CCCC & Ptarmigan,
I see ya'll are begging to get into it, allow me to provide a more detailed response:
In 50 plus years of shooting/hunting I've yet to crony a load. If it works, it works. It's up to me to position it. I don't need to obsess over speed.
I have zero disagreement with this. Lots of game killed over the years without the use of a chronograph, and I certainly don't obsess over speed.
Good groups, bullet construction/performance, and knowing the trajectory of the round is far more important than speed.The crony will only tell you how it should perform according to the charts. You still have to shoot it at ranges. Maybe you could make a case for this argument back when you couldn't buy a scope that tracked reliably, chrony's were less accurate and BC's were estimated instead of measured. With an accurate chrony and a reliable measured BC the trajectory will be precisely mapped out. With reliable scopes that actually track the prescribed amount, accurate range finders and bullets with known reliable BC's I can shoot a zero at 100ydss and make first round hits out to my max available range of 700yds. If you don't know the velocity of your round you're just guessing. Fundamentally more important, you're guessing about wind drift as that is a function of time of flight, wind vector(s) and BC. As long as your practice includes 2 uncontrolled variables you will have a fundamentally difficult time - easily eliminated with a relatively cheap chronograph.The other thing it might tell you is the consistency of your loads, which can be a good thing. Again provable otherwise by actual shooting. I cut out the chrony middleman....tho I do use the factory statistics and charts- which seldom exactly match the gun/me /range live shoots.
A chronograph provides a lot more data to the handloader than just the consistency of their loads.No kidding! The factory charts aren't reliable?!?!? Wonder why that is? If you had ever used a chronograph you would know why.I have zero problem with anyone that doesn't want buy / use a chronograph. Certainly you can kill a lot of game w/o pushing the limits on range and loads can be worked up w/o a chronograph. But to imply that a chronograph doesn't provide any useful information is just ignorant. Those statements are boldy offered from someone that has never used a chronograph.
Wow!David
I was not begging to get into anything - simply could not understand any basis your "wow" and "stupid" remarks. And, still I don't. You did not point out a single "stupid" thing in
las post.
The chronograph tells me
one simple thing - the fps velocity of the bullet passing through the screens. Every other piece of information "told" to me depends upon loading data and my own comparative measures (instead might use BC/efficiency charts prepared by others).
General trajectory in terms of bullet rise/drop is not difficult to determine without a chronograph if one carefully uses load data and a few well-spaced targets Even with a fps reading from my Chrony, I still need to deal with height of sight above bore and a few other common issues, none of which depend on the chronograph.
Unless I am willing to move the chrono out to progressively greater distances and manage to shoot through the screens appropriately at 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 yards etc., the device in front of me tells one simple thing. Maybe you move yours out, and out, and out, etc. That would be a different case.
I never criticize anyone who uses a chronograph, or anyone who does not. There is nothing "stupid" in either case.
