My 1st reload/shooting log - looking for feedback

[webby4x4]

Hi All - I'm a new reloader, and I've put together my first reloading and shooting log and I'd like to get everyone's feedback.

What I wanted to have, was an easy, single location for me to track each "lot" of my reloads, and then reference them to my shoot, so that I could improve on each set, until I find my pet loads. I set it up so that each tab in the spreadsheet is for each of my weapons, this way everything is tidy and easy to find.

For those more expereienced reloaders / shooters, I'd love to hear what you feel are the really important things to track.


I've attached two Excel documents (They're virus free - I just downloaded the latest cab files for my virus scanner and checked them before attaching) for you to look at. They're both identical, except for the versioning. One is for Excell 2007, and the other is for Excel 1997-2003.

- Reloading / Shooting Log (http://www.4x4review.com/Portals/1/Reloading_Shooting_Log-Office2007_v1.xlsx)- Excel 2007

- Reloading / Shooting Log (http://www.4x4review.com/Portals/1/Reloading_Shooting_Log-Office2003_v1.xls) - Excel 97-2003


Look forward to hearing what others have to say!

Thanks,
Rick

[runfiverun]

i keep track of groups, load used, primer type, case ,weather, lube used.
notes and comments, and how the gun operated.
sometimes the load shoots rather well but the flame out the bbl,or stiff recoil or slow operation of the slide precludes it's use.
the final book is for the three or four loads i like. a low level load ,an everyday load and a "good load" usually a 3/4 load for most situations and for practice. plus a full max load
for heavy work.
keeping track of the failures is important as keeping track of the sucseses.

[KYCaster]

Welocme to the forum Rick.

I think you'll find that the more info you record, the more info you'd like to have available.

In addition to the data you keep I like to have the mold ID, ES and SD, alloy and lube type.

Jerry

[webby4x4]

Thanks KYCaster - You said "ES and SD"... What is that?

[MtGun44]

Extreme Spread and Standard Deviation.

first is the difference between the fastest and slowest shots.

second is a complex statistical calculation used to describe the
relative consistency of the velocity distribution. If you assume that
the velocities are distributed in a way that statisticians call a "normal
distribution", also called a bell curve or Gaussian distribution, then
about 65% of the samples will fall within 1 std deviation on either
side of the mean (avg), 95% will fall withing 2 std deviations of the
mean and 99.7% will fall within 3 std dev of the mean.
One fly in the ointment. Unless you shoot about 20 or 30 shots, the
SD calc is not very accurate for "small samples" like 5 shots. Ten is
better, but not nearly as good as 30.

More than you ever wanted to know. . . . . . .

Bill

[Fire_stick]

Looks great!

Is the velocity the estimate, or your actual measured velocity? If it is the estimate, adding an "actual or average velocity" in the shooting log and info about standard deviation, velocity extreme spread, range elevation, etc. - could help you see patterns or trends based on the other data. IE, you'll notice when you are getting close to, or have found, the resonant load for your gun.

If you really want to get fancy, you could photo your targets, store the photo files and then add a cell link that, when clicked, would pull up the photo for review. I think this can be done in excel.

[MtGun44]

I write out the powder, charge wt, bullet or boolit info, case type,
new or used, and primer, plus temp, light conditions, range and position,
and gun on a Post-It note. I stick this next to the group, put a tape
measure to show the group size and take a digital pic of the info and
group.

These are kept sorted in subdirectories on the computer by gun, powder
and projectile class. The pix are really helpful later on.

Bill

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Webby4x4, Looks great to me, The other things that I have found useful are Elevation, Humidity and Temperature. Especially the Elevation and Temp., I see you have Temp.
You can't have to much useful information, especially when you are Hunting/Shooting in other locations than where you develop the loads.

If you are loading at the top end of the cartridges performance, FPS/Pressure, Temp. and Elevation play an important role in your load performance.

You are cataloging a lot more info than I usually do, but that is probably a good thing.

[webby4x4]

Thanks guys... lots of great information here!

Finding this forum is almost as good as finding 100,000 free primers. ;) (Actually, in the long run, it's even better).

[webby4x4]

If you really want to get fancy, you could photo your targets, store the photo files and then add a cell link that, when clicked, would pull up the photo for review

OOOH!!! I like that one a LOT! Great idea. To make life easy at the range, I could just use my cell phone camera. The resolution is actually pretty good, too.

