WranglerJohn,
Actually, chronograph data is a VERY good indication of pressure. Like a strain gauge or a piezo transducer, it IS another measure of pressure.
I have visited professional pressure labs, and even helped in one. It is astonishing how closely pressure and velocity are tied together, the reason many professional ballisticians also suggest that a chronograph is the best affordable home test of pressure.
Now, you can run into trouble with a chronograph if it's giving false readings, and some do, especially under certain conditions such as bright sunlight. Which is why we should always remain cautious--and as Big Redhead pointed out, we still have to be observant of traditional signs of excessive pressure.
But I have been using a chronograph as my primary method of pressure measurement for several decades now. While I've run into signs of high pressure now and then, most were also accompanied by too-high velocities.
The exceptions that I can remember were rare instances of too-soft brass, and a few bolt-faces that had little machining ridges around the ejector hole that left a mark on the case heads even with mild loads.
As the last pressure-lab ballistician I visited (just a few months ago at the Western Powders lab) said during our afternoon: "The chronograph is the handloader's best friend!"
