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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Reloading
Do I need a chronograph?
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<blockquote data-quote="rammac" data-source="post: 2000267" data-attributes="member: 27761"><p>Handloading ammunition is detail oriented. If you choose to ignore detailed information about velocity, which follows pressures, then eventually you'll have bad things happen.</p><p></p><p>If you ignore the details you can falsely believe that using the amount of powder recommended in a reloading manual will be safe and produce the same results with your case/bullet/primer, and I'm sure that most beginners and lots of old hands at reloading think that way. And most of the time you will be safe, you wont necessarily get the same results but you wont cause damage to anything either.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, there are combinations of components, while using a book recommended powder charge, that will create unsafe conditions and if you don't use a chronograph you'll never know it. Most often visual signs of pressure in a cartridge don't really show up until you've exceeded SAAMI and CIP max pressures. Very often semi-hard or hard brass (hardened from resizing) wont show any signs of damage until pressures reach somewhere around 70,000 PSI. If you use a chronograph and you see velocities that are above what is expected then it's a pretty good bet that the pressures are higher than what you expect too.</p><p></p><p>If you only use powders and components recommended in the reloading manual, and you never exceed their powder charge recommendations, most often you will have no problems, but, it is possible to use a powder lot that produces unexpectedly high pressures (that's why they recall powders from time to time) but without checking the velocities you wouldn't know that.</p><p></p><p>So yes, I feel that a chronograph is necessary. Without one, you aren't able to monitor possible unsafe pressure issues.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rammac, post: 2000267, member: 27761"] Handloading ammunition is detail oriented. If you choose to ignore detailed information about velocity, which follows pressures, then eventually you'll have bad things happen. If you ignore the details you can falsely believe that using the amount of powder recommended in a reloading manual will be safe and produce the same results with your case/bullet/primer, and I'm sure that most beginners and lots of old hands at reloading think that way. And most of the time you will be safe, you wont necessarily get the same results but you wont cause damage to anything either. Unfortunately, there are combinations of components, while using a book recommended powder charge, that will create unsafe conditions and if you don't use a chronograph you'll never know it. Most often visual signs of pressure in a cartridge don't really show up until you've exceeded SAAMI and CIP max pressures. Very often semi-hard or hard brass (hardened from resizing) wont show any signs of damage until pressures reach somewhere around 70,000 PSI. If you use a chronograph and you see velocities that are above what is expected then it's a pretty good bet that the pressures are higher than what you expect too. If you only use powders and components recommended in the reloading manual, and you never exceed their powder charge recommendations, most often you will have no problems, but, it is possible to use a powder lot that produces unexpectedly high pressures (that's why they recall powders from time to time) but without checking the velocities you wouldn't know that. So yes, I feel that a chronograph is necessary. Without one, you aren't able to monitor possible unsafe pressure issues. [/QUOTE]
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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Reloading
Do I need a chronograph?
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