Loading Data and Range Results on Computer

I built a reloading database in 2008 using Apple's Filemaker database.  It has worked great and it is very reliable, but my version of Filemaker is very old and I doubt it will work on Mac computers much longer.  And I do not wish to spend the $$$ that Apple wants for the most recent version.

So I recently started looking for a replacement.  I tried a few open source databases and settled on the Libre Office database program called Base.  It is a free program to download and use. It is available in Windows, Mac and Linux distributions.

I have replicated my Filemaker database almost completely using Base.  I still have a few issues to work through, but it is working the way I want it to.   Base is much more like Microsoft Access, which I am more comfortable with than Apple's Filemaker.  In all the years of using it, I never felt comfortable with Filemakers user interface and the way it does relational database table linking.  Just too different from the databases I am used to using in the PC world.

My goal for both Filemaker and Base was to have a load data input screen, tied to backend tables containing all the information to be input.  You just simply select parameters on the load data screen, click the down arrow and use existent data from your data tables.  It then uses the information you entered or selected to create an entry in the Load Data table.  Which is a master table of all your loads.  It looks like a spreadsheet in Table view.

Here is my current load data input screen.

Everywhere you see a little arrow on the right side of the data box, that data can be selected from a set of tables containing the information.  Here are my Tables I have thus far:

For example, all my cast bullet molds and commercial bullets I have bought over the years are contained in the Bullet table.  When I select the bullet box on my input screen, it displays all of them to pick from.

Same thing for powder and so on and so forth.

I can also build custom queries and save them to show filtered data from the load table using a particular caliber, or caliber with a certain powder or a certain bullet.  Very useful for going back and finding all the different loads you have done over the years.

I still have a lot of work to do.  For example my bullet database I used in Apple's Filemaker had the fields for bullet weight and caliber combined in my display box to select from, and I have no desire to do that again.  So I am updating my new bullet table with a proper single field description, while still saving the caliber and weight fields in the table, as well as other pertinent info such as which ones are from molds that I own.  I just update that table as I enter new loads.

Another feature I am working on in the new database is printing ammo labels straight from the database.  I had it perfected in Filemaker, but I can't get Base to rotate the label to print correctly on my Dymo shipping label printer.  I have to do a screen capture and print it separately.  But that is really not a deal breaker for me, but I do want to figure it out.  Since my label printer is a thermal unit that prints black and white, I found that using a yellow background makes a nice contrast on the printed labels.

Your question on electronic data record keeping has come up on different forums that I enjoy reading.  It usually boils down to folks who do everything on paper and have no desire to change their workflow, folks who use spreadsheets, and then people like me that use databases frequently for work and home use and depend on them.  I always learn something useful by reading others input on the subject though. 

One interesting thing I saw on another forum that I haven't implemented yet is to record range results, chrono data, target photos and other useful information into the database.  Since it is all linked to a specific load number, that will be easy to do.  I just haven't gotten there yet.

Other options are databases on your phone.  I recently used my favorite called Tap Forms on my iPhone to create a database with photographs of all the bullet molds I have.  It records the mold manufacturer, mold part number, the bullet weight, the mold material (brass, aluminum, steel) and how many cavities the mold has.  It is nice to be able to have the camera images taken in real time as you enter data.  This type of database would also be useful at the range for taking photos of your target or chronograph output, since we usually have our phones with us.

And finally, there is a commercially developed reloading database that I have purchased in the past.  It is TMT Precision Ballistics and Records.  https://www.tmtpages.com/  It uses a Microsoft Access backend.  It worked well, but since I use Mac computers exclusively at home and already had a working database, it wasn't worth it to me as I had to run the program in a virtual environment under Windows.

Just my 2 cents on the topic.

Harold