Sooo I'm browsing some old targets...

[Blammer]

I'm really glad I keep a shooting log for all of my rifles.

I picked up my 357 mag Win 94 log and started browsing targets and loads.

I have not shot this gun for a while, and not with cast bullets like I am doing now...

I figured it'd give me a starting point.

anyways....

I find this target with a 5 shot 1" group at 50 yards, nice. Then I flip the page and find the same load but a group of 2". hmmmm Me thinks why the sudden change? So I read carefully and then it hits me.....

One was shot at 50yds the other at 100 yards.. :mrgreen:

It's with a 158 gr bullet too.... (wish I had chronied it...)

anyways. I think I know what I'll be trying with my 158 gr lead bullets.... [smilie=1:

Anybody else keep a detailed shooting log?

[JeffinNZ]

Yeah, I have a draw full of folders with test loads for each of my rifles. Targets with groups/patterns and load details.

[38-55]

Hey YA'll,
I try really hard to keep a good log book on all of my rifles. All the pertinent stuff like what lot of ammo ( yes, I assign lot number to what ever batch of ammo I load ) I'm using. Elevation changes and windage, environmental stuff ( light, rain, etc), how I was feeling that day, whether or not the gun had a clean bore. Just like a diary for the rifle. It's kinda cool to look back through the piles of empirical data that I've been able to collect.... What a great hobby this is.
Have a good un'
Calvin

[Bass Ackward]

I used to try and keep that stuff up to date and I found three things.

1. I recorded information based upon my knowledge and priorities at the time. Some things I considered fact back then have moved into embarrassment categories best left behind.

2. I seldom took the time to read past results as it was quicker (and more fun) to load some and shoot.

3. Guns can and will change over time. Bullet design preferences, powder choices, hardnesses, loads that didn't shoot before, shoot like a dream later. No sense excluding options later in a gun's life.

Guns change over their life span as dimensions correct or expand and finishes smooth up. Especially wheelers. Very simply, I would say that 95% of revolvers are never shot enough to fully break in and smooth up for maximum potential. Some can be there in 500 rounds or even less and .... some can take thousands of rounds. The ones I buy seem to fall into the later category forcing me to shoot them into submission. :grin:

As you read this board long enough, you get so you can almost tell the age, or should I say the mechanicals of the arms a guy likes to shoot just by their responses which normally reflect their current technique that is working for them. And it explains why guys change opinions on everything over time too.

No rules, just results.