Labradar vs Caldwell chrono

[Aggie14]

I have a Caldwell Chrono that I have been using. Yes it is a pain to set up and have the height just right etc. my question is there any accuracy issues with this chrono? I’ve got good a not having any errors on shots. If it reads the shot should I be concerned if it’s accurate?

 

[Ned Ludd]

The question of "accuracy" regarding chronograph data is something that is certainly worth consideration, but in practice is more difficult confirm/verify than might be appreciated. There are at least two ways to assess the accuracy of your chronograph that almost anyone should be able to do relatively easily. The first and most obvious would be to compare directly it to another chronograph for the same shots. This would require that you have a friend, shooting partner, or merely another shooter at the range that will let you use their chronograph for a few minutes. That's typically not a problem. The second approach would be to use the predicted external ballistics for the load you are shooting (i.e. bullet BC/measured average muzzle velocity) for comparison to your actual drop values. Neither of these methods are perfect. For example, there is no guarantee that the chronograph to which you are comparing velocity data is any more "accurate" than the one you own. For equally obvious reasons, bullets BCs and predicted drops must also be taken with a grain of salt.

Nonetheless, either (or both) of these approaches should be able to provide you with what is sounds like you're really looking for, which is a little reassurance that your Caldwell chrono is giving you numbers that are way off. As long as either approach matches up reasonably well with the numbers your chronograph is providing, then you have some measure of confidence that the Caldwell is working as advertised. Even if its velocity outputs aren't "spot on" identical to the other chronograph, or the predicted drop data needs just a bit of tweaking to closely match the actual drop data, as long as they are close, the unit is likely providing internally consistent velocity readings, which is really all you can ask.

 

[MikeT124]

I had these same kind of concerns when working up some elk loads for my wife and myself. I found a fellow on Youtube that was having altitude concerns with his LabRadar, he felt that because the LR didn't take altitude into account, if he set up his rifle at 3k feet and then went hunting at 8K feet the velocity, drop etc would be off, he had all sorts of calculations to verify his concerns on this. He said he had contacted LR about it and that they were looking into it, said he would report back. I looked back several times but never got an update from him?? I contacted LR and they said that the difference wouldn't be of any significant value. So after that being said I just used the data I had and stopped worrying about it. I suggest you do the same with the concerns about your chrono, use it the best you can and be happy with the results.

Mike

 

[watercam]

No matter what any electronic device says about velocity, if it were my hunt I would be sighting in at or near the hunting location to verify zeros. I shoot monthly matches at an elevation of 4600' but my home range is only 120' above sea level. There is about a 2moa difference between the two at 1000 yds..

 

[DukeDuke]

I have both. Most days the numbers are super close, but on some, there are readings up to 30-40 fps difference, consistently.

 

[geralton4]

I have the standard Caldwell Precision Chronograph. It works great, displays and logs on my phone and Kindle Fire HD8. The G2 is probably great for the archery shop because of the automatic lights and inverted orientation but I'm not sure I personally would spend the money on it because I don't think it's necessarily more accurate.

 

[Aggie14]

Ok that is what I was looking for guys. I know it’s not exactly what the true velocity is more or less. I just wanted to make sure the consistency of the Caldwell was reliable. As long as I was getting a reading it should be good info. Had some loads where 3-4 shots were consistent then one shot would be off by 50-70fps and wanted to make sure it wasn’t the chrono

 

[Murray Brook]

I use a Chrony , and I too had concerns. over the accuracy of the unit. What I found (and was told) is that you can rely on the factory velocity #'s of 22 lr ammo and I use this to check my chronograph. I also ,generally, when shooting 10 shot strings is eliminate the highest and lowest reading and average the rest. Seems to work for me. JME

 

[LRPV]

The last time I used an optical chronograph, Chrony, I set it up in the morning and shot throughout the day into the evening tuning a rifle. Same bench, same target, only change being the angle of the sun and the same load was over 100fps different in the morning than it was in the evening. At that point I realized I was pissing in wind using it.

With that said, I was always curious as to whether or not the external light sources would help eliminate that but Magneto Speed came out about that time and that’s what I went with at the time.

 

[whatsupdoc]

Dont know about the Caldwell but the Labradar was pretty accurate in this test.

