Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sample.eng.ohio-state.edu!purdue!haven.umd.edu!mimsy!falstaff.mae.cwru.edu From: gmk@falstaff.mae.cwru.edu (Geoff Kotzar) Newsgroups: rec.guns Subject: Re: Chronograph Message-ID: <35612@mimsy.umd.edu> Date: 14 Jun 91 00:56:50 GMT Sender: magnum@mimsy.umd.edu Organization: Case Western Reserve University Lines: 48 Approved: gun-control@cs.umd.edu In article <35541@mimsy.umd.edu> marko@hutch (Mark O'Shea) writes: # #Do those of you who have a chronograph find you use it more often, just #because you have it? Would I be unhappy with the Cheap-o in a short time? #If you have a "Chrony", how does it do with shotgun loads? #What do you think? # #Gun Control Means Being Able to Hit Your Target #Mark O'Shea #marko@ijf1.intel.com My guess is you would be dissatisfied in a short time. I bought an Oehler model 33 to work up maximum handgun loads a number of years ago and am now using it in ways I had never forseen. When I bought an S&W .44 spl with a 3" barrel I checked the existing factory loads (Silvertips and the Federal SWC-HP) to see how mush better they were than the round nosed loads. I was disappointed to find out how slow they were really going. I pulled some of the factory bullets and worked up loads from existing data for other bullets of the same weight to see if I could reach their design velocity and still have reasonable accuracy. Accuracy deteriorated long before I could approximate the factory claimed velocity and there was no need to guess at the velocity. This BTW was not an inexpensive experiment. On another occasion I was looking for a factory load that would produce roughly the same velocity out of a GP-100 and an old S&W model 19 since these are both kept as house guns. The 19 is old and "slow" while the GP is new and very tight and "fast". Checking the factory load selection showed that there was a large velocity difference (100-200 fps) between the two guns for many of the loads but with the Rem 140 SJHP I lost only about 50 fps. That is now my standard. We had picked up some bulk Olin Special powder from the fellow in Massilon which is claimed to be "like" H380. From our work with two rifles now we know that the batch we have appears considerably faster than H380. Primer appearance and case expansion would have told the same story but we were able to detect the difference long before maximum pressures were reached. We also picked up some WC 860 in bulk which is slower than H4831 but there is no loading data for it. Chronoed loads indicated that H870 data could be used. One load in a 300 H&H produce erratic primer flattening with a case full of powder. Case measurements were normal and targets were all my friend could ask for. Contradictory information like this makes me nervous but the velocity data was exteremely uniform and that additional piece of information makes further experimentation worth pursuing. One final point, at the Memphis range last month a cop gut shot one of the small self-contained units and just dropped his head to the bench. I take it that they are not as cheap to repair as replacing a sky screen.