[Fire_stick]

OOOH!!! I like that one a LOT! Great idea. To make life easy at the range, I could just use my cell phone camera. The resolution is actually pretty good, too.

It can be done! I just tried it.

In Excel choose your cell, then go to Insert in the top menu, select hyperlink and select the type of hyperlink you want.

I will have to do this myself. Thanks for making me think!

[Dale53]

On the reload sheet, I would add Primer # and lot#(if you get a bad batch of primers {it has happened to me} you can make a note of it and not do it again). I would also like a space to write group size. MOST important, I want my bullet mould identity number (Lyman 429421 as a for instance), alloy, and size diameter.

Dale53

[webby4x4]

Is the velocity the estimate, or your actual measured velocity? If it is the estimate, adding an "actual or average velocity" in the shooting log and info about standard deviation, velocity extreme spread, range elevation, etc. - could help you see patterns or trends based on the other data. IE, you'll notice when you are getting close to, or have found, the resonant load for your gun.


FireStick - My thinking was to enter the FPS velocity that the manual states. I don't have a Chrony and with the other reloading equipment I still need to buy (among tight budgets and the rising prices of reloading items), I don't see one in my near future either. :(

Would be cool to have though!

Is it still of value to add the book velocities? I would think it would be (at least in my simple, noobie mind).

Rick

[runfiverun]

the book will tell you what they got for velocity.
but using what for a test a 26" bbl? a presssure gun? and old mauser.
the book and the real world vary sometimes you are actually faster.
sometimes considerably slower.
if their set-up is similar to yours you would be fairly close though.
remember they are providing information relating to pressure,velocity just happens to be a byproduct of that.

[webby4x4]

the book will tell you what they got for velocity.
but using what for a test a 26" bbl? a presssure gun? and old mauser.
the book and the real world vary sometimes you are actually faster.
sometimes considerably slower.
if their set-up is similar to yours you would be fairly close though.
remember they are providing information relating to pressure,velocity just happens to be a byproduct of that.

Yeah, I understand. Without a chrony though, the only other option would be to buy some software that helps you come to a closer estimate. To be honest, I'm such a new reloader, that I'm only moderately interested in my velocity outputs. My goals now are:
1) learn the fundamentals of reloading
2) Learn how to reload *safely*
3) After I have several months of experience, then start focusing in on the accuracy part.

After I'm a bit more confident that I'm doing everythign correctly, I'll start to really dig into the science. I've been reading a chapter each night from various books and collating notes, butthere is still much to learn.

Thanks,
Rick

[Wayne Smith]

Webby, I started loading 30-30 so my dad would let me shoot his rifle! Used a Lee Loader, too. I was 16. The improved accuracy was a side effect that suprised both of us.

Mtngun, a short story. The State of New Hampshire has the largest legislature in the nation, 430 members of the House. When the Board of Psychology was writing the law for the requirements for passing the National Test they wanted a pass of one SD over the mean. The Statistics Department of the University of NH convinced them to accept the mean because the professors were certain they could not adequately explain what a Standard Deviation was so that 430 farmers would understand!

[joeb33050]

I used small and large notebooks, and eventually an excel spreadsheet/workbook. Nothing was completely satisfactory.
Now I use a notebook, 9.75 X 7.5 inches, black marbled-used to have the table on the back showing how many gills to a pint, etc. One for each gun.
I write down what and when I load, then cut the groups out and tape the 5 groups on a page. Average the groups. Now I've got all the info and the groups on an open page.
So far, this is my best try at record keeping.
The excel ss allows sorting etc, but is too big = wide to print, and a pain to use. I suspect that a data base program would be better, but again, the width.
We've talked about this here before.
joe b.

[jameslovesjammie]

There is alot of good ideas here on what you should add to your Excel file, but I am going to give a little different advice.

Whenever you update your log, upload a backup of it to an online hosting site (I use www.mediafire.com). That way, if your computer crashes you won't be heartbroken. And you can access your data from anywhere. When I go back to Montana, I often want to share info with my family but don't have access to my logs. When I upload them I can get them anywhere.

I don't know how many times I have lost info on the computer, or I don't try to back things up until its too late. The website I posted above is free, and you can upload any kind of files to it you wish.