Do these in order: your account, your screen name, your shooter profile, your rifle, your ammunition, your chronograph. On a paid plan, one more: put the plan on this account. Do them at home, before your first range day.
Type your Email, then a Password: at least 8 characters, with one capital letter and one number. Type it again under Confirm Password.
Read the box that starts "I understand that I am responsible for determining safe charge-weight boundaries" and tick it. Qual8 will not make the account without it.
The box Add my shooting data to Qual8’s aggregate data starts ticked. Press What's shared? to read what it means, then leave it ticked or untick it.
Press Create Marksman account.
Open the email from Sigma8 Labs titled "Confirm your Qual8 Marksman account" and press Confirm email.
Why the email comes first
The confirmation link is what signs you in the first time. Open that email on the phone or computer you will use Qual8 on, and you land in the app, signed in.
No email? The page you signed up on now shows a green box that starts "Check your email for a confirmation link". Press Send confirmation again under it. Keep that page open until the email arrives: the button is only there.
The sign-up screen, with "What's shared?" open.
2
Pick your screen name
The screen says it plainly: "Pick the one name Qual8 shows on your screens."
Type a name under Screen name: 2 to 24 characters. Letters, numbers, spaces, periods, underscores, hyphens and apostrophes all work. An email or web address does not.
Wait a moment. Qual8 says "That one looks free." or asks you to pick another.
Press USE THIS NAME.
Why this comes before anything else
No other Qual8 screen opens until you have a screen name. You can change it later: tap your name at the top of any screen, then Account Settings.
The screen's own advice: "Use a forum name, handle, call sign, first name, or real name—whatever you’re comfortable making visible."
The Screen Name screen.
3
Set your shooter profile
Answer "How do you dial — MOA or MIL?" Press the one your scope's turret uses.
Location (optional): where you usually shoot, if you want it on your profile. No number in the app is worked out from it.
Press Continue. The New Rifle screen opens.
Why Qual8 asks instead of guessing
MOA or MIL sets how group sizes and goals read in Qual8. Continue stays dark until you choose. You can change it later from the Dashboard, and a rifle with a different scope can have its own setting.
Shooter Profile. Neither MOA nor MIL is chosen for you.
4
Add your rifle
New Rifle is three short screens: Identity, Config, Review.
Identity. Choose Centerfire or Rimfire, and Factory Rifle or Custom Rifle. Press Next.
Config. Pick the Caliber Family first, then pick the cartridge from the list it opens. Three things carry a star on a factory rifle: Cartridge *, Barrel Length (inches) * and Barrel Twist Rate *. A custom rifle stars Caliber Family * as well.
Worth a minute on the same screen: Rifle Name, Intended Use, and under Barrel Tracker, Current Rounds on This Barrel and Rounds Since Last Cleaning.
Press Review, check it, then press Create Rifle.
Why the rifle comes before everything else
Qual8 saves every session, every group and every box of ammunition to a rifle. Until one exists, there is nothing to save them to.
Get these right before you save. The Identity screen says of its two choices: "These choices are permanent and cannot be changed after rifle creation." A factory rifle's maker and model cannot be changed afterwards either, and the cartridge locks after the rifle's first session.
Intended Use sets the rifle's accuracy goal. Pick Hunting and the goal is under 1.0 MOA. A Factory Ammo Comparison and a Load Qualified attempt both judge your ammunition against that goal.
Handloader: pick the cartridge from the list. The full 8-bench Load Development workflow will not start on a cartridge you typed in yourself.
New Rifle, the Config screen.
5
Add your ammunition
Ammunition is saved on the rifle that shoots it.
On the rifle's page, open Ammunition Inventory and press Add Factory Ammunition.
Pick the Manufacturer and the Product. Maker not on the list? Press "Can't find your manufacturer? Type it in" and type both. Maker listed but not the product? Press "Can't find your product? Type it in".
Type the Lot Number printed on the box. It is optional.
Press ADD AMMO.
Why the lot number goes in now
The lot can only be typed when you add the box. Once you have shot a box, its name and lot stay in your shot record exactly as you shot it.
You load your own? On Marksman and Sharpshooter, press the back arrow at the top of the Factory Ammo screen and choose Quick Handload Entry. Give it a load name, pick the bullet's maker, then the bullet. You will find the load in Range Setup's ammunition list. On Handloader, your loads are Load Cards: see Reloading setup.
Adding a box of factory ammunition to the rifle.
6
Tell Qual8 about your chronograph
Press SHOOT, then open Equipment.
Under Chronograph, choose yours, or choose No chronograph.
Press Save chronograph.
Why answer it at home
A Range Session asks Yes or No each time, so it will start without this. A qualifier and every Test Lab test will not: they send you to this screen first.
Equipment, on the Shoot screen.
SharpshooterHandloader
7
Paid plan? Use the same email
Buy your plan with the same email you use to sign in to Qual8.
Bought the plan before you had an account? Open the email titled "Set up your Qual8 Sharpshooter account" or "Set up your Qual8 Handloader account" and press Set up my account. The link works for 30 days. Use that link, not the sign-up page.
Check it: once you are set up, your plan is the word at the top of the screen.
Why the same email
Qual8 finds your plan by the email on the order. Use a different email and the plan will not show up in your account.
Next: your first Range Session
Your rifle and ammunition are in. Print a target and go shoot.
