Not everyone can afford one the better units-which seem necessary if you are going to chrono your loads.

What validity is there in judging the quality of your reloads by the simple and I would have thought effective method, of increased accuracy?

Yes, I appreciate decreased/increased is relevant to assist with hold over and like matters.

I didnt use one for years. my benchmark was accuracy.
If the load i developed showed no pressure signs and shot under moa. what else could you expect.
i use one now and only on new loads to determine the average velocity. load deviation
will tell you if its you or the load or some other factor affecting the accuracy.
most of my loads are worked at 300yrds using a ladder method where I plot the loads //velocity. and other information. If you shoot over 300 yrds Its a good tool to use. it helps to know what the point of inpact will be so you can get on target. at long range you need all the help you can get.
Dave

holden,

I bought mine for about $50 many years ago. It was the cheapest Chrony they had at the time. It certainly is not one of those wonderful Oehler ballistics labs, but it is close enough for rock and roll!!

Point being, you could afford a plain jane Chrony, if for nothing else, to see what that tack driver load is doing velocity-wise.

I also have a Chrony and although it is inexpensive it seems to work well. you can shoot up to 6 strings with 10 shots in each string. you can also recall the data from the unit. you get average speeds, standard deviation, highest and lowest velosities in the string and some other reading all at the touch of a couple of buttons. I have shot loads throug an Olleher if that's how you spell it) and my Chrony side by side and the readings were in the same range. Do not expect to get published muzzle velocities from any reloading manual on your chronograph, there are lots of factors that go into acheiving those muzzle velocities in the labs. It is just a good tool to have for your own knowledge of your load, especcially if you will be shooting long range and need to know the drop compensation. Hope this helps.

I simply us my Pro Chrono to assist me in my reloading... I look for the accurate load with no pressure signs but also take into consideration what speeds factory loads are doing in my rifles... I don't care if my handloads are a bit slower so long as they are accurate.. With one of my rifles being a 338-378 Weatherby, it's nice to see the speed of the HOT factory loads... With that information in hand I will have a good idea if I am getting close to max pressure using the chrono... This doesn't mean that it is TELLING me I'm over pressure on a load just because it's fast but it certainly might be if I shoot this same load on a 110 degree summer day...

Ken....

You don't NEED a chronograph, but many reloaders find them useful. Accuracy is an excellent criteria and if you're not concerned about velocity you don't need one. It does provide another level of information which many find useful, especially since there is such varience in published data and between guns. If you want to know instead of guess you need a chronograph.

The fact remains that affordable chronographs are actually only a very recent phenom. No less than 150 years of very successful handloading was done by thousands of people without one around. I have one and I use it when I need to use it but it is not an absolute must have.

Basically it is a measure of consistently which should produce accuracy.

i dunno, but i've got 2 of them and hardly ever use them. once i do a new load I crono it out of curiosity to see the speed, and thats about all. I really don't care much to break speed records, and for accuracy i've found that going a grain or 2 under max is much better. If the load shoots well there really isn't a lot of use in knowing the exact speed. Nothing like shooting to find things out in a real way

I've had a chronograph since the paper screen days. I find them helpfull. While I like the most accurate load, it's nice to have one that is fast too. It's a shame to find your 7remmag is going slower than your 7x57, time to change powders.
It also helps when I am trying to duplicate a factory handgun round for vel./recoil/poi. Required no, but there is little downside to using one as long as you don;t go crazy when you get the results.

There are two main uses for the Chronograph:

1) Bragging
The chrono is good for posting on the internet.
e.g. No one outside of reloading forums cares if I got 4200 fps with my .223. It is not a useful load. It is just for bragging.

2) The very occasional load optimization
e.g. 357 mag with 18 gr LIL'GUN 158 gr makes less noise and recoil than 26 gr, but the lower charge has higher velocity.

I've had a Chrony since they because affordable to us ordinary folks. (the same one as a matter of fact) They all work on the same principle so any difference is usually whistles and bells such as memories and remote readers. Mind is the most simple of Chronies. It tells me how fast my bullets are going. The rest I take care of with a pencil and paper.
Depending how serious you are about your reloading kinda determines how important a Chrony would be to you. The data you find in the load books is generic. With a Chrony, you can develope data that is specific to your rifle(s). I don't know about bragging, having never been a speed freak but I'm sure that could be part of it however with more precise information you can compute energy figures and extrapolate trajectories that are much more accurate than the generalities found in your books. If your velocity starts to dwell, even tho you are showing no pressure signs and haven't reached book max, you know you've reached a operating max for that rifle with that powder. A Chrony will open many reloading doors. Some nice to know and others more important.
You can buy a basic Chrony for less than $100 that tells you how fast your bullets are going. Anything beyond that is whistles and bells. Mine has lasted since Chrony first came out --30 or 35 years-- I just take the battery out and put tape over the sensor holes when I'm not using it.

