It's Good to Know!

[highoctane]

Ive never really had a reason to buy a chronograph due to the fact that it never really mattered to me the velocity of my rifles. I almost never shoot past 100-125 yds and then it's only slightly more and couldn't justify spending 150 dollars on one. However, about a month ago I found one for 30 bucks so I bought it. I also found a tripod at my local Goodwill store for 4 dollars.

I got to the range today to finally "test" some loads Ive been using in my 308. One particular load consists of 45.5 grs of Varget with a 165gr Sierra Gameking. That load clocked in with an avg of 2693 fps, with an SD of 8. Accuracy was outstanding.

Another load was 46 grs of IMR-4895 with a 150 gr SST. Velocity avg 2780 with an SD of 13. Accuracy was ok. May play around with it a little more.

Final load was 44 grs of IMR-4895 and a 150 gr Nosler BT. Avg velocity was 2693 with an SD of 10. Accuracy was good.

I'm not sure what this data means in the real world. However, it does point to my reloading technique producing consistent and reliable ammo, which is what we are after.

Overall, my 30 dollar Chrono and 4 dollar tripod was money well spent! LOL

 

[Charlie-NY]

Ive never really had a reason to buy a chronograph due to the fact that it never really mattered to me the velocity of my rifles. I almost never shoot past 100-125 yds and then it's only slightly more and couldn't justify spending 150 dollars on one. However, about a month ago I found one for 30 bucks so I bought it. I also found a tripod at my local Goodwill store for 4 dollars.

I got to the range today to finally "test" some loads Ive been using in my 308. One particular load consists of 45.5 grs of Varget with a 165gr Sierra Gameking. That load clocked in with an avg of 2693 fps, with an SD of 8. Accuracy was outstanding.

Another load was 46 grs of IMR-4895 with a 150 gr SST. Velocity avg 2780 with an SD of 13. Accuracy was ok. May play around with it a little more.

Final load was 44 grs of IMR-4895 and a 150 gr Nosler BT. Avg velocity was 2693 with an SD of 10. Accuracy was good.

I'm not sure what this data means in the real world. However, it does point to my reloading technique producing consistent and reliable ammo, which is what we are after.

Overall, my 30 dollar Chrono and 4 dollar tripod was money well spent! LOL

The sales tax on my Garmin was more than that. LOL Good deal you got there.

 

[Blkram]

While my Garmin was fair bit more than that, I still consider it amongst the best investments in shooting and reloading I have ever made.
And I wish that I had gotten my old Chrony many years before I did, just to be able to see what I was actually getting out of the factory ammo and my handloading back in the day.

 

[Ralt71]

After getting a Chrono, I don't think I can go back to my old way of reloading anymore lol. I just recently sold my Garmin C1 Xero to a buddy and sprung for the C2 Xero.. which now has me looking at Garmin watches that come with AB already loaded in them to match the Chrono.. I guess it's only money haha.

 

[Blkram]

After getting a Chrono, I don't think I can go back to my old way of reloading anymore lol. I just recently sold my Garmin C1 Xero to a buddy and sprung for the C2 Xero.. which now has me looking at Garmin watches that come with AB already loaded in them to match the Chrono.. I guess it's only money haha.

Interesting...what are the upgrades in the C2?
And what is AB?

 

[highoctane]

After getting a Chrono, I don't think I can go back to my old way of reloading anymore lol. I just recently sold my Garmin C1 Xero to a buddy and sprung for the C2 Xero.. which now has me looking at Garmin watches that come with AB already loaded in them to match the Chrono.. I guess it's only money haha.

Can't take it with you. You might as well spend it because once you die I can guarantee someone else will spend it for you.

 

[RiverRider]

The best reason of all for a handloader to own and use a chronograph is to get a reasonable guess as to whether or not you're keeping pressures within the bounds of sanity. What were long regarded as "pressure signs" just are not adequate. Many who have developed loads and used them "safely" for years have been surprised that they had been shooting loads generating well north of 70 kpsi when they sent sample loads to labs for testing. If you're not using pressure measuring equipment the next best thing is to use velocities as a tool to try and keep it shiny side up.

 

[Ralt71]

Interesting...what are the upgrades in the C2?
And what is AB?

The C2 you can pause a session, then come back to it. So if you are testing 3 rifles at once, you can pause a session grab another rifle or two, shoot those then come back to your session with rifle one and pick up where you left off. This was the biggest selling point for me. no one stringing three or four sessions together manually to see my overall for a 20 shot group with 5 shots and a total cool down between them.
The second piece is you can broadcast your session to a connected device live as well as a Garmin smart watch. I can now set my chrono up and not have it in eye sight, or set my chrono up, stream to my ipad set aside and watch chrono data while another shooter is active and compare POA in real time.

Is it worth making the change, maybe not. Is it convenient enough.. absolutely.