I must admit I am having some difficulties in keeping my reloading records together. Humble pie extraordinaire. What logs or types of journals or stationary are you using to keep your reloading and such in order. My tablets get used eventually for other uses and get misplaced and when I need to mention/use a load that I have developed it isn't around. So much for good housekeeping

I just usually make notes in my loading manuals. I usually get the load originally from the manual and just make notes in the margins for what I actually end up using. My problem is I forget to DATE all these entries. Most manuals have plenty of white space .

I have a small plastic binder that I don't even remember where it came from and record my loading data in it. Sometimes I don't remember to write in the COAL and details such as that as I am not much of a record keeper. My wife has had a lot of clerical/secretarial experience and if she were doing it there would be all kinds of paper trails on everything. I have no idea how many times most of my brass has been loaded and such as that. Oh well, I enjoy my handloading anyway so if it bothers somebody else, so what?

Grizz, I use one of those hardbound book style ledgers, get em at Staples or Office Depot, like the engineers use. I keep some note pads around for general chicken scratch around the shop, but just put reloading and range notes in the 'book'. As far as brass and times reloaded etc., I keep that on each cartridge box with the labels from Berry's. I keep a specific cartridge box (or 2 or 3) for each rifle, and then I know that brass is formed for that rifles chamber, and I track the number of times the brass has been loaded on the labels each time I reload the cases........

A million ways I guess, I just try to minimize forgetting something when I don't get back to it as quick as I want to cause of work or whatever.

Good Luck--Don

I buy little bound notebooks from Borders or Barnes & Noble. I have one for each gun I load for.

I use a little spiral bound book like the kids use in school. When I work up a good load, I cut the best group out of the target and tape it to a page, underneath I note measurements, load data, gun from which it was shot, etc.

Geronimo

Hey Grizz, I use 3-ring binders.

I have a Load Data Sheet I made in Excel with all the things I'm interested in and print it out with "blank spaces" where I write in the info.

Also make my own Targets on 8.5"x11" paper. Then when I see a big Copy Sale at Office Max,etc., I go get a few hundred prinetd out for 2-3cents each.

They get 3-hole punched and into the proper Binder once I get back from the Range.

Then I can set back in the easy chair, look over what has been Tested and decide if there is something else I want to try. If there is, I pull a "blank" Load Data Sheet from the Binder and write in the different Load, Seating Depth or whatever it is I want to try next.

I don't take the 3-ring binders to the Range though. Dropped a couple one time and had a real mess chasing loose paper.

Best of luck to you.

Every rifle has a $2 3 ring binder for it. In it goes all the info for that rifle; targets, range notes, shooting log for that gun, seating depths of various bullets, etc. Most important is my range log, use one for every trip to the range when working seriously with the gun. No log if I'm simply practicing. Mine keeps things like loads used that day, how many rounds to date, what I was trying to accomplish, and notes for next time. I make the notes as the Wipeout is doing its thing in the barrels.

Must confess, I am all digital. Keep all the data on an excel spreadsheet with a different sheet for each caliber. e-mail it to myself whenever I make a change so I don't lose it and erase the previous e-mail attachment when it is updated. Save it to a hard disk once a month or so. Take digital pics of the groups and have them organized in folders on my hard drive. Transfer data from my laptop to my PC at work to keep both updated.

But then, I have never been accused of being old-fashioned.

well thanks fellas, you have been enlightening and its good to know that if you persist in doing something thoroughly it good to do it thoroughly --that come out right?ha.

I will start early on a new yrs resolution. I like being observative and being thorough, just gets me a bit riled knowing it was by the keyboard and now it is gone.

Have my dies properly shelved and brass and other various reloading component designated in its appropiate places by the reloading press. Generally date my loads as well, seating, bullet types, case use(of course on various tablets) etc.....never take pics of my test results and see now the idea of having it on the computer.

Simple tasks with great results for greatest effeciencies down the road. Glad to hear how you all do your record keeping and being a great encouragement.

I use 3 x5 cards, a printer friend made a bunch for me with places for all the pertinant info I keep them in a plastic recipie box, each load I try get its own card with accuracy notes and any pressure signs, it works well for me.

