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Posted: 11/19/2015 8:15:29 PM EDT
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I've done some searching but have not been able to find a tool that will allow me to better keep track of my component and cartridge inventory efficiently.
I'd like to find a program or preferably an app that would allow me to scan in a barcode to add to the component inventory, each component would have a separate bar code. Then as I use the in-stock components I would scan them out 100 at a timet and then scan another bar code that would automatically add 100 cartridges to that inventory. I figure doing this 100 at a time is the most efficient since primers come in 100 per box. Has anyone seen a program that will do this? A bonus feature would be a way to inventory magazines, firearms and accessories but the main part is component and cartridge inventory. That is my largest issue. Thanks |
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App? You must be one of them Millennials the news is always talking about..
I do hear what you are saying. I have purchased primers and powder online a few times (just to make the hazmat worth it) forgetting I already had a bunch. I don't know of any App.. but I do use Excel to track my C&R's and have fancied the idea of tracking components. You can just store a copy on your phone. Easy enough to do. |
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Quoted:
App? You must be one of them Millennials the news is always talking about.. I do hear what you are saying. I have purchased primers and powder online a few times (just to make the hazmat worth it) forgetting I already had a bunch. I don't know of any App.. but I do use Excel to track my C&R's and have fancied the idea of tracking components. You can just store a copy on your phone. Easy enough to do. I'm trying to find a downside to that, but I can't. |
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Hardly a Millennial but do like making my life easier where appropriate. I do the spreadsheet thing before as well but am looking for an easier to maintain solution that just involves scanning a barcode. It's better now that I have a PC next to the reloading area, and I can record rounds made under each component's inventory record. right when I finish a run. The pre-formatted sheets do the multiplication for powder weight used. It's still off lol, but I maintain a better feel for what I have and really need to buy. |
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Quoted:
I'm trying to find a downside to that, but I can't. Quoted:
Quoted:
App? You must be one of them Millennials the news is always talking about.. I do hear what you are saying. I have purchased primers and powder online a few times (just to make the hazmat worth it) forgetting I already had a bunch. I don't know of any App.. but I do use Excel to track my C&R's and have fancied the idea of tracking components. You can just store a copy on your phone. Easy enough to do. I'm trying to find a downside to that, but I can't. Only storage space. 
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I had an excel sheet set up at one point in time. It could keep track of all components and loaded ammo. It would even keep track of prices paid for each component and could calculate the loaded cost of each round I had.
The thing is, I spent weeks learning about excel on the forums and had some pretty complicated formulas set up that eventually the whole thing became a nightmare to keep organized. Especially as I changed powder and primers for each recipe. Just to make one change you had to sort through like 6 different excel sheets and find all the related boxes and change them as well. And to top it all off, it wasn't pretty. It looked like garbage and to an outside person they wouldn't know what they were even looking at. Much easier and simpler for me, at least for pistol cartidges, is to keep a 1 to1 ratio of supplies. 1 box primers to 1 pound powder to 1k bullets to 1k casings. Keeps things pretty even and I know at a glance as to what I have or dont have. As to what I have loaded, I have no real idea. I have boxes of loaded ammo just sitting around. I know what they are loaded with because once I find a recipe, I stick with it. But the actual count, who knows. lol |
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"How much we investing in this project?" I understand the OP's angst about tracking stuff because I'm "just a little" OCD myself. I myself tried building my own spreadsheet to do it, but I found that I spent too much time on the spreadsheet and not enough reloading. What I ended up doing is creating my own custom reloading labels (using Avery #5164 labels) that allow me to detail each load. The label stays with that load all the way up to firing of that batch. I've finally become comfortable knowing "approximately" what I've got (clipboard hung on a wall) and just make notes as I go to keep general track of inventory so that I don't run out of anything. |
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I use an app called "stock control" it's basically an inventory app.
I created "groups" for ammo, primers, brass, powder, projectiles, and press equipment. Under each group I create a category such as .303 British and a parent category of rifle so I can drill down to rifle vs pistol items. I haven't used the scan portion for anything other than capturing barcodes of components. It works well for me and let's me know how much of whatever I have on hand. Great for when I see good deals on something. Helps me decide to get or pass (crazy stupid good deals are always a buy :-) ) When I return from range I record a reduction from loaded ammo count and record an add to brass count. Likewise when I reload I add the finished round and data under the correct category and remove the Proper projectiles, primers, brass, primer from the other inventories. At first I didn't record brass but since I pickup what I find and trade out for others I found it helpful in quickly letting someone know how much I have. Takes me five more seconds to record it after counting them up. |
| I use a spreadsheet for most of my components, but it's usually just a guideline for where I have stuff rather than being perfectly up to date. I have been studying expanding this system, since I'm working now on developing some "standard loads" that I'll be producing a lot of; I'll need more accurate inventory records to ensure I have what I need to load with when the time comes. It's still a balancing act. Unless you get into some expensive hardware like barcode scanners, there's a big workload in just entering your data, so thinking it out ahead of time is pretty important. There's a point where you spend more time keeping up your inventory than you save in knowing how much of what you have. |
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I must not be OCD...............
I just organize the stuff on shelves. So at a glance I can see if I'm, say, getting low on 80SMK's. When the shelves start getting barren..........time to buy more.............. Same thing with brass........... But I always try to KISS.............. |
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Hmm this could be a cool app.
You could put in how much you have of a powder, primers, etc., and enter in your recipes. When you reload 20 rounds of a saved load, you mark that down and it automatically decreases primer, powder and bullet quantity accordingly. You could even have it calculate how many rounds for each load you could do with what you have on hand. |
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Quoted:
I must not be OCD............... I just organize the stuff on shelves. So at a glance I can see if I'm, say, getting low on 80SMK's. When the shelves start getting barren..........time to buy more.............. Same thing with brass........... But I always try to KISS.............. This is pretty much my way as well. I also am a big believer in the buy cheap stack deep department so you can get yourself enough components that it just doesn't really matter. Then you don't have to think about well, do I have enough? I've tried a a few of the Excel sheets over the years and I find I just don't really like baby sitting the form. I also use Excel forms to track my loads, and even that I fall behind on sometimes. Maybe an app would be pretty cool. Input your inventory and then just talk to it as you consume. Set alarm limits when something starts getting low? |
| I created an MS Access database to track ammo and reloading components. I input the purchase price , location,qty and type and lot number. It has slowly grown to track all of my guns range trips,idpa and uspsa competition results, gun purchases, gun maintainence ,accessories ,you name it. I have a lot of queries set up like 9mm inventory, powder inventory,primers, bullets,etc. When I create a hand load i specify which lot each component came from and it will calculate the price per round. I also keep track of what ammo was fired in what gun so I have a good round count on every gun that I have shot for the past 3 years. Overkill and a little OCD but it was done as an exercise because I wanted to learn MS access. |
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