Is a chronograph a must have?

I've been asked if a fellow shooter can shoot through my chrono . I say no but I'll shot your rifle through it . That's been about 4 to 6 times and not once did I think the rifle might blow up on me . Now that's all I'll think about and likely will say no from now on .
 
Don, I found it at the gunshow in Portland, OR. The guy at one of the tables had several cans of it and he only wanted $8 a can for it. I kinda knew it would give top velocities in my 270 Winchester, so I figured I'd try it out and just in case I ended up liking it, I bought a couple of cans. The cans looked brand-new even though they had to have been at least 30 years old, since that powder was discontinued quite a while ago. Turns out that buying those two 400-gram cans was a big mistake; I should have bought it all! With that powder I get the best accuracy at 300 yards and the most power; 150 grain Nosler Partitions running right at 3,000 fps, 5 shots sub MOA at 300. Now, if I see N205 at the gunshow, and it looks good, and smells right, I'm interested.
 
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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I had a feeling I was going to have to follow up on my original statement :p I deserve it. No, I've never run into that specific situation. If I did, I'd have a conversation with the guy to gather info as to why their ammo sux so bad. At which point, I'd likely offer some handloading pointers. What would not likely happen is those rounds getting near my chronograph.

A little more info about this:

First, it's a rare event. I think it has happened three or four times in the last four years. Second, at no time was the ammo anything other than just range shooters - nothing extraordinarily hot. Third, thinking back on it, a couple times, it was factory ammo - the person was just curious how fast they were going through their gun. One time, it was a guy with a rifle (I was shooting pistol at the time) with his handloads. I'm not a rifle guy, so I let him do the shooting. What was common to all these events is that I evaluated the situation before proceeding.
 
Finally used mine only to learn that my estimated guess on velocity was spot on based on the figures I got from my reloading manuals.

I guessed 1200fps with my home rolled 9mm's consisting of 6.7gr of HS-6 under a 115gr Montana Gold FMJ........I got... Yup. 1200fps avg

I guessed 1800+fps for 180gr factory .44mag out of my Super Blackhawk 'Sweet Sixteen". What did I get?.........1816avg.
 
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My experience was just the opposite once. I was expecting 1050-1100 fps and I got 1275 fps average.

Another couple of items a chrono will give you is Extreme Spread and Standard Deviation. A lot of times these numbers mean more to me than just velocity alone.

Sumpin' else to consider: how often does factory ammo say it is going 2800 fps and the chrono shows it is only going 2650. That can make a hit or miss difference at even 300 yds.
 
Finally used mine only to learn that my estimated guess on velocity was spot on based on the figures I got from my reloading manuals.

I guessed 1200fps with my home rolled 9mm's consisting of 6.7gr of HS-6 under a 115gr Montana Gold FMJ........I got... Yup. 1200fps avg

I guessed 1800+fps for 180gr factory .44mag out of my Super Blackhawk 'Sweet Sixteen". What did I get?.........1816avg.
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When it comes to pistol handloads, I can make an argument that a chronograph isn't as important unless you are trying to make a minimum load that meets the recoil requirements for competition.
Since there are other ways to read pressure besides velocity, then it isn't necessary for safety, though it can help. Also, since pistols are short range guns, you can dope it easily at nearly any outdoor range out to a practical pistol distance.
Finally, most folks do not chase accuracy down to the 1/4 moa with a handgun and so single digit extreme spreads isn't usually a goal.


Another important point, is the relative vs nominal relationship between manual published velocities and actual. If the manual is +/- 5% with any gun for instance, then a 1000 fps pistol round would be 950-1050....not too big of a deal provided you aren't over pressure.

But with a 3000 fps rifle round +/- 5% would be 2850-3150...300 fps which is a lot, especially at longer ranges.
 
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