For several years (I not gonna tell ya how many) I kept all my loading and misc shooting information in a spiral bound note books that had three holes punched in them so I had them in a three ring binder. Then one day I couldn't find the binder.

I looked and looked for several months but no sign of the binder. Sooo I started keeping notes on my computer. I always label the boxs of loads with the "formula" of the contents so a large number of the latest loads where easy to get from that and a lot of my loads have been the same for several years so they where easy to put on the computer.

I always keep important files backed up to a USB flash disk (I work in IT) as well as to my ISP and a disk at work.

Just yesterday I found the lost binder (after almost 7 months) so I have recovered all the old data on loads that didn't work, load velocities, etc, etc. Most of which doesn't matter any more.

As it turns out it somehow had fallen behind my loading bench in a place I couldn't see into very well. I found it while looking for something totally unrelated That I haven't found yet either.

But it was a real scare Live and learn.

IMHO the computer IS the way to go. If you have printer access a hard copy is also very easy to keep somewhere else. "Just in case"

Hope this helps.

Roi

I buy a small note book for each of my rifles. they are stacked on my reloading bench.
It works prety well, and if I should sell one of my rifles I can give the new owner the book , giving him some load data to start with.
...tj3006

excel load data sheet for every rifle and occsionally burn a disc and or transfere it to my other computer. Print it out about once a year.On some rifles there are over 200 entries with little or no duplication. Used all kinds of logs and note books but gave it up as I became more computer oriented. If I loose it I guess I'll just have to shoot it all over againroger

I bought a few of those 5"x7" personal notebooks, pen to paper, To keep records of my different rifles, calibers, loads.

Targets go in file folders

+1 for Woods' excel method. I highlight the best loads and scan the respective targets, so I have a reliable reference. Above that, I keep a scrapbook for everything which has to do with reloading: other people's pet loads, handy little hints, URLs and the like. This forum is a treasure box.

I have a bunch of different but related approaches, all but one involving binders.

First, I have binders for each bore diameter. Inside, I save every target I ever fire, in order of ascending case capacity. E.G., in the 7 mm book, I have the targets for all my 7mm rifles...up front are the 7x33 Sako targets, then the 7-BR, then the 7-08, and so on. On each target I write the date, the load, the weather, the distance, the # of shots in the group, the "agg" of all the groups fired that day with that rifle, the SN and specific model of the rifle, and any other info I really might want again some day. (Just for the heck of it, I measured the thickness of the horizontal "stack" of fired targets that are there....it is just over 12 feet thick.)

Then when I ever want good data for a particular rifle, I can go back and see what it shot well, and what the group(s) actually looked like.

Then, I have another binder in which I record every load I've ever loaded for the last 40 years, again in order of bore diameter and ascending case size. That includes also the date loaded, the distance at which tested, and the group size(s). Most important, it contains notes of length to the ogive so I can duplicate the exact seating depth.

Lastly, I have another 40 or so binders, each covering one subject...e.g. "Accuracy Enhancers", Bullet Alloys, Powders, Barrels & Chambers, European Rifles, the M-1 Garand, and so forth and so on. In them I put anything I pick up from anywhere that I think MAY prove of particular use and interest to me on that subject in the future.

Oh, and forgot my "little range binder". It is always in my shooting truck. Any time I go to the range and chronograph stuff, or want to remember some particular thing that happened that day, I make brief notes about it in the little binder while actually there. Then when home I can transfer that info (copy it) to wherever else I might want to have it.

The non-binder tome is a logbook in which is recorded all the info relevant to every match I ever shot in.

It's a lot of paperwork, but it is amazingly useful on occasion.......

I was quite good at making and keeping records, the only trouble was I was never %100 sure where I had put them. I always keep the targets in a black A4 ring binder and have never had any trouble with that, load data, it's like a skill I can lose them no trouble. I cured my problem by keeping them on computer. For the last few years I have used PoinBlank software. It is Free to download and provides all of my record keeping needs. I have not yet managed to lose a computer

John

quote:

Originally posted by ELKMAN2:
I use 3 x5 cards, a printer friend made a bunch for me with places for all the pertinant info I keep them in a plastic recipie box, each load I try get its own card with accuracy notes and any pressure signs, it works well for me.

