Chronograph

[jeff100]

Does anyone who reloads use a chronograph??

I've been reloading since I was a kid, close to 30 years now.  I've accumulated a heck of a lot of equipment during that time.  But I never had a chronograph.  I used to judge the velocity of my rifle loads by checking bullet drop, but that never seemed very accurate.  A couple of years ago I was looking for more reloading equipment to buy (I have almost everything), and I finally spent the money on a chronograph, a low end Shooting Chrony.  It wasn't difficult learning how to set it up, mounting it on an old camera tripod I have.  After using it a couple of times, I'd never ever be without a chronograph again.  It's completely changed my confidence in my ammunition development, especially for hunting.  Shooting Chrony has a standing deal where you can trade in your model for a model with more or better features.  Being so pleased with how much this tool has enhanced my reloading ability, last fall I traded up to one of their deluxe models.  I'll be trying it out tomorrow at the range as I sight in a couple of rifles and test out a handful of different reloads.  Tuning up for the upcoming bear/cougar season...

Using a chronograph has removed any guess work from my ammunition development and testing.  I love it...Jeff 

[ICEMAN]

I received one as a gift two years ago, and it I am dying to use it. I havent reloaded in over two years...

[Bookworm]

I bought one about a month ago.I just haven't made time to get out to the range with it.

[AWS]

If your an avid reloader a chrongraph will realy be an asset.  I've been reloading since the mid 60's and had my own gun shop in the 70's and early 80's.  Right now I'm only loading for a dozen different rounds but have gotten into the wildcat game and am loading for three with no printed data, two of which are my own design.  I find the chrono invalueble.  You find things out that are very suprising,  Lil'Gun has completely different burning charactoristics when compressed in the hornet case and loose in the 218B case.   748 doesn't like to be compressed, and sometimes you reach a point where adding more powder doesn't increase velocity.

Prices on chrono's have come down it price so much that they now availible to most reloaders.

The only draw back is that they tend to make you want to go for that next 100 fps. 

AWS

[actionshooter]

I couldn't see reloading without a chrono. Knowing what yout loads are doing is kinda the point of reloading 

[jeff100]

I couldn't see reloading without a chrono. Knowing what yout loads are doing is kinda the point of reloading

Yeah, I can appreciate that, I feel the same way now.  Back when I was raising kids, I couldn't afford tools like this, so I never had one till a few years ago.  The point of reloading in those days was so I could afford to shoot more and more often.  I used to rely on primer analysis, bullet drop, etc. to 'guess' at what my loads were doing.

Today I spent the day at the range with my new upgraded chrono.  Man I love this tool.  Very glad I upgraded...

As for velocity, one thing I've learned over the years, fastest is rarely most accurate.  Usually as I'm working up a load following published load data (I have about a dozen load manuals I've collected over the years), I'll see my groups start out somewhat large, then tighten up and tighten up as the velocity increases.  There would usually be a point where as I increased velocity even more, my groups would start to open up again.  Best accuracy was where I always stopped, assuming I didn't hit max recommended load or my primers weren't starting to flow back around the firing pin.

Seldom have I found max loads or max velocity to be the most accurate load with any combination of caliber, barrel, bullet components/powder...Jeff

[WA Redneck]

I agree, what a great tool.  We refer to it as the highspeed lie detector!

[Intruder]

Very great tool...
Not essential but pretty close to being essential.

[WDFW-SUX]

I though I had some good loads for a 300 RUM I used to have so I chronographed them and the 180 XLC bullets were clocked at 3550..............I backed it way off

[MountainWalk]

I agree, what a great tool.  We refer to it as the highspeed lie detector!

thats funny.