quickload worth getting?

[rammac]

I am wondering if quickload would be a worthwhile purchase. I have 5 new to me rifles to work up loads in and 4 of which I have never loaded for the cartridge before. I have always used reloading manuals and online resources from the powder manufacturers but have been noticing that not all the data is full pressure. Like for instance, some of hodgdon's data seems like they just quit before finding max. Mainly I am hoping that it would save some time with better starting load and max data and help picking some powders appropriate for using in a few rifles.

I've been using QuickLoad for almost a decade and I prefer it over my manuals. QuickLoad is perfect for your situation - once you know how to use the software. There is a learning curve and I'm still working on that.

The number one recommendation that I can make is to READ THE MANUAL.

There are lots of parameters that you can adjust but some take precedence over others. You will need a chronograph, without that you can't verify your software data. Matching predicted muzzle velocity to chronograph results (corrected for the distance between the chronograph and the muzzle) is the only way you can adjust the software and get valid internal data. Always stick with known data if you can and adjust the unknowns. You can measure the case volume so stick with that value and make other adjustments.

QuickLoad will only help you stay within SAAMI or CIP pressure maximums unless you buy in to Dan Newberry's Optimum Charge Weight (OCW) theory. If you combine his theory with QuickLoad then you can produce very good optimized load data without having to use up a lot of reloading supplies. OCW will estimate a good barrel bullet time (how long it takes the bullet to travel along the bore's length), based on barrel harmonics, and QuickLoad will provide you with the barrel time information, match the two and you will be closer to an optimum load than just picking a set of numbers from a reloading manual. There are some other parameters that can help narrow down the best load but that's part of learning the software (like trying to match max pressure with burn rate transition - Z1).

I was in your shoes years ago when a friend wanted me to work up a load for his 300 WM. I was fairly new to QuickLoad and it took me about a month and several hundred dollars of supplies to find his best load, today I could probably do the same work in a couple of days and no more than 20 rounds of hand loaded ammunition.

 

[ar10ar15man]

i think you will find the seating stem in their dies are subject to expansion...too thin in parts..and will no longer move. poor die design..does not happen with wilson seaters.

so it a DIE issue, not a compressed load issue. lots of books list compressed loads.

I would agree in general, and I certainly DID NOT mean to imply that compressed loads ruin dies and I did qualify my response with "competition" seating dies. Perhaps I should have further qualified that by saying REDDING Competition Seating Dies. I have personally ruined 2 Redding Competition Seating Dies with modest (1-3%) compressed loads.

When I first started using the Redding Competition Dies, I pretty much ignored their instructions which clearly say to avoid compressed loads and clearly say that using compressed loads will void their warranty. But after ruining one seating die I paid more attention to it and limited my compressed loads to 1.5%. Then I ruined another die and decided that was enough for me and never did it again.

I know from reading other forum threads and from information provided by Forster that they have a similar problem. I do not know if this applies to RCBS.

As a side bonus, I have come to believe that finding the powder that fills the case without compressing the charge is usually the powder that will shoot best in a given rifle. Quickload is a GREAT help when trying to find that. That said, SOMETIMES a compressed load will shoot best for me, but that's the exception. In those cases, I use a regular seating die instead of a competition die.

I hope that clarification makes me a little less irresponsible in your eyes.

 

[dsculley]

You have gotten a lot of good advice. Whether QuickLoad is worth it to you will depend on whether you are willing to put the time/work into making it a good tool. I have found it to work very well for me, after I learned how to adjust the inputs to my components/rifle.

Reading this thread brings something else to mind, one of these forums should add section for QuickLoad users so new users can learn more quickly than I did how to tweak the inputs to get better output.

 

[ar10ar15man]

not actually true.
again read the info in ql
it has START PRESSURE. it can allow you to change start pressure based on bullet type and if starting on the lands.

I don't see where this is accurate.
QuickLoad has no data entry information that relates to the throat of a rifle, it can't account for a non-standard chamber, and neither can standard reloading manuals, if you are using hot loads and your long throat lets you get away with it then it wouldn't matter where you get your reloading data from, they would all tell you that you should die. The bottom line is that either the person that did the QuickLoad workup didn't use the software correctly (quite common for newer users) or you resorted to cognitive dissonance because you didn't want to accept the predictions of the software.

