The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old March 27, 2001, 09:06 PM   #1
kjm
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 24, 1999
Location: College Station, Texas
Posts: 1,871
I keep my loads to military specs or actually a little lighter. I only load 30-06 for the Garand and use only 4895 plus a 150gn M2 bullet. How critical is it to have a Chrono or is it just one of those neat little gadgets I'll end up getting later to look "cool" to my friends?
kjm is offline  
Old March 27, 2001, 10:16 PM   #2
poperszky
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 31, 2000
Posts: 120
I use my Chronograph for two purposes:

1. An objective measure of what the componets that I am using are doing. All too often I found that I couldn't tell the differnce when I changed a variable in my loads. I also found that similar loads gave me different in different guns. Never would have known with out my Chrony.

2. Catch problems with my reloads. I shoot over a thousand rounds of 9mm a month, one of my goals is to make sure that my reloads are consistent. They have the same recoil and shoot the same place each time I pull the trigger. While the holes in the target tell me if I am having a problem they don't tell me why. By chronographing my rounds it CAN eliminate some of the variables that might cause inaccuracy.

Terry
poperszky is offline  
Old March 28, 2001, 04:58 PM   #3
Paul B.
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 28, 1999
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 3,795
KJM. We all want to look "cool" to our friends, right? Seriously, how do you know you are actually reaching "milspec" with your ammo? The book may say X gr. of IMR-4895 will give you say, 2800 FPS, but are you really getting that velocity? You might only be getting 2600 FPS, or maybe? Oh heck, pick a number.
If you only load 30-06 with one bullet, and the load is working well for you, you may not need a chronograph. If you are loading more than one cartridge though, it might be worth your while.
Paul B.
Paul B. is offline  
Old March 28, 2001, 05:25 PM   #4
E. BeauBeaux
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 14, 2000
Location: MS, CSA
Posts: 377
Let me add a little here too. If you do alot of case preperation this will have change up things as well. Something like primer pocket uniforming and deburring the flash hole makes a big difference. Also if the cases are freshly trimmed to length. Any one, or combination, or all of the above will change what you think you are getting,and with a chronograph you will know for sure what you have.
E. BeauBeaux is offline  
Old March 29, 2001, 09:15 PM   #5
HankL
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 11, 1999
Location: The Sunny South
Posts: 2,174
kjm, Good post above. The main reason to have or at least have access to a chronogaph is that you don't have a clue as to what you are doing with your reloads.
An Oheler 33 was one of my first investments in reloading equiptment when I got into rifles.
Regards
HankL is offline  
Old March 30, 2001, 06:27 PM   #6
ASG
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Since we're on the subject of chronographs, I would like your recommendations on a good, quality chronograph with the following criteria: 1) Priced at $150 or less, and 2) Have a handheld display away from the main unit. The ability to calculate averages is not needed, but being able to record a string of shots is. A printer is not needed. Thanks.
 
Old March 31, 2001, 08:02 AM   #7
Airborne
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 11, 1999
Posts: 229
You don't really need one, but it certainly completes the picture when reloading. Once you use one, you'll "need" one after that.
Airborne is offline  
Old March 31, 2001, 09:52 AM   #8
poperszky
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 31, 2000
Posts: 120
My latest Midway catalog has the Chrony Master Beta for 109.00, shipping included. I purchased the same model in December for 129.00.
poperszky is offline  
Old March 31, 2001, 02:11 PM   #9
jpb
Junior Member
 
Join Date: January 12, 2001
Posts: 7

"MasterBeta"? Oh, sorry, I thought you meant something else about something one might do in the privacy of their own home... :-)

jpb
jpb is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:06 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.07405 seconds with 10 queries