[carguychris]

Even if the handloader doesn't clean their brass- some leave the leftover powder residue on the cases as a form of resizing lube- IMHO the chances of anyone lifting an intact identifiable print off a shell casing is fairly minimal.

First, the handloader must usually handle the casings several times during the loading process, which will probably smudge or obscure any residual prints regardless of whether the cases were cleaned. Also keep in mind that the range employees probably handled the case before it even got to the handloader, most likely sweeping it across a dusty floor with a dirty broom.

Second, a shell casing is a small, curved surface. Watch your fingers as you place the cartridges in your handgun's magazine or cylinder; you most likely aren't touching the casing with your entire finger, you're only using a small portion of your fingertips. The smaller the portion of the fingerprint, the less likely it can be identified. Furthermore, your fingers are probably rubbing against the cartridges during loading, smearing the prints.

Reread KLRANGL's post. In addition to the fact that fingerprinting is inexact, it's often hard to lift usable prints under the most ideal circumstances. The police like to tout cases in which fingerprints were successfully used to solve crimes, but this is a case of selective reporting; in reality, you might be surprised at the number of crime scene investigations that fail to yield a single usable print.