Spiral notebook or computer program?

[Foo]

Let's take a poll. Best way to keep track of your load workups and gun collection S/Ns. Pen & paper or do you use computer spreadsheet or specific gun related software? I am kind of a computer geek and run Win and Linux on my computer but don't really like data entry chores so do we just use pen and paper or geek out and use 'puter? If computer is there freeware gun and reload software out there? Don't need too fancy, just keep track of records. Don't need to know how many thousand degrees Kelvin my loads are in 3 billionths of a second type software, just how many grains bullseye I put under a 220 grain FMJ in my 30-06 Ruger single six! :>) TIA for any input.

 

[waco]

I write load info down on index cards and keep the filed in a recipe box.

 

[Rick]

Pen & paper or computer? Very simple question . . .

Both.

Computer is far easier & faster, paper is the best backup for when the computer crashes. I had everything on a computer years ago and lost 20 years of detailed notes on numerous calibers/firearms. Still use the computer but when it dies I have the notebook.

 

[Winelover]

I save my test targets, with all the pertinent information on them...........date, weather conditions, load (grains of powder, primer type), number of times brass was fired, group size, bullet used, type of lube, diameter sized and alloy and BHN. They go into a three ring binder, according to caliber/ firearm. Various powders are kept separated by those little Post-It flags/dividers.

 

[hporter]

I use Libre Office Base as a front end for my reloading database and MySQL as a backend.

I used Tap Forms database to do my gun inventory, purchase history and photo database.

And I also used Tap Forms for my bullet mold database.

 

[Rick]

As aside note Mr. Foo . . . You are absolutely correct in wanting to keep the notes. Good notes are every bit as or more important than writing down the load data. The more complete the better. Much can be learned over time going back over your own notes. Keep notes on what did and what did not work. Much can be learned from what didn't work.

 

[Winelover]

BTW, I have three ring binder labeled AR-10 flops with cast.

 

[JonB]

I have paper notebooks related to my gun hobby that go back 30 years.
Reloading notes go back to 2000.
casting notes and mold inventory to 2010.
Just think how many electronic devices have come and gone in that time.
Maybe a person is smart enough to make up to date backups before a unrecoverable crash, maybe not?

My vote...Paper notebook.

 

[oscarflytyer]

Agree with Rick - both.

My loads and molds/sizers/top punches are all in XL and some in Notpad too. And then I keep print outs. Gun inventory is in a phone app. with serial #s/notes, and also allows 4 pics. And those can be printed out as well.

For load work, I always work off a hard copy and update and date my pc records.

 

[Ian]

Unless you're doing statistical analysis on every load, three ring binder. Even if you are, three ring binder.

 

[Jeff H]

I use Libre Office Base as a front end for my reloading database...

For anyone who is not familiar with the concept of not paying the Microsoft ransom, Libre Office is an open-source (free) software package. I use Libre at home and Microsoft t work and can go back and forth with spreadsheets and documents without issue.

My preference is to not sully the solace and sanctuary of my shop, with the computer. I do use the computer, but print anything out I have on it and take THAT into the shop. The computer and the spreadsheet program in Libre Office make it so much easier, neater and quicker to calculate averages, ES, SD, plot graphs for the same, etc. It is also handy to print spreadsheets to record loads' performance "at the range" (back yard), but once the best charge, seating depth, etc. is determined, the "good load" gets penciled onto a 3x5 card for the reloading cabinet. I don't have a chronograph that "talks" to my phone, so I make a spreadsheet to enter chronograph values as I shoot and then manually enter them into a spreadsheet on the computer to calculate average, ES, SD, etc.

But, in the shop, at my bench, I work from load data off 3x5 cards written in pencil, and usually accompanied by the last target shot for record, cut to 3" x 5". If the information won't fit on a 3x5 card, the load was too complicated, regardless of accuracy and is not kept. If the groups won't fit on a 3x5 card, I don't even cut it out. I'll record largest, smallest and average and document it as a "bad load."

So, I guess I use both, but I don't commit it all to the computer and I don't take the computer into the shop.

