Dad and I survived handloading from 1957 until 2004 without a chronograph. Finally I gave in and bought one. It was a cheap model on sale and I'd had a particularly good year at work. Merry Christmas to me. Well, Dad was less than ammused and "what a waste of money" is the comment I recall. He humored me the first time I took it to the range. Even gave me space on the table to set up and time to get it all together. You know, reading the manual and all that. When that first set of numbers lit up the display, you'd have thought he just won the lottery! After that, he was all for it. We had a lot of fun with it for a couple years, and then I had to move away, chasing a job. He doesn't shoot anymore, and I wouldn't trade that memory of him for anything.
What did we use it for? Surely NOT to compare velocities with "the book". I always have several books and none of them ever agree, and what I am shooting is almost never the same as what was used to develop the book. The book is merely a guide. My barrels are generally shorter, so there starts the variables game. The chronograph showed me that some of my favorite loads, real game getters and adequate accuracy, were not really the best, usually from a powder burning perspective. I had some real wide velocity swings (extreme spread), most of which I passed off as using stick powders in my powder measure and being in too much of a hurry. One day I experimented with IMR4895. Using a proven safe powder charge. I "threw" 10 rounds with the measure, and then very carefully weighed 10 rounds and went to the range. Interestingly, the average velocity of both sets of loads was the same (within 10fps). The difference in extreme spread was over 100fps and the difference in accuracy was like night and day.
So, now, what the chronograph does for me is help my "confidence" that my loading regime is consistent. When my extreme spreads and standard deviations are low, it helps me believe I'm using the right combination of primer, powder and bullet for my weapon. It also showed me that in my 8mm Persian Carbine, 200gr Nosler Partitions will go faster than 185gr Remington Coreloks with the same powder charge. The Noslers are my elk bullet of choice, but I have shot just as many with a 175gr Sierra, which will attain about 300 fps over the 200gr Nosler. Still, my confidence is in the Nosler when I'm elk hunting. The Idaho whitetail buck that absorbed a 185gr Remington Corelok, folded his legs under him at the shot. The chronograph helped me develop that load. It wasn't in the book.
Do you need one? Only you can answer that question. Will you benefit from it? Probably.
Regards,
Sweetwater
