Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Chrono data! Help please! Is this a good load?

Too many people over think this subject.....

This^^

Reading this thread reminds me of when I started reloading 50 years ago. I worried about every little thing but life got in the way so I started to simplify things so I could live with my results and still have a life. I seldom use my Pro Chrono unless I have a round I definitely plan on using for extreme uses- long range critters be it elk, deer, or rock chucks.... just so I can come up with a decent drop table. Once I get that settled within a relatively small or expected range of fps, I am happy as long as my groups are looking like I expect them to. The rest is fluff to keep you occupied while waiting for the next hunting trip IMO, but really don't change much when it comes right down to it.

When it comes right down to it, groups tell you just about everything you need to know. If you really want to know how your rifle is shooting a particular load, stretch it out a bit and shoot some 200,300,400 yard groups and see what you think... and to add to what BSA says, the Nosler seconds are absolutely excellent bullets and as good as the firsts. I've shot some really impressive groups with them that I wouldn't even post as most guys would call me a liar...

This is supposed to be fun, isn't it? Sometimes we forget that in our OCD attempt to get everything perfect....

Bob

I've shot with you buddy and I know you know what you are doing. Great post.

Here's that day when I was fu cking around. Not enough people there that time to really care:




It sounds like the op has been handloading for a long time as well, so he probably knows deep down what is right and what works. If we were all extreme long range or benchrest shooters, maybe our feelings would be different?? Now, I'm not saying low es and sd numbers aren't critical. What I was trying to get at in my prior posts is you should be able to get those low numbers by just shooting and finding a very good load. Your rifle and load will tell you that on target: By "very good", I mean extremely consistent and precise. And no, that is not that single 3 shot group fired off during load development. That's the 5 and 10 shot groups to verify. Once the load is VERIFIED, then shoot your 3 shot bragging groups if that is what floats your boat. However, shooting a one hole 3 shot 100 yard group is common place for a good consistent load and not even worth my time posting. I don't know how many thousands of times that happens in the 5 and 10 shot group strings, but it's been a lot with a GOOD load. I have OCD more than a lot here, but don't concern myself with worrying about the numbers. When I bought my old used chrono ($50) I was happy to have one to check velocities. As a matter of fact, I will be using it this week on a new to me 300 Rem SAUM. This will be to check velocities on a powder that I don't normally use and I want to be sure I'm not overpressure. Like I said before, a chrono is a very useful tool. I like to know my velocities for when I'm shooting out to 1,000-1,500 yards and then I use that useful info in the ballistic calculator.

IMO , a chronograph is most useful for making an educated guess as to what the chamber pressures might be. Once I determine what a reasonable max charge is, the chronograph gets put away and results on targets are my guide.

Well everyone has their own idea of fun! For me it's shooting followed by handloading and if I can't do either of those (I'm handicap, if it wasn't for the range officers putting up targets for me I wouldn't be able to go) it's learning about some aspect of the two. I'm also retired so I have nothing but time on my hands. I'm not worrying or sweating the numbers, I'm trying to learn from them as fast as I can since it's the first time in almost 30 years of handloading that I've seem chrono data! I've been letting the groups on paper tell me whats going on for a long time. I just started getting into 600 yard F-class practices when most of my health issues started so that's out for me now and huntings out the window also. That just leaves handloading and load testing at my local 100 yard range! I'm hoping that if I'm lucky enough to get to heaven there's unlimited ranges with unlimited loads and rifles to play with! lol

Forgot to add, the whole reason for the chrono is I got a couple of 350 Legends (in case an opportunity pops up to hunt a local farm this deer season with our silly requirements) and the Hodgdon load data using Lil'Gun seemed very hot even at the starting loads. So after all these years without one I decided to pop for one and have a way to guess at the pressures the load data was creating.

Thanks so much guys for the help and advice! I sure appreciate it!!!

No doubt you've drawn a bad hand and you're making the best of it... much respect from here... I hope my post didn't come off as critical in any way. I just know how frustrating it can be to have a chrono and the results don't line up with what you think you are seeing on the target. A lot of head scratching can lead you down a wrong road and then it just isn't fun any more. I guess that is the reason I concentrate on what my groups are telling me. Not even necessarily the precision, but often the shape of the groups will tell you a lot about your rifle, your load, and your technique. It reminds me of all the guys who buy bore scopes and then come back and post about something they found with the scope that has them concerned even though the rifle was shooting fine before the borescope.

