Load Data Tracker, How do you keep yours?

[Mulder030]

Cheers!

Just to clarify, with your previous comments about COAL and trying to measure the length, you mentioned to opening the action and placing a bullet in the chamber and hold it against the lands. are you referring to a new projectile or a dummy bullet with the specific projectile in it?

Just the bullet, not a cartridge.
A bullet is what is fired down the bore and becomes a projectile.
A dummy cartridge would have a bullet in it.

Yeah I thought so, but thought it was best to ask.
If you don't ask you don't know.

Thanks for your help

[Oldbloke]

I used a cleaning rod initially but was never convinced it was very accurate. I found these instructions a while back & found they work well.

I do 5 or 6 and come up with an average but have difficulty seeing the marks left on the projectile. A candle will leave soot on the projectile & may be better than a marker.

There are several ways to measure the seating depth of your rifle. The most accurate way is through the use of a specialized seating depth tool. Another way to measure seating depth only requires a fired case, a bullet, a marker, and a set of calipers. The ogive or curved part of the bullet is the part that first
makes contact with the lands, so measuring with a bullet and fired case will only give you a measurement that is useful for bullets of the same shape.

Different bullets and bullets of different weights will have different ogive shapes, so keep this in mind when measuring and using your seating depth. If you change bullets, you will need to re-measure your seating depth with the new bullet.

Starting with a fired case, insert a bullet into the neck with your fingers. The bullet should freely slide into the case with little to no resistance. Next, lightly press the neck of the case against a hard surface to slightly dent the case mouth enough that it will grasp the bullet. Now, color the entire shank of the
bullet with a black felt-tip marker. Insert the base of the bullet into the case just enough that it is held by neck tension. Now, carefully insert the round into the camber of your rifle and close the bolt, but do not pull the trigger. As you close the bolt, the bullet will contact the lands and be pushed back into the case.

Open the bolt and carefully withdraw the case and bullet. The bullet may still be in the case, (if it is at this point I measure the overall length with a vernier caliper & repeat a few times) or it may be stuck in the barrel. If it is still in the barrel, remove it by either tapping the butt of the rifle against the bench or the ground, or push the bullet gently out with a cleaning rod. The ink on the bullet will be scraped off to the point at which the bullet wasn’t pushed into the case any further. Re-insert the bullet in the case up to the point where the ink was scraped off and measure the cartridge overall length with your calipers. This is your rifle’s seating depth with that particular bullet. Repeat the procedure several times to get a more accurate average. Now, when you want to load bullets a certain distance off of the lands, simply subtract the desired amount of “jump” from the seating depth to get the desired overall length. For example: Rifle’s

Seating depth = 3.430 Desired “jump” to lands= .015 Load cartridges to an OAL of 3.415

[bladeracer]

I used a cleaning rod initially but was never convinced it was very accurate. I found these instructions a while back & found they work well.

I didn't think it could be accurate either, so I did it several times, and still check it regularly to monitor throat erosion, and I keep getting the same measurements, so I have no evidence to suggest it's not as accurate as I need

[Oldbloke]

I don't believe it's as accurate because you only rely on your eye to see any error.

The other method you can measure it with vernier calipers.

[bladeracer]

I don't believe it's as accurate because you only rely on your eye to see any error.

The other method you can measure it with vernier calipers.

Then it would depend on how good your eye is.
If you do it numerous times and get the same measurement to 0.001" it's certainly accurate enough.

[bigfellascott]

Once I get a load I'm happy with for the cal, I just write it on the Ammo Case the loads are stored in.

[Gamerancher]

A simple way to get Maximum C.O.A.L. for your rifles chamber.
If you've got a spare case, start by running a fine cut down the length of the neck with a Dremel or fine hacksaw. You now have a tool for measuring maximum C.O.A.L with any projectile. Just slip the required projectile into the split case just enough to hold it and then carefully chamber and extract. Projectile will engage the lands and be pushed back into the case giving a max length for that particular bullet. "Rinse and repeat", with different bullets, you'll get a bunch of different lengths. A good set of verniers is required for this method.
P.S. The max C.O.A.L can also be restricted by the magazine, sometimes it is shorter than the length the chamber will allow.

[Chronos]

Go to gunshop, buy components, complain about prices, go home and load them up, go shooting, run out, repeat.

No point keeping records IMHO, just more evidence for your missus that you don't actually save anything by reloading

Chronos

[Gamerancher]

As above!

[Jimbo047]

If you are using a spreadsheet have a look at Google Forms. It makes mobile data entry really easy once you've set the form up and just links to a spreadsheet.