Just starting to reload, do I need a chronograh?

I have been searching on a few different boards and I havent found answers to my question so I figuered I would ask here.
My eqiupment is on the way and I will probably start my first loads this weekend, would it be a wise idea to spend the money on a chronograph?

I will be reloading 45 ACP for possible IPSC, .308 for target about 300yds and out to 500+ in the near future, and .223 for target up to 300 yds.

What are the pros, cons, and alternatives for a chronograph

Thanks in advance
Jim

Yes. The chronograph is the most overlooked reloading tool. A lot of people reload, but small portion of them have one.

Get yourself the Shooting Chrony F1 (green model). It can be had for about $60 and will serve you well for the occassional load testing. The Oehler 35P is the top of the line chronograph (which for some reason, has been discontinued by Oehler just recently; perhaps new model coming out), but I don't think you'll need it (at $300) unless you do a lot of load testing.

The point of using the chronograph is to verify your loads. Not only can you see if your load is too slow or too fast, you can also verify your load when you change lots in powders, primers, bullets, and/or brass. Remember, just because you shoot X amount of Y powder from lot A, doesn't mean X amount of Y powder from lot B will result in the same velocity. So it's nice to have a chronograph to confirm issues like this.

Thats some good advise offered above. I used a Chrony for years, just this past season updated to a Oehler 35 P, great tool but the cost was closer too $400.00 with the extras.

I've been reloading for 19 1/2 years and I've never owned a chronograph.

Each barrel is different. One S&W Model 10 with a 4" barrel may give a different velocity than another S&W Model 10 with a 4" barrel. If knowing the average velocity from a specific firearm is important to you, then buy a chronograph.

I don't shoot IPSC, but you may need to know a loads velocity in order to calculate it's power factor. Someone here surely knows about that.

Just starting to reload, do I need a chronograph?

No. Lots of people reload just fine without one. I have one, but I reloaded for years without one, and rarely use it. If you stick to the data in reloading manuals, you'll be fine, by which I mean you won't blow up your guns or yourself.

You "need" a chronograph only for really refining loads for the absolute best accuracy. For 98% of your shooting needs, though, you can develop more than adequate loads without a chronograph.

A chronograph is very handy. For the calibres you list you would us one for
.45ACP - to ensure making Major Power Factor for IPSC. But you could just go by the handbooks until you get to a match that chronographs and check your ammo there. If ok, then don't change.
.223 and .308 - to enter into a ballistics program or chart to get sight settings for ranges other than where you start out. Or just shoot the guns. Set up a large target at 300 and beyond.

Hmmm, I believe I could really use one but how much I will really use it is the question. Sportsmans Guide has a F1 Chrony, which as far as I can tell will only give FPS and the rest is doing my own math for $62.00 and I have a $10.00 coupon or I found a CED Mellinium for $170.00 that does it all, puts it on my computer and also talks to me...

Man these decisions are going to make me go broke.

PS thanks for the great info and please keep it coming...


Jim

*** Just ordered the F1 and I think that should fill my needs just fine. Thanks all for the info.****

Can you load for 20 years without one and without blowing your gun up? Yes, you CAN, but no, it's not guaranteed. Only with a chronograph or other laboratory-type instruments (strain gauges, etc.) can you know where your loads really are, regardless of what the "book" says. Also, it works both ways - lets you know that Load A is 300 fps slower than Load B, and that Load B is doing exactly the book velocity, meanwhile Load C, which is 4 grains below max listed load, is running 200 fps above the listed max in your barrel, which is 4" shorter than the book's barrel...

If you don't know the above, all you really know is group sizes and whether or not it blew your gun up.

For match type shooting then a chrony will help. For following time tested recipies, or duplicating military loads its a complete waste.

If I came across one for $20 I might buy it, but I already haul enough junk to the range (guns, ammo, targets).

My eqiupment is on the way and I will probably start my first loads this weekend, would it be a wise idea to spend the money on a chronograph?

What are the pros, cons, and alternatives for a chronograph



reloading w/o a chronograph is a bad idea. the chrony will reveal a lot to you about what's going on w/ your loads.

pros- better idea of pressure and when you've reached or gone over your gun's limits, consistency of your loads, realistic expectations of terminal performance, and overall quality of your handloads vs. an experienced loader's vs factory.

cons- never done it, but i imagine shooting your chrony isn't much fun.

alternatives- none.

a good, solid starter chrony is competition electronic's pro-chrono.

Some people like myself are pretty much restricted to indoor ranges most of the time where using a chronograph is not practical but for those that have a place shoot outside often I can see where it would be a valuable and fun tool. Not a necessity if you keep your load within the specs in the data books. Even then I would stay under the maximum listed loads because each gun is different and a safe and accurate load in one can can be very different in another like model.
I would love to have one if I had a place to use it.

i consider measuring velocity an imperative. you do not need a chrono to do this, however.

but for $60, why wouldn't you?

