I’ve been to another range in Florida to go out past 100 they only go to 200 you have to shoot through a concrete tunnel it is so a bullet cannot leave the range
Is LabRadar worth the pice ?
- Thread starter rebs
- Start date
rkittine
Gold $$ Contributor
I bought my Lab Radar unit direct from them when they had one of their deals. Got it for the regular going price with an external battery and special trigger thrown in. On this site I bought a great portable and foldable stand that fits in the Lab Radar Carrying Case along with the extra battery and trigger.
After shooting with Andy M. at Williamsport and doing load development I became a believer in using velocity variation to tune loads so I love it.
The reason for shooting through the tunnel: Well I belong to a private club in The Hamptons, where much of the Summer Crowd are pretty far to the left and anti-gun. Surprising how many complaints we get about shooting noise that turns out to be Nail Guns being used to build 7,000 square foot weekend homes near them.
So one person a number of miles away claimed that she had a BULLET shot into her yard and that it had to have come from the gun club. She made a formal complaint and had a petition circulated with over 1,000 names trying to get us shut down (a few years later there was 12,000 names on the petition). Since we lease the property from East Hampton Township, we were told that although the home owner was mistaken (she has a brass case not a projectile that somehow she supposedly found in her yard) and that if it had happened it would have had to be from someone illegally shooting along the power line easement, which is common, we had to go beyond the "Eye Brows" that we already had installed to keep projectiles from being accidently shot high enough into the air to go outside the range parameters.
The end result was a whol load of money being spent on building 6 4'x4' concrete tunnels, each 30 feet long and a rule that the muzzle of your rifle has to be in the tunnel while shooting of you can't shoot.
The echo's and position of the end of the barrel as compared to where you can have the LabRadar make it unusable there.
Bob
After shooting with Andy M. at Williamsport and doing load development I became a believer in using velocity variation to tune loads so I love it.
The reason for shooting through the tunnel: Well I belong to a private club in The Hamptons, where much of the Summer Crowd are pretty far to the left and anti-gun. Surprising how many complaints we get about shooting noise that turns out to be Nail Guns being used to build 7,000 square foot weekend homes near them.
So one person a number of miles away claimed that she had a BULLET shot into her yard and that it had to have come from the gun club. She made a formal complaint and had a petition circulated with over 1,000 names trying to get us shut down (a few years later there was 12,000 names on the petition). Since we lease the property from East Hampton Township, we were told that although the home owner was mistaken (she has a brass case not a projectile that somehow she supposedly found in her yard) and that if it had happened it would have had to be from someone illegally shooting along the power line easement, which is common, we had to go beyond the "Eye Brows" that we already had installed to keep projectiles from being accidently shot high enough into the air to go outside the range parameters.
The end result was a whol load of money being spent on building 6 4'x4' concrete tunnels, each 30 feet long and a rule that the muzzle of your rifle has to be in the tunnel while shooting of you can't shoot.
The echo's and position of the end of the barrel as compared to where you can have the LabRadar make it unusable there.
Bob
rwj
Gold $$ Contributor
How many years of service did it provide?
Without question.........
Acyr
Gold $$ Contributor
https://jklprecision.com/product/labradar-trigger/
Do yourself a favor and get the external trigger while your at it. It allows you to place the LR close to you while shooting and not mess with getting it just right next to the muzzle so it triggers consistently. Necessary since their blue tooth for iPhones suck.
Do yourself a favor and get the external trigger while your at it. It allows you to place the LR close to you while shooting and not mess with getting it just right next to the muzzle so it triggers consistently. Necessary since their blue tooth for iPhones suck.
If every one of your loaded rounds included:
- powder to the kernel
- consist bullet weight (like Barts 6mm 105 gn)
- exact neck thickness
- bullet seating @ 10-15 psi
Would you still use a Chronograph?
Ben
- powder to the kernel
- consist bullet weight (like Barts 6mm 105 gn)
- exact neck thickness
- bullet seating @ 10-15 psi
Would you still use a Chronograph?
Ben
Acyr
Gold $$ Contributor
To track temperature effects on loads yes.
In F Class we don't have the luxury of being able to load at the range.
Absolutely. I do all the above and more. When I get single digit ES I know my loading practices are good. Since most of my tuning is at 200 yds for 600 and 1000 yd BR matches, I need to know my loading is good.
Now when I can tune at competition distance I don't worry about the chrono at 600 or 1000 yds because the target tells all. At 200 yds it doesn't. At 200 yds, if I have a single digit ES but a bad group, then I know it's not a good load. If I get a bad group with a bad ES, it could be the load or it could be my loading method. If I good group with a mediocre ES, then it's probably a very tolerant node. I have never got a good group with a bad ES.
And yes, I repeatedly test what I think is good.
CaptainMal
Silver $$ Contributor
Sure they work well. Once you know the rough speed you are at, turn the darn thing off and start concentrating on the target.
I actually laugh at so many using them and talking about the great ES, speeds and other information they gather with the machine. Then their targets suck.
Way better to forget all that stuff and tune for the target. Use a target camera, play with loads, seating depth, bullet etc. and find something that groups best. The target is what is important.
