Are they worth the money? I am really considering getting one and would really like to know some reviews of how well yall like them.

Thanks in advance for any info.

They are truly a great chronograph for figuring out your speed once you have established a working load. They are spot on with velocities. BUT- the main issue with them is they will have a point of impact shift (POI) with the chrono mounted on the barrel. I spoke in length with the sales rep for Magneto at the last shooting match. The bayonet style chrono they use doesn't so much as to change the barrel harmonics, but rather the bayonet has a pressure wave that bounces off the bayonet to disrupt the bullet's true flight path as it passes over the bayonet. They viewed this with all kinds of high tech cameras to see this. I use a chrono for every single shot when I am testing loads. So, I can not have something hanging on the end of my barrel that does this. I purchased the new Lab Radar for all my chrono work, and it's the coolest tool I have.

At the match, we set up a shooter with a Magneto on his barrel, and put my Lab Radar next to his barrel to test the speeds. My Lab Radar was exactly 4-5 fps slower than his Magneto each shot. The Magneto picks up the bullet at the muzzle where the Lab Radar picks up the bullet about 5-8 feet out in front of the muzzle once the bullet enters the radar cone. Both were spot on each shot.

What chad said.

I would add that I personally haven't seen any real accuracy change while running the magneto speed but it does move your groups a bit.

I'm sure chad shoots a lot more groups on paper than I do though

I stopped using chronographs years ago. Waste of money.

As usual, range time is paramount. Actual dope is all that matters.

I picked up the Magentospeed but have yet to use it. Not worried about
POI shift too much during load development.

If you shoot with no one else around then the Lab Radar would be the way to go. Otherwise other people's shots might trigger it.

Depends on what you are doing with the data. I think velocity allows your rifle to speak to you about what's going on.

I agree with Cleric. If I'm working up loads for an unpopular cartridge with little loading data, it really helps a great deal to have the velocity available. It's a simple and useful sanity check. Range dope isn't terribly useful when reloading for a .500 A2.

And a general velocity range is? How much does 50 or 100 fps matter for a rifle like that? Honest question.

^^Agreed^^

I also know that the rifle/ scope/ load needs to be shot in varying environments. Getting DOPE on a distance range will let you work backwards into MV. Adjust the MV in the ballistic calculator until predicted trajectory matches the DOPE you just obtained. Once they match to a certain distance you can lean on the calculator to tell you corrections farther than you have DOPE for.

But I still use a chronograph while developing loads. Load number 1 may shoot tight and have a high ES. Load number 2 may have just as tight and have low ES. I am going to run with the tight shooting, low ES load from then on. You have to use a chronograph to know that.

I bought a lab radar, still waiting for it, and my plan is to chrony every shot at the range. That way I can tell if something happens with my reloads or the riflr

The only negative things I have with my Magnetospeed V3 are the barrel strap always comes loose after 4-5 shots no matter the contour of the barrel,and they really need to come up with a snap together type spacer system instead of having to figure out which length of tiny screws you need to us for the different thickness spacers. If the spacers could be snapped together it would save a bunch of time when you need to swap out spacer sizes for different barrel contours at the range.

When working up new loads as you increase powder charges through a portion the velocity increase is almost linier, when approaching max loads or beyond there will often be larger spikes for a given charge change.

Absolutely love mine. The ease of use alone makes it worth every penny. No more messing with sky screens or sunny/cloudy day problems.

The alleged POI shift doesn't bother me in the least. I collect the data I require and remove it for any accuracy work anyway.

I've owned and used the consumer grade "affordable" chrono's for 25 years and this is the best one so far. I have always felt that as a hand loader, a good trustworthy chronograph is really one of the most valuable tools to have, as important as a good powder powder scale or spotting scope.

I got mine a couple years ago, and apparently they are more expensive now than the were then.

I'd buy another if I had to.

YMMV

Here is how I do it..

