Chronograph necessary?

I don't have one, but there are times that I wish I did. Today, for instance, I was working up loads for my 223 with the 55 gr Nosler BT and H335 powder. The Lyman 49th, which I use a lot, showed a range of 24ish to 27 grains max. The Nosler 7th showed a range of 23 to 25 grains (going on memory). That's the largest diff in manuals that I've run across. I ran the loads up to 25 grains and was starting to flatten primers a bit, so I think I'll go with the Nosler info. Would have been nice to know velocities on this workup. I'll probably get one sooner or later. Maybe.

If I was in to long distance shooting, you can bet I'd have a chronograph. Got to have velocities to know your drops.
 
Let me put it this way. How many bullets went down range without the benefit of a chronograph? Since cartridges were first developed millions of round have been fired without the benefits of electronic measurements. Is it a nice tool to have, of course. If you are having problems with load development it might be a very useful tool. If you load at the higher ends of the charts it might be very useful to keep you safe. If you load at the lower end of the charts it might not hold a lot of value. Would it make a difference with the way you load? We can't answer that for you. For me not so much I'm not loading up to the max load very often. Paper doesn't seem to care if the bullet went x fps or x+200 fps. Iron targets fall just as well with a slow round as a fast one if properly hit.
Some people like the big recoil some are not into arthritis so slow is fine.
 
Necessary, no. Useful, yes. I use a Pro Chrono for help with load development. After I get a specific load worked up to where I want it, I put it aside until I want to work up a new load.
 
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Having a chronograph allows me to measure the velocity of my ammunition, something that I could not do before cheap chronographs. It allows me to tailor loads to the weapon. I see patterns that I did not see before, not to say the patterns are actually there, but I can claim that I am making sense of them.

Being able to measure velocity cheaply has shown a number of things. One is that velocities vary a lot, and that surprisingly accurate loads vary a lot in velocity. We used to think that a 3000 fps load was 3000 fps in every rifle. Not so, depending on the rifle, it can be a 2800 fps load.

Before cheap chronographs, velocities were basically unknowable . Ignorance is a Universe where gunwriter’s thrive. There used to be all sorts of arguments in print about velocity, because, more velocity was always better than less velocity. You can still find traces of these life and death arguments, such as the theoretical increase in velocity that double convex shoulders gave to certain cartridge cases. Or “Improved” cartridges. Ignorance made for interesting times in the Wildcat era. Creators of wildcats would send bullet drop data to their favorite gunwriter who then published the results. They would make inferences on velocity based on the bullet drops, faster being better, and tout the technical brilliance of the various features of the wildcat round.

All of this bosh came to an end when cheap chronographs came out and shooters found that the hype was unsupportable, insignificant, or just not worth the trouble.

Those were fun days.
 
I am thinking about a chronograph, but I mostly shoot indoors.
Can I set up a chronograph at an indoors range?
You would probably need a tripod and set it up in no mans land
in front of the table. Or could you put it on the table in front of you?
 
I don't have one yet, but I think that they are important. They will help you find your maximum effective load. Meaning at a certain point you will only gain a few more fps even if you are not at the maximum safe load. So with a chronograph you will know at what point you may as well stop adding powder to your load. It is also useful because the load data can be pretty off in your gun.
 
john0011, you may find a chrono to be very troublesome indoors. As you said... screens are placed out forward of the line, so your success there depends on your range and their rules and enforcement. And you can get a chrono where the controls are back with you even if the screens are well forward.

But indoors, the real problem is light. They do not work under fluorescent lighting, typical of indoor ranges. They make portable clip-on incandescent lights to try and head off that problem but eventually it would look like a Rube Goldberg sitting down range.

We might find that -MANY- of us can agree that a chrono seems to be far more useful for rifle loads where bullet velocity and bullet drop downrange is a large factor in your use of the ammo as compared to handguns... where most of us simply need a load that properly operates the handgun. (Most--not always)
 
I would think speed is one of the last things that would determine safety in reloads. It can contribute but, certainly far from the defining variable. with that said, I think it would be a great tool to have when switching lot numbers on Powders, after you run through a brick of primers and are starting on a new one, etc...... to ensure that you get the speed needed for that loading to match accuracy of the previous components.

With that said, I don't own one and, even though I am planning on buying one soon, I have reloaded for over 30 years without one. I'm kinda of scared though as I'm the guy that once I settle on a vehicle, gun, bow, or anything that one uses to define themselves, I look for ways of maximizing it. And, I know the first time I shot one of my reloads through it and it was poking along, I'd start fooling with something that ain't broke. God Bless
 
Necessary no, helpful yes. I would not dare loading past book max unless you have a chronograph to guide you. It will tell you if your are within factory spec and how consistently your ammo is leaving your gun. It's hard to get information about how a load shoots by putting 5 shots on paper. Shooting 5 rounds through a chronograph you have a pretty good idea if the load is worth developing or one you want to change/abandon.
 
