Loadscope vs. Reloading Assistant: Log a Load, or Develop One?
Reloading Assistant is a phone logbook and recipe database; Loadscope reads the chronograph and target data from the ladder you shot and names your best load. Reloading Assistant keeps your records — a searchable recipe database, a cost-per-round calculator, a digital logbook — while Loadscope does the development. Here's the honest comparison.
Both are useful, and they don't really overlap. Reloading Assistant is about looking things up and writing things down. Loadscope is about working out which load actually won. Here's the honest comparison so you can tell which one you're reaching for.
What Reloading Assistant does well
Reloading Assistant is a genuinely convenient phone companion. It carries a large database of published recipes from the major powder and bullet makers, so you can look up starting data without digging out a manual. Its cost calculator works out your price per round and per box, which is handy when components are expensive. And it acts as a digital logbook — you can record what you loaded and how it shot, and keep it all in your pocket instead of a spiral notebook. For reference and record-keeping, it does its job well.
Where it's limited
- It doesn't read your chronograph. There's no importing your Garmin Xero, LabRadar, or MagnetoSpeed sessions — you type in what you shot, if you record it at all.
- It doesn't measure your groups. Group size, mean radius, and point of impact aren't measured for you — that's still calipers or a separate tool.
- It doesn't score or name a winner. A logbook stores your results; it doesn't weigh velocity spread, group size, and vertical across your ladder and tell you which charge and seating depth actually came out on top. That judgment is still yours.
- It's a reference and record tool, not a development engine. That's not a knock — it's a different job.
What Loadscope adds
- Reads your real range data. Plug in your Garmin Xero (or import LabRadar, MagnetoSpeed, and more) and Loadscope reads the sessions you actually fired — no retyping.
- Measures your target groups from a photo — group size, mean radius, point of impact — right in the app.
- Scores and names your best load. It weighs the velocity flat-spot, SD, mean radius, and vertical across every charge and seating depth you tested and calls the winner.
- Predicts your DOPE and prints a pocket range card for the load it names, and keeps every developed load in a searchable library.
| Reloading Assistant | Loadscope | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Recipe database + logbook + cost | Load-development analysis |
| Reads your chronograph | No — you type it in | Yes, including Garmin Xero |
| Measures target groups | No | Yes, from a photo |
| Names your best load | No | Yes |
| DOPE / range card | No | Yes |
| Cost-per-round calculator | Yes | No |
| Platform | Phone app | Mac & Windows desktop |
So which is right for you?
If what you want is a pocket database of published data, a cost calculator, and a place to jot down your loads, Reloading Assistant is a tidy, convenient choice — and some shooters happily use it alongside a development tool. If you want the tool to read the ladder you actually shot, measure your groups, and name your best load from real results — then print the range card for it — that's Loadscope. One keeps the record; the other picks the winner.
Stop logging loads by hand — let the data pick the winner.
Loadscope reads your Garmin Xero directly, measures your target groups from a photo, scores every powder charge and seating depth, names your best load, and prints a range card. Mac and Windows, one-time $59, 30-day money-back.
See how it works →