After all these years making bullets one of two things has finally happened for me
1. I have enough time to finally make a log of the notes regarding the bullets I make
or
2. I am finally making bullets for which I want the utmost in accuracy
In actuality it is a bit of both. I have been very busy these last few years, seems like since the day I took my first swage die order and now it seems I have caught up enough to give me some breathing room. So I am setting out to make the most accurate bullets I can in .264 diameter.
When my last write up had me doubting my bullet making abilities as I fought to hunt down the cause of some accuracy issues that was eventually identified as being the primers, I was reminded at just how important it is to keep good data on the bullets you make. When you find that magic load that produces little groups you want to be able to replicate it, not only on the reloading side of the press but also the bullet swage of the press too.
As if there isn't enough variables for us to contend with on just the reloading side, from COAL, OAL, powder, charge weight, primer, brass, etc..... now for those of us making our own bullets we add a whole new set of variables. We can change bullet weights, length, diameter (yes! depending on how much lube and/or core hardness can vary the final diameter of your swaged bullets) jackets, core weights, lead alloys, cleaning solutions, temp of dies, and the list goes on and on it seems. Now this isn't meant to scare anyone off by making it sound difficult to swage your own bullets, but for those of you chasing accuracy better then you can get with factory bullets any one of these factors I'm sure can play a role in shooting small groups.
So I'm curious what sort of notes and format are you guys using to keep track of such data? I have started my own log, just a first draft, anything you guys might add to it? advise, notes of your own?
Here is what I got so far. A basic data log to which I will add data to as I log individual lots of bullets.
Lot #BTSNIPER BULLET SWAGE LOG
Date:
Bullet type=
Barring surface diameter=
Pressure ring diameter=
Bullet Weight=
Bullet Final length=
Bullet length 1st swage=
Jacket type/weight/length=
Cleaned?
Core weight/alloy=
Cast or Wire?
Cleaned?
Dies used=
Die settings
1. core swage=
2. core seat=
3. point form=
Press used=
Jacket length after core seat=
Bullets cleaned?
Time/Media=