Chronograph Tell me about yours!

[jghoghunter]

I bought a pact model model back in 1993. I never liked it, it has always given me trouble. Last week in bright sunlight with clouds it worked like a top. Today was a perfect day for a chrono and I fired 3 shots no reading, repostioned it fired 5 more shots till it gave me a reading of 1469 fps out of a 300ack. with 180gr bullets, 2 more shots no reading, next shot said 5669, needless to say after 18 years of the same old sh$t it meet its demise with a hammer laying on the shooting bench.

Please tell what you have and why you like it or dislike as I'm in the market for a new one ;D!

 

[CatShooter]

I have owned most (if not all) of them, going back to the original Hollywood RC unit (still have it) and the small kit version before it.

They all suck!

About two years ago, I was shooting with a friend (from this site) and we lined up our chrono's in a straight line to shoot through them - they were all over the place.

Some time later, I really needed to know what the error was for a work project. I begged and borrowed all the chrono's I could find and lined then up in a row, with 5 foot spacing - care was taken to make sure that the bullet traveled 2 inches over the photocell of each trap.

If life was as it should be, each chrono should have read ~4 fps slower than the one in front of it, and all the AVG, ES, SD, etc, should be the same...
.. but I am not naive, so, OK each would have a built in error, since they all use the same $1.25 4Mhz counter chip. So each would have an error, but allowing for that clock error, there would still be a predictable output.

HA!... neva happening. One would read a 90fps es and the next would read a 12 es and the next would read a 46 es and the next would read 38, and so on and so on. And on the next string, the numbers would completely change.

Nor was it limited to that - in a given string, each would give readings that had nothing to do with the rest, nor was there a predictable error that could be added or subtracted, to bring them all in line.

At this point, I would say that no matter what unit you have, and how much you "wuv it" or who's name is on it, or how much "status" is has, you have no clear idea of what your SD or AVE velocity is... within 50 or 75 fps.

 

[338Lapua]

I’m sure people will say just buy an oehler...... and they sound like one of the best units available but at a much higher cost. I have a CED M2 and have had mixed results.
I found that unless there was good over head light. I always struggle to get readings.
As long as I set the unit up in good sun light it usually work well… but I have had lost’s of frustration with it....One day a fellow benchrester with the exact same unit as i have, set his unit up the day I couldn’t get a reading…..his unit never missed a reading in shade……. I was pissed. apart from that it has good features

 

[CatShooter]

I’m sure people will say just buy an oehler......

I have owned four Oehlers, and still own two. A 33 and a 35P

 

[BoydAllen]

I have a 33 with the latest sky screens. Other than the fact that the on off switch is too easy to accidentally turn on (draining the batteries in storage) and that it takes a goodly number of D cells, I like it just fine. It gives me High, Low, ES, and SD for any string of shots, and I don't mind writing the information down.

 

[CatShooter]

I actually like the 33 better than the 35P. And I have someone interested in the 35P for an unGodly amount of "coin of the realm", which I will gladly exchange for some of Lapua's best efforts

 

[Frankr]

I dont actually own one, my friends dad bought a shooting chrony. i have it right here the date on the box is 9/29/1997. we ..three or four of us have shot so many rifles through this thing i cant even remember most of them,i was going to buy one when roy said we dont use it much just take this one and when ever your done bring it back. i seem to have it most of the time.. but alot of the rifles we have shot through it have clocked about what they probably shold have been speed wise..and i have made up range cards from the MV clocked and out to 600yrds i dialed the min and hit right on, 1000 yrds i was off some.. but i do believe what it says. and i do try to measure from the bench out to it to make sure i have it in the same spot when testing..I have to wright down all the reading and figure my own ES..I will shoot 25 to 50 rounds to come up with a ES..a another friend of mine had a expensive one cant remember the name but i know he paid some bucks for it and the buzz was about some smoken velocitys he was getting with some loads and roy called and said hey can you bring that chrony up were going to chrony this rifle and when we did it was right inline with what the rifle should have been clocking not the 300FPS faster that his was showing.. i think for a small cheap unit they work well.. cant bring myself to buy...i just use this one and trust it.

 

[5spd]

I have owned 2 Shooting Chronys for over 20 yrs and never had any problems with them in that time. Never failed to read no matter if its sunny or over cast.

 

[1000yardstare]

Decided to buy one of those newfangled chronographs back in the 1980s. Saw an add for a PACT in a gun magazine, their first generation chrono. Mailordered that puppy from Texas into the deep boonies of southern Ontario. First chrono anyone had seen in my neck of the woods.

Worked great if used early in the morning when the shade of the covered firing point fell on its body. Any hint of bright sun and the readings went out the window. Never heard of skyscreens. No idea how accurate it was. Close enough for this country boy.

Ten years ago decided to be patriotic and bought a Chrony Beta Master made north of Toronto, Canada. Even had a printer. Definitely a step up. UV turned the skyscreens to cheese. Bright sun still a problem. Still needed firing point shade on the unit. The internal wiring of the folding unit eventually frayed and the printer stopped working. No idea how accurate it was. Close enough.

