Trailrider,
Thank you for the info. I had heard of the ballistic pendulum before.
The question is what did Winchester use in 1875 when they stated the 1,125 f.p.s. for the .44 Henry and 1,325 f,p,s, for the new .44 W.C.F.? Whatever they used, the velocities stated were pretty correct.
Perhaps Winchester used the ballistic pendulum or the following (?) or something else....
"An early chronograph that measures velocity directly was built in 1804 by Grobert, a colonel in the French Army. This used a rapidly rotating axle with two disks mounted on it about 13 feet apart. The bullet was fired parallel to the axle, and the angular displacement of the holes in the two disks, together with the rotational speed of the axle, yielded the bullet velocity."
w44wcf