Is a chronograph a must have?

The only thing a chronograph tells you is how fast your bullets are actually going. They can also show you the fps difference between your fastest and slowest shot with a given load are and the chance of hitting close to the average velocity of a given load.
They can't tell you if your pressure is too high or if you can increase your powder charge safely. The books are the best source for load information and the book velocities are rarely close to what you get from your gun.
If you need to know the actual velocity of your load then a chronograph is essential. Otherwise they are an expense that serves no real purpose.
 
I've been reloading for 9 years, and own a chronograph for 8 of those years. In the 36k+ rounds I've loaded I never actually chronographed a single one.

I've created several match-grade loads and i never thought to chrono them because they were just fine the way they are. It seems charge and seat depth consistency is far more important than exactly how fast the bullet goes. Quickload & reloading manual's velocity estimates are sufficient for calculating elevation and windage adjustments for different distances.

I would say a chronograph is a cool gadget that is nice to have but not an absolute need for regular reloading. I really bought one because midwayusa gave me a b-day special discount on top of another discount, got a F1 Shooting Chrony for $70 shipped. Seemed better use of money than another mosin...

Not to say I don't have anything to chrono, I've chrono'd all my airsoft guns an even my muzzleloaders, but what i really want to chrono is my more exotic handloads with sabot bullets. Problem is, the sabot is a 40 grain piece of plastic moving some 2,500 fps separate path of the bullet and I do not want that colliding with my chrono!
 
How did we ever get along without them?
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I can get along without most of my stuff. I can make ammo that goes bang and is 3 moa or less with a dipping spoon for powder, a small single stage press, dies and just use a good tape measure to get within 1/10" ... Seating bullets deeper and deeper until the thing chambers ...Or set it up off a factory round. Would it be safe? Maybe, maybe not. Would it be accurate? Depends on what you call accurate.

My point? That you can make an excuse to not own a lot of equipment folks use for reloading. And sure there are guys with 75 years experience or something who have done it a certain way forever and don't think fuel injection helps since carburetors worked just fine . But the bar for accuracy has moved narrower these days and if you want to take full advantage of what you, your rifle, and modern propellants/ bullets can do, a lot of these "gadgets" help.

Accuracy is the culmination of a lot of little things.
 
I don't own a chronograph either, but I have wanted one for a long time.

I just can't see owning a regular one that I am going to shoot a hole through, and the other options are so dang pricey, but I would love to have the Labradar.

I keep thinking I am going to buy one, but then find lots of other (better?) things to spend my money on.
 
Oh, no.
We've gone to 9mm vs .45 Auto ... err, fuel injection vs carburetion.

For the record: I love fuel injection. It is superior for fuel delivery and management.
But, when I have a fuel delivery problem in the middle of nowhere, I can't pull a fuel injector or ECM out of my rectum to get going again; whereas the 4MC Quadra-Jet on my '70 Nova, even if not 'fixable' at the time, can be made to work with a 1/2" wrench, a screwdriver (or T25 Torx driver), and some zip-ties.
For the ability to Jerry-rig, I pay with lower efficiency.


And, in some ways, I can see parallels to that in not having a chronograph.
EFI uses O2 sensors to read fuel/air ratio. (Chronograph.)
With a carb, one can 'read' the car -- sound, performance, hesitation, sputtering, backfiring, heat generation and dissipation, spark plug fouling/wetting, exhaust color and smell, condensation in the tail pipe, fuel consumption, etc. (No chronograph.)

If you need to know how much drop you have at 500 yards, without a chronograph to allow calculating it based on velocity and BC, you just go out and shoot to see where the point of impact is.
If you need to check the air/fuel ratio in the secondary bore(s) of a carburetor, you just go out and run the thing hard and fast, and read the car.
Lacking fuel injection or a chronograph may mean more work to achieve a specific end-goal; but it doesn't mean that it is unattainable.


Some of the most enjoyable loads I've ever run were never chronographed, or only recently chronographed. I had a .220 Swift load that my father and I ran for 25+ years. It was never chronographed, but it didn't matter. We knew where it would hit, and we knew it was a safe load.

Technology can't always be relied upon, either.

This winter was quite brutal. Very cold. Lots of snow.
Every fuel-injected vehicle that I own had to be jump-started when the temperature was -20 F or colder, and the 2014 Toyota simply refused to run on a few occasions (yay for Ethanol).
Guess which vehicle always started, always worked, and was called upon at least once a week to get the other stuff going - or even to get me around?
Yep, the '70 Nova that's using a crap (recycled) battery, and a carburetor design dating to the 1950s. Blip the throttle to set the choke. Crank it. Vrooom! Burble, thump, burble...

