Chronograph needed for reloading?

[FearNoWind]

I've been reloading for over fifty years. I shot both rifle and pistol competition for over thirty years, reloading my own ammo and collecting a lot of trophies, without a chronograph. So my response to "is it needed for reloading", would be no.
I didn't apply a chronograph to my reloading practices until my competition challenges stretched out beyond 500 yards. That's because it adds one more element (velocity) to my calculations for determining the degree of reliability for a shot placed beyond that distance. At 1000 yards a chronograph is, IMO, essential because over that distance there are more environmental factors affecting bullet travel over a longer period of time and a consistent velocity can be very important for making those shots count.
However, if you're going to add a chronograph to your collection of reloading toys, I'd strongly recommend the MagnetoSpeed. Which model best suits your needs is something best left to you.

 

[RMulhern]

Bull Schitt galore!!

 

[Tnwhip]

No, they are not needed. You can work around not having one. I have had to find where my rifle hits at the ranges I shoot. It is nice to know how fast your bullets are going and it helps figuring your drops if you have a good Chrono. I do not have a good one and I just shot my targets at each 100yds and marked them on my drop sheet. I knew something was not right. It just did not compute. I have an old Pro Chrono that I bought back in the early 90s and a friend has a new Master Chrony. Last weekend we put them back to back and The Master Chrony was 200 fps faster. I sure would like to get a MagnetoSpeed. Maybe later on when the V3s come out. I have another friend that is wanting to buy a Chrono and I am trying my best to get him to buy a MagnetoSpeed " So I can Borrow it" but he doesn't want to spend that much. I keep telling him they are more accurate. He thinks the $100 Chronos are good enough.

 

[Tnwhip]

No, they are not needed. You can work around not having one. I have had to find where my rifle hits at the ranges I shoot. It is nice to know how fast your bullets are going and it helps figuring your drops if you have a good Chrono. I do not have a good one and I just shot my targets at each 100yds and marked them on my drop sheet. I knew something was not right. It just did not compute. I have an old Pro Chrono that I bought back in the early 90s and a friend has a new Master Chrony. Last weekend we put them back to back and The Master Chrony was 200 fps faster. I sure would like to get a MagnetoSpeed. Maybe later on when the V3s come out. I have another friend that is wanting to buy a Chrono and I am trying my best to get him to buy a MagnetoSpeed " So I can Borrow it" but he doesn't want to spend that much. I keep telling him they are more accurate. He thinks the $100 Chronos are good enough.

I talked to him a little while ago and we are going to go in together and get the V3 when they come out.

 

[Bigcat_hunter]

Are chronographs need for reloading?

No

Are they needed for long range shooting?

Yes

I can't believe this thread made it past one page.

 

[Timeout]

There has to be a ton of old Chrony's out there. Find one of those for sale cheap to use with your pistols. As for your rifles, save up until you can afford the new Magneto Speed that is coming out soon. The original style chronographs will drive you nuts with errors when working up loads. The Magneto Speed eliminates all of that. Buy once, cry once. You most ordinarily get what you pay for. Life is too short for poor chronographs. lightbulb

 

[jsthntn247]

Hey guys,
I started reloading for my rifles and pistols this year. Pistols for savings and rifles for accuracy. So far all has gone well(knock on wood) but I tend to stay on the low side of charges in my Nosler manual to be safe(for now). What are your thoughts on a chronograph? Do I need one or is it simply a nice to have? I dont shoot extreme long range or competition (not now at least). Farthest I shoot is 300-400 yards so when I stated I am loading for accuracy in my rifles...I am not talking EXTREME one ragged hole accuracy at 100 yards...just want to be under 1MOA in my rifles. So what say you...is a chronograph needed or simply a nice to have? I know people have reloaded for decades with out one but im talking now. Also, If I end up buying one...which one? Again, I dont need anything fancy...just something that works and is dependable...hopefully in the ~100 dollar range.

Based on your needs, you don't need a chrony. For 400 yards and less speed is not needed and a middle, low pressure node is all that's needed. Ladder and Ocw is all that you need to learn about.

 

[Engineering101]

Bigeclipse

From reading through this thread it is obvious that there are many things to consider about chronographs but it all comes down to a few central ideas:

1. Do you need to know the velocity of the loads you are shooting? If you are hand loading to hunt out to 400 yards, a chrono is not necessary (but it would be informative). If you want to go farther than that, owning a chronograph is the easiest means to an end.

2. If you decide you need a chrono, then buy the chrono with the characteristics you consider important? (Since you indicated the Magnetospeed won't work with your pistols I'll drop that from further consideration.)

Clearly the most important consideration is measuring bullet velocities reliably? For all but the Magneto speed, you play a role in making that happen. First off you have to read the directions and use it properly. Mostly you have put it far enough away, align it perfectly, put the bullet through it in the sweet spot and keep it out of lighting conditions that causes it to misread. It isn't as hard as it sounds.

It is unfortunate but some chronographs are only good at doing and impression of a real chronograph. They look and act like a chrono but they don't actually read velocities accurately and repeatedly. That has caused a lot of the pain and confusion you heard expressed in this thread. Those chronographs tend to be the cheap ones though not always.

The CED and the Pro Chrony Digital are the ones I would consider among the conventional chronographs and of those two the best value in my opinion is the Pro Chrony Digital. I have the CED and it works every time all the time (because I know how to use it.) My nephew has the Pro Chrony Digital which also works great.

If you decide to get a chrono, also get a heavy tripod to put it on and a bore sight laser to use to align it. A chrono that is misaligned will always read low. 10 degrees misalignment in both pitch and yaw will cause a 3,000 fps bullet to read as 2,900 fps.

 

[Pdvdh]

I've watched guys shoot over an Oehler one day and then same load another day and get really frustrated with the numbers coming out of the darn thing.

I've watched those same sort of guys shoot their chronographs, rather than shoot over them.

 

[mrultramag]

Pro Chrono Digital has been good mostly. I'm sure there are better for more $$. But for around 100.00 it can't be beat. I see the posts by owners of Shooting Chrony who seem to have issues.

 

[cajun]

As cheap as they are now there is no excuse not to have one.