Testing the Garmin Chronograph Again

[sixshot]

Today I was testing some more guns, getting a couple of them ready for deer & elk season that is fasting approaching. This new Garmin speed watch is really amazing, just select rifle or pistl, the speed range you expect to shoot & point it in the general direction of your target & pull the trigger, bingo!
Tomorrow I'll get back to the FA 10.5" 41 magnum & my 629 classic because they will be up first for a depredation cow elk hunt that's just around the corner & I have 2 bullets on hand that I really want to test.

The other 2 guns were a S&W 586 shooting some 125 gr HP's loaded with 6.0 grs of Power Pistol from the 4" barrel. This gun shoots really good but today the sun was shining right on my front blade so the groups opened up a bit at 25 yds, a little low & right, I'll try & fix that tomorrow. The other gun is a very nice 3" S&W 696 in 44 special & I was shooting 5.5 grs of Winchester 231 & a 245 gr HP. The 586 turned out a velocity of about 950 fps & the big 44 HP kicked them out at a bit over 750 fps, plenty for a woods packing gun in a 3" barrel. Here is a photo of both guns along with the customary Barranti amazing craftsmanship leather.




Dick

[contender]

Nice selection to choose from for upcoming hunts.

The Garmin continues to amaze me. A friend of mine had a new Caldwell, asked me to help him set it up. I did, AND put my Garmin on the bench. His Caldwell died during the session, but the Garmin was good enough to where he just bought one about a week or so ago.

Literally less than 30 seconds to set it up.

[jwheeler331]

I have one and find it to be a very nice devise and so east to use and portable.

[markwell]

I have had 2 Shooting Chronys, a CED and a Magnetospeed. Could have saved a lot of money and considerable hassle had the Garmin been available years ago. Oh well, better late than never.

[boxhead]

I just ordered one a couple of hours ago.

[45MAN]

Sept 9, 2024 0:12:48 GMT -5 boxhead said:

I just ordered one a couple of hours ago.

YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT HOW SUCH A LITTLE THING IS gonna CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER.

AFTER USING MY GARMIN A LOT I AM BEGINNING TO THINK THAT SOME FLIERS AT 104yds ARE NOT ME BUT RATHER AN OUTLIER IN MV. WITH THE GARMIN YOU CAN EASILY SHOOT 1, CHECK ITS MV AND SPOT WHERE IT HIT, 1 BY 1, AND THEN KNOW FOR SURE (I HAVE NOT DONE THIS YET).

[squigz]

Sept 9, 2024 8:04:04 GMT -5 45MAN said:

Sept 9, 2024 0:12:48 GMT -5 boxhead said:

I just ordered one a couple of hours ago.

YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT HOW SUCH A LITTLE THING IS gonna CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER.

AFTER USING MY GARMIN A LOT I AM BEGINNING TO THINK THAT SOME FLIERS AT 104yds ARE NOT ME BUT RATHER AN OUTLIER IN MV. WITH THE GARMIN YOU CAN EASILY SHOOT 1, CHECK ITS MV AND SPOT WHERE IT HIT, 1 BY 1, AND THEN KNOW FOR SURE (I HAVE NOT DONE THIS YET).

 I've done what you're talking about with mine and suppressed loads when I was trying to find a good consistent load. You can easily call "groups" based off those spreads and see that, tho accurate in that velocity range if you have a high deviation, you can be running 3" between POI, but on the high, low and average sides, bullets could be touching. 

[zeus]

Sept 9, 2024 8:04:04 GMT -5 45MAN said:

Sept 9, 2024 0:12:48 GMT -5 boxhead said:

I just ordered one a couple of hours ago.

YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT HOW SUCH A LITTLE THING IS gonna CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER.

AFTER USING MY GARMIN A LOT I AM BEGINNING TO THINK THAT SOME FLIERS AT 104yds ARE NOT ME BUT RATHER AN OUTLIER IN MV. WITH THE GARMIN YOU CAN EASILY SHOOT 1, CHECK ITS MV AND SPOT WHERE IT HIT, 1 BY 1, AND THEN KNOW FOR SURE (I HAVE NOT DONE THIS YET).

We keep them set up near our rifles, some mounted on the rifles on the line at competitions for that very reason. I’m shooting for as close to 0 for ES as I can get of course. Typical ES for our loads is about 3. I’ve had less but that typical so it’s still pretty good. Now, it’s handy to have that next to your rifle. If you know your normal velocity, and you sail a target, you can see if it was a velocity issue immediately. 7 fps will completely miss a 36” target vertically at 2900 yards. It is more noticeable as you go out from there so your finger on the pulse of the velocity is an amazing tool to have in front of you. It keeps you from making a vertical adjustment on a one-off velocity. And then chasing that one back to the plate. Garmin knocked it out of the park. We tested these for almost a year prior to their release and I was amazed that on the line next to all the other rifles, you didn’t have any troubles with picking up other shots, it’s not picky on aim etc. great pieces of equipment.

