During the first decade of this century, I've done a lot of load development. For several rifle and handgun calibers, and worked up loads for a dozen or more individual rifles and handguns. In this sort of work, you need a chronograph to know your numbers out of your barrel. For all of this load development, I used a Shooting Chrony, a neat little device that we would put o a tripod and fire the bullets over the seceens.
Doing that gives invaluable data, but it also violates Jeff Cooper's Rule 2: Never point your gun at anything you are not willing to destroy. Or, maybe I was willing to destory it. I knew the risk and the risk was worth taking.
Having said all that, Second Son borrowed the chrony to do some load development for a new rifle he recently bought in 6.5 Creedmoor. And Rule 2 snuck up on us.
It was inevitable, I guess. The shot took out both screens. It may have been a blessing. Technology has advanced and there are better chronographs on the market. So, I went over to MidwayUSA and ordered this one. It used doppler radar to measure the speed of the bullet, and will bluetooth to your phone. It sits beside the rifle rather than downrange of it, and shooting it will be a whole lot more difficult.
We made the upgrade. It will be here in a week or so, and load development can proceed apace.
5 comments:
Congrats on the Labradar. I got one myself, but haven't yet used it. It's older tech though, the "Cool Kids" are flocking to the new https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1026417171?pid=973474 Nice thing is, you don't have to go down range to set up either one. I enjoy your blog Sir. Nice to hear from another Tanker. Gus
Pretty cool unit.
I saw one at the range when I was working up a load on 5.56NATO loads. The guy in the next bay INSISTED that I use it.
Looking back, if you know that Sum Randomdude will not destroy it, it is pretty easy to be generous.
BTW, the 5.56N loads were shooting MUCH slower than expected.
In 50 years I have only blown up one chronograph. I consider myself very lucky, not skillful.
Ouch! But it lasted a long time, good luck with the new one!!
I still have an old Caldwell Chrony that uses light sensors and screens. I've actually started having a little bit of trouble with it lately so I've been thinking about replacing it...I just haven't been able to make myself spend the money on one of those fancy-dancy radar thingies.
I'm actually going to need to use it soon. I already ordered my BAG day gun (I know, I'm early). I've always wanted a left handed bolt action rifle. Not only am I left handed, but I'm legally blind in my right eye so I couldn't shoot right handed if I wanted to.
I'm very experienced at using right handed firearms and it doesn't really bother me, but I've always wanted a bolt gun set up for lefties. I found a good deal on a Savage Axis II. That's why I'm early on my BAG day purchase...didn't want to pass up the deal. Yes, I know...the Axis II is an entry level gun...I'm OK with that as long as it's accurate, and from all accounts, they're pretty good there...I'm not rich so I have to moderate this hobby by being budget conscious (hence my reluctance to drop several C-notes on a fancy radar chrony).
Anyway...Savage makes those in many calibers and I thought about 6.5 Creedmoor, but they're primarily for long distance target shooting. Plus, I don't have any other guns in that caliber so that would be another set of dies and such that I'd have to buy.
I decided to go with the venerable .30-06. Loaded properly, it compares well with 6.5 creedmore up to 600 yards or so (and that's the farthest I'd ever reasonably expect to be shooting), plus it packs more punch, and I've already got dies for that caliber because I reload for my M1 Garand.
So...I decided on 150gr SPBT (BC .417) and IMR4895.
53 grains should give me about 3000fps at the muzzle which should give good ballistics out to the aforementioned 600 yards (and beyond).
I've already loaded test loads in one grain increments from 47 to 51 grains. We'll see how those do for accuracy and Muzzle velocity and depending on how that goes, I may go up to 52 or 53. Some of the loading data I found showed 51.5 as the max load (others went to 53) so I don't want to push it until I'm certain everything's good.
And if I get acceptable accuracy and velocity at a lower load, there's no need to increase past 51 grains.
Anyway, the rifle should be here sometime this week and I'm pretty excited to get the scope (Vortex Diamondback HP*...which I also got on sale) mounted and get it to the range for sighting and testing. The past few years, my BAG day guns have been pistols so this is my first new rifle in a couple of years.
Now here's the down side: My gun safe is almost full. I'm thinking this is the last rifle I can buy until I get a bigger one because I just can't fit any more in there.
First world problems.
*I've used the lower end Vortex scopes on a few of my rifles now and I've always been pleased with them but I've got to mention this one. They normally go for about $250. I got one on sale for $199 and even though I don't have it mounted on the rifle yet, I am impressed. The brightness and clarity of the image from this scope even at max zoom is way better than I expected at this price point. I'd say it compares favorably with scopes I've seen that retailed at $1k. Of course, I'll have to try it on the rifle to see how it performs accuracy and dependability wise, but my initial impression is very good.
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