Back to my buddies in Texas. The PACT website showed their latest PRO model with a built in printer. Another mailorder by plane, train and dogsled into the Mennonite country north of Lake Erie. Great little unit. Skyscreens work great unless sun is low on the horizon and glints into the photocell slits. Left the batteries once in the unit for the trip home. Bouncing around in the car pushed a button somehow and half a roll of paper printed off saying "no front cell reading". Now I remove the battery before heading home. No idea how accurate it is. Looks good to me.

Have shot both PACTs. Destroyed the first one. Just a skyscreen on the newest. Texas sent two pair of new skyscreens by rocketship express. No problem. The Chrony Beta fell apart before I could draw a good bead on it.

Ain`t shooting fun!

Bill

 

[ChipEckardt]

After a Shooting Chrony I went all out and bought a Kurzzeit PVM 21 chronograph. I believe it is very accurate, and shooting is 98% mental.

Chip

 

[Steve Blair]

...OK each would have a built in error, since they all use the same $1.25 4Mhz counter chip. So each would have an error, but allowing for that clock error, there would still be a predictable output.

The Kurzzeit PVM-21 uses a 16MHz sampling rate and full time infrared, laterally firing sensors. It is not cheap and people complain about the software and their expectations of it, but it fulfills my needs. The unit is very reliable and repeatable.

 

[Mark Walker in TX]

...OK each would have a built in error, since they all use the same $1.25 4Mhz counter chip. So each would have an error, but allowing for that clock error, there would still be a predictable output.

The Kurzzeit PVM-21 uses a 16MHz sampling rate and full time infrared, laterally firing sensors. It is not cheap and people complain about the software and their expectations of it, but it fulfills my needs. The unit is very reliable and repeatable.

Agree completely. Not to mention it is compact, so it's very easy to store, and when transporting back and forth to the range.

 

[Dave T]

jghoghunter
They are going to start production again on the Ohler 35's, just get one and don't look back. I've had my 35P since the 90's and it still works flawlessly.
Dave T

 

[40X Guy]

As Dave T said, I second the Oehler 35P, I shot my Pact in the mid 90's accidentally and bought an Oehler and still have it. The stuff that works well I keep for a long time.

Frank

 

[brian427cobra]

I had a Chrony Beta Master, I shot it on purpose!
I now have a CED M2, it has been perfect, simple easy to use, I am going to buy the infrared option so I can use it in any weather condition or indoors, I thought really hard about buying a 35p or PVM-21, but I after I used a friends M2 I bought one, I also recommend buying CED carry bag for it.

 

[Erik Cortina]

I used, well, tried to use a friends Pact Pro, and I was extremely close to using it as a reactive target. Nothing worked, tried the infrared skyscreens and all!

Another friend of mine had the CED M2, same story, he needed chrono data and could not get it to work when he needed it. And the rest of the time he could not trust the data. He finally bought an Oehler 35P and after seeing that thing work I knew that's what I needed. I ordered one a week later and it has worked every time for me. It prints every shot so after I shoot a target I tape the chrono data to the target and I have it all there.

Buy the Oehler 35P and it will cost you less in the long run.

 

[Darrel Martin]

I have no experience with the high quality chronographs,but when I went to replace my shooting chrony which got shot between the eyes by a friend, I read the 73 reviews on Midway about the Competition Electronics ProChrono Digital Chronograph. It only costs about $120 and is very user friendly with no wires easy recall of shot strings,average velocity, es,etc
I have had mine only 4-5 months.I keep it on a tripod next to my shooting bench in the garage,and i can set it in position and be shooting in a minute or 2.The ease of use results in me using it a lot more,and just judging by the velocities obtained it gives me readings that are very much in the expected range for the various loads ,calibers,etc ,such that I think it is accurate.I have only had problems when it was late and the light fading.So far I think it is a good buy for the money.

 

[dan06]

I have a shooting crony and hated it until a friend told me to put the white side of an ipsc target down over it like it was a sky screen and use it only on bright days......This way it is shaded from light changes and is looking up at the bright white of the target. It has worked perfect since. I set a white cardboard target on top of the shooting uprights and set something heavy like a small sand bag on top......I bet this helps all the models get consistant light.

 

[fx77]

Have owned all the mentioned chronos. Best 4 me and easisiest to use was the Oehler 35P
Have the PVM 21 and have read great things about them, but the support was awful and the software horrid (maybe because it was made for the German Market).To my knowoledge there have been no updates in software since my purchase. JMHO

 

[Scott Harris]

I have a CED with Infrared screens. Have been disappointed with it. Seems to work well for one session and then not at all for the next. Now that could have something to do with the fact I "slightly" shot it...just a nick. But, since it worked the same before and after, I'm blaming it on the CED and not my shooting.