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So you made your ammo and placed it in your ammo box.
Now you take the pre-printed label, that came with the box.
And you mark it up, so you can record your load data.
You scratch through the fields, you do not want.
And write in the ones that you do.
Would'nt it be nice, if you can make your own pre-printed labels with the information you want?
Such as the one in this close-up.
Well you can. And we will show you how in this video.
To make your own pre-printed labels, you will need. A computer.
Well, one that's a little bit newer than that one.
Microsoft Word.
The Microsoft Word template that I created. I will show you how to get for free.
A printer capable of printing on label stock.
Almost all printers can print on 8½ by 11 paper.
But your printer, must be able to print on label stock.
Which can be much smaller than 8½ by 11.
And of course, you will need the label stock.
For label stock, I use Avery product number 5444.
This product has two labels on each sheet. The sheet is four by six.
And each label is .. two by four.
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They can be used in either a laser printer. Or an ink jet printer.
And a really nice feature I like about these Avery labels. Is they are removable.
So if you decide to repurpose your ammo box.
Just peel off the old label .. and apply a new one.
Avery product number 5444, is available in many office supply stores.
They're also available online, such as Amazon.
While Avery does provide a free template to be used with their labels.
I find their template a little difficult to use.
The borders around their tables are exactly two inches high.
So if your printer does not feed the label stock perfectly, which mine does not.
The borders will print outside the label. As seen in this close up.
Also, the Avery template is a single cell table.
So it is harder to organize the content of your ammo box label.
I developed my own template, which you can have for free.
Just click the link in this video's description.
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After the template opens, click the down arrow to download the template to your computer.
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For your security, after downloading, scan the file with your antivirus software.
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Once downloaded, you can copy and rename the document to a name that makes sense to you.
Such as gun.
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Bullet type.
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And bullet weight.
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I create a separate document for each of my loads.
The template is a Microsoft Word 2007 document. And it's not protected.
So you can change it however you need to.
Let's open the template and review its layout.
The template consists of two tables.
This is the first table. And this is the second.
Each table consists of seven rows.
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And three columns.
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Each row is three and a half inches wide.
And a quarter inch high.
Since there are seven rows per table. Each table is 1.75 inches high.
The first column, is 1.5 inches wide.
The second column is one inch wide.
And the third column is one inch wide. For total table width of 3.5 inches.
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The first row, records the data about the case. Specifically the caliber.
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And the manufacturer.
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I have my template set up, so that the caliber is in red text.
If you want it in black text, just highlight the red text.
And use the font color feature ... to change the color.
The second and third rows record bullet data.
The type, such as lead semi-wad cutter.
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Weight.
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And manufacturer.
Bullet diameter.
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And grade.
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In the third column, of the third row, I like to put a photo of the bullet.
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The fourth row records the powder.
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The charge weight.
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And manufacturer.
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The fifth row records primer type.
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And manufacturer.
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The sixth row records overall length.
And the seventh row records date .. gun ... and distance.
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In my sport, we shoot at set distances.
So for my purposes,
I have highlighted the distance in yellow.
To remove the yellow highlight.
Place the cursor in the cell.
And on the menu bar, click Design > Shading > No Color.
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You probably notice that some text is bold.
And some text is not.
The bold text represents the major categories: Case, Bullet, Powder, Primer and so on.
And the regular font, is used for the subcategories.
Such as type, weight and manufacturer.
The nice thing about the template is just because this is what I record.
Does not mean, this is what you need to record.
You can change the content of any cell.
And of course, you can use any of the unused cells.
For example. Let's assume you want to record velocity and power factor.
You could use the two empty cells in row six.
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Since this text is too large for the cell,
I could reduce the font size.
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Or, I could abbreviate velocity.
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Next, we just add power factor.
If there's a piece of data you do not care about, such as bullet grade. You can delete it.
Could you add more rows and columns if you wanted to?
You could.
But each table has a total of 21 cells. 7. 14. 21.
So hopefully, this gives you plenty of space to record the load data you want.
If you do change the table layout. Be careful to not change the overall dimensions of the table.
As a reminder, each table is 1.75 inches high.
And 3.5 inches wide.
Also, you do not want to change the left or right margins of the template.
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The only margin you should change, is the top margin.
And only if the tables are not printing completely on the label.
Keep in mind, that you do not need to pre-print all the information.
For example, I do not pre-print the actual date.
I handwrite that in later.
When loading the label stock in your printer, does it matter which way the label stock is loaded?
Yes it does.
The label stock of course, has to be loaded into the printer
so the tables are printed on the printable side of the label stock.
The printable side, is the side, with the Avery name.
In my printer, the printable side is loaded face down.
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This little icon, shows me, that the printable side is loaded face down.
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If you look carefully at the label stock. You'll notice there are four cut marks.
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Resulting in five sections.
The top.
Middle.
And bottom sections are waste.
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The second.
And fourth sections, are your ammo box labels.
Note, that the top and bottom sections are not of the same height.
Therefore, if you load the label stock into your printer upside down, your labels will not print correctly.
When properly printed,
both the Avery name,
and your labels,
will be oriented
in the same direction.
The label stock I use is, of course, not the only one that Avery makes.
Avery makes many sized labels. And in many configurations.
Therefore, if you are willing to use Avery's template. Or create your own custom template.
Then you will have a large variety of labels you can choose from.
So whether you use this template or create your own.
I hope this video was useful to you. And thank you for watching.