1) A person might not NEED a chronograph to reload, but they also don’t NEED to reload, don’t NEED to shoot at all. However, I personally find all of the above to be pretty damned nice to have in my life. I‘m coming up on 25 years of reloading, and I didn’t use a chronograph for about the first 10 - today, I own 3 chronographs and consider them a critical part of my kit. I did all of the same types of shooting I do now when I didn’t have a chronograph, but if my house burned down tonight and I started over tomorrow, a chrony would be high on my list.
2) I’ve never caused a car accident, but I wear my seat belt - because accidents happen. It’s not really productive to play the “I don’t understand how someone could be so stupid to shoot their chrony” card. Around 40 million Americans regularly use tobacco products, people do stupid things ON PURPOSE with high regularity, so we can’t really condemn folks for slipping on ice from time to time. The opportunity to accidentally shoot your chronograph isn’t substantial enough that I would say a person should not buy a shoot-through type - but it’s good advice to consider which brands replace the unit at low to no cost, and which brands don’t. I’ve never shot my chronograph, but I DID have to have one replaced once when a big wind gust knocked over my weighted tripod - apparently not weighted enough - and my chrony broke when it crashed to the ground. CE replaced it, no issues, only cost a little for shipping.
3) The mission dictates the kit. If long range shooting and hunting are involved, or any competition, especially those with speed limits or power factor standards, then a chronograph is highly valuable, even considered required. Whether you own it, rent it, or borrow it, you’ll need it. If you’re plinking 38 specials in your backyard, you won’t.
4) When someone says they only reload for 2 cartridges, a few red flags go up. First questions are: a) How much are they really shooting? and b) Which cartridges - are they table fare or boutique/wildcats? Both of these are serving to ask the real question: c) Do they really need to reload at all? If they’re not shooting high volume and only shooting relatively common cartridges, then they likely are wasting money to reload. If they’re shooting high volume, then budget goes out the window and they should be running a progressive press, and wouldn’t benefit from a chronograph at all - do load development one time and then load a million rounds. If they’re shooting a boutique cartridge, even at low volume, they would need/want to reload, but may not benefit from a chronograph, again, because they can do one load work up and then load that forever.
5) If load development and hand loading (not reloading) is your hobby, then a chronograph is invaluable. If you’re working up a lot of specialty loads for these two cartridges to accomplish different tasks, or enjoy diving into data for different loads, then the chrony data is great.
6) I have had multiple chronographs: Oehler 35, CE ProChrono Digital, Pact chrony/shot timer, Chrony Beta and F1, Magnetospeed Sporter & V3, and the LabRadar. I have shot over the Caldwell units extensively with other shooters. Currently, I only keep the ProChrono Digital, Magnetospeed V3, and the LabRadar. The LabRadar is ridiculously expensive and would be wasted for a budget reloader who is only reloading 2 cartridges. The V3 is awesome for rifles, but is also expensive, and doesn’t work for most handguns - same for the sporter except NO handguns. The ProChrono is cheap, versatile, and it works great for the money, and will for years. On a budget, the ProChrono is the only one I would put money into. A LabRadar would be a terrible investment for our OP.
7) Consider the value of the products you’re buying in your actual process. Personally, in the year 2020, with a limited budget, I would say a chronograph is money better spent for most 2 cartridge reloaders than having the same ~$100 sank into 3 reloading manuals. So much data is available for free online, and forums like this are great sources to ask for a photo of one specific page. Equally, if a guy is casually reloading for two cartridges - as a long time reloader AND a professional process technology developer - I’d suggest money spent on check weights would be more wasted than it would be on a chronograph. Accuracy to a standard is less critical than repeatability, and any of the name brand gear out there will be more than reliable enough for what we’re doing in the reloading room. I have around $7,000 in weighing/massing equipment on my bench - even with the ability to measure down to the kernel, I see very little value in certified check weights. There might be a half or dozen things of higher value than a chronograph, for example, any of the production process tools like dies, press, trays, powder funnel, etc, but for load development and analytics, the chronograph holds a lot of value. I could personally support saving money by buying Lee dies instead of RCBS or Hornady to put that difference towards a chrony. I’d rather have a chrony and use a powder drop and hand trickler instead of an electronic powder dispenser, if it came down to choosing by cost (and that’s saying something, as I HATE loading without an automated dispenser).
