quote:

Originally posted by Lost Sheep:
Not imperative. Helpful.

Lost Sheep

Agreed. If you use accuracy as the determining factor or goal when working up loads, you can do without a chronograph. Just use starting loads from the manuals for your beginning load.

But some day, you are going to want to know velocities, so you'll end up buying one anyway!

I like the analogy of sex with and without a woman, but I believe a better analogy is driving a car with or without a speedometer.

You can drive a car without a speedometer, but it helps in many circumstances to have one. Besides, chronographs are cheap these days - get one, it makes reloading much more interesting.

Finally, if you plan on shooting at very long range, knowing the velocity and BC of the bullet helps hitting critters at beyond 300 yards.

Regards, AIU

I copied this from the other thread because it's even more appropriate here. In my experience, shooters who do not take advantage of every new innovation are either lazy or afraid of new stuff.

I am an old guy. I've been shooting more years than most Forum members have been walking.

It's interesting that shooters in the pre WW II days would have given their left gonad to have a chronograph and the ability to accurately estimate trajectory. Now, in the 21st Century, such things are available to shooters of even modest means and yet there are still those who would not use them.

I got my first chronograph in the 1960s and it opened a whole new world for me. I now use an even more sophisticated one with new-fangled electronic screens. I also use ballistics programs to estimate trajectories based on chronograph results. It's amazing how accurate the charts can be if you input accurate data. After all, ballistics are nothing more than physics and the laws of Mother Nature. They can't be broken, or even bent.

So, as you can guess, you can bet your ass that I will use any modern gizmo I can get my hands on when it comes to shooting. I use plastic stocks, wind flags, hi-power scopes, state-of-the-art rests, custom made bullets and barrels, accurate loading tools, high quality brass, you name it I use it.

I also drive an automobile with front wheel drive, automatic transmission, laser cruise control, and all-around air bags.

Sure, I shoot all my loads at the distances I intend to use them, at a target. Call me ignorant if you want, but I'm not stupid.

JMHO

Ray

Thanks Cheechako for bring us that copied thread, it certainly hit the nail on the head. I will use anything that will keep me sharp enough in my shooting to succeed on my yearly Elk-Deer hunting trips, and competant enough for those occasional Alaska-Canada-African treks. Good shooting.

I've used my Chronograph to determine my actual velocity, researched the BC for that bullet, and feed the information into computer programs that are concerned with all the above information as well as temperature, altitude, humidity, earth rotation, and whether or not your buddy farted and how close he is to the intended bullet flight.

That input produced has been checked with actual shooting and found by me, to be very very close to the actual results. The hardest part of this testing is to find a day when the wind is not a factor if you are shooting out to 400 yards.

Many of the know-it-all old farts here believe that anything new and modern is impossible to be better, bigger or faster than their time proven method and will tear down any change that comes into their secure realm of limited exposure.

I heard a college football coach say "bigger is not better, better is better" with regard to the size of the school he was being recruited by to leave his old school.

To not take notice of the advances of science seems to be a limiting factor for many. I think that you have to look at all the new changes and advancements to see if they are "better" for you or you can miss out on many improvements being made in our hobby. JMHO

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:
Many of the know-it-all old farts here believe that anything new and modern is impossible to be better, bigger or faster than their time proven method and will tear down any change that comes into their secure realm of limited exposure.

Isn't it ironic that these same old farts use this newfangled computer internet to voice their disdain? And what's worse, they can't see the hypocrisy!

One thing I forgot to mention. Even though the loads may be chronographed, the BCs listed by some bullet makers may not be that accurate. Some are calculated rather than measured, and BCs change with velocity. You must still shoot to verify that the drop table or trajectory software you use doesn't need some minor tweaking.

LB, I loaded for a while w/o one. When I bought my first, I was sort of let down with the velocity of many loads.

My latest chrono is a Prochrono and I use it for every range session. I use it for shotgun, MLer, CF, and archery. Very valuable tool.

You can get the PC off of ebay for around $100 and a Walmart camera tripod works fine.

Have a Good One,

Reloader