Spreadsheet for reloading

[twocan]

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.

Thank you, Mike.

 

[Mike6158]

Man a lot has changed in my reloading steps since this post, It's gotten easier. Easier doesn't = cheaper. More shooting, more research, more understanding. I recently did an SD test. You know that old tootsie roll owl commercial where he tries to find out how many it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll. I did a test to see how many shots it takes to get a useful SD. One day, when I'm shooting at 1,000 I'm going to shoot 30 to 50 for groups and record the velocity. And if/when I post the data someone will probably say that's not enough shots to get a useful SD value. I've used the sheet to test primers as well as seating depth. It can calculate the temperature at which a subsonic round is subsonic.

Here's a screenshot a the short version of an SD test I included in the overall test. Column 3, 5 shot group at 35 grains. Column 10, 5 shot group at 35 grains labeled sighters that I loaded with the loads in column 3. Column 9, combined both 35 grain groups.

This is my preliminary takeaway from the results

5 shot groups will identify a group that I can cull based on SD. Ie they'll never get better than what's in the 5 shot group, if it's not mid to low single digits I can look elsewhere. The second 5 shot group of 10 (column 10) was worse than the first one (column 3) and the combined was worse than either one. So shooting 5 shot groups isn't worthless but it doesn't tell the whole story either. If there's time, shooting 10 is better than shooting 5.

I have versions of this sheet for a lot of calibers. I usually have the bushing and mandrel size in the notes section. It's probably in one of the other tabs. There are multiple tabs of the same caliber. The sheet above has 7 different tabs (subs and subsonic). Note that these rounds were NOT subsonic in a shooter friendly environment (see bottom row).

Here's a different version of the same sheet. It's a friend of mine's 6.5 PRC. This sheet has a group size calc in it. To save a row I made it so you have to manually add the measured group size to each cell. I could make it so you have a row for measured size, a cell for distance shot, and a cell for bullet od and let it calculate group size in inches and moa.

We'll reshoot column 4 before the end of they year. At least 10 rounds just to confirm the SD wasn't a fluke. Column 8's group is legit but I doubt if it would repeat. It would be kind of funny if it did considering the ES/SD values. Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[TXTrained]

Where do you get sheets like this. I write down some things like this.Mostly I save on laptop kor my phone though. I do like your work. Thanks

 

[Mike6158]

Where do you get sheets like this. I write down some things like this.Mostly I save on laptop kor my phone though. I do like your work. Thanks

I made it. The standard deviation calc is a formula built in to the spreadsheet so it's easy to use. ES max - min velocity. Min and Max are also formulas in the spreadsheet. I've been testing the difference between 5 shot group SD's and 3 shot group SD's. 5 is better than 3. If I get to it, I shot a lot more than 5 of the same charge / same bullet but I shot those charges in groups of 5 so we will see just how long it takes the owl to get to the center of the tootsie roll pop. Shooting 50 rounds of .338 Edge and 300 gr Berger OTM made for a loooong day.

I understand why but sharing files here isn't always easy.

 

[Bman102250]

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.

Downloaded both. Nice. Thanks!

 

[Titalwave]

Nice Spreadsheets - Tnx for sharing....

 

[wildbillc]

Thanks for the spreadsheets!

 

[2labs]

Been running spreadsheets for years too, and they work -- but the part that always took me the longest was eyeballing SD/ES/group size together to actually call a winner across a ladder. Eventually I got tired of doing that math by hand every time, so I built a small Mac/Windows tool that does it automatically and calls the best charge for you.

Full disclosure -- I'm the guy who built it, so I'm biased. That said, if you're already happy with your spreadsheet, no need to change -- just sharing what solved it for me: loadscope.app

 

[Mike Matteson]

Man a lot has changed in my reloading steps since this post, It's gotten easier. Easier doesn't = cheaper. More shooting, more research, more understanding. I recently did an SD test. You know that old tootsie roll owl commercial where he tries to find out how many it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll. I did a test to see how many shots it takes to get a useful SD. One day, when I'm shooting at 1,000 I'm going to shoot 30 to 50 for groups and record the velocity. And if/when I post the data someone will probably say that's not enough shots to get a useful SD value. I've used the sheet to test primers as well as seating depth. It can calculate the temperature at which a subsonic round is subsonic.

Here's a screenshot a the short version of an SD test I included in the overall test. Column 3, 5 shot group at 35 grains. Column 10, 5 shot group at 35 grains labeled sighters that I loaded with the loads in column 3. Column 9, combined both 35 grain groups.

