Load Notes

C

Cary

New member
I've reloaded center fire cartridges for quite a few years and have always kept extensive notes for each box loaded. I have a three ring binder I keep it all in. I've made up a page that has the information and places to fill in the load information. I keep the master filed away on my computer and print them off as I need them. I'm now getting set up to load shotshells and was wondering if there are any links to a page I could use for my shotshell reloading. I know the information is different for shotshell compared to center fire. If you don't have any links can you just share with me what I should include on a loads notes page for shotshell loading? Thanks for any help you can give me on this.
Cary
 
I just log info into a simple spreadsheet...

Date Loaded
Gague
Hull
Primer
Wad
Powder name - and Qty...

like:
1-6-2011 / 12ga/STS/Win209 /Green Duster /1oz 8's/ Hodgdon Clays 18.2gr

nothing too fancy. I don't even box them up anymore ....I put 30 shells in a Quart sized zip lock baggy ...and write on bag ( 1 oz / 8's / 1225 fps )...and toss 10 bags into a rubbermaid tub with a lid for transport to the range.

If I load some 7 1/2" or 9's ...then I just mark the bags ( and reuse the bags - cross out old info ) until they tear. Rubbermaid tubs / the good ones - you can stack about 5 high - in the garage or somewhere on concrete with shells. I just grab a tub - when I'm loading my vehicle ( a tub of 12ga, tub of 28ga or whatever I want)...
 
BigJim may load a greater variety of loads than I do. I have several 12-ga loads; but, in 20-ga, 28-ga and .410-bore they're standard Skeet loads that I've been using for decades. For the the smaller gauges the only info I list is shot size and, if a match load, the number of times reloaded. For 12-ga, I add shot weight (from 7/8 to 1-1/8).

On the other hand, if I'm trying out new loads, I'll include the data that BigJim uses. I don't know why I include the date, except most pre-printed labels include a space for its entry. I've never had any problems with vintage reloads. For really nasty shot-out hulls, I use a felt marker to put a "X" on the box and the brass to remind me they are destined for the trash.
 
Like Zippy .... for the most part, I just load 1oz of 8's in a 12ga for everything at 1225 fps ...and a lot of the time / I won't bother to mark the storage bags - because they're the "standard" load I use all the time.

I mark all of the 20ga loads bags - because I load some with 8's and some with 9's ... ( 28ga and .410's are all loaded with 9's / and I don't vary the powder) so I rarely mark the 28ga and .410's .

I still log them on my spreadsheet on my laptop ....more out of habit than anything. As long as you're using published recipes / and they're in qty's where I'm going to shoot them up within a month or so anyway ...marking them isn't that big a deal.

If my grandsons load some shells (they like to load / for themselves to shoot) - I mark the bags - and log them - for them to develop good habits. One of my sons likes to shoot 1 1/8oz loads at 1200 fps ...so I make sure he marks all of his / so I don't mix them up with my "standard loads".

Like Zippy said / if I wanted to load a lot of variety ----then I'd be more careful to log them / and mark the bags I put them in.

One of my buddies loads so many different shotshells ( all 12ga ) that he's gone to putting an X on the base of the hull - with a colored permanent marker....so 1200 fps 9's get a green, 1225 fps of 9's gets a different color, and 1225 of 8's is different, and 1250 fps of 8's or 7 1/2's is different ...all the way up to 1300 fps for some 'boomers' that he marks in Red....

and he's a master class shooter - so who am I to judge what he does ...but on a sporting course / he'll have 5 or 6 different shells with him at least...
He has to mark every shell --- because if he mixes them up in his shooting vest on a station - he has no idea what he's grabbing / so he needed to be able to tell what every shells was ....
---------------
I log all of my handgun loads too on my laptop ...but I rarely change the bullets or the powder type anymore within one caliber / although I was playing around with some new loads in .44 mag recently / and those boxes, I do use a strip of masking tape on the box - to say what's in that box specifically.

Just use common sense / and good procedures ...and you're probably fine.

I'd be more careful in marking the boxes - if I knew I might not shoot them for 4 or 5 yrs ...and would have no way of remembering what was in them / but most anything I reload ( even handgun ammo) gets shot up in 3 or 4 months max...
 
I kept an Excel work book that is now long gone when I was doing quite abit of shooting. I would have one sheet for Red AA hulls, one for light gray hulls, one for dark gray and so on through the spectrum of different hulls. It would have the sheet name describing the hull. On the sheet would be date, primer type, powder type, bushing number, powder weight, wad type, shot bushing number, shot size, shot weight, speed, and pattern description. (I have a chrono and had a patterning board off the back deck.) I tried the permanent marker thing but never found one type that actually stayed permanent. What I ended up doing was to use the color of the hull to dictate what was in the hull. Red AA is a sixteen yard trap load. (An ounce of 7.5 or 8s at a suitable speed for the station and time of year.) Light Gray AA was 23 yard line back to say 30 yards. (1 1/8 of 7.5 at a suitable speed to get the job done.) All skeet loads were Remington hulls. Instead of boxing the loaded rounds I found it easier to run them into five gallon buckets. Being color coded as they were there was no confusion as to what you were shooting. What all of this did was to keep everything consistent. What was surprising to me was that I could keep tighter tolerances on speed and pattern than on some factory rounds given good hulls.
Hope this helps.
Charlie
 
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The only issue I see on Charlie's system ...is every time you change hulls ...going from Win to Rem as an example ....you'll have to re-adjust your crimp starter ...and your final sizing station settings ...or you might get some crummy looking crimps ( unless you want to have more than one loader per gaugue).

