Chrony of Truth

The place to discuss ammunition, reloading, ballistics, loads, and chamberings.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Chrony of Truth

Post by Netpackrat »

Mind you, I don't have anything against Starline brass. If I bought more Winchester to load up with the rest of my XTPs, I'd still use the Starlines for lighter loads. Since I carry Silvertips, I've reloaded plenty of Winchester brass for my 10mm and have always had good results with it. My sole complaint is the price Winchester charges for it as a component. They also sell the 175gr silvertip JHP as a component, and they want about half again what Hornady charges for the XTP.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Chrony of Truth

Post by Netpackrat »

I retested the Silvertips and my XTP handloads today (which is now yesterday) using my new Glock 20, and I think I've figured out what happened with the difference in velocities. I discovered that the base of the tripod I am using is just the right size, that it can keep the chrony from opening fully if it isn't opened with enough force (3 seconds on a belt sander will fix this). I think when I moved the chrony closer to the bench for testing with the handguns, I must have bumped it with enough force for the edge of the sheet metal to slip past the edge of the tripod base/pad, and thereby slightly decrease the distance between the sensors, which would have the effect of artificially increasing velocities when I tested the Silvertips, the 10mm XTPs in Winchester brass, and the .380 XTPs out of the Kel-Tec. I didn't notice this, because when the edges slip past each other in this manner, it feels like the chrony hinge is up against its stops if you try to open it further.

I tested 10 rounds each of the XTP 10mm handloads out of the G20, and the winchester brass averaged 1196fps, and the Starline averaged dead on 1200. That's over 10 grains even of 800x. It's a little less velocity than I could probably squeeze out of them, but still reasonably warm. If I want absolute balls to the wall 10mm ammo, I'll buy a box of Buffalo Bore, or something like that. Maybe later I'll raise them to the maximum of 10.4 grains listed in the manual, and I've read of people going as high as 10.8 grains. The only problem with using max loads of 800x is that it doesn't meter worth a shit, so you end up weighing by hand and loading single stage.

The Silvertips, on the other hand... Out of the full size Glock 20, I got a 10 shot average of 1096fps. Winchester, who quotes this load at 1290fps, are a shameless bunch of filthy damn liars. There is just no way that the difference between a test barrel and my Glock can even come close to explaining the disparity; as far as I'm concerned, it's simply fraud.
Last edited by Netpackrat on Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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blackeagle603
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Re: Chrony of Truth

Post by blackeagle603 »

re: the troubleshoot
Good stuff.

(lol) It reminds me just what a geek I am that reading something that gives me a bit of an endorphine rush. It's that element of my job (doing failure analysis and corrective action) that makes my vocation seem like a vacation so many days.
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Netpackrat
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The Chrony of Truth rides again!

Post by Netpackrat »

So, I made it to the range this Saturday morning, and finally dragged along the new Chrony that my brother provided me after he shot my first one with the .500 Smith.

I only tested a couple of loads this time; first was my 7mm-08 handloads, and the second was 10 rounds of Hornady factory 180 grain XTP which I bought after Sandy Hook, but before all 10mm (and most other) ammo disappeared, everywhere. I am pleased to report that I have finally found an ammunition manufacturer that tells the truth. Hornady claims 1180 fps at the muzzle with that load, and the average of 10 shots through my Glock 20 was actually a little better than that at 1183 fps. That's less than 20 fps off what I am getting with my handloads using the same bullet. That's going to be my new carry load if I can ever find more of it to buy. I expect I have bought my last box of Silvertips.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Chrony of Truth

Post by Netpackrat »

Netpackrat wrote:
CByrneIV wrote:
Netpackrat wrote: And also, I'm going to back off on my .380 cast handloads a bit. Using data straight out of one of my books, I've got a 102 grain LRN averaging 1062 out of the Sig. I loaded them up prior to having a chrony, and prior to buying the Kel-Tec. I put one magazine of them through the P3AT last year, and said fuck that shit, went back to the factory loads. Wouldn't be so bad, but I've got another 500 or so of them loaded up.
Yeah... 1062 from cast lead 102gr? I'd imagine that's significantly overpressure and if you shot it in a lighter slide straight blowback gun you'd be in trouble. As it is, I don't think I'd reload those cases.
Guess it's time to start pulling them. %$(*$%*(&($%$%&*(%$(&*$%#&*( I'll have to go through my books and see where I got that data from.
While I am revisiting this thread, I will take the time to note that a while back I found the source of this load I had used. It was a "load recipe" (for 100 grain FMJ, IIRC) that I printed out from Alliant Powder's website. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that particular recipe is no longer present on their site.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Chrony of Truth 300 Blackout Edition

Post by Netpackrat »

Made it to the range with both of my 300 Blackout rifles last week, and went to the trouble of dragging along my chronograph and setting it up. Collected velocity data with all of the Blackout ammo that I had on hand with both rifles. One thing that the data really showed, is if I want to run subsonics in my bolt gun and have them actually stay subsonic, I am definitely going to have to handload. I was planning on doing that anyway, but I had hoped at least one factory load would be slow enough.

