Casting and record keeping

[Doc Highwall]

I have been doing a lot of casting lately and every time I finished casting I would make a note on a piece of scrap paper, and write down what I had cast and put it in the container with the bullets. I wanted to make it easy to keep particulars as to what I did, so I made up a standard sheet that could be printed on a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and cut out for future use. I thought it might be useful for the members here. Let me know what you think about it.

[Went2kck]

Nice Thanks!

[Yodogsandman]

Not to be overly critical but, what about adding heat treat information?

[Strtspdlx]

or a notes area to note if they where heat treated or water dropped or something special for a test run or yada yada, very well though definitely printing some of those out.

[RP]

One thing I have found is that you can not record enough information about what you have done from lead to brass to loaded rounds looks good. I keep finding out when I go back to something I wish I had noted something else for some reason I think I can remember but well we know how that works lol

[Doc Highwall]

Today I made a sheet up for people that heat treat their bullets, Let me know what you think about it. Because there is more information required I could only fit 4 to a page. Remember you can always write in the back of them.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I keep a pretty in depth journal of my casting, and label each session with a batch number.
Then I just put the batch number in the container with the boolits.

[Doc Highwall]

JonB, what details do you write down in your journal?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

JonB, what details do you write down in your journal?
Date.
Alloy.
Measured BHN at 24 hours.
Measured BHN at future times...if I feel the need.
Mold number/description (many times a casting session includes a few molds).
Approximate quantity cast with each mold.
PID setting for each mold.
average diameter measurements from a few sample boolits from each mold.
average weight measured from a few sample boolits from each mold.
>lastly some misc NOTES: typically if the session went well or if NOT ...and what the problems were, and how my technique may need tweaking...or if I think the mold needs Lee-Menting or something?

[Iowa Fox]

Record keeping is one thing I have failed at miserably at for to many things I have done in life. I know now you gotta keep good notes. I've started but too late.

[Duckdog]

I used to keep better records, but as I got older and just kind of stopped. Honestly, I was never really looking at the notes that much. One thing I do is use a sharpie and mark the bullet weight, powder, and grains on each loaded rifle casing. It can be hard to tell the difference between the bullet weight and charges in loaded rounds, sometimes. Especially in hunting loads.
It's funny how we change sometimes as we get comfortable with what we are doing.

[Doc Highwall]

It is never too late to start keeping records........but you have to start some wear.

I like to be lazy.........work smart........not hard. I made these charts so all I have to do is print some out and my wife cuts them out for me. After I am done casting it makes it very easy to fill out with a pencil that I keep where I cast.

The casting pdf has six (6) easy to fill out charts per 8.5 x 11 sheet that you can place into the container with the bullets.

The pdf for the heat treat I could only fit four (4) to a 8.5 x 11 sheet.

[fast ronnie]

Thanks for the time you spent on this. I saved it for later use.

Ron

[Doc Highwall]

Glad to be helpful.

[Doc Highwall]

Just a bump in case someone missed it.

[Doc Highwall]

Another bump.

[OeldeWolf]

Thank you. Your sheets look quite useful. I have saved them for when I can get back to casting. I am disabled and living solo. It took a lot of help from my new fiancé to get most of the house back to livable. But I still need to get the reloading room/office straightened out enough to work in it. lol

[Doc Highwall]

Another bump.

[lightman]

I keep pretty good records of my reloading but not much on my casting. Sized and lubed bullets go in a cigar box and labeled with the caliber, size, weight, alloy and type of bullet. I don't load more than 1 or maybe 2 different bullets per caliber so this pretty well covers me.

[Alstep]

Thanks Doc, well thought out. Will make good use of this.

[Doc Highwall]

I have now added a new sheet for loading data using cast bullets, and I made it into a PDF format for downloading. Let me know what you think about it and any suggestions about making it better.

[OS OK]

Boy…that pretty much covers the whole 'shootin match'…well…except…Maybe this is too extreme, but, when you are up around Max. loading and want another confirmation regarding pressure, besides noting primer 'fired status', do you ever measure the base of the cartridge…before and after?

Just askin…charlie

[Doc Highwall]

Charlie, measuring case heads with a micrometer has been proven NOT to be reliable, the same as looking at fired primers.

I added neck tension to this new attachment.

[OS OK]

Charlie, measuring case heads with a micrometer has been proven NOT to be reliable, the same as looking at fired primers.

I added neck tension to this new attachment.

Yes I realize this, thanks for mentioning. I do put emphasis on it though, as I don't load in milspec cases for my bolt gun and commercial webs seem to be more sensitive to pressure extremes. It's like the primers, in that it is only an 'indication of' so to speak and we need all the help we can get judging pressure.
I suppose that a heavy bolt handle on extraction would be more reliable for Maximum indications but I'll take what I can get for indicators. Near Max loads kinda make me 'jittery'.

charlie

Very nice work you have done here, thanks for the PDF…charlie

[Pine Baron]

Thanks Doc, I will use this for sure. Beats the sticky notes I use now.

[Doc Highwall]

I noticed that I made a few small mistakes with the first labels, like I left out the cartridge case weight and groove/bore dimensions, I fixed it in version #3. If you see anything else let me know and I will fix it.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Doc,

you are The Man!!

I just printed out a few, and they are going to be a very valuable part of my casting from now on.

thanks,

Rich

[Doc Highwall]

Bump in case someone missed it.

[Doc Highwall]

I updated the loading data sheet with crimp information. and a few other things.
167736

[marlinman93]

I just fold up a sheet of paper inside the box of bullets. On the sheet I write whatever pertinent info I want to remember about those bullets. On the outside of the box I put a piece of painter's blue masking tape. Just simple data on it with bullet weight, diameter, and date cast.