Buck460- You are on the road to a life-long love affair with some pretty good attitudes for safety. Stay with it! It is a hobby like no other I have ever had and I still find I can learn things from others, as well as garner new insights from my own data. I reloaded for over 40 years before getting a Chrony. Mine is the Beta Master model from Shooting Chrony, and though it was a long time coming and I have a lot of fun with it, it does NOT take me down that primrose path to higher velocity desires. It does help me figure out various questions in my mind like 'do I really need to .... whatever the step in prepping I'm thinking of not doing anymore - and if it will make any real difference. My buddy has the plain jane Alpha model from Shooting Chrony; no bells no whistles. Turn it on and it spits out velocities. It is way easier to manipulate than mine - sort of more shooter friendly. They come with a form to jot the velocities on, which I also use with mine for future reference. I'm a math jock so the need for the statistical capability is not as strong as just plain ease of getting going. Mine I have to get the instructions out every time I go to use it. Takes just a tad of the fun out, while adding just a tad of user frustration. I just don't use it enough to get real good at running the buttons.
Even being tenacious about going by the book is no guarantee that high pressures will not be encountered. We still need to stay tuned to our weapon and listen to it and inspect the cases for 'changes'. Some powders are very touchy about temperature to the event that a load cooked up for a November sub-zero temperature hunt, but developed in July, very likely could be a very poor perforner when the mercury plummets. Vice-versa, a load developed in late fall or early spring could be a bolt jammer in late August. Other powders don't seem to care what the weather is, they just perform. I like these. They have simplified my life a bit. I can develop when I have time, and they will work in their proper season. I can handle simple.
Regards,
Sweetwater