Spreadsheet for reloading

[KyleAnderson0607]

Great spreadsheets. Thanks!

 

[Quarter Round]

Thanks.

 

[Travisvandyke]

I've built a couple of spreadsheets that I think are handy so I thought that I would share them with the reloading community here.

I use one for documenting my load when I use a chronograph. It calculates the following for a 1 to 10 shot group for 7 different loads:

Number of shots
Lowest velocity
Highest velocity
Average Velocity
ES
Energy in ft. lbs
SD (note- Standard Deviation is a statistical value. 10 data points is the least number recommended by most chronograph mfgs and a very small sample. Statisticians will tell you that SD is only as good as the number of samples and they generally wrinkle their nose at a sample as small as 10. If you have less than 10 data points the spreadsheet will still calculate a result but it's probably not of much value)

Just fill in the blanks that you can before you go to the range and add the velocity and atmospheric data once you get there and start shooting. I take a printed copy with me but it will load on to a PDA (I loaded it on my Dell Axim 50). Once you get home you can type in the recorded values and do file Save As and save a copy specific to a particular test.

I also use the sheet when I don't use a chronograph. It's handy for keeping track of what loads that I've tried. I also have columns to record atmospheric data as well as data about the load that I am testing (caliber, BC, powder, bullet, etc.). The spreadsheet is protected to prevent accidental over writing of a formula. If someone wants the password I will gladly give it out. For that matter, if Len wants to include it when he edits the post that's fine with me. Who knows, maybe someone will get froggy and change the calcs to handle a larger sample size

I use the other spreadsheet to give me an overview of what charges I will use for a specific cartridge. When I go to the loading bench all I take with me is one sheet of paper rather than the manual. Once the loads are built I put the printout into the cartridge box with notes on which row contains which load. This doesn't sound like it would be that handy but I list every powder that I have on hand and I have a tab for rifle and a tab for pistol. I know this is going to make some long time reloaders wince a little but we have a lot of new to reloading people out there (that's a good thing). By listing all of the rifle powders on one tab and all of the pistol powders on another the likelihood of accidentally loading a rifle powder in a pistol case or vice-versa should be diminished since the "recipe" is for a specific powder is right there. Another benefit is that I only have load info for the powders that I have on hand. I don't have to worry about weeding through all of the other data. I thought about breaking it into caliber specific tabs but decided it would be more useful to more people if I did it this way. To tweak it to your liking just remove the powders that you don't have and add the ones that you do.

If Len posts the sheets that I sent him then they will already have data points entered in a couple of columns. Just delete the blue and red colored info. BTW- I used red to indicate max or over max charges in.

Feedback is appreciated but not necessary.

That looks like a very good idea i might have to try that out.

 

[Maksim]

Very cool. Thanks.

 

[Chuk4blast]

Nice sheets man! I do something similar, but I track all cases and dies specific to each rifle, so where I would have notes on bbl set up (chamber length, head space, twist) then have everything I did on case prep, die set up (what works best), brass batches and number of reloads, all depends on how many guns you have and action for each because tracking brass gets pretty 'excruciating' when you get that detailed. I started out with a bolt action and tracked EVERY pc, in order of prep and firing, and the excel sheet has multiple tabs for each batch of brass/bullets, I cant imagine having DOZENS of guns OR MORE TO RELOAD , especially for semi-autos. . then to add to that I'd scan my targets.. must be LOVE though!! ha !

 

[1980Harley]

Thanks for all the work on the spreadsheets. They'll come in handy.

 

[Hugnot]

I have 16 rifles that I load for., I have a spread sheet for each one (on-line Apache) to store & help with maintaining good load development. Looking at today's situation with various component shortages, constant changes and re-adjustment is the norm. I also have a spread sheet that uses the Miller technique to estimate stability or Sg. I use this to select new bullets and other components when the existing supply either dries up or gets short. The Sg spread sheet can display Sg values for multiple bullets on each page. Number of rounds fired is also recorded for barrel life projection. I also use excel to do some statistical projections using small samples with calculated standard deviations to get some idea of what would happen if many more rounds, like 500 or more, were loaded up for a seasons shooting.

I have not looked into this yet, but M-S OneDrive use might facilitate file or spreadsheet sharing.

