Record keeping has been mentioned before and there is no way to express just how important this is in making accurate safe loads. The successful formula is important but just as important is good readable accurate notes about the gun and all things pertaining to the finished product including before and after pressure measurements and firing range results. The more you document the easier it is to reproduce accurate tested loads. A big part of my doing this is that I have been doing it sense 1976 and have collected a really large amount of data covering many calibers. The record data started out on a manual spread sheet, and once computers became a big part of my work and personal life it was all transferred to an Excel spread sheet one sheet for each rifle and each caliber plus inventories of powder, bullets primers and brass. It includes the following CASE, BULLET, WEIGHT, PRIMER, POWDER, CHARGE, BURN RATE, LOW VELOCITY, HIGH VELOCITY, EXTREME SPREAD, AVERAGE VELOCITY, STANDARD DEVIATION, OVER ALL LENGTH, BOOK VELOCITY, MEASURED GROUP, AND NOTES. To date there is information for 374 loads from 43 different guns. Each gun I own has a story to tell and it is all here in the same place. If I have done this right any one of you should able to pick up any rifle I own and from this information produce good safe loads. This spread sheet evolved and has changed many times over the years becoming more useful as time has passed, Some day god willing I get to go home. When this happens all of the toys go to my only son. Neither of my son in laws have any interest in hunting or guns so he got lucky. Two of my grand sons and a great grandson will share in the booty as well. I want them to enjoy what has given me enjoyment for years but most of all I want them to do it safely.
