Pardon the newbie question, but would rather start off right.

The good side, if there is one to the component shortage, is that it has given me time to read manuals, forums, etc before even attempting any hand loads. I've gone through several manuals, and am a regular "stalker" here, picking up lots of tips.

One thing I see over and over is the need for meticulous record keeping. Does anyone have a data log they are willing to share? Or, even better, a spreadsheet type of log that could be kept electronically?

I want to make sure that I am keeping all the info needed. I don't want to look back and realize I needed info I didn't record.

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Reg. Magnum wants/Rossi wallet

I use a spreadsheet I created in Excel. create your own, not hard - if you have been reading a lot you should know most of the fields you need - bullet weight/type/manufacturer, case brand & number times fired, primer type/manufacturer, powder weight/type/brand. I also add date, primer & powder lot numbers, OAL, and a comments section

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Steve

I have reloader log sheet in pdf format. Got it off the web somewhere. Can try Google search to see what turns up.

And when you have some time to kill you can use the Excel spreadsheet data to create graphs for each powder showing grains vs groups shot. The graphs can be informative when working up different loads.

Keep a paper copy. I had some really good stuff on 5 1/4" floppies.

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Front sight and squeeze

Here's mine. Created it in Excel and have another form for shooting results. It's easy!

Attached Files

EXAMPLE.pdf (33.0 KB, 1886 views)

I use excel. Use one sheet for each caliber. Record: date, brass, bullet (brand and weight), powder, (and # grains), primer, OAL, chrono data, group size.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

PM me with your e-mail and I'll send you a copy of the Excel spread sheet I use.

Has 25 loads per page, and prints on standard 8.5 x 11 paper, landscape mode.

Keep everything in a three ring binder, organized by cartridge.

A lot of guys use spread sheets. I am old school & prefer the data in a binder on my bench. I record:
caliber
powder brand & charge wt
case brand
primer brand & size
bullet brand, type & wt
OAL (over all length of loaded rround)
velocity (I chrono test)
std vel dev
accuracy
then a note section for temp, wind & anythign else I think I need. That is what I consider minimum. You can track things like lot #, but I find that almsot useless as you are not likely to ever find the exact lot # again. If you do the spread sheet, make sure you print it often or back it up.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I went to an Office supply store and picked up a Wilson Jones
columnar Pad.....they go from 5 to 10 columns and are not that expensive, that are used by the tax guys................

I list bullet type and #, BC, OAL, crimp at the header then.........
powder grs, powder, fps, energy, low-hi (chrony), ES, recoil, date, impact area (poa) & group size.

works for me.

I print an Excel page to use as a paper form for recording info right at the load bench and then I have another Excel book where I keep all the testing results data and also load recommendations from various sources such as load books, inet posts, mag articles etc (each one is color coded and marked to source). Finally I use another excel book with current loaded inventory .

I use an Excel file I got from another forum. There is a left half (reloading) and right half (shooting) on each worksheet. Each worksheet is one caliber. It works very well for me. Set up with drop downs on many fields.