Hey Elkman, This method of yours is quite interesting to me. I can see where you could draw a line down the middle and say keep all the pertinent data on the left side. Then on the right side put four 1/4" BLACK Squares to use for Targets.

With the HUGE Scopes(and Remington rifles) I have, it would work fine at 100yds. Increase the Squares to 1/2" for 200yds, etc.

Only downside I'd see is if some of my "Modern" buddies decided to drop by and go shooting with "my" Targets.

I started with 3x5 cards byt now I keep it all in a spread sheet. I use one sheet(page) per cartridge plus a few others for processing chronograph data. On the cartridge boxes I use the Midway labels and there is a column on the sheet for each of the lines on the label plus one for average velocity and of course notes.

A spiral bound book works for me, and stays on the reloading bench. Generaly one for each rifle.

Plenty of room to record my thoughts as well as data, as quite often I need to remind myself on just why I would want to load up such a weird concoction.

So what I've reloaded goes down, and after shooting, the results (and recriminations) also go in. This is from notes written on anything from the target or even the shooting bench in a pinch.

It's amazing what you need to know in a hurry sometimes, like the setting on the thrower for a particular powder weight etc.

http://www.reloadbench.com/pdf/files/reloadlog.pdf

I use these in a 3-ring binder.

Much the same as what many of the above posts are doing - blank Excel spreadsheet which goes to the range with me. When I get back, I enter all the (pencilled) data into my spreadsheets, scan and insert relevant targets, and print the lot out (1 sheet per load). That goes into a file (binder) which is kept in my reloading room. The 'soft copy' stays on my computer and is copied to my office computer. I guess this way I'm covering all the bases?? Probably not

Haven't put them into a binder yet, but I've been writing the reloading data on the back of my "shoot-n-see" targets. Plan to put them in a notebook of some sort.

I went to www.gunloads.com and downloaded a couple of their targets and a "pocket load sheet". The PLS prints four cards per page with spaces for the rifle and date. Under that it has a chart box to enter lead, powder type and grains, distance and speed. These are very handy, and they also show targets, one per full page; with spaces for about 30 entries. Get the rifle sighted close to center and then go to these. Punch holes and store in a full size 3-ring binder.

Rich

Year ago, I bought a software program called Bullet put out by RCBS. I am still using it having updated it for use with windows. I back it up and protect a copy of it like the family jewels and silver. However, it provides a very accessible log of my shooting and the loads I have prepared for my rifles. Target got cut down and saved in loose leaf binders.

Most recently, I have started to take digital photos of my targets and put them in the computer too cross referencing them to my Bullet notes.

One of the "secrets" to using the software, which limits a file name to eight characters, is developing a "code" to id each load. I use the first two spaces to designate cartridge. For example, 7R is 7mmRemMag, 7M is 7x57Mauser, and 7S is 7.65Swiss. The next two digits designate bullet weight and make. For example, in 06 (30-06), 6B is a 165BT and 8H is 180Hornady. Finally, the last four spaces designate powder and charge weight. V is Varget, K is H1000, 43 is 4350, 48 is 4831, 95 is 4895. RL powders are so easy! 066B4357 is 30-06; 165BT; 4350; 57gr.

The way the computer works, it puts all 06 loads next to one another, then by bullet weight, then by powder, then by charge. It is pretty slick; however, when you shoot 300WinMag; 30-338; 308Win; 300HH; and 30-06, you are forced to be inventive. (3M, 3-, 3W, 3H, and 06, respectively.)

Periodically, I extract the data and put it into a word document with the file designator, all the primary data, and notes.

I envy you folks that can use a speadsheet; however, I can't get them to work very easily. Kudude

WOW! You guys are making me look unorganized.

I have a notebook for each firearm, with the load data, history, and results from firing located inside. Also, on every box of ammo I have the load data, which rifle it is for (if it is for one of my .223's) and the date loaded. I also keep track of powder lot numbers, but not as much as I should for my pistol loads.

The Pointblank program is also great.