I am really looking forward to getting the Chrony and for $60.00 it's not a big layout. I think the info will be very useful especially making a 45ACP load for compitition instead of having to guess the PF.

Man I hope I don shoot it. :neener:

Again do you NEED one, no are they nice and helpful, yeah. they are

dakotasin about sums it up.

Can you reuse cases and load ammo that goes bang without a chronograph? Yeah, may even find an accurate load, too. But without the chrongraph you are missing vital feedback.


David

Excellent advice given by the previous posters!

I handloaded for several years before springing for a chronograph. I bought an Oehler 35, without a printer.

Before I got the chrono, rifle loads were evaluated primarily for accuracy and maximum loads were approached with trepidation. Pistol loads were evaluated by function and recoil was compared to shooting similar factory loads.

Getting the chronograph was like getting glasses. All of a sudden I could see much more clearly. I knew for sure that my IPSC loads made power factor. Maximum loads were worked up much more comfortably.

Once in a while, I've run across a factory load that shoots very accurately in one of my rifles. I've found that loading the same bullet to the same velocity with a suitable powder will almost always duplicate the accuracy. Playing with the velocity a bit (without going overboard) will often improve the accuracy.

Is a chrono necessary for assembling safe, reliable, and accurate loads? No.

A chrono however can narrow the search and result in fewer rounds fired in finding that "magic" load while knowing that you are not getting too hot.

If you are a bench rest/compitition shooter than it makes sense. For the average hunter using standared loads it $60+ worth of supplies you are not gonna have.

If you get the Infra Red screens for the CED, you can use it indoors. Heck, you could even use it in the dark if you needed to. I love being able to download the data directly to my PC.

it depends on what your definition of 'is' is. i don't NEED fire insurance... i've been living in houses for 34 years and none of them have burned down == survivor bias

What makes a chrony *essential* or even *nice* to have?

Unless that piece of paper is 500+ yds out, following standard reciepies with standard components will produce standard (or at least expected) results.

Sure a bullet will be faster/slower depending on *A LOT* of things. But the average joe is gonna be just fine doing 5 round 'work up' loads and seeing where they hit. I don't even do that... I go with the a number between min/max load and shoot.

And even if you do spend days perfecting the perfect primer, bullet, AOL, grains etc setup, the next batch of powder will be different, and you will have to start all over again. That simply does not sound like fun. But if sweating bullet velocity and calculating terminal ballistics is your thing... really, have at it.

Just don't say that a chrony is REQUIRED to reload.

And even if you do spend days perfecting the perfect primer, bullet, AOL, grains etc setup, the next batch of powder will be different, and you will have to start all over again.

That's exactly the reason why you DO want a chrongraph.

Unless that piece of paper is 500+ yds out, following standard reciepies with standard components will produce standard (or at least expected) results.

Except when it doesn't.

David

The purpose of a chronograph is to disappoint and frustrate new handloaders ("Why aren't my handloads as fast as those in the manual?") They also serve to rattle the confidence of hunters ("This bullet is supposed to go 3,100 fps, but my handloads only push it to 3050 fps. Will it really kill that bull elk I have in my sights right now?"

Chronographs are fun to play with, but you have to be pretty deep into reloading before you actually need on.

+1 Everything that V.H. said.
It's pretty easy to spot a handloader quoting velocities from a loading manual rather than quoting from what he/she actually read on a chronograph.:rolleyes:
Then again, fantasies can be nice. And all the deer I shot with my old 30-06 in the years before I owned a chronograph sure didn't know my bullets were traveling 150 fps slower than I fantasized they were.:)

I loaded for years when the only chronographs were in ballistics labs. When the Chrony came out, first Chronograph for the unwash, underpaid masses, I bought it immediately. PCs had just been invented and there was no internet. I bought a Timex Sinclair 16K computer and wrote an amazingly accurate exterior ballistics program for it which also had a drop table calculator where you could enter your zero range (ie 250 yards) and it would plot the bullets flight over a distance of 500 yards, tell you how high or low the bullet hit. You also had to input the sight height above bore. Anyway, that was way cool and I went about chronographing, calculating standard deviations, mean velocity/energies at muzzle and various ranges, and drop tables for all my loads. I had a merry old time.

Now days, you can buy or even download FREE off the net good exterior ballistics programs. This sort of "modeling" was not possible when I watched my uncle and grandpa in their reloading room at a young age and bothered them to get involved. I usually got case trimming duties. :rolleyes: :D

Now, if I get a new Ohler, I'd like a strain gauge on it. That measures chamber pressure by some magical method. You have to sand the bluing off a spot on the chamber of the gun for the gauge sensor, only bad thing, and glue or epoxy it on. My Chrony still works, though, 20+ years after I bought it and it's still accurate. I use it on occasion. I'm pretty settled on rifle loads, but I test handgun loads now and then if and when I buy a new gun. It's amazing how we all worked in the dark back in the old days.:D