Do I Know Enough To Use A Chronograph?

[rideold]

I've been reloading for a few years now (30-06 and 6.5CM). To date I have only followed published recipes with the exception of the primer....because, you know, they were hard to find for a while. I have approached the primer change by loading a ladder and stopping at the first pressure signs. At what point in my reloading learning does a chronograph become useful? At what point do I know enough to even use one? Thoughts?

 

[RagnCajn]

Knowing the velocity is always useful. Velocity and pressure are related so if you are getting significantly higher velocities than published data, you could be getting over pressure with little to no evidence on the brass or from the function of the gun.

As far as reloading knowledge needed to use one, I don't know that that even factors in. Chronos provide knowledge that is useful regardless of reloading experience. Even if you weren't reloading they provide useful data you don't otherwise know.

 

[Okie_Poke]

Knowing the velocity is always useful. Velocity and pressure are related so if you are getting significantly higher velocities than published data, you could be getting over pressure with little to no evidence on the brass or from the function of the gun.

As far as reloading knowledge needed to use one, I don't know that that even factors in. Chronos provide knowledge that is useful regardless of reloading experience. Even if you weren't reloading they provide useful data you don't otherwise know.

I agree with this. I rarely go to the range without mine now. But I would caution you against buying the cheapest chronograph you can find just so you have one. I used a Caldwell with bunny ears for years. It worked---most of the time---but it was finicky about how it was set up and lighting conditions and it wasn't super repeatable. It missed a lot of shots and I often wondered if it was giving me accurate data. If you can't spring for a magnetospeed or one of the new doppler chronographs, I'd just wait until you can. I now have the Garmin and love the thing, but it's definitely spendy.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I don’t shoot reloads without a chrono. I bought a Caldwell chrono when I first started years ago. Still using that same chrono. It has worked very well for me.

 

[Koda_]

At what point in my reloading learning does a chronograph become useful? At what point do I know enough to even use one? Thoughts?

When you want to shoot past 300yds: holdover, terminal velocity, group size, pressure.
If youve been reloading for 2 years you have enough knowledge to factor in velocity data.

 

[TaperPin]

I've been reloading for a few years now (30-06 and 6.5CM). To date I have only followed published recipes with the exception of the primer....because, you know, they were hard to find for a while. I have approached the primer change by loading a ladder and stopping at the first pressure signs. At what point in my reloading learning does a chronograph become useful? At what point do I know enough to even use one? Thoughts?

As a practical matter, it’s nice to have conformation your velocities are what load data suggests - an extra slow or fast velocity is not always obvious based on case pressure signs. If you enjoy shooting a lot and can test loads at long distance you don’t really need a gizmo to tell you the velocity.

With the variety of brass available from rather soft to harder brands like Lapua, reading pressure signs isn’t always straightforward - velocity is just another clue that’s nice to have. Getting a micrometer that reads in .0001” and recording case head expansion is also a nice to have clue.

The main reason I’d suggest a chrono is just good old plain fun. It’s interesting to see how changes in a load translate to velocity. It’s also fun to see what factory loads are actually shooting.

If you like to get a single load and shoot that for the life of a gun, a chrono will get very little use. Any model that requires a tripod and careful fiddly setup will also rarely get used.

 

[wind gypsy]

Pressure signs can be misleading. A chrono is another big indicator of pressure and is useful in that regard.

 

[wapitibob]

I haven’t needed one yet.

 

[Grillnugz]

Didn’t use one for years due to traditional style chronos being finicky to set up and variable due to weather/lighting, etc. I bought a garmin chronograph and never go to the range without it.

If you’re loading to maximize performance, a chronograph is extremely useful.

 

[JFK]

You don’t need one, but nice to have. I mostly use mine when initially starting a new load with a target muzzle velocity in mind to achieve down range velocities that I’m looking for. You can quickly run a solver and see if you are where you want to be with regard to velocity. I’ll shoot 10 or so to see how they group and also get an average velocity, gauge if ES is decent, etc. It helps to confirm pressure or let you know if you have some room to bump up charge weight. Once I have a load worked out and everything dialed in the chrono stays at home.

 

[digger]

Get a garmin.
I am the opposite of many of you,,,an early adopter.
Just get one and then you can really start to learn things about YOUR guns

 

[Steve300xcw]

Really depends what you are doing. I went a long time not knowing or caring how fast things were going. Load up till ya hit pressure and if the accuracy was good you were done.

If I hadnt started dialing scopes and tossing lead at rocks a long ways out there, I still wouldnt own a chronograph.

 

[Vern400]

You're getting great comments here. There's nothing wrong with working up a load that shoots great for you, and going hunting. As long as you keep your shots where you don't need to dial elevation much.. and of course you should always practice at your personal maximum range for hunting.

As you get past 200, 300 yd depending on your cartridge, everything really matters. You can make your own dope chart my actually shooting. But if you want to take a ballistics table, put in all the variables, dial the scope and make a good shot I can tell you factory ammunition rarely makes the velocity they publish. Some does, much doesn't.

When I'm reloading, I watch extreme spread and standard deviation with the chronograph. I have gotten some excellent groups at 100 yards with ammunition that has large extreme spread, but I don't think you'll do that at 400 or 500 yards. The math says you won't. Now, if my ES or SD is bad I keep working on the load because I know it won't work for me at longer ranges.

I shoot out past 500 yd pretty frequently and that's not even long range to a lot of people. But I shoot most of my deer at 35 yards here in the southeast.