 

[mcnanysa]

I was re-reading this today, and couldn't remember the Nosler link, so I tried it. It didn't work. I did find the article, though. Here's an updated link for this thread :
Beyond the Basics: Developing Your Own Loads*|*Nosler Hunting, Shooting, & Reloading Articles

Beyond the Basics: Developing Your Own Loads — Nosler - Bullets, Brass, Ammunition & Rifles

Developing a load to match your rifle is one of the most fun and rewarding things you can do as a handloader. Experimenting with and tweaking different variables such as bullet, powder, and Cartridge Overall Length gives you the ability to find the very best performing load for your rifle. The keys

www.nosler.com

(by the way, the Nosler website has a decent search engine to find articles that have had the URL changed).

 

[lobo56]

Thanks for your spreadsheets.

 

[Chas1]

Thanks for the URL, good read.

 

[Donneric]

I just found this thread when only today I was thumbing thru my load data on one rifle trying to figure out what I loaded and couldn't reconstruct 100% what I did. Was so mad. I was actually jotting down everything I wanted for the future. Going to office supply tomorrow just to organize everything into 3 ring binders. Thanks for the inspiration

 

[Arkansasdad]

I've built a couple of spreadsheets that I think are handy so I thought that I would share them with the reloading community here.

I use one for documenting my load when I use a chronograph. It calculates the following for a 1 to 10 shot group for 7 different loads:

Number of shots
Lowest velocity
Highest velocity
Average Velocity
ES
Energy in ft. lbs
SD (note- Standard Deviation is a statistical value. 10 data points is the least number recommended by most chronograph mfgs and a very small sample. Statisticians will tell you that SD is only as good as the number of samples and they generally wrinkle their nose at a sample as small as 10. If you have less than 10 data points the spreadsheet will still calculate a result but it's probably not of much value)

Just fill in the blanks that you can before you go to the range and add the velocity and atmospheric data once you get there and start shooting. I take a printed copy with me but it will load on to a PDA (I loaded it on my Dell Axim 50). Once you get home you can type in the recorded values and do file Save As and save a copy specific to a particular test.

I also use the sheet when I don't use a chronograph. It's handy for keeping track of what loads that I've tried. I also have columns to record atmospheric data as well as data about the load that I am testing (caliber, BC, powder, bullet, etc.). The spreadsheet is protected to prevent accidental over writing of a formula. If someone wants the password I will gladly give it out. For that matter, if Len wants to include it when he edits the post that's fine with me. Who knows, maybe someone will get froggy and change the calcs to handle a larger sample size

I use the other spreadsheet to give me an overview of what charges I will use for a specific cartridge. When I go to the loading bench all I take with me is one sheet of paper rather than the manual. Once the loads are built I put the printout into the cartridge box with notes on which row contains which load. This doesn't sound like it would be that handy but I list every powder that I have on hand and I have a tab for rifle and a tab for pistol. I know this is going to make some long time reloaders wince a little but we have a lot of new to reloading people out there (that's a good thing). By listing all of the rifle powders on one tab and all of the pistol powders on another the likelihood of accidentally loading a rifle powder in a pistol case or vice-versa should be diminished since the "recipe" is for a specific powder is right there. Another benefit is that I only have load info for the powders that I have on hand. I don't have to worry about weeding through all of the other data. I thought about breaking it into caliber specific tabs but decided it would be more useful to more people if I did it this way. To tweak it to your liking just remove the powders that you don't have and add the ones that you do.

If Len posts the sheets that I sent him then they will already have data points entered in a couple of columns. Just delete the blue and red colored info. BTW- I used red to indicate max or over max charges in.

Feedback is appreciated but not necessary.

I do the same thing but I add C.O.L., actual velocity, MPBR for 10", muzzle and down range energy for every 50 yd. and recoil both FPS and LB/FT. Another thing I add is Killing Potential either Hawks or Taylors. I know that the KP is abstract but it gives a good picture about what is going on downrange. It might scare some when they learn how their calibers stack up with their ideas. Very good procedure, started putting info on recipe cards years ago but have since moved on EXCEL. One thing I have found is, while EXCEL is easier to compile data on and to send and correspond with recipe cards are easier to work with because they are portable where a computer is not for me. You can build any formula in EXCEL for expected velocity and energy, recoil and etc. it will look like the ballistics programs you can buy. Happy shooting.

 

[Chas1]

I also use EXCEL, very flexible.

 

[Hugnot]

Just did this to estimate ANSI PSI to ANSI CUP and back. Wanted to estimate/convert Hodgdon 6.5X47 Lapua CUP load data to PSI.

Reference:

https://www.shootingsoftware.com/ftp/psicuparticle2.pdf