For some calibers I have the trimmer head that also deburs the case mouth. For others that manual step is needed before those cases are ready for a primer.