I saw a little less loss going from the 16" barrel to the 10" barrel than I expected, particularly considering the SBR is gas operated, so that was cool. The clear velocity winner among the supers was the Hornady Black, but they also seemed to not group as well as the Barnes. It was a horrible day for shooting groups given the gusty wind and the sun directly downrange, but the Barnes was definitely a little better than the Hornady once I moved out to 100M. The UMC (also loaded by Barnes) was consistent as usual, and the PRVI was a shit show accuracy wise from both rifles.

As follows is my raw chronograph data and average velocity of each load from both rifles. Anybody who wants to plug it into a spreadsheet and get the standard deviation, etc, can feel free but I am not going to bother:

Remington Model 7 300BLK
Bare action build with 16" AAC Barrel
Unsuppressed

Nosler 220 grain subsonic 51275

1060
1123
1132
1099
1140

AVG 1111 FPS
---

Herter's 220 Subsonic HRT300BLKSUBA

1113
1078
1127
1114
1094

AVG 1105 FPS
---

Sig 220 Subsonic E300A2

1089
1114
1112
1111
1099

AVG 1105 FPS

Remington 220 Subsonic (green/yellow box) R300AACB

1092
1157
1088
1127
1121

AVG 1117 FPS
---

UMC 120 L300AAC1

2305
2325
2355
2350
2344

AVG 2336 FPS
---

Barnes 110 (black tip) BB300AC1

2375
2394
2388
2395
2396

AVG 2390 FPS
---

PPU 125 HPBT

2248
2238
2242
2255
2243

AVG 2245 FPS
---

Hornady Black 110 VMAX 80873

2508
2535
2525
2555
2537

AVG 2532 FPS
---

Aero Precision 10" 300BLK Upper
Aero SBR lower
Unsuppressed

Nosler 220 grain subsonic 51275

993.3
1008
1011
1008
1010

AVG 1006 FPS
---

Herter's 220 Subsonic HRT300BLKSUBA

1025
964.6
977.4
983.6
991.3

AVG 988 FPS
---

Sig 220 Subsonic E300A2

947.4
977.8
969.6
964.8
959.8

AVG 964 FPS
---

Remington 220 Subsonic (green/yellow box) R300AACB

1000
1009
1023
1038
1037

AVG 1021 FPS
---

UMC 120 L300AAC1

2170
2151
2161
2149
2139

AVG 2154 FPS
---

Barnes 110 (black tip) BB300AC1

2212
2196
2190
2180
2208

AVG 2197 FPS
---

Hornady Black 110 VMAX 80873

2295
2333
2327
ERR
ERR

AVG 2318 FPS
---

PPU 125 HPBT

2085
2074
2070
2078
2031

AVG 2068 FPS
---
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Rich Jordan
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Re: Chrony of Truth

Post by Rich Jordan »

I finally have a chronograph I can use at the indoor and restrictive outdoor ranges around here; I picked up a Magnetospeed V3 at a good discount from Cabelas. I'm looking forward to being able to properly test handloads and do like you did, see how the factory loads do in my carbine.
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HTRN
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Re: Chrony of Truth

Post by HTRN »

Speaking of buying a chronograph, has any body had any experience with labradar?
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Netpackrat
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Re: Chrony of Truth

Post by Netpackrat »

HTRN wrote: Tue Aug 14, 2018 4:48 pm Speaking of buying a chronograph, has any body had any experience with labradar?
No personal experience, but I have heard they lose their shit on a range being shared with other shooters. I was seriously considering getting one before I heard that. I will most likely end up with a Magnetospeed since the Chrony is pretty inconvenient to use. The biggest negatives are no way really to use with many firearms, and if not mounted on a free floated forend, they can shift point of impact and affect accuracy. I'm coming to the conclusion that last issue is not as important as I thought it was, since getting set up to do both accuracy testing and chrony testing at the same time is a royal pain on a shared range. This last time around I did all my chrony testing with a target set up at 50m just to get it done while meeting range requirements for a target, then moved out to 100 for accuracy testing. I used twice as much ammo that way, but it was a lot easier than trying to keep everything lined up for 100m shots while other people were using the range. And I wanted to test all the subs closer in to check for bullet stability before running them through my cans.
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HTRN
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Re: Chrony of Truth

Post by HTRN »

Netpackrat wrote: Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:38 pm
No personal experience, but I have heard they lose their shit on a range being shared with other shooters. I was seriously considering getting one before I heard that.
I just did some checking, an supposedly A) the system is smart enough to detect what is your shot, and what isn't, and B) is adjustable for sensitivity and frequency. Tke that with a grain of salt though..
HTRN, I would tell you that you are an evil fucker, but you probably get that a lot ~ Netpackrat

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