[sixshot]

I realized that I had not checked the velocity of my 200 gr Cutting Edge 44 HP's after shooting the elk Thursday, so yesterday I went out & ran 3 rounds down range, easy, peasy with the Garmin. These were at 100 yds with a strong right to left wind. I shot the S&W classic 44 magnum first, then I ran 3 rounds of cast bullets through my FA 41 magnum 10.5" gun. I only used 9.0 grs of Unique in the 41 magnum because you can get too much speed with this 210gr HP & it doesn't work as well on game.


Dick

[45MAN]

zeus: I AM STARTING TO THINK THAT A LOT OF "accurate" REVOLVER LOADS, with iffy SD'S, ARE ONLY "accurate" BECAUSE WE ONLY GROUP 'em AT 25 - 50 YARDS, BUT THAT BY 100 YARDS THEY BECOME "lousy loads". IF YOU ARE ONLY GOING TO SHOOT THE LOAD OUT TO 25 - 50 YARDS YOU MAY BE ABLE TO GET AWAY WITH iffy SD's BUT @ 104 YARDS (THE DISTANCE FROM MY BENCH TO MY "100 YARD" BERM/TARGET) I AM THINKING THAT I NEED TO BE LOOKING FOR REALLY SMALL SD's.

[gunsbam45]

I've had some time lately to go get some load testing done too, but every time I've been able conditions haven't worked to go use my Pro Chrono with the light windows up top. I got enough of dealing with it and bit the bullet after doing some research to see what all was out there. Went and tested the first .50 Spl load in a friend's .500 last night. Load testing just went from an ordeal to here's a flat spot with a bank behind it good enough

[Fowler]

Sept 9, 2024 13:33:07 GMT -5 45MAN said:

zeus: I AM STARTING TO THINK THAT A LOT OF "accurate" REVOLVER LOADS, with iffy SD'S, ARE ONLY "accurate" BECAUSE WE ONLY GROUP 'em AT 25 - 50 YARDS, BUT THAT BY 100 YARDS THEY BECOME "lousy loads". IF YOU ARE ONLY GOING TO SHOOT THE LOAD OUT TO 25 - 50 YARDS YOU MAY BE ABLE TO GET AWAY WITH iffy SD's BUT @ 104 YARDS (THE DISTANCE FROM MY BENCH TO MY "100 YARD" BERM/TARGET) I AM THINKING THAT I NEED TO BE LOOKING FOR REALLY SMALL SD's.

Oh I know that is a fact, also that many revolver bullets behave for a certain distance and then go to hell beyond that. The obvious example is any full wadcutter load in well really any gun, they are mild and very accurate to 50 yards but then go wild right afterwards. WFN bullets are a little better but suffer from the same fate for the same reasons for me. I find a good handgun load for distance ends up almost always being a LFN or good Keith bullet design.

Elmer had the theory that if a bullet wouldn't stay stable and wouldn't fly straight way out there then it also probably wouldn't be stable in game when deep penetration and cutting meat was most important. He was pretty wise for an old cowpoke.

I have also found with the MIHA hollow points that not all the nose designs are equal accuracy wise, many if them show a strong preference for a small hollow point pin, or the solid nose, or the penta, or whatnot else. Off the top of my head the famed 477640 385gr bullet shoots like a house of fire with the large hollow point pin installed, but with the flat solid nose the bullet is just ok for me. Im guessing it from the center of mass moving forwards or back in the bullet and finding its happy place for your gun and velo but thats just my best guess.

[messybear]

This thread turned into a lot of good info!
First on the Garmin.
Next- wow good shooting Dick with that 629! And at that velocity pretty impressive.
And this talk of low SD’s. I also agree that when range increases, we should be looking for better numbers. Another side benefit is that in most cases, low es means low es pressure wise too. Not always but it trends that way.
And then Fowler brings up bullet style. I can’t leave it alone. Where I live, we shoot long range all the time. Pick a target and blast at it. Nobody can try it and not get hooked. I have seen guys get discouraged because they were shooting a bullet that wouldn’t hold up at 100 or 200 yd. And then blame themselves. You see the smile come back when you hand them ammo that shoots good at distance.

[messybear]

And I forget - Fowlers findings with nose style-
It does seem that some are better in hollow point form. Remember how accurate some of the old hollow point jacketed stuff was? The rem 44 bulk bullet in hollow and soft. The hollow was more accurate. Speer made softs and hollow.
The hollows were almost always more accurate. I think every 45 bullet I tryed was more accurate in hollow point form. Hollows in 45 acp were more accurate for me than rn.

[sixshot]

I've decided I was born to be a pretty good 4 & 1 shooter! Almost always I have 4 gooduns & 1 that goes out, yikes! Yesterday I had the Garmin set up & was testing a load in my Kimber 5" 38 Super. The load was 9.5 grs of Accurate #7 & a 128 gr PC HP, Remington primer & mixed brass. I was just curious to see how fast these were so I could tell the ground squirrels next year before I shot them.

Resting both wrists over a sandbag at 25 yds & holding center with the fiber optic sight the first shot goes almost dead center at 12 O'clock, I run the next 4 & I'm back to my old pattern. I like the 4 shot group & the speed is nice, very even at 1325 fps with those 128 HP's. The 4 measure 1 1/4" & I have to dial a little right windage. This is one of the Kimber Eclipse models & I have 3 barrels for it, they all shoot very nice, gotta work on these 4 & 1 groups!

Dick