Record Keeping?

[walker2713]

I'm a long time hunter/shooter, and have been reloading since the mid-90's. The rifles range from 17 Ackley Hornet, .204, .223, 20 Vartarg, 17FB, .243....to my current primary focus: my Savage 6mmbr. I'm planning on participating in our range's 600 yard matches this year.

One of my problems is that I tend to fly by the seat of my pants in terms of record keeping: index cards, reloading labels, notes on the back of grocery store receipts....you get the picture.

As my good friend and shooting "bud" said to me a few days ago at the range: "you don't write stuff down, and you're lost, right?"

So, I'd appreciate some input on best and simplest way to maintain a record of loads, rounds fired, targets, scope settings, etc.etc.etc......

I've been looking online, and see that there are electronic as well as paper resources out there, but am not sure where and how to start.

Many thanks,

George

 

[Nomad47]

I created my own as an excel spreadsheet.

Every load is assigned a 4 digit number. And each time I change ANYTHING (charge, primer, seating depth), a new number is assigned. The first digit is the rifle - for those with more than 10 rifles, a letter could be used, for those with more than 36 rifles, I guess you need 5 digits?. The second digit is the bullet (I've never shot more than 10 different bullets in a rifle, but if someone does, the letter could be used again. The last two digits change each time powder, charge, primer, seat depth change. When I shoot a group, all I have to write beside the group is the load # and recorded velocity. I also created and print sheets that go with me to the range where I write down the date, load #, each shot velocity, avg velocity, ES, SD, air temperature, and wind speed.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Do as I say, not as I do!! My shooting buddy has records from every round he has shot. Date, time, temp, wind, OAL, powder charge, bullet, etc.
Me? I don't keep records worth a hoot.
Not a thing wrong with knowing what you shot and how it worked, no matter how you keep track of it.
Anal? Don't think so. Just shows you want to know what was going on.
I do make it a point to mark my loads on each target. (Only the good ones ( Trust me, I'll make it a point to do better. ;D

 

[people]

I was sort of the same way.

I made my sheets in excel. I am sure there are better programs to use but it was easy for me.

 

[jimbo88mm]

I use Access.. a bit overkill but it gave me an excuse to do something with Access.

Excel works great too.


If you do use a computer to keep your records.. make sure you backup your data. I occasionally send an email to my yahoo mail account and my work email account with the database attached to act as my offsite backup.

 

[queen_stick]

I use Access.. a bit overkill but it gave me an excuse to do something with Access.

LOL!

 

[Jeff A]

Another Excel guy here. I have three ring binders full of them with records back to the early 70's. I have the targets with them. Yes, I AM a sick bastard!

 

[K22]

I have a three ring binder for each rifle.

First section is a complete chronological history of the rifle from the date purchased, total rounds fired each year and any changes made, i.e. scope, loads, stocks, etc.

Second section contains an log of all loads tested, date, group, weather, powder, bullet, primer, case, COL.

Third section contains test targets (I discard the ones for loads that I rejected but I have the record in the Second Section so I don't repeat the load test).

I also carry a 3x5 card in my shooting box for each rifle that list the date and number of rounds fired and date cleaned. I discard after each year once I record the number of rounds fired in Section 1 of the 3 ring binder. The card helps me manage when to clean the rifle and record rounds fired since I'm interested in keeping lifetime record of shots fired.

It may sound like a like of paper work but it's very simple to maintain and I have a complete record of the rilfe in one place.

 

[ReedG]

I use an Excel spreadsheet also, going back to the days of Windows 95; Commodore 64 before that; notebooks before that. Plus I also put detailed info on the targets and they all go in a file cabinet. I am attaching a sample of my spreadsheet just for info. I have tabs for info on the gun and accessories, load data, each lot of brass, and chronograph data.

 

[5spd]

I just keep a record of rounds fired in seperate small notebooks for each gun I have.
All my load info/ chrony sheets go into a 3 ring binder.
The most important thing to me is the round count though.

 

[amegason]

I had a similar experience organizing and recalling my handload and factory ammo performance.

Check out www.targetsuite.com. Great Tool!

 

[finnaddict]

This is how I track it.

The load data development sheet is attached to the targets which are all saved and stored for future referrence and confirmation.
Each rifle has a binder for all data except the targets.

 

[ReedG]

Here's a commercial product that I started using years ago. Has lots of possibilities ...

http://www.robsoft.nu/rro3_en/screenshots.asp

 

[amegason]

I tried a similar software & spreadsheets but found it to be more cumbersome than a piece of paper (plus it was less likely to get stolen at the range). when accompanied with 5-10 different loads fired during a range day keeping targets organized and getting that data back to the loading bench many days after a shooting event was my biggest challenge

 

[MNFinn]

Three ring binder that goes with me to the range. Date, time, and reason for trip are at the top (lots of entries labeled stress relief)

Next is weather, temp, baro, humidity, wind, precip, sunny/cloudy

Then I have load info, usual stuff, bullet, powder, case, primer, oal

Then I have spots for 10 strings of shots, with number of shots, distance shot, and any notes