For Long range it is needed. The published data that you read has no bearing on your rifle unless you are shooting the same rifle and the same elevation. If you don't know your bullet speed and you are zeroed at 300 yards, How many clicks is it to zero at 500 or 600 or 1000?. They have come way down in price, Heck a decent die costs more than a Chrony now.
 
The traditional pressure signs you speak of don't show up until you are WAY over pressure.
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That's one way to look at it. Certainly the safe, and modern way to look at it.

The old school approach of not worrying as much about what the reading is, as what the gun does, also works.

"Over pressure" only has meaning in relation to a standard. Industry standards are just that, something safe throughout the industry. Safe in EVERY possible combination of gun and ammo components. With the liability laws and lawyers today, it can't be any other way.

I got a chronograph decades ago, and used it extensively, for a while, over a wide variety of guns, calibers and loads.

I found some of the information very interesting. A chronograph can show you if you have a fast gun, a slow gun, or an average gun. But not much else.

What I found was that my velocities tracked consistently with the published figures within the range of variation normally found due to using a different gun, and different components than the published tests.

I've seen 3 different guns, same caliber & barrel length shooting the same ammunition give 100fps difference in MV. Gun#1 (the slowest) had extreme pressure signs, flattened, cratered primers, and cases that had to be driven out with a rod and hammer. Gun #2 (50fps faster) did show slightly flattened primers and cases ejected normally. Gun#3 (100fps faster than #1) showed no pressure signs, and functioned completely normally.

What the gun and ammo actually do in the chamber, and at the target matter more than what number the chronograph gives you when the bullet flies over it.

Chrono velocities might be a predictor of pressures, but they are absolutely not an accurate indication of what that pressure is actually DOING in your gun.

That load with the smallest velocity spread might be the most accurate one in your gun, likely is, but you won't know that without shooting it. And, you might just be surprised to find a load with "worse" numbers actually giving you a better group. Likely? no, but possible? Absolutely!

Every gun and ammo component combination is an individual. Most perform in a very, very similar range, which is why loading data is useful. But some combinations are drastically outside the norm. And a chronograph ONLY measures velocity.

I realize its not data from a study, or a lab, only my observed results from an unusual situation, but I did see it, so it can happen, a one gun showing lower velocity readings but higher pressure effects than another.

"Safe" pressure is relative to the gun being used. Industry limits are not the limits of safety, they are limits that are safe. This is not the same thing.
 
I have been loading for about 40 years. At one time 35 years ago a good friend let me use his croney for a few weeks. Although I didn't see a big advantage.

If I were planing to shoot 1000 Yds. or shoot bench rest computation the perhaps I would get one.

I haven't had any problems out shooting the local challengers. Although I don't look for them. I can get those 5 shot 3/8-1/4" groups at times. I find that learning to tune my loads is only part of the fun. The other is tuning my factory rifle to shoot better.

If I didn't have a family to raise... and hooks to sharpen. oh yea LOL
I probably would have a croney.
 
First, I shoot mostly revolvers... I like to know two things about my loads... Velocity and consistency. Velocity because it helps when shooting handgun rounds at a distance and how hard hitting it is going to be if used as a varmint/hunting round. Also shooting over a chronograph gives you load consistency. An accurate load will always be consistent, but a consistent load may not always be accurate (alluded to above). Some guns just don't like a certain load... As we know if a load leaves the barrel at different speeds it is going to impact at different points on a target and spread gets worse the farther out your target is. If your max distance is 7-10 yards, disregard what I said as 120fps extreme spread (ES) won't matter. But at 50 yards, it could be the a big difference if trying to shoot a 12G shotgun shell off a stand or hit a 1-2" bullseye.... Depends on your shooting style... Knocking down steel? Probably not a biggie.... But I like accurate loads, not just good enough loads. Therefore, I'll always test my loads over a chronograph. Tells me a lot. Shoot at least 15-20 rounds over it, to get a good feel for the consistency and accuracy.
 
I think a chronograph is essential for reloading, especially if one is looking for top speed along with accuracy.

Powder burn efficiently within a certain pressure range. Go below or above and you run into problems. You've all heard to never go below a publish minimum with slow burning powder as there may be a pressure excursion.
Starting with a beginning load with powder X, and working up to the max load and choreographing the load and plotting each charge/velocity on a graph will show how close each charge raises the velocity. As you approach the published max the speed may continue to rise in a linear cash. But what it the next increase shows little or no gain in speed? Or maybe it's a massive jump in speed. If either occur, you have reached the max load for that rifle. Drop the charge at least one full grain and go hunting. I apologize for not being more detailed in explaining this but I have to change clothes and leave for evening church services. :eek: Yeah, I go to church. Seriously if anyone has a question I'll come back to this. I don't have time to put down a few examples.
Paul B.
 
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