Archery
I competed indoors and outdoors from age 4 till I started college. I added 3-D as a teenager, I competed in what I am pretty sure was the first 3-D shoot in WY. It was in Sundance, WY and it was BYOT(Bring your own target) this shoot happened before there were any commercially...
That is exactly the way I have been doing it. I shoot break action single shot pistols so I have never tried the Hornady tool. I just close the action on a spit case with the bullet long, I usually measure 3 to 5 times to make sure I am getting a good reading.