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.