Do you trust your reloading memoy?

[jrdavidson]

Second rule as an RN- If you didn't write it down, it didn't happen! Don't trust your memory!

I was raised with "if you don't write it down it didn't happen." Its also important to dry run powder drops, seating depths, crimp amounts, etc., even when you don't remember changing anything on the press. The one time I didn't check resulted in me checking powder weights 100 rounds into the session and having to pull the lot.

 

[Matt Dillon]

I don't trust my memory. I use the point blank database for all my recipes, print out the load details with each box of ammo, and take pictures and file them,of the settings used on my old Redding powder measure for each lad.

 

[Kachok]

I have some loads that I know by heart because I have loaded them so many times, but I still never sit down at the press without my manuals and my reloading log.

 

[280shooter]

I use notes, and all my books. I was on a heart- lung bypass for 8 hours,and lost some of my recall.. so I use a lot of notes. before and after I reload. I keep all targets and write what bullets and loads. right on each target, sort of like a quick reference,

 

[Maj Dad]

One thing I learned in the Air Force is that checklists exist for reasons that can be seen in smoking holes. Unless you're preparing to sit back in your easy chair, and not assemble potentially explosive cartridges for potentially fallible firearms, follow your checklist, viz., reloading manuals/personal load tables. Look away for a little bit, talk to your kid digging around behind you, and pay the consequences in your own version of a smoking hole. I hate to agree with some of the posters, but massive brain cell die-offs have been occurring with distressing frequency and loading by the numbers is de riguer...

 

[rodinal220]

No,keep a proper log book.

 

[floydster]

I had to put a sign on my reloading room door so I could find my bench.

Smokeyloads

 

[PJSprog]

I keep a log book of everything I've loaded, and I always cross-reference that info with a manual before I start. Every loaded round is either in an ammo box with a label (detailing the load info) or a coffee container with a label. This is entirely too potentially dangerous to rely on memory.

 

[Still Shooting]

Too Many to Remember...

I have at the moment 14 die sets for rifle calibers, and looking at the bullet boxes on the shelf, there are 46 different bullets for those 14 dies. -Not to mention 17 different powders! Wa-a-y too much for this old brain! So I keep both a log book and box labels, and refer to both before I load anything! I often also look at one or more manuals, because i do a lot of "tuning and tweaking" of loads, and use the manuals for min/max powder, COAL, and primer/powder combinations.

I picked up reloading again 3 years ago, after a 15 year break, and the newer powders have changed enough that my old "pet" load combinations no longer perform as they did when I worked them up back in the '80s and '90s. It's made for a lot of fun range time, and some new discoveries. My .257 bob no longer likes H380 with his 115gr. Partitions, but he drives tacks using 8208XBR! And the M&P 15 has different "likes" than the old mini 14, and so on...

If I didn't have my log book, I'd surely find a new pet load, and promptly lose track of it again! And the bullet box labels are indispensable for keeping track of what works well, while shooting it.

 

[rdhood]

No, I do not trust my memory.

I keep a notebook of bullet type, powder type used, powder amount, disk(s) used (in my Lee powder measure), and OAL of the brass/bullet combo.

 

[brickeyee]

Never.

I do trust what I have written in my reloading log book though, but still often look it up anyway.

There are a number of old guns I have that are not in manuals though.

 

[mljdeckard]

I am seeing as a rookie, that it is getting too big for my memory. What should be logged?

 

[mljdeckard]

Something like this?

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/203800/lyman-reloading-data-log-reloading-manual

 

[dragon813gt]

Everything gets written down in a notebook. All boxes/bags of ammo are labeled accordingly. The only exception is common 9mm/45acp plinking rounds. I still have some FMJs left so these are easy to differentiate from my cast loads. I also change bullets quite often so the dies are put away w/ a note saying which bullet they're set up for. The dummy rounds I have made up are labeled properly and stored with correct top punches and hollow point pins if the mold uses them. My label maker gets a work out in the reloading room.


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[Zeke/PA]

All of my favorite loads in various calibers over the years are recorded in a small notebook in a drawer in my reloading bench.
To answer your question, NO I do not trust my memory as far as reloading goes!