In a lifetime you won't be able to control all of the variables in this sport and many others, but if it gives you something to fill your day and holds your interest it's probably a good thing to spend time on. Personally, I spend way too much time on the internet and not enough time lately shooting but with $5 gas I have to think about what I'm spending every time I drive the 30 miles and back to the range I use...

Keep on keeping on and don't be afraid to ask questions here. A lot of guys here have a lot of experience and can decipher your problems pretty well with a little prodding....

OH no problem Sheister! I appreciate all feedback really but it didn't seem critical to me. I sure understand about the gas and other issues. For many years I had no income at all so like anyone that handloads I used up all the "didn't work out so well" bullets and powder so I could shoot every now and then to make life a little less miserable! To young for retirement and to messed up to be able to work!

Your right about the head scratching though! I was starting to strain my little pea brain trying to decipher the numbers so I thought I should ask the collective knowledge base here! Glad I did. Realized now the numbers don't mean much except to give accurate velocities to feed our ballistic solvers! Once that sunk in to the mud between my ears I didn't feel so bad about choking on those numbers! lol Even when I was confused it was still better than TV!!

Appreciate all the help! Thanks so much!!!!

G.S.

I compliment you, with your physical limitations, about still getting out and doing things like you are, as opposed to so many who would just sit on the couch and watch TV all day and just get high or drunk. Seems to be what the local pattern is around this county. Welfare is to be thanked for that outcome.

I've always played with a lot of 'what IF?" that my head thinks up when it is doing something like, driving from point A to point B, that may take an hour or so. Our local radio stations suck, so I don't listen to the radio much... so this sort of thought process occupies my mind.

I do a lot of 'off the charts' handloading solutions to problems that really don't exist, but that comes from being raised as a military dependent, along with time I spent serving Uncle Sam myself. But when I work out something that comes together, and gives me good groups at various distances, the very last thing I do is chronographing them, just to see where the velocity is. Allows me to reference different reload manuals and compare their results velocity wise, to what I am getting from my rifles....

Perfect example of my looney-ism, is since we are under more democRat government and components become scarce once again ( although I stocked up nicely under Trump ).. what I have been playing with the last several months, is loading up 223 ammo, for bolt actions.... using 40, 50, 53 and 55 grain bullets, powered by 10 grains of Unique. That is 700 rounds out of a pound of powder. I just finished up using my first pound I have on hand... only 9 more to go before I'm out....

but I have been testing what they are capable of for distance....have been consistently ringing steel at 300 and 400 yds over at my local range.
Using it earlier this season shooting sage rats, aka ground squirrels of which Oregon has millions of... and the load was pretty consistent in ending their little tour of duty out to 200 yds pretty consistently.... using a home made rest set up, off the hood of my Toyota Pickup...

I find this stuff keeps my mind occupied....as I wait for the DNCC to be thrown out of office, so the world gets back to some normalcy.

but I still haven't put those loads under a chronograph to see my actually velocity.. something I need to get around to doing..

but then, my range time is me playing "hooky" from all the things my wife lists me to do to keep her little " just have to have" house and property in good working order so it looks pretty from the road, for all the other women who pass by... and running a business so I am always there with all the money needs, for all of her wants in life....and as she has aged, she sure wants a lot of things suddenly in life.

you enjoy your outings also kind sir. my hat is off to you for doing what you do... and not just sitting around on the couch. you are to be commended for that.

All the best,
seafire

Zooowie Batman!! 700 rounds from a pound!!! You sir are a genius!!!! Very cool!

I'm off to the range this morning again. Gotta get some loads settled on and cooked up so the family has something to defend themselves with when the civil war starts! Hope I'm still around for it but tomorrow is promised to no one! Can't stand the thought of leaving them without something to shoot back with!

Keep up the good work fella's!! And thanks again for all the help! I feel I should say, I'm handicap not disabled (yet). I can still make it to the mailbox and back (it's only 40 yards). I don't deserve any admiration, I'm just to stubborn to give up my shooting and loading! When I can't do that anymore, it'll be time to pull the plug!

Thanks again for being here and the willingness to help those of us who wish to keep learning till the end!!!
Have a great day!
Rick