I was going to post a question about how bullet velocity was measured before the invention of the modern bullet chronograph, but found my answer with some quick research. A ballistic pendulum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_pendulum

Wasn't bullet drop also used to measure velocity?

quote:

Originally posted by 303Guy:
Wasn't bullet drop also used to measure velocity?

The ballistic pendulum, when operated competently, was amazingly accurate.

Velocity can be measured very accurately from bullet drop -- so long as you have a vacuum in which to shoot the bullet. Since it is impossible to calculate the ballistic coefficient of a given projectile fired in the atmosphere without first knowing its velocity, calculating velocity by bullet drop is a chicken/egg problem. In other words, the ballistic pendulum had to come first.