So as not to fool anyone, I don't keep the best records, especially over time. Once I have the load for a given gun, I keep that and use that and reference the 3x5 cards just to make sure I remembered right. I strive to keep my loads as simple as possible anyway - something I could replicate if all I had was a LEE Loader and a rock, so my experience may not be useful to anyone but myself.

 

[Brad]

Embarassingly- neither here.

I am horrible at taking notes or keeping track other than in my noggin

Iwould recommend anything BUT what I do

 

[RicinYakima]

I have used a small bound notebook for field notes at the range for 30 years. For years I kept targets to record data, but now use the smart phone to take pictures. Then for every caliber I shoot, I file 8x10 chronograph data sheets with field data transferred onto that. A lightening strike on the power pole on the corner fried my electronics in 2014 and I lost 20 years of electronic documents, never again without paper backup.

 

[Wasalmonslayer]

I carry a small ringed binder in my range bag to make notes on for specific loads and what gun I am using them in.
Been using the same binder for 20 years.
Been very helpful for someone that has horrible CRS….

 

[462]

Record keeping and computer literacy are definitely not my strong points. So be it.
Minimal handwritten load development data is kept in a three-ring binder.
I once used a computer to make a firearms database, but then discovered it wasn't editable. Since then, acquisitions and dispositions have been handwritten.

 

[Snakeoil]

My answer is "depends". I have a notebook on the loading bench that never leaves the bench. This is where I write down loads and loading data. I also have a small 4x5x1 spiral notebook in my shooting box that never leaves the box. This is where I write down test data, sight/scope settings and such. When I have proven the sight settings to be repeatable, I put them into a spreadshee on my computer and use that to print sight cards that go into my shooting box. Heading Info includes firearm, sights, bullet weight, powder charge and then beneath that are the setting for the various yardages from 25 out to 500.

My chrono talks to my chono talks to my phone and records the shot strings. Each string has a front page where you put load data. The chrono measures the ambient temp and includes that on the front page. It will then give you statistical data and graph it as well right on the phone. I can download all of it to my computer to keep in a shooting file.

I use Excel to crunch numbers and save those files if worthwhile.

I still like pencil and paper for recording stuff on the range or on the bench. It is easier and take less room. Also easier to find when you need to. I've never had the need to record that info into my computer. And I use a computer a lot and love the power they have.

 

[Outpost75]

The "real" Back Creek Diaries are a collection of cloth bound 5"x7-1/4" notebooks on archival quality, Rite In the Rain paper as produced for the Federal Supply Service NSN 7530-00-222-3521. They never "crash" or corrupt data. Fisher Space Pen, highlighter and No.2 pencil are always in the field kit and the current use book is stored in a slip case sewn of parachute fabric, which tucks easily into a BDU or cargo pocket. When I get home I can enter the raw data onto an .xls spreadsheet, but the raw field notes in bound books are stored chronologically in an M2A1 ammo can. Specific data of interest is cataloged on 3x5 cards in sleeve inside the can lid, listed by title, volume, page number and date, which serves as the file ID for any computer files, so they may be reconstructed in the event of a hard disk crash.

 

[Jeff H]

Record keeping and computer literacy are definitely not my strong points....

So many of the pioneers we still pay close attention to weren't exactly computer literate either.

Computers do long, boring math problems FASTER. They don't define the mind which puts them to use, but they are sometimes an accurate reflection thereof.

 

[Outpost75]

The bound book method I use is the same as taught to me by the late Col. E.H. Harrison, based upon protocols taught to US Army engineers and gunners from the American Civil War onward. During WW2 refinements introduced included using the McBee keycard system to archive critical data, later progressing to IBM Magcard in the Cold War era. When reliable personal computers came into common use, you no longer needed a team of engineering technicians and file clerks to input, process and archive the raw data.

Today we have come a long way since the IBM "lugable" suitcase pc I used to program a Boston Digital machining center at Ruger. Yes, dating myself. Your iPhone has more processing capacity than the bank of IBM mainframes used to send Apollo to the moon and back.

 

[Jeff H]

....Your iPhone has more processing capacity than the bank of IBM mainframes used to send Apollo to the moon and back.

And accounts for a large part of the available band-width occupied today and 99.99% of the use is for mindless blather instead of productive endeavors...

Sorry. Social commentary again.