Today we're launching Brass, a gun inventory and ammo tracker for iPhone. It keeps track of your guns, serial numbers, ammo, cleaning, and range trips, and it does the round count math for you.
It started the way most of our apps do: with a spreadsheet and a little frustration. We wanted to know which guns had been shot the most, how long it had been since the last cleaning, and whether there was enough 9mm in the cabinet for Saturday. Every one of those answers lived in a different place, and none of them were up to date.
Why We Built a Gun Inventory App
If you own more than a couple of guns, you've probably had to answer a few questions. What's the serial number on that one? When did I buy it, and from where? How many rounds are through it since I last cleaned it? And if you've ever had to put together a list of everything you own for insurance, you know how long it takes to dig it all up.
Most of us answer these with a notes app, a spreadsheet we stopped updating, or a shoebox. We figured there had to be a gun tracker app that handled this, so we went looking.
What We Found in Other Gun Tracker Apps
There are a lot of firearm inventory and range log apps in the App Store, and a few of them are pretty good at one thing. But the more of them we looked at, the same problems kept coming up.
A lot of these apps are built for reloaders and competitive shooters, so you get fields for powder charges, primer lots, ballistics, and NFA paperwork. That's great if you're into it, but we aren't, and most gun owners aren't either. When all you want to do is add a pistol, a form with thirty fields feels like homework, and you stop filling it out. A gun inventory app that you don't keep up to date isn't any better than the spreadsheet.
The round counts are usually a chore, too. Plenty of apps will let you type in a round count, but that leaves the math to you. You shoot 200 rounds on a Saturday, so now you add 200 to the gun's count, subtract 200 from your ammo, and try to remember when you last cleaned it. By the second range trip, you've quit doing it. The whole point of tracking round counts is that it should happen on its own when you log a trip.
Then there are the accounts. A list of every gun you own, with serial numbers, is about the last thing most of us want sitting on someone else's server. Some apps ask you to create an account, and reviews of a few of them mention sync problems and records disappearing after an update. We think that's a bad trade for something you only wanted to keep a list in.
Ammo is either an afterthought or all-consuming. Some apps ignore it completely. Others turn it into a full-time inventory system where you have to count every box or the numbers fall apart. We wanted something in between: track your ammo if you want to, and let it work in the background if you do.
Finally, getting your list in and out is hard. If you already have a spreadsheet, you shouldn't have to retype it. And when it's time to hand your insurance company a list of your guns, serial numbers, and photos, you shouldn't have to build that by hand either.
So that was the list of what was missing, and quickly we realized it was something we could build ourselves.
How Brass Works
Brass is a gun inventory app first. You add a gun with its make, model, caliber, serial number, photos, and purchase info. There are presets for makes, models, and calibers, so most of it is a tap instead of typing. Optics, lights, and other accessories live alongside your guns, and you can attach them to a specific gun or keep them on their own.
Round Counts and Ammo
This is the part we like most, and it's the one you don't see. When you log a range trip, Brass adds the rounds to each gun's lifetime round count and takes them out of your ammo. Log a cleaning and you can see how many rounds have gone through that gun since. You never do the math.
Ammo is optional. Add what you have on hand by brand, caliber, and grain weight and your counts go down as you shoot. Favorite the ammo you shoot through each gun and it comes first when you log a trip, so picking it is a tap. Leave the count blank and Brass just records what you shot. Either way, it never feels like a required chore.
Range Trips and Maintenance
A range trip is one entry, even if you brought five guns. Log the date, location, distance, the guns and ammo you shot, and your notes. You can add photos of your targets and crop each group right out of the photo, then tie it to the gun and ammo that shot it. If you're trying two loads through the same rifle, crop a group for each and you can see which ammo shoots best out of which gun. Those crops export as their own photos too. Each gun also gets its own cleaning and maintenance log, tied to its round count.
A Gun Inventory App That Stays Private
We built Brass so there's no account to make and nothing to sign up for. Your data stays on your device. You can lock Brass with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode, and hide serial numbers when you're showing someone your screen.
If you want your guns on more than one device, iCloud Sync is end-to-end encrypted, which means not even Apple can read it.
Already have a list? Brass imports guns, ammo, and accessories from a spreadsheet, and exports everything as spreadsheets and photos whenever you want it back.
What's Next
This is version 1.0, and we've got plenty of ideas for where to take it. It might not be for everyone, but it's exactly what we think was missing, and it works great for us. We hope you try it out on the App Store and be sure to let us know what you think. You can also read more about Brass here.