Go to range. Test my loads at 100, 500, and 800 if possible. I weed out more and more loads as distance increases. If the round doesn't shoot well at 300, then why bother at 500-800? Write down all conditions for the shots (got those from a kestrel), and mark down my dope as I am working through my rounds. I run loads up until I start seeing pressure signs, and back way off from there. No need to chase that last 50 fps. Do you really trust a chronograph to get exact speed numbers? I hear people all the time talk about single digit es and sd, but the only thing that matters is rounds down range. I believe a large vertical spread at 800ish would be a better indicator of excessive ES/SD.

Use a quality ballistic program. JBM or shooter, for example.

Known entities.
Barrel twist
Bullet BC, if you trust the source.
Environmentals from my kestrel
Sight height above bore
zero range

Now just plug in your dope, and out comes a velocity. Or if using JBM, you can change the velocity until your dop matches.

Simple and based off actual shooting conditions.

kmon1 explained the theory very nicely, so I'll go with what he said. In all honesty, wringing the last 75 fps out of an A2 is an exercise in silliness under normal circumstances. During the ammo/components shortage, I was working up loads with powders of similar burn rates and similar application to my normal powders, H335, H4895, IMR4064, e.g., large, straight walled or only slightly bottlenecked cases. For example, I worked up some loads with Benchmark, because that was what I had. Try looking for .500 A2 reloading data for Benchmark powder: you won't find any. Nonetheless, it's listed for .458 WinMag loads, so I know the application is reasonable; the burn rate was about right as well, so I assembled some very cautious loads and worked my way up to the moderate range. All in all, I was pretty happy. The sanity check on the process was my chronograph. At any given point, I had a pretty good idea what was happening in terms of chamber pressure.

In the past, I've taken multiple powders, all pushing the same bullet, all with nominal identical pressures and velocities according to one of the reloading manuals, and I've had velocity swings as much as 200 fps, or maybe even a bit higher. At this stage, I look at the manuals as approximate guides. I inspect brass, primers, etc., but I also know that brass has varying hardness so looking for pressure signs can be unpredictable. When I hit 2550 fps out of my A2 with a 570 grain bullet, I knew beyond any doubt that pressure was too high; I hit an absolute ceiling, and the chronograph was my source of information.

Going back to big guns and chronographs and the value of 100 fps, it's worth noting that the .458 WinMag and almost all of the British double rifle cartridges are exceedingly velocity sensitive when it comes to penetration. Leaving aside the issue of regulation, etc., most of the cartridges have a nominal velocity around 2150 fps. Most of the real rifles shoot about 100 fps slow, or around 2050 fps. Drop those solids below 1900 fps, and they start having penetration problems in a big way. The irony is that these big guns have absolutely critical velocity requirements.

Of course, well designed modern cartridges like the .500 A2, the .458 Lott, and the .416 Remington are well above the critical penetration threshold and avoid these types of issues; but nostalgia is a powerful force. I'd own a .475 #2 if I could afford it; and if I could get it home without my wife finding out.

So you determine velocity by eyeball.


Do you also "eyeball" your powder charge?

I measure my powder charges with a calibrated scale.

That is what a chronograph is: a scale.

Far enough. I completely understand niche and nostalgia. I shoot a 6.5x47 after all.

Hear is another question. If a bullet doesn't penetrate at 1900 fps, and you are only launching at 2050 fps, how many yards does that bullet cover before it slows down to 1900? Not many I would bet. Do you have a commercially available bullet I can use to run those numbers?

Sure, use the 500 grain Hornady DGS .458 bullet; it's as good as any to perform the calculation. Bear in mind that the primary target of large caliber solids is the head of an elephant. Preferred ranges are 10-15 yards, sometimes further, and, occasionally, somewhat closer.

I'm not making this up. It was a known problem with .458 WinMag ammo at one point (which lead to the development of the .458 Lott), and various bad batches of ammo in the British nitro calibers have had the same issue. If you poke around the literature a bit, you'll find many references to the problem.