The temperature changes are best handled at the target also. Finding a load with positive barrel timing for different temperatures is another thing best done at the target. Numbers on a LabRadar are not the answer but can be part of the solution.
I do NOT own one and have no plans to use anything but my old chronograph and then go to load development. There is no substitute for load development except to use the target results.
I actually laugh at so many using them and talking about the great ES, speeds and other information they gather with the machine. Then their targets suck.
Way better to forget all that stuff and tune for the target. Use a target camera, play with loads, seating depth, bullet etc. and find something that groups best. The target is what is important.
The temperature changes are best handled at the target also. Finding a load with positive barrel timing for different temperatures is another thing best done at the target. Numbers on a LabRadar are not the answer but can be part of the solution.
I do NOT own one and have no plans to use anything but my old chronograph and then go to load development. There is no substitute for load development except to use the target results.
dcali
Bullet Maker
You still need one for a ladder test, and they're helpful in diagnosing other issues from time to time.
I started with a Caldwell but ended up not using it because it malfunctioned half the time, was a pain to set up and wait for the line to go cold and whatnot. the labradar is expensive but it’s
Worked every time so far so I use it way more. Makes diagnosing load problems much easier.
The usb battery pack is a must or you’ll spend more on batteries than on the labradar. I haven’t had a problem with it triggering you just have to place it
Flush with the muzzle and it will pick it up every time. I don’t have brakes on the barrels it may be different if you use a brake.
Worked every time so far so I use it way more. Makes diagnosing load problems much easier.
The usb battery pack is a must or you’ll spend more on batteries than on the labradar. I haven’t had a problem with it triggering you just have to place it
Flush with the muzzle and it will pick it up every time. I don’t have brakes on the barrels it may be different if you use a brake.
Like this.
Made my life easier, and you can tell at a glance if it gets knocked off target, for whatever reason.
Made my life easier, and you can tell at a glance if it gets knocked off target, for whatever reason.
Hoot
Silver $$ Contributor
I have not found mine to be so sensitive to aiming that it required a more precise aiming aid than the V-notch in the top. Since i started using the phone app to control it, it doesn't get touched once I power it up. It doesn't move around on the concrete shooting tables at the local range. The 10 pound, gimballed mounting plate that I made for it doesn't hurt either. 
I did have an interesting problem however. When using it with a Lead Sled DFT, that has that large pan on the bottom to holds the weights. It must reflect the shock wave or something which seems to confuse the LR to where I can't get reliable triggers with loud rifles. Take the lead sled away, switch to a front rest and rear bag and all else being equal, it triggers fine.
When I first got my LR, I did make a baffle out of an 8x16x2 concrete paver with 3/8" dense rubber pads glued to the sides, mounted in a holder to keep it upright, That was a band-aid for unreliable triggers when using rifle brakes with or without the Lead Sled. Didn't matter whether it was even with, in front of or behind the muzzle. It was very maddening early on. So much so that I was prepared to sell it, even for a loss, to the highest bidder! Big time buyer's remorse! Another member at the club was an early adopter also. He used his for load development on a different range, out in the open and he didn't have any problem with reliable triggers. Then, the company came out with a firmware update for it without much of a change log saying what it corrected. After I installed the update, the trigger problem vanished. Keep in mind that this was before affordable, external, aftermarket inertial triggers had come out. Our local range's Rock of Gibraltar concrete shooting tables sit on a concrete pad with a thick plywood ceiling about 8 ft over the shooting positions and it maker for a hard sound environment. Open on the front, sides and back but really reflective up and down.
Thank goodness the company resolved that issue with a firmware update or I would not have grown to really like mine for all the reasons already covered.
Hoot
I did have an interesting problem however. When using it with a Lead Sled DFT, that has that large pan on the bottom to holds the weights. It must reflect the shock wave or something which seems to confuse the LR to where I can't get reliable triggers with loud rifles. Take the lead sled away, switch to a front rest and rear bag and all else being equal, it triggers fine.
When I first got my LR, I did make a baffle out of an 8x16x2 concrete paver with 3/8" dense rubber pads glued to the sides, mounted in a holder to keep it upright, That was a band-aid for unreliable triggers when using rifle brakes with or without the Lead Sled. Didn't matter whether it was even with, in front of or behind the muzzle. It was very maddening early on. So much so that I was prepared to sell it, even for a loss, to the highest bidder! Big time buyer's remorse! Another member at the club was an early adopter also. He used his for load development on a different range, out in the open and he didn't have any problem with reliable triggers. Then, the company came out with a firmware update for it without much of a change log saying what it corrected. After I installed the update, the trigger problem vanished. Keep in mind that this was before affordable, external, aftermarket inertial triggers had come out. Our local range's Rock of Gibraltar concrete shooting tables sit on a concrete pad with a thick plywood ceiling about 8 ft over the shooting positions and it maker for a hard sound environment. Open on the front, sides and back but really reflective up and down.
Thank goodness the company resolved that issue with a firmware update or I would not have grown to really like mine for all the reasons already covered.
Hoot
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