Staying with one hull - to keep our crimps consistent - is one reason most of us don't load a mix of hulls. Different hulls - might also require a change in wads ...depending on the hull ( some of the Win HS hulls require wads to be changed in some gagues )...

At some point simplifying this has to be part of the reality ( and I still have 15,000 wads for 12ga - all 1 oz / and 10,000 20ga wads, and 10,000 28ga wads and 5,000 .410 wads stored in boxes in my garage) ....and I keep an 8 lb can of Hodgdon Clays powder for 12ga, an 8lb can of Hodgdon International for 20ga, an 8 lb can of Hodgdon Universal for 28ga ...and an 8 lb can of Hodgdon H-110 for .410 ...and 20,000 primers...( and 4 40gallon garbage cans full of hulls - one each for 12ga, one for 20ga, one for 28ga, and one for .410 .....and then all the stuff I have around for metallic ( because I load 9mm, .40S&W, .45 acp, .38 spl, .357 mag and .44 mag ...and am considering .45 Colt ) ....( and a 5 gallon tub of dirty brass for each caliber, and a 5 gallon tub of cleaned and sorted brass, and small pistol and large pistol primes...and Hodgdon TiteGroup powder...and on and on .....

and 5 shotshell loaders ....and a metallic loader...

and I'm not saying it isn't fun ...because it is ...but at some point ( if I kept 4 or 5 different hulls just for 12ga like Charlie does .../ I'd have to park my car outside of the garage...)....but what he does works for him / what I do, works for me....so you have to find what works for you.
 
BJP, my Friend, I run mostly PW,s which take no external adjustments when switching hulls. ( I want to insert here for anyone wanting to take up reloading that you do have to use the proper hull, primer, powder charge for the shot load and hull you are using) . Lets say I have a load in the book that is compatable for AA and STS hulls and I want one to be 8's and one to be 9's. On a PW all you do is change shot and switch hulls. I still have one MEC but it is strictly a one load machine which never is changed. I might not have clarified this enough. The only time you adjust the machine is when you go from one shell length to another. (2 3/4 to 3 inch) When changing recipes there is no adjustments needed on the PWs. I can go from an AA ounce load to an STS hull with 1 1/8 shot and as long as you have used the proper components, never have to adjust the crimp or sizing and get a perfect shell.
 
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While the MEC brand is the most popular loader (I have one in each gauge) it is not the top of the line in the loader world. At my club, P-Ws, and other high end loaders, are common among the serious trap shooters who shoot a lot of 12-ga. The Skeet shooters, who shoot 4 gauges, usually have the lower cost (MEC) loaders. Olddrum is correct, there is a luxury of having a high end loader: you just set it and forget it and it makes beautiful reloads. A few of the Skeet shooters I know have upgraded to P-Ws, but most are content with their MECs.

MEC is able to offer quite at lot of bang for your buck because their designs have eliminated the heavy cast parts typically found in the higher end machines. Also, of concern to some shooters, MECs take up much less bench space -- the turret on a P-W is about the size of a pizza.

Getting back on thread (load notes), your labeling style may also depend on your packaging style. Most of the shooters I know re-box their reloads, hence the need for labels to ID different loads. But, one shooter uses the same #7-1/2 shot 1,200-fps loads for trap, Skeet and dove. All of his reloads go into buckets, and from the bucket to his belt bag. He doesn't use any labels.
 
In my case, volume, dictated packaging and a quality control process. It helped that for a time I worked in a QC Dept. If your shooting a couple of boxes a week I wouldn't do too many notes. On the other hand if your loading out ten to fifteen flats of different loads a week you may want a system.
 
Since this thread was started, I've put together a simple spreadsheet to record all my recipes and loads from my notes onto the computer. It's a work in process and I'm sure will evolve. If anyone is interested, I'll post it after some further work. I've got about 20 years worth of reload info, but only really the last 5 years of quantity reloading. I'll be spending these cold winter evenings typing!!! I use a MEC progressive and rebox my loads with a sticky note on the box to tell me what they are, and then case them together with another sticky on the case box.

I use about 4 basic recipes now for 7/8 oz, 1 oz, and 1-1/8 oz. Red dot (bushing #'s 29, 30, 32, or 33 depending on grains) and AA wads and 209 winchester primers for AA hulls, and figure 8 wads in STS, Top Gun, gun club, and Estate hulls. There is some inconsistency in crimp with the "off brand" hulls, but nothing that causes a problem. This pretty much allows me to not adjust anything on the MEC, except the charge bar and bushing, and 85% are AA's. I usually only reload the AA's or STS's more than once, as I grab the occasional box of empties at the club that are destined for the trash barrel to get some "off brands".

Over the years, I can count on two hands how many duds I've had. Usually it's when the primer fails to drop or I don't watch the powder level in the bottle and load a few with short powder drops, or no powder.
 
Hey Cary,

Give me a weekend or two to finish and get some details loaded in and I'll try and post it for you all to critique.
 
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