I know this has been covered numerous times on TFL, but I haven’t seen any recent reference to it and I know that there are literally tens of thousands of people researching reloading right now, and some may join this site. If you are new (or old), take this advice... KEEP A RELOADING JOURNAL OR LOG!
When I first started reloading, I took notes but they were scribbled here and there in a spiral notebook. I was not meticulous by any stretch of the imagination. Certainly when I started I only had a few powders, only reloaded for a few calibers, and a couple of scribbled notes here and there helped me to remember load info. As I was rather flippant on how I kept notes, I would often lose them. No worries I thought, I remember this by heart I’ve loaded a couple thousand of these.
Of course now I reload for a dozen or more calibers and have different loads for each. I form brass from parent cartridges, cast my own projectiles, and have firearms that have special loading considerations. It’s obvious that I need to keep a loading log now.
What’s not obvious is at what point between loading for 2 or 3 calibers and my current situation requires a dedicated logbook to keep up with it all. The answer is easy... when you load your very first round! You may grow, your tastes change, cartridges and loads fall out of favor only to come back into favor later. Keep a detailed journal!!!
A quick anecdotal story of why this is Important... I started out loading 9mm, .270, .223, .38spc, and .357 mag. I only had one revolver that was a .357, and honestly the only reason I loaded .38 ever is because I had a decent bit of brass for it, a limited amount of .357 brass, there was no special equipment or components I needed to buy to load .38. As they were being shot out of a .357 revolver, and I vowed never to share had loads, I apparently had no issues loading .38 to +p+ levels. Which is plenty of safe in a .357 revolver.
I haven’t shot .38spc probably in 6 or 7 years until recently. I probably haven’t loaded any in almost 10 years. I recently bought a pre model 10 S&W and I’m selling my .357 security six. I loaded some rounds for it the other day and took it to the range. I also had a handful of old .38 rounds I loaded. I didn’t recall ever loading .38s wild or crazy, and didn’t think anything of shooting them. For kicks I also took my .357 as I also had some .357 loaded. My new loads in the old S&W shot great, printing 4 or 5 cylinders into a fist sized group at 10 yards. When I shot those up, I slapped in 6 of my old loads and pulled the trigger...
Now I didn’t blow my gun, or maim anyone or anything. But it could have been bad. My old .38 rounds were much stouter than my new loads. Much stouter. And my new load was loaded to mild +p (like .3 grains over standard .38). They were full house .38 loads, but still a pleasure to shoot with recoil as it should be for .38 out of a K frame. My old load... all I will say is one round down range instantly told me to pull those bullets. I did eventually pull them, and the charge weight was about 10% in excess of +p max loads. I would have probably known this had I kept detailed and accurate notes in a reloading log back when I loaded them. But I did not.
Moral or the story... keep a reloading log. I made a nice leather bound book a few years ago to keep all of my notes in. I did so to kind of force me into actually using it. I was haphazard with the spiral bound notebook, but I’m pretty meticulous with my leather bound loading journal. Using it has helped me identify problems. And identify lots to watch out for. I had a problem with my powder measure bridging a couple of times, and had loaded a ton of rounds in 3 different lots. When I first started shooting them, I had a squib. So I knew to be on the lookout for squib loads in the later lots, and any new lots loaded had a powder check as a safety feature. It comes in handy for all types of things. Use a reloading journal!
When I first started reloading, I took notes but they were scribbled here and there in a spiral notebook. I was not meticulous by any stretch of the imagination. Certainly when I started I only had a few powders, only reloaded for a few calibers, and a couple of scribbled notes here and there helped me to remember load info. As I was rather flippant on how I kept notes, I would often lose them. No worries I thought, I remember this by heart I’ve loaded a couple thousand of these.
Of course now I reload for a dozen or more calibers and have different loads for each. I form brass from parent cartridges, cast my own projectiles, and have firearms that have special loading considerations. It’s obvious that I need to keep a loading log now.
What’s not obvious is at what point between loading for 2 or 3 calibers and my current situation requires a dedicated logbook to keep up with it all. The answer is easy... when you load your very first round! You may grow, your tastes change, cartridges and loads fall out of favor only to come back into favor later. Keep a detailed journal!!!
A quick anecdotal story of why this is Important... I started out loading 9mm, .270, .223, .38spc, and .357 mag. I only had one revolver that was a .357, and honestly the only reason I loaded .38 ever is because I had a decent bit of brass for it, a limited amount of .357 brass, there was no special equipment or components I needed to buy to load .38. As they were being shot out of a .357 revolver, and I vowed never to share had loads, I apparently had no issues loading .38 to +p+ levels. Which is plenty of safe in a .357 revolver.
I haven’t shot .38spc probably in 6 or 7 years until recently. I probably haven’t loaded any in almost 10 years. I recently bought a pre model 10 S&W and I’m selling my .357 security six. I loaded some rounds for it the other day and took it to the range. I also had a handful of old .38 rounds I loaded. I didn’t recall ever loading .38s wild or crazy, and didn’t think anything of shooting them. For kicks I also took my .357 as I also had some .357 loaded. My new loads in the old S&W shot great, printing 4 or 5 cylinders into a fist sized group at 10 yards. When I shot those up, I slapped in 6 of my old loads and pulled the trigger...
Now I didn’t blow my gun, or maim anyone or anything. But it could have been bad. My old .38 rounds were much stouter than my new loads. Much stouter. And my new load was loaded to mild +p (like .3 grains over standard .38). They were full house .38 loads, but still a pleasure to shoot with recoil as it should be for .38 out of a K frame. My old load... all I will say is one round down range instantly told me to pull those bullets. I did eventually pull them, and the charge weight was about 10% in excess of +p max loads. I would have probably known this had I kept detailed and accurate notes in a reloading log back when I loaded them. But I did not.
Moral or the story... keep a reloading log. I made a nice leather bound book a few years ago to keep all of my notes in. I did so to kind of force me into actually using it. I was haphazard with the spiral bound notebook, but I’m pretty meticulous with my leather bound loading journal. Using it has helped me identify problems. And identify lots to watch out for. I had a problem with my powder measure bridging a couple of times, and had loaded a ton of rounds in 3 different lots. When I first started shooting them, I had a squib. So I knew to be on the lookout for squib loads in the later lots, and any new lots loaded had a powder check as a safety feature. It comes in handy for all types of things. Use a reloading journal!
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