Chronographs are a nice shortcut when they work.
But it doesn't mean that the old methods are irrelevant.
 
Chronographs are a nice shortcut when they work.
But it doesn't mean that the old methods are irrelevant.
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I totally agree with that statement. And also I appreciate you taking my carburetor vs fuel injection analogy to its logical conclusion. (I have two classic bikes that are carbureted).

The thing is though, YOU went through the necessary steps to do what a chronograph helps you do. In fact, the old method is better because it is fool proof provided you know what you are doing and account for environmentals.

But, many in the "no chronograph" crowd don't do classic doping either. Then comment on how it isn't necessary.

I'll even concede that a chronograph alone isn't enough. It gets you close but you still have to actually shoot that distance to fine tune it.

But the points I made earlier are still valid.
 
OK, I'm in. But a glass of wine beats popcorn. Of course you can do well loading without a chronograph,. And there is no practical purpose in trying yet another caliber, bullet or powder, but many of us misguided souls do. I couldn't do without my chronograph(s) any more than I could decide on a one-and-only load for my 6.5 Swede. My retirement would be shot, so to speak.
 
Commenting on this post:
They can't tell you if your pressure is too high or if you can increase your powder charge safely.
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Not to argue, as the truth in this post, is that a chronograph can't read pressure. However, if you understand that velocity and pressure are not without some correlation, you can know darn well that if your load of X-powder is giving you velocity that is well over book-maximum loads, then your pressure is way too high, even if everything else looks OK. Case in point: My 270 Winchester using 140 grain Hornady bullets with a charge of Norma N-205 powder that was, "near maximum"......Cases and primers looked fine after one firing and no loose primer pockets. But after two firings, some primer pockets were getting loose, and after three firings, loose primer pockets were becoming common. A chronograph would have given the first warning right away if it had been used. When it did get used, it revealed an average velocity of 3,285 fps. Maybe not super dangerous, but it's a point that should be backed away from.

So my view, is you don't need a chronograph to reload safely, unless you are one of those fellows that feels the need to dance on the red-line. Velocity and pressure are co-related within a given propellant. Switching to a different powder can yield higher or lower pressure at the same velocity on the one hand, while on the other hand you can have higher or lower velocity at the same pressure. The point is, if you are getting way more velocity with a given propellant and bullet than anybody's reloading manual shows for maximum loads, then your pressure is also beyond acceptable limits.

Chronographs are good for what they are good for. I don't currently have one. I reload anyway.
 
there are guys . . . who . . . don't think fuel injection helps since carburetors worked just fine.
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Carburetors work just fine. Oh, sorry. Wrong Forum :D

Back to chronographing . . .

I chronograph a lot. When I go out to my range without one, usually the RSO will make some quip asking where my chronograph is.

Probably going to chronograph this week - assuming I get around to loading my ladder of 125gn XTP's for 357 Mag, using AA#7.

Point is, at my place of loading evolution, a chronograph is indispensable. Such my not be the case with our OP. And that's okay.

Sometimes, when I'm chronoraphing, someone will come over and ask if they can chrono some rounds. If you're doing that, then it's time to get a chronograph. BTW, I happily comply - it feels good to be helpful. But most likely they don't realize they're putting me in the awkward situation of "do I let him shoot it through my chronograph, or do I chance shooting his handloads myself." Oddly, I choose the latter. (Please don't lecture me on this - I know the risks.)
 
Necessary--NO--but for the price of a Chrony or similar inexpensive brand, they are the one tool that I would not be without.

Why guess when you can be sure?
 
If loading in upper ranges, you should have a chronograph for safety factor. Reading pressure signs can indicate pressure increases, or whan pressures are ready to destroy something, not what the pressures are. If you're reloading mid range or light target loads, maybe not "necessary".

Not that I am opinionated or anything :)
 
I loaded lot of years without chronograph. I also have reloading manual from the 70's. The old Lyman # 45 goes into great detail about pressure (visual sign of pressure).

I've got copy of Speer Wildcat manual 1959. They have good article "Pressure And The Handloader" written by Jack O'Connor reprint from Outdoor Life Magazine, June 1956.

In the Speer Wildcat manual back cover shows the Speer Ballistics Calculator to use with their manual. It show how to use that for drop tables out to 1000yds.

If some think early years no interest in long range their little mistaken on that.

Seems like the Wimbledon Cup was going strong in the 60's.
 
"do I let him shoot it through my chronograph, or do I chance shooting his handloads myself." Oddly, I choose the latter.
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You're a gentleman Nick.

I hope they give you a few rounds as sighters...have you ever been asked by someone whose rounds won't group tightly, that is, the group is so big you're afraid of hitting you chrono?
 
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