QuickLoad Software useful ?

[BuckRub]

I ain't much into computers, electronics and gadgets. Been loading for 20+ years and may not ever change the way I've been doing things. I have about 13 manuals plus the powder websites plus the Internet in general. I can find anything I ever needed to without a problem. That said, would Quickload be worth experimenting into or not ?

[Brian Pfleuger]

Well, there's a bunch of threads about QuickLoad that you can browse but the short answer is that it's worth every penny and more.

It depends, to an extent, what you want to do but it will certainly give you information that you can't get anywhere else.

Every paper manual in the world combined can't (for example) tell you which powder will give you the best velocity with the lowest recoil using a 110gr Barnes TTSX in a 15" Encore chambered in 7mm-08. No manual can predict barrel times for optimal charge weight predictions. No manual will tell you which powder, out of nearly every powder ever made, will give you best velocity in your gun, with those exact bullets and that exact brass. No manual breaks down recoil into it's various effects, so you can pick a powder that gives you best velocity AND low muzzle pressure. No manual adjusts data for your EXACT gun and brass and bullets.

If you're happy with browsing through a manual, picking what they say might be the best load and sticking with their data, QuickLoad won't help you a bit. If stepping outside the lines or anything I mentioned above is interesting to you, it's worth it's weight in gold.

[BuckRub]

Thanks. I'll try to find someone round here who has it and like to see in action but it sounds promising. I'd just like to see if its very true to my gun and distances and more.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by BuckRub

Thanks. I'll try to find someone round here who has it and like to see in action but it sounds promising. I'd just like to see if its very true to my gun and distances and more.

I can run the some numbers for you, if you'd like. I'd need to know:

1)Case capacity in gr H2O and length
2)bullet, actual average weight and actual measured length
3)exact, actual barrel length (my 24" M77 is actually 24.2")
4)powder
5)If you're in or very close to the rifling
6)OAL

[std7mag]

Yeah, nothing complicated there..

[mehavey]

Quickload comes with default settings that are as good (oft better) that any manual
I've come across. (Still, I crosscheck totally off-the-wall loads/powders when none are
listed in any manual I've got.... before I pull the trigger on that load for the first time.)

It's real strength comes when you know what you're doing to start with... then QuickLoad
accompanied by a chronograph is an irreplaceable development tool. )

[BuckRub]

Here's one for you Brian.
1) bullet weight 160 gr's
2) length 1.60"
3) barrel length 20"
4) powder Varget
5) from riflings, don't know
6) OAL 2.550"

The bullet is a 30-30. Varget powder @ 32.4 gr's. Hornady 160 gr FTX with a COAL of 2.550". It's being shot out of a Marlin model 30 (lever action) with a 20" barrel. If you need any more info I'll get it for you. I'd like to see if you can give me a demo or whatever it shows. And thanks.

I measured one and it was 1.130". The one above I googled and got that measurement of Internet. But mine was 1.130"

[mehavey]

I ran the calc's using a default case volume of 45gr H20 and got a slightly "hot" prediction compared to Hodgdon's website references for that load.

Can you tell us the actual manufacturer/water volume for the case you're using?

[BuckRub]

The case is a R P. how do I do the H2O ?

[mehavey]

- Weigh the fired case (including fired primer)
- Fill w/ water to the exact top (flat surface)
- Re-weigh case(+water), then subtract for the net water-weight

[Brian Pfleuger]

QuickLoad thinks that charge would be heavily compressed using the default case capacity. It'd be best to know your true capacity.

Also, the .30-30 probably qualifies as "nearly straight-walled", so the calculations may not be as accurate.

With default case capacity and using a bullet length of 1.140", QuickLoad think you'd be at 111% compression and 50,000psi, yielding 2,264fps.

If I increase the capacity from 44.0 to 45.5gr H2O (QuickLoad is usually low by 2-5%), I get 106% compression, 45,500psi and 2,219fps.

[BuckRub]

The H2O cap is 45.8
And my bullet length is 1.130" in length.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Ok, well, that'd be 44,185psi and 2,205fps.

It seems likely that QuickLoad's VMD for Varget is a bit low. This load is probably not compressed so I expect the pressure and velocity results might be a bit high.

[BuckRub]

Thanks.

[Clark]

I can see the first time I posted here about Quickload was 12 years ago:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/show...ight=quickload

My wife and my son are software engineers, while I am a self determined computer idiot.
But for Quickload.... I am willing to learn.

Quickload has some limitations:
a) At some point if I put more and more LIL'GUN in a 38 Special, the recoil and noise keep going up, but the velocity starts going down. Quickload thinks the velocity will keep going up. Quickload does not do well with the more that proportionally expanding muzzle fire ball. It cannot even handle the less than proportionally expanding muzzle fire ball with hot loads in straight wall cases.
b) We may be paying for canister powder, but we are not always getting the same thing. I have an 8 pound jug of H4350 that the only way to get the correct pressure and velocity predictions, is to reduce the powder charge in Quickload by 4%. Then the predictions work perfectly in 243, 257RAI, 260, and 7mmRM.
That jug is almost empty, and I would love to test another, but the bots do not seem to be able to find one for me at this time.