Loadscope vs OnTarget: Measure Groups, or Score Your Load?

OnTarget is a long-running desktop program for measuring your target groups on a computer, and a lot of shooters use its free version; Loadscope measures groups too — from a photo, on your phone or Mac — but also reads your chronograph data and scores which load actually won. Put simply: OnTarget measures, Loadscope decides.

These two get lumped together because both put a number on a group, but they’re built for different ends of the job. One is a dedicated measuring tool; the other is a load-development tool that happens to measure. Here’s the honest comparison.

What OnTarget does

OnTarget is a desktop program (Windows) that measures groups from a scanned or photographed target on your computer. You set the scale, click each shot, and it reports the group’s size, center, and stats like mean radius. It’s been around a long time, it’s trusted, and its basic version is free — which is exactly why so many benchrest and precision shooters keep it on the laptop. If all you want is to measure a target accurately, it does that well.

What Loadscope does differently

Loadscope measures groups too — you photograph the target and tap your shots, on your phone or on the Mac, no scanner needed — but measuring is the start of what it does, not the end. It also reads the velocity data from your chronograph, lines the two up, and scores every powder charge and seating depth you tested on velocity flat-spot, SD, mean radius and vertical — then names your best load and predicts your DOPE. OnTarget hands you a group size and stops; Loadscope takes the group and the velocities and tells you which load to run.

Where OnTarget still wins

Credit where it’s due: OnTarget is free, it’s dedicated to measuring and does it precisely, and if you’re working from a flatbed scan on a Windows machine it’s a proven tool. If your only question is “how big is this group,” and you don’t care about tying it to velocity or having the software pick a winner, you may not need anything more.

Which one fits you

• You just want to measure a group on a Windows PC, for free → OnTarget is a solid choice.
• You want to develop a load — measure groups and read your chronograph and have the software score every charge and name your best one, on Mac or Windows, from a phone photo → that’s Loadscope.

The real question isn’t which one measures better — both put an honest number on a group. It’s whether you want a ruler or a verdict.