Check your rounds!

[DeaconKC]

No, I'm not talking about counting to make sure you have enough for your match, I'm talking about running them through a case checker. Yesterday while getting ready for Comin' at Cha, I caught one of my loaded rounds that had slightly split the case mouth. Wasn't noticeable when I ran it through the press, but sure would have been a problem had I gone to shoot it! I got into checking each round after watching a fellow Posse Member at the Alabama State Championships lose his lead when a bad round tied up his rifle on the next to last Stage.
Yeah, it is a pain and takes time, but how much time you gonna lose with a jammed rifle?

[Froogal]

It does happen. Never had a gun jam up because of it but when I see those tiny little splits, that shell gets tossed.

Much easier and more noticeable on .45 Colts. Those shells have a tendency to just split right down the side, making it difficult to remove from the cylinder of a revolver.

[Abilene]

A lot of people around these parts are now using a round-checker gizmo that is made of aluminum and holds twenty rounds.  A rotating piece catches both splits and high primers.  They are $30 or $40 each, and some people have six of these in their guncarts!  And some will carry one to the unloading table and then hang it off their belt.  It doesn't exactly look "old west" 

I inspect all my brass closely before loading.  They go into 50 round trays and then inspected from at least 4 angles under bright light.  I haven't needed to check loaded rounds in a cartridge gauge so far (except 44-40 that get checked in a cylinder, but that's a different deal).  I have yet to have a failure from a split case or high primer.

One thing that concerns me just slightly would be a case separation.  It has only happened a single time, when I loaned my carbine to someone on the last stage because his rifle had a broken firing pin.  With his ammo, there was a case separation that was HELL to clear.  Special tools made for that purpose did not work nor did several other suggested techniques, until I finally got it out.  Since that apparently happens most often with cannaleured cases, my technique now at the loading table is to load any rounds with cannaleurs into the revolvers first, so there are fewer if any to go into the rifle.

[Doc Holloman]

I "plunk" check every round before it goes into the box, right after crimping.  If it doesn't fit flush in the case gauge, I blow out the gauge with canned air to make sure there was no dust or debris in it and run the round through the crimp die again, just to be sure.  99% of the time the round checks out (except for .45 ACP, where I have about a 5-10% reject rate for bulged cases.)  .45 ACP I check again before I load the magazines (I preload all my mags for Wild Bunch and Cowboy 1911 matches.)