"I’d like to hear more about your chronos, but hate to hijack the thread!" OK @CraftyMofo I stole your post, what would you like to know about chronographs ?
Like a lot of shooters I didn't use a chrono for many years. Mainly because they were not readily available back in the 60-70's esp to a 10 yr old kid. So I followed the loads out of the manuals. A friend of mine got the 1st chrony I ever used back in the early 80's. Didn't take long to see that I had to have one too, and have had one ever since. Like anything else, you can spend as much as you want on one, but the super top of the line ones out there today are not really necessary for the most part. Get one that has good ratings, easy to set up and you'll most likely be GTG. Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph Premium Kit The above is the one I use the most as I have a semi permanent set up on my range. I did buy a larger tripod that I use 99% of the time. This one isn't blue tooth ready, but I didn't want that. Hope this will give you an idea about them and hopefully others will chime in with their results.
My current chrono is a F1 Shooting chrony with remote readout, it works fine as long as I don't wait too long and the sun is coming in at a bad angle. My reloading and shooting buddy is getting one of the Labredar chronographs, thats going to be interesting to see the down range data it provides.
I got lucky in having lots of family who were into reloading, so I got to shoot my hand loads through their cronos when ever I wanted. I didn't have to buy one till I retired in 2008! Went with a cheaper one I found at the local gunshop, a Caldwell, and been using it ever sense. Shure makes things really slick, knowing how far different the "Book" load performs in my Rifles and handguns, been pretty surprised a few times, couldn't do with out one!
Thank you, Tully! Came inside for a sec on this beautiful 4th of July weekend, glad you responded. I have a houseful of people at the lake, and I will lay out my questions a bit more later. I am working with subsonic reloads in 300 Blackout, and 9mm. Wondering if this is a necessary piece of hardware I need to getting the maximum accuracy out of my 300 BO. Currently using 220 grain projectiles and H110 or CFE Blk. I have not had a chance to shoot my first set of reloads.
It would certainly help you. Here's the deal with Subsonics you want as much accuracy as you can squeeze out of your load with out breaking the sound barrier, that can vary by quite a bit depending on the rifles barrel it's gas port timing and other factors. The ideal would be to push the loads to the highest speed possable, and chase the accuracy as you get near that limit! Finding the most accurate load first and then pushing to the speed limit is the ideal way to reach this performance goal, and being able to measure exactly where you are is going to be key. It's also going to show you how close your loads are to each other, or not, and may require a different powder or other changes to hit that goal.
My plan is to figure out which load works best, then zero for 50 yards with a red dot on a 45 degree mount. Then I want to use my main scope sighted in for 147 grain supersonics (I have a good pile of these from a sale many years ago). Haven’t got too deep down that rabbit hole yet.
This is where a chrono can really shine. Back before there were many, if any options for heavy bullets for the 7.62x39mm I started with .303 British molds and then sized to fit the Rooskie chamber. They work great for my suppressed rounds. Running them through the chrony to check how close they were to breaking the barrier. I made a log of what they were doing on any given day. Weather can play a big part in load development. Time of day, sunny vs overcast, rain/snow and down here esp. humidity all play a part in load development. Now how deep a person wants to get into it is up to them. A person doesn't have to go that deep into the rabbit hole just to have a good round, but like so many other parts of the firearms lifestyle it can be fun(and addicting) to get into. Years back I was heavy into the IPSC game. Using a 1911 chambered in .45ACP and later in .38Super. The crony was a huge help in developing my match loads. I found out that using a certain weight of Win 452AA powder with the 200 grain semi wadcutter would make Major 90-95% of the time. When used on a really hot day however, it would fall short of major even though it was a larger diameter bullet. So I needed a larger powder charge to ensure I made major-or the ammo needed to be kept cooler. From that day on my ammo was carried to a match in a playmate cooler-and it always made major calibre when shot through the match chronographs. I would've never figured that out without a chronograph of my own to use on my range. Back to subsonic loads, the chrono will show you how close your load is to breaking the barrier on any given day, allowing you to either up the load or reduce it to always be below the sound barrier under any weather condition. Also to see what that load will do out of a pistol barrel vs a subgun and rifle barrel length. Hope my ramblings helps you a bit.
It helps a lot. I appreciate the effort you guys have put in. I have looked at chronos a few times, and I’m not really sure which features to look for. Any suggestions/tips would be helpful!
Well like I said earlier more is not always needed. However that being said, I suggest getting one that may offer a bit more features than you think you currently need, because as you get to using them you will find that some of the options are kinda nice. Like I said earlier I don't have the blue tooth option and I see no reason for it-for me. I'm not a techno weenie, I prefer simpler. The option for a printer is nice and I use one. As I've gotten older I forget stuff-sad but true. Having a print out of a particular test session comes in handy for future reference. The Chrony F1 that Reloader mentioned is a fine chronograph. Where will you do the majority of testing? Indoor or outdoor? That will come into play when making your choice. Like I mentioned, read the reviews, see which one(s) will work best for your needs. Look for ease of set up, does it come with screens, how much are replacements-because sooner or later you or someone will shoot a screen at least once. What kind of battery life can you expect, does it have options for lights if you plan on using it mainly indoors? How does bright sunlight effect it? What's the best way to counter that? All this can be answered in the comments posted by previous buyers. It just takes a bit of research. Not trying to confuse you, just offering up some suggestions to think about. I don't know how serious a shooter you are and that plays into your choice as well.
I was going to say that my use would be outdoors only, since it seems impractical at my indoor range to set up something 10' in front of the bench. MagnetoSpeed looks pretty slick as well, and eliminates the need for the tripod, etc. Seems like having something like that touching the barrel would affect barrel harmonics....this is how I get stuck in 'research paralysis'.
Mine has blue tooth, for the express reason that I can take my laptop and have instant feedback and I can then transfer it to my load files and have it together with all that data, plus, I can make notes as I go so that I remember things later, it's pretty damn slick really, just keep the laptop away from the muzzle blast or ejection pattern, ask me how I know! Lol I actually have a couple shooting tables set up with my bench, really nice to have for keeping things handy yet out of the way, might be something to think about!
