Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Why load for the last FPS?

This in spades. Back in the early '70s i went to the trouble of designing and building a chronograph because the manuals were not half as good as they are now. When I am working uploads I never do it without the chrony. 9 times out of ten I am not at all concerned that the numbers meet some expectation. What I need is to see that the numbers are somewhere reasonable, and move reasonably.

First thing to buy, but last thing to use once developing a load...

get what is accurate..

then use to chrono to see what kind of velocity its giving you...

I prefer that, over chasing velocity, then trying to make the load accurate...

Seafire,

Why do testing for accuracy and velocity have to mutually exclusive? It's easy to test both simultaneously.

Having received loading data from John (Seafire) on a couple occasions in the past it's pretty clear to me he does do both simultaneously. I would guess what he meant by that post is that he doesn't worry about the chrono during a workup. I think like me he is keeping an eye on the chrono for unexpected results.

I always start out shooting through the chrono to see how the loads are comparing with the data that they are based on. My goal is always to get a good compromise between factory standard for velocity and accuracy. The winner may not be the fastest nor the absolutely most accurate. It needs to satisfy whatever standard I have in my mind for the intended purpose.

I always use the chronograph when working up a load. As charges go up, so does velocity in a general linear pattern. Should something change in that pattern especially at or near maximum, then that's a good sign that it's time to back down a bit. So if say you're getting an average of 50 FPS per grain raise and the next reading is maybe 20 FPS higher rather than the 50 average, maybe a big 150 FPS jump up and even no change at all. You're at or past the safe max for that rifle. Time to back off a bit. it's worked for me for years so I see no reason to change.
Paul B.