Many times I've seen people build loads that were over SAAMI max pressure but under the proof testing pressure of the rifle and so the rifle didn't "blow up". That convinced the shooter that his load was safe - it wasn't. Over time stressing the rifle more with those over pressured loads will cause stretching and/or stress fractures. Like most bench shooters though, he will probably change the barrel out before the barrel fails and some unsuspecting buyer will use it as a hunting barrel and it will fail catastrophically for no apparent reason.

 

[Susquatch]

It has been said here that Quickload cannot accommodate custom cartridges and long throats. That isn't totally true.

Custom cartridges can be handled in two ways. You can enter custom water capacities for any cartridge. This parameter should always be measured for any cartridge if for no other reason than to account for different brass manufacturers. But it will also look after at least 90% (my rough guess) of the DIFFERENCE in any custom chamber/cartridge from its corresponding parent cartridge too. Secondly, the cartridge database can be modified to create and add your own custom cartridges.

Custom throats are handled differently. Quickload doesn't depend on throat dimensions. Instead, it relies on overall length, bore and rifling dimensions, and bullet dimensions, to calculate the change in charge volume, as well as a parameter that takes into account how close a load is to the lands and how that changes initial pressures.

As long as the user understands these parameters, and also calibrates quickload to the corresponding measured velocity, quickload does a relatively good job of handling custom cartridges.

 

[Susquatch]

i think you will find the seating stem in their dies are subject to expansion...too thin in parts..and will no longer move. poor die design..does not happen with wilson seaters.

so it a DIE issue, not a compressed load issue. lots of books list compressed loads.

I did not intend to imply that it's a compressed load issue. I totally agree that it's a die issue and that many manuals list compressed loads. But I do love my Redding competition seating dies so I avoid compressed loads when using these dies. Quickload makes it much easier to do that.

 

[big_matt_duq]

This really became a great conversation. Thanks to all of you who have posted. I may get it to mess around with since this is something I can do at night when it would be impossible to be shooting. I also really like to find the best components for the jobs at hand. This thinking is the reason I started reloading and also why I build fishing rods. If anyone has any more to add, keep it coming.
Thanks,
Matt

 

[Buster Hemlock]

As others have already stated it takes some time playing with the app and making some adjustments to get accurate data. All the benefits others have mentioned I totally agree with, it's well worth the money in my opinion. Another unmentioned benefit is looking at the % of powder burned especially if you hunt with a suppressor or at night. It will help you find a powder that is being totally burnt which will help reduce erosion to the baffles in your suppressor and decrease muzzle flash while bagging 'yotes at night on NV.

 

[Hawk in WY]

The number one recommendation that I can make is to READ THE MANUAL.
.

Usually good advice.

The problem is QuickLOAD provides an unreadable manual. I tried several times and never could understand half of what they were saying.

I love the program. Hate the manual

 

[ar10ar15man]

i agree we need a user site/forum....

 

[MajorSpittle]

QL can be useful but you need to verify all the inputs for a load and DO NOT use it for initial load data (stick to published data).

I have found certain bullet lengths listed incorrectly and burn rates that were not even close to the actual results I was seeing with my batch.

Early on I tried to load up some Reloader 17 '06 rounds using QL and I had over-pressure/over-velocity on the lowest load I worked up ( 5 grains under Max ). I found bullet length was off, measured my actual case capacity, put in actual COL, put in actual barrel length, adjusted burn rate to match chrono'd velocity....... I was then able to use QL with my adjusted Reloader 17 burn rate file to work up different loads/bullet weights and get close to QL predicted velocities with these new loads. This was kind of useful but nothing that just following published data and working up couldn't have done for me.

I am sure some people can use the burn rate graph for powders to help find alternative powders to a load that shot accurately in their rifle (similar initial burn rate, max pressure/distance increase at a specific load to imitate known good load).