When developing loads, I have developed the habit of marking either the cases or sometimes the primers with a "sharpie" permanent ink pen so that I will know one load from another, as they all go in the same ammo box.
This seems like a harmless practice to me, but it may be that I am overlooking something, here.
Now I'm curious as to how other shooters segregate small runs of one load ( ten or so ) from others.
I generally test ten shots of each load variant. For example, I will soon be testing .308 Winchester loads, all with the same bullet but with different powders and powder charges, 40 rounds in all.
Is there some danger of the sharpie ink causing problems?
Marking Cases
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- blue68f100
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- charlesb
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I'm glad to hear that I wasn't messing up, there. - I started using the sharpie because I only had one ammo box. Sometimes I mark the primer, sometimes the plastic tip on the Nosler ballistic tip bullets, and sometimes I'll make a mark on the case neck.
I've seldom had more that four varieties to test, and use a target that has a big bull in the center, surrounded by four smaller bulls in the corners. I mark which group is which load on the target, saving the center bull for a second try with whatever load groups best on the first go-round.
My only shooting notes are what I write on the targets.
Early mornings are almost always calm and cool here - but soon after the sun gets up in the sky a little it warms up considerably and the wind kicks up too, most times. When it starts getting hot and windy, I'll pack up my stuff and resume firing the next morning.
I've gotten to where I show up at the crack of dawn so that I can carry my target frames out to the 100 yard butts with my van, rather than have to carry them out on foot and get winded. ( OF syndrome ) Then I drink a little coffee from my thermos and enjoy the morning until I'm ready to shoot. By then, the other early birds start to show up. Being new to the area, I'm glad to have struck up a few acquaintances that way.
I've seldom had more that four varieties to test, and use a target that has a big bull in the center, surrounded by four smaller bulls in the corners. I mark which group is which load on the target, saving the center bull for a second try with whatever load groups best on the first go-round.
My only shooting notes are what I write on the targets.
Early mornings are almost always calm and cool here - but soon after the sun gets up in the sky a little it warms up considerably and the wind kicks up too, most times. When it starts getting hot and windy, I'll pack up my stuff and resume firing the next morning.
I've gotten to where I show up at the crack of dawn so that I can carry my target frames out to the 100 yard butts with my van, rather than have to carry them out on foot and get winded. ( OF syndrome ) Then I drink a little coffee from my thermos and enjoy the morning until I'm ready to shoot. By then, the other early birds start to show up. Being new to the area, I'm glad to have struck up a few acquaintances that way.