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Old June 17, 2013, 12:11 PM   #1
thump_rrr
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A question for those who own Quickload

If you had to do it again would you purchase Quickload again?

What can Quickload provide that you can't get elsewhere?

Is it worth it for the person who only owns 3-4 rifles?
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Old June 17, 2013, 05:53 PM   #2
Peter M. Eick
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Yes I would buy it again.

It has been very educational and allowed me to do a lot of playing to understand. Once you tweak the parameters to fit your gun, then you can get some pretty reasonable estimates on what the final ballistics will be. Not perfect but reasonable. It works better for rifle than pistol but you can make both work.

It has exposed me to powders I would not have considered before. This has been good overall and I learned more.

I would say you have to take it with a grain of salt though on the pressures.

I don't use Quickload solely, but I do use it as a cross check of other data or internet suggestions.
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Old June 17, 2013, 06:06 PM   #3
pathdoc
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Yes, I would buy it again - certainly I've been buying program updates for something like five years now.

I must admit I mostly bought it to "play with" as a theoretical exercise (and for the QuickTarget external ballistic calculator it came bundled with), but it's still been a lot of fun.

I have precisely ONE type of centrefire rifle that I load for (.303 British), so I have very little call for it that a reloading manual or three won't solve; but if I loaded for one of the .308" calibres - with the massive array of projectiles available in that diameter - I might be making much more use of it.

I would check that whatever optimum charge weight QuickLoad spewed out was a grain or two below max in somebody's book for that bullet and powder - perhaps even lower, given that I'm loading for an SMLE and not a Number 4 or a P14. I've worked up to near max in an SMLE before, but I probably won't again unless it works absolute wonders for group size.
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Old June 17, 2013, 08:22 PM   #4
grisbald
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Yes, I would buy it again. Besides what the other posters said, its neat to see the pressure differences with small adjustments to COL.
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Old June 18, 2013, 03:52 AM   #5
ligonierbill
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I just bought a copy. I find it especially helpful when loading a bullet that has not been widely tested (e.g. Woodleigh 6.5 mm 160s). It's interesting to play with and check published loads, as others have mentioned. If you pretty much have your loads down pat, it won't be of much use to you. If you are thinking of trying something off the beaten path, it's a good investment. Of course, it's no substitute for careful testing.
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Old June 18, 2013, 10:05 AM   #6
Brian Pfleuger
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Absolutely worth every penny and much more.


Nothing else can tell you:

muzzle pressure and the associated "rocket effect" portion of recoil.

What powder produces the best velocity with the lowest peak pressure or muzzle pressure

powder burn % and load efficiency

a ranked order of powders with every imaginable criteria... muzzle velocity, peak pressure, muzzle pressure, total charge, efficiency, burn %, etc, etc...

What to expect if the powder lot you've got is a little fast, or slow

What do I lose (or gain) by going with a 20" barrel instead of 24", 28", 16"

Barrel exit time estimates, for predicting "OCW" loads.

But the number one thing it does that nothing else can do (by definition) is give you load data that doesn't exist anywhere else.

Maybe you've got some 35gr V-Max and want to load them in .223Rem and can't find any data. Maybe you've got 55gr Nosler and want to load them in .243Win and want to know what powder might make the fastest speed. Maybe you've got a wildcat, like .243AI and there "official" data is almost literally non-existent.

QuickLoad is absolutely the best $150 I've ever spent on reloading gear, no doubt.
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