This is my preliminary takeaway from the results

5 shot groups will identify a group that I can cull based on SD. Ie they'll never get better than what's in the 5 shot group, if it's not mid to low single digits I can look elsewhere. The second 5 shot group of 10 (column 10) was worse than the first one (column 3) and the combined was worse than either one. So shooting 5 shot groups isn't worthless but it doesn't tell the whole story either. If there's time, shooting 10 is better than shooting 5.

View attachment 628319

I have versions of this sheet for a lot of calibers. I usually have the bushing and mandrel size in the notes section. It's probably in one of the other tabs. There are multiple tabs of the same caliber. The sheet above has 7 different tabs (subs and subsonic). Note that these rounds were NOT subsonic in a shooter friendly environment (see bottom row).

Here's a different version of the same sheet. It's a friend of mine's 6.5 PRC. This sheet has a group size calc in it. To save a row I made it so you have to manually add the measured group size to each cell. I could make it so you have a row for measured size, a cell for distance shot, and a cell for bullet od and let it calculate group size in inches and moa.

We'll reshoot column 4 before the end of they year. At least 10 rounds just to confirm the SD wasn't a fluke. Column 8's group is legit but I doubt if it would repeat. It would be kind of funny if it did considering the ES/SD values. Merry Christmas everyone.

View attachment 628320

I did that one time. Fired a lot of ammo. Now if the case is under 50grs. I move up at about .025grs at a time. Above that I generally move up at .5grs at a time. Only one round per powder load. Even with that you can burn a lot of ammo up looking for max load. I am looking for pressure signs and foremost. I set up charts that look something like what is here. All on excel. I use excel for drawing floor plans and elevation too. Do my material take off too.
What I didn't do was record the wind, and temp. I knew when is was hot or cool. That was back in the late 90's. Nobody to bounds anything off of.
I learn to create my own powder loads in a few rifles that I use.

 

[Mike6158]

Only one round per powder load. Even with that you can burn a lot of ammo up looking for max load.

I just started doing 1 round. I was using 5, then I dropped to 3, now 1. I didn't find pressure yet. During this test I found out that the at least one year old nearly empty jug of H1000 runs at least 100 fps or more slower than the new jug does. So I've tested the same charges twice.

I first started using spreadsheets when it was called Lotus 123. They are extremely useful. I never thought about drawing floor plans and elevations then letting it do the material takeoff.

 

[Matt_C]

It depends on what a guy is trying to accomplish.
10 years ago I was using a spread sheet when I tried to work up ever powder and ever bullet combination in 9mm to case failure or case full.

These spread sheets look like a Sierra load book.
I really like the Rifle Sierra data, but that is not how I am currently organizing.

Right now I have hundreds of guns with ~ 60 different cartridges. I write up range reports and email them to friends. Each time I am about to do something new, I do a search on that gun and that cartridge to see where I left off.

Most guys organize their reloading with shelves of dies and shelves of bullets.
I have a file folder box with the dies and brass for a cartridge. I have the bullets in another file folder box. This way everything for a project is already kitted up.

Clark, a picture of the file folder box would be great.... I might entertain your method. If the file folder boxes are inexpensive enough... Paper or metal box?

 

[Mike Matteson]

I just started doing 1 round. I was using 5, then I dropped to 3, now 1. I didn't find pressure yet. During this test I found out that the at least one year old nearly empty jug of H1000 runs at least 100 fps or more slower than the new jug does. So I've tested the same charges twice.

I first started using spreadsheets when it was called Lotus 123. They are extremely useful. I never thought about drawing floor plans and elevations then letting it do the material takeoff.

I had to do the take off and material required for whatever. It can be tying at time, but works.
In look for high pressure signs. I set up and only make one powder load for each case. I keep going until I see signs for being to much. General my primers are flat, but not excessive. No creatoring nor ejector marks. Some of my loads are 5+ grains over manual max.
That one of the reason why I stay with single base powders. Generally they aren't effected as much as double based powders for temperature change.
If you change powder to a different can of the same type, all bets are off. I would move down a couple of grains and start back up again. I try and purchase 8lbs if at all possible. Sure does cost a lot more now days for sure. I use to load my 300 H & H for less than $0.10 a round. Hell can't hardly buy a primer for that anymore.

 

[misser]

spreadsheets! ya I guess I cant say I use spreadsheets .I however do have targets with holes and information spread out pined on a wall . spreadtargets ?

 

[Mike6158]

spreadsheets! ya I guess I cant say I use spreadsheets .I however do have targets with holes and information spread out pined on a wall . spreadtargets ?

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