Playing with Quickload any tips?

[Peter M. Eick]

I got my copy of Quickload today so I loaded it up and started playing with it. Neat tool. I can really see how I would use this to check load development. I was having fun today calculating pressures and velocities for my standard loads. Some did not make much sense though. I was playing with the 30 carbine and H110 and they said I was loading into the 50Klbs range yet my load was starting load for H110. My guess is I had a poor example of the bullet or brass volume.

So any of you all experienced folks care to offer some advice to a newbie user of Quickload?

Thanks!

 

[VonFatman]

Peter,
What's "Quickload"? A software of some kind?

Bob

 

[RidgwayCO]

The only thing I did to make QuickLOAD easier to use was make some "cheat sheets" that listed my collection of bullets and the distance from each bullet's base to the crimping point on the cannelure (if present). Since this seating depth measurement seems to change everytime you change a cartridge's OAL, the cheat sheet information made doing "what-if" calculations much faster and more accurate.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Quickload is a modeling package to design ammunition and reloading projects. Basically you select the cartridge, the powder, the charge, the bullet and how it is seated. It then calculates the pressure and velocity from different barrel lengths.

Lots of fun to play with and I expect I will learn a lot about reloading in the future.

Thanks for the suggestions. I can see the wisdom of what you describe.

 

[VonFatman]

Peter,
Thanks.

Bob

 

[Clark]

I have been using Quickload for 7 years.
I am a complete software bone head, but it is user friendly for types like me.

What I do with Quickload:
1) Choose cartridge
2) choose bullet from the bullet library. If there is not that bullet, I choose a similar bullet, and change the bullet length and weight to match. Choose barrel length.
3) Chose an over all length for the cartridge. For the predictions to be exact, the bullet should not touch the lands. If it is crammed into the lands, the start pressure must be adjusted.
4) Click on "apply and calculate" in selected propellant. Read resultant velocity and pressure.
5) In propellant table set up [123 in the toolbar], click on "apply and calculate". Choose max pressure and filling ratio.
6) Expand the box, "checking propellants", and read the top velocity possible with a powder I own.
7) Re calculate using the best powder.
8) Open QuickTarget
9) Click on "receive data from Quickload"
11) click on "apply and calculate.
12) Adjust distance between bore and scope to 2", adjust zero to 200 yards. Adjust wind to 10mph. Adjust range increment to 10 yards.
13) click on "apply and calculate", read the drop, drift, and velocity at each range.
14) Play with the zero range unit the highest point is 1" above point of aim. recalculate.


Quickload can be very accurate with velocity.
For a bottle necked cartridge, the prediction is often in the middle of the numbers taken from a string on the chronograph.

Quickload can be very inaccurate with velocity and pressure.
For an overloaded straight wall pistol cartridge, the prediction is often 1,000,000 psi and 2,000 fps, but in reality, the primer does not piece. The bulk of the powder blows out the muzzle as muzzle flash.

Quickload can be accurate for straight wall cartridges not overloaded, but operated near the SAAMI pressure range.

When I changed computers and could not find my disc, NECO was nice enough to just charge me for an update and get me going again.
http://www.neconos.com/

I have ~$150 into Quickload and updates for new powders and new bullets.
I would pay $1500 if I had to.
I snuck over to the right end of the demand curve.



I own 50 load books, but don't use them anymore.

 

[RidgwayCO]

Peter, one other thing I did was create separate bullet and cartridge files that contain just the bullets I use and the cartridges I reload. Saves me some time going though QuickLOAD's extensive lists...

I also recommend measuring the average volume (in grains of water) of the cases you use to reload. The "standard capacity" listed by the program is nice, but can differ significantly from what you're actually using. To measure, I take a fired and resized case with the used primer still seated, and then use a syringe to carefully fill the case with water. Weigh the case with and without the water, and the difference is the capacity. You can then change the data for that cartridge to reflect the actual capacity.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Thanks for the tip. I had already found that it takes a while to scan to find your cartridge.