Before your first load development, Qual8 needs to know three things: the tools on your bench, the components on your shelf, and where the bullet meets the lands in your rifle. Enter them once at home.
MarksmanSharpshooterHandloader
At the bench
Have these in front of you
Your tools
Calipers, powder scale (make and model), how you anneal and prime, your seating press, and whether you own a concentricity gauge.
Your components
Bullets, powder, primers and brass, each with the lot number on its label, or a label of your own.
Your measuring tools for this rifle
A bullet comparator, a modified case and a shoulder bump gauge, if you own them.
One seating reference
Your measured CBTO or COAL at the lands for the bullet you will load, or the published overall length for the cartridge.
At home
Four steps before the first load
1
Set your bench tools
Press Reload in the bar at the bottom, then open Equipment.
Work down the eight rows: Calipers, Powder scale, Scale precision, CBTO seating gauge, Annealing, Priming method, Seating press, Concentricity gauge.
Scale precision fills itself in unless you typed your scale in by hand. The CBTO seating gauge row starts on "Does not use CBTO seating depth gauge": if you own one, open the row and change it.
Each row has its own save button. Press it before you move to the next row.
You are done when the card reads Complete.
Why the tools come first
Load Development will not open until they are saved; it sends you back to this card. And your answers are used: the powder scale sets how fine your charge steps can be, and a Yes on the concentricity gauge means the loaded-round check asks for runout.
One more answer, on the Shoot screen: your chronograph. Load Development asks for it before anything else: Tell Qual8 about your chronograph.
The Reload screen. Press the Equipment card; it reads "Incomplete" until all eight rows are saved.
2
Put your components on the shelf
On the Reload screen, find Component Inventory and press its Bullets row.
Press Add bullets. Pick the caliber, the maker and the bullet, type the Lot / label, and press Save component.
Do the same for powder, primers and brass. Brass also asks for a Batch label.
Set Add to rifle (optional) to the rifle you will load for. It starts on "Inventory only".
Why the shelf comes before the load
A load is built from four components picked from this shelf: bullet, powder, primer and brass. Load Development will not start until all four are chosen.
Component Inventory, on the Reload screen. Press the Bullets row first.
3
Fill in the rifle's Handloading Setup
Open the rifle. Find Handloading Setup: one line per item, tap a line to open it.
Under Components, pull the bullet, brass, powder and primers onto this rifle if you did not in step 2.
Open Die setup. Choose a Sizing Method (Full-length or Neck-only) and a Neck-Control Method (Standard die or Bushing die), then save. Both start on "Not tracking".
Open Measurement tools and say which you own. The published overall length for the cartridge goes here too.
Why the die setup is worth doing now
Bench 1 of the full 8-bench workflow reads those two choices. Left on "Not tracking", Bench 1 will not save and sends you here.
The screen's own key: "Dim = not entered yet. Nothing blocks you — the workflow asks when it matters."
4
Measure where the bullet meets the lands
In Handloading Setup, open CBTO @ Lands. It lists your bullets.
If the bullet is still only on the shelf, press Pull onto this rifle. Then press Add CBTO @ Lands on that bullet.
In the panel that opens, answer I have a shoulder bump gauge, Yes or No. With Yes, save the fired case and modified case shoulder lengths first.
Type your Measured CBTO (in) and press Save CBTO @ Lands.
No comparator? Use COAL @ Lands, or the published overall length you saved in step 3.
Why before you press Start
Qual8 plans your seating depth from this measurement, and it picks the reference when the development starts: CBTO at the lands if you have it, then COAL at the lands, then the published length. With none of the three, the development will not start.
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Already have a load you trust?
Save it as a Load Card and shoot Range Sessions with it today. You do not have to develop it again.
On the rifle's page, open Ammunition Inventory and press Create Load Card.
Name it, pick the four components from your shelf, and give the charge weight and the seating length.
