Creating an excel spreadsheet to store, track and analyze reloading data

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calvin5673

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Hey all,

Wondering who all out there has spreadsheets for keeping track of their reloads and how they analyze their data? I very much dislike paying for something that I can just make myself, so I'm avoiding buying ballistics software, plus its more fun this way (Nerdy, whatever). I'm fairly advanced in standard MS Excel, just starting to wrap my head around macros, and have my own sheet that can do the bullet ballistics (compares close to most online ones) and also stores all my data from my range trips (powder, bullet types, weights, cases, group sizes, weather conditions, range,etc.,etc.)

Here's my problem, I now have data from hundreds of rounds fired this summer, nicely stored away and tabulated, but doing statistics on the data and creating graphs is all still very time consuming. If anyone out there has a sheet they are willing to share that addresses these problems, or has their head more solidly wrapped around macros than I do, I'd love some advice maybe see some spreadsheets or code.

Basically looking for a way to read through my data and process things like tracking gun accuracy over time, predicting most accurate powder weight from data, comparing velocities to powder weight, accuracy/precision versus temp, how many rounds through gun(easy one), most consistent powder overall, and any other type of stat I can think of. I can do it all manually now, but would like some sort of simple GUI, like a button system or menu list to make life easier and this is where I'm getting hung up.


With winter getting closer now and work slowing down I'll probably make this my freetime project, Any help/ideas or input would be great.
 
Moving to excel is no different then those who track on paper. The only difference is convenience as the calcs are easily done in excel.

No need for macros or pivot tables. All you need is good data input. Collect all the data you can and collect it for long enough and you can get meaningful stats.

I recomend you watch the you tube sniper 101 series to learn about the important data. Time, air temp, barometric pressure, wind

Then ammotemp, velocity, poa-poi, and 5 and 10 shot group size per string.

Plus all the stats on the ammo and gun. Round count, powder, case weight or volume, bullet weight, ballistic coefficient.

Personally I went through the data analysis craze for a while. But found it more of a hobby than useful. What I do now is track ammo stats, and average velocities of 20 rounds of a particular recipe. Then i build a simple scope dope table based off the hornady site and leave it at that.

I need to shoot more and play less on the computer.
 
I had a pretty good one going. I just input the load info and my group measurements. It would spit out a graphs of vertical and horizontal spread vs powder weight and maximum spread vs powder weight, etc. It was pretty handy, but alas, the computer shat the bed and I lost the sheet and my load data. Luckily I had my good loads written down as well.
 
I use excel and the way I have it set up I have actually seen trends in numbers that I didn't see on the targets that made me go back a try again with a particular load(s).

I don't record environmental but could easily be added, PM me if you want an example.
 
I've been working on building a Android app that will be similar to the Spreadsheet that was posted on Reddit. It's just in the first stages it's going to be my winter project.
 
I use a spreadsheet to keep track of every time I reload ammo until I get a "good load" and then I highlight that row. So I have about 15 years of tried and tested rounds and it is a simple spreadsheet. So my advice is, just record everything and when you have something that works well in a specific gun or guns, make note of it.
 
Thanks for all the input! Very helpful to see how others are keeping track of their handloads. If I ever get my sheet up and running and clean enough that I don't feel embarrassed by it i'll throw it up here.


Thanks again. Anyone else wanting to share i'm still plenty interested!
 
Ballistics software is unreliable at best. Too many variables for a programmer, most of who do not shoot, to consider.
There's really nothing to track and analyze either. The only thing that matters is the group a particular load produces. You don't need to record any of 'em except the best one. Record the most accurate load in your manual. No computer required.
 
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