I get alot of use from mine when developing new loads or when switching lots of powder. Some powders listed in the manuals claim some pretty impressive speed figures but dont pan out across the chrono. I take a new powder with a medium load, typically 2grs under max for a .308, make up loads in .5gr increments, and shoot them for group while checking velocity. I generally look for an accurate load under the max charge. If I reach the max charge and dont get the accuracy or velocity im looking for then that load is scrapped and I go on to something else. Sometimes you get speed without accuracy, accuracy without speed, or get lucky and have both like my .243 with 41grs H4350 with 95gr BT and CCI200 primers. Its fun to use and gives alot of information but if the only thing it told me was velocity I would be fine with it. Dont read too much into it though, it is easy to overanalyze and get what we call in the racing industry "Paralysis by Analysis".

quote:

Originally posted by FC363:
I get alot of use from mine when developing new loads or when switching lots of powder------------ Its fun to use and gives alot of information but if the only thing it told me was velocity I would be fine with it. Dont read too much into it though, it is easy to over analyze and get what we call in the racing industry "Paralysis by Analysis".

Well expressed. The chronograph is an interesting and contributive link in the information chainand serves in a number of facits.

All the time and effort Seafire put in on the Blue Dot testing would have been of far less value if the velocities were not there. One thing it showed was accuracy joined with the energy level of the bullet in many cases yeilded field usefullness (deer for example) combined with low recoil.

I've owned three different Chronies and one Oehler. I'm spoiled and would be lost without one; testing all the components I do or just because I like them a lot. roger

quote:

Originally posted by tnekkcc:
There are two main uses for the Chronograph:

1) Bragging
The chrono is good for posting on the internet.
e.g. No one outside of reloading forums cares if I got 4200 fps with my .223. It is not a useful load. It is just for bragging.

2) The very occasional load optimization
e.g. 357 mag with 18 gr LIL'GUN 158 gr makes less noise and recoil than 26 gr, but the lower charge has higher velocity.

Or to dispute a braggert. I've offered many a non chrony user some time over my screens just to hear them say "I thought it would be faster". All of a sudden their fav. barn burner load is quite pedestrian.

I latched onto a Chrony after 43 years of handloading in an attempt to decide how "good" my loads really are, relating to velocity anyway, and I got some serious surprises, mostly lower than expected velocities, except in a couple of cases. The biggest use and surprise has been in working with a .318 bore Mauser and discovering perfect manual listed velocity and hard bolt lift with no other pressure signs. This one has me stumped, despite dropping my loads down to a point where the bolt lift becomes normal and velocity has dropped off 200 fps. More research, so I'd suggest that the Chrony is good for verification and research.

By the way, the little old and ancient 6.5x54mm rounds loaded with 156 grain slugs chronographs perfectly to the expected velocity, something I have not seen in many standard Made in USA deer cartridges. Go figure.

I finally bought my first, a CED, last year. It has added a new demension to my reloading/shooting hobby. I experiment a lot more with powders and loadings so I can chose the optimum hunting loads for velocity and accuracy.

all of the oehler, pact, ced, and shooting chrony state 1/2 of 1%

and i don't care if it's 20fps off base, one direction or the other, as long as it is consistant...

want to check you chrony?
shoot a whole box of ely 22 match ammo over yours, and write down the results... it will be within 10fps, top to bottom ... and if its not, junk that chrono

I still load for accuracy. My chronograph never sees my loads until they have been chosen for consistant accuracy. I use the data from the chronograph to compute trajectory. That is why I bought my chronographs and that is why I still have them. You can't predict trajectory accurately without knowing the velocity of your loads. You can't use one to determine your chamber pressure or accuracy. All they are good for is to tell you how fast your ammo is and the likelyhood of how accurate it is going to be with that same load, under those same conditions the next time you shoot it. If you have two you can compute your ballistic coefficient. I think everyone should own at least one and I am considering a third.

When I was doing a lot of Pdog shooting, each spring for my 22-250, I would re-set my cartridge length to compensate for throat erosion, then I would shoot the results over my chrony and add powder until I regained my original velocity. Then my downrange figures didn't need to be redone. Also, even tho I was out of the book, I could do it safely.