 

[climbnjump]

One thing I learned in the Air Force is that checklists exist for reasons that can be seen in smoking holes. <snip> Look away for a little bit, talk to your kid digging around behind you, and pay the consequences in your own version of a smoking hole.

Yepper, it's not just Santa Claus who's making a list and checking it twice...

Years ago, I had an instructor who insisted that I read the checklist out load so that he could tell I was working each item. I still do that to this day whether I'm gearing up for a climb, a jump, or setting up for a new load at the bench - I verbalize each critical step. Saying it out load helps focus in a way that simply reading does not.

While batch loading, if I get interrupted or distracted, I go back to the checklist and read it out loud again before picking up where I left off.

If I am doing load development where components and/or power weights may be changing every few cartridges, I read the list of components/weights out loud for every single round. Overkill? Perhaps, but it's my routine and I'm stickin' to it!

 

[Reloadron]

I really think this is not as much as a matter of if anyone loads from memory as it is a matter of using good and safe loading practices. When I teach someone about hand loading or reloading I can't stress safety enough. A phrase I use at work in safety meetings is "Complacency Kills" and that cannot be stressed enough. Matters not if it is loading ammunition or other task. Loose track of what you are doing and there is a good possibility you can end up dead which really makes for a bad day.

There are task we perform in everyday life that require attention to detail and hand loading, reloading or rolling your own with ammunition is just one of them. I log my loads in a book, I use those cute little tags on the cute little plastic ammunition containers and later follow up with how a load performs. Being distracted when loading is like trying to text and drive. You don't rely on memory for loading and you pay strict attention to what you are doing. That means no distractions.

Ron

 

[kerreckt]

Are you kidding? I can't even remember the question.

 

[blue32]

Written notebook, loading manual, repeat. I can rattle off about 10 loads and I'll probably be safe. Then again probably isn't sure. Please please please - if you don't currently record your loads, start now. Nothing is worse than trying to thumb through your incomplete loading notes figuring out what went wrong because: 1. you didn't record the load and 2. you don't have any thumbs.

 

[brickeyee]

I am seeing as a rookie, that it is getting too big for my memory. What should be logged?

Everything.

Lot numbers of everything that has one, powder, weight, bullet manufacturer, weight, primer type, COL, case length.

Every detail you can think of.
I have been assigning batch numbers to my handloads for many years now so I can just write THAT number on any every box or container they go into.

it makes it a lot easier down the road.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Everything.

Lot numbers of everything that has one

Wow. I have never even looked at a lot number on anything. I wouldn't even know where to find it.

 

[peacemaker45]

I remember my cowboy load, that's about it. Anything else, I'm going to a book.

 

[zxcvbob]

I have a few (very few) favorite loads that I can make a batch without having to refer to any notes. Everything else, I look up first just to make sure. "Look up" often just means read the label on the empty MTM box, or I might have to go back to the loadbooks or my notes.

I only keep one powder on the bench at a time, and yet still I rubberband the name of the powder to the powder measure in case I don't empty it out when I'm done.

 

[bernie]

I always look it up, even if I know it. This just helps keep me safe.

 

[cfullgraf]

I am seeing as a rookie, that it is getting too big for my memory. What should be logged?

There have been a couple threads recently on what to log for your reloading records. There are many different opinions on how much to log but the minimum would be...

Date; bullet weight, type and manufacturer; powder weight and manufacturer; case; primer; and cartridge overall length.

I also log a lot number and settings for my micrometer adjusters.

Other folks log more information like velocity and group size.

Methods of recording the data vary from three ring binders (my method) to index cards to computer data programs. Use whatever rings your bell.

Lyman and I think Sinclair International have pre-printed log sheets. Maybe some others.

Then, most folks will put some kind of label on the finished ammunition to identify it. I use post-it note showing the date, lot number, bullet and powder.

Record keeping becomes more important the more variety that you reload. I reload for something like 30 different cartridges. As i age, my mental "hard drive" is getting full and retrieving "records" are more difficult.

Hope this helps.

It is good to hear that everyone posting trusts their written records more than memory.