Thread: Chronograph advice

Many of us have reloaded for years without using a chrono, sighted at 100 or 200, worked out our 300 hold and then went and shot shit, very successfully too. The optical chrono's give you a reasonably good indication of your approximate speed, a good basis to work on. And I think theyre pretty good value for money, particularly when you know their shortcomings.

I have now used a Prochrono for the past 10 years and am more than happy with it. Would love a Magnetospeed, would love a 100 Series Landcruiser too, or maybe one of those new fandangled 6mm ARC. But the gain or advantage for the extra money spent would be wasted on me. I use the Prochrono to give me a reasonably accurate ball park speed for my loads, and keep adding to the data to refine that speed. But then I shoot my loads on a good long range and verify my data simply by shooting some boolits. Some rifles with some loads just simply work and match the data, and some just make you scratch your head and wonder.

At the end of the day, if you have a pretty good idea of the speed, and actually verify that speed by shooting at distance, then I'd be thinking the extra cost of something like a Magnetospeed may not be justified. However if you want to go down the reloading rabbit hole, which so many of us have, then buy the best you can afford at the time and make it work. I would suggest borrowing one for a while and buying later.