LabRadar vs. professional Weibel Doppler Radar benchmark test

I haven’t bought my own LabRadar yet, but I’m seriously tempted.I am shamelessly using my friend’s LabRadar, with all options, for chronographing my ammunition.And he has to carry it too!As if our firearms themselves weren’t enough, the McLaren orange radar always attracts other shooters at the...

www.thefirearmblog.com

 

[FNSafari]

I had these same kind of concerns when working up some elk loads for my wife and myself. I found a fellow on Youtube that was having altitude concerns with his LabRadar, he felt that because the LR didn't take altitude into account, if he set up his rifle at 3k feet and then went hunting at 8K feet the velocity, drop etc would be off, he had all sorts of calculations to verify his concerns on this. He said he had contacted LR about it and that they were looking into it, said he would report back. I looked back several times but never got an update from him?? I contacted LR and they said that the difference wouldn't be of any significant value. So after that being said I just used the data I had and stopped worrying about it. I suggest you do the same with the concerns about your chrono, use it the best you can and be happy with the results.

Mike

I'm not sure I understand the concern regarding the BOLD sentence above. Any chrono is going to measure velocity at the altitude you are shooting. Beyond that its probably up to the shooter that is going to clock velocity at 3k feet and hunt at 8k to consult software that takes altitude density into account for a given known zero and velocity with whatever load is being used. Something like that must exist. Where I hunt altitude differences might be measured in a few hundred feet.

At ethical hunting distances it prolly isn't an issue. As the post above about a 2 MOA difference at 1000 yds based on an altitude change, that is significant, at that range. 2MOA at 100 or 200 is still in the vital zone of a good sized deer, moose or elk....beyond that distance it starts to build significantly and all bets are off and one prolly shouldn't be shooting, they should be hunting there way in closer.

 

[Laurie]

The last time I used an optical chronograph, Chrony, I set it up in the morning and shot throughout the day into the evening tuning a rifle. Same bench, same target, only change being the angle of the sun and the same load was over 100fps different in the morning than it was in the evening. At that point I realized I was pissing in wind using it.

Yep, I lost all faith in optical chronographs some years back for the same reason, in my case shooting on a range in a steep-sided valley where the weather sees constant cloud cover changes overhead, hence light levels.

I use a Chrony , and I too had concerns. over the accuracy of the unit. What I found (and was told) is that you can rely on the factory velocity #'s of 22 lr ammo and I use this to check my chronograph.

When I had an early Chrony, many years ago, I'd take a 22 rifle to the range too and shoot some Eley standard velocity 40gn match rounds over it as a a chrono accuracy check. Some days it never worked reliably. (It also had a habit of adding around 1,000 fps at times. Testing 7.92X57mm handloads in a military Persian Mauser one day produced some 'interesting' results - such high MVs from 200gn bullets that Remington had obviously wasted its time in designing the poorer performing 8mm Rem Magnum!)

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I'm not sure I understand the concern regarding the BOLD sentence above. Any chrono is going to measure velocity at the altitude you are shooting. Beyond that its probably up to the shooter that is going to clock velocity at 3k feet and hunt at 8k to consult software that takes altitude density into account for a given known zero and velocity with whatever load is being used. Something like that must exist. Where I hunt altitude differences might be measured in a few hundred feet.

At ethical hunting distances it prolly isn't an issue. As the post above about a 2 MOA difference at 1000 yds based on an altitude change, that is significant, at that range. 2MOA at 100 or 200 is still in the vital zone of a good sized deer, moose or elk....beyond that distance it starts to build significantly and all bets are off and one prolly shouldn't be shooting, they should be hunting there way in closer.

This is correct. Sounds like a severe lack of understanding of how a chronograph works. It has no idea where you may go shoot later on, but you can be assured if you took it with you to 8000’ it would read correctly

 

[Falfan2017]

I have a Caldwell Chrono that I have been using. Yes it is a pain to set up and have the height just right etc. my question is there any accuracy issues with this chrono? I’ve got good a not having any errors on shots. If it reads the shot should I be concerned if it’s accurate?

I went from a caldwell to a labradar. When the Caldwell was set up and working perfectly it would read pretty consistent with the labradar. However if it was off or the lighting wasnt ideal it would be wrong. The problem is it wasn’t wrong enough to be impossible which left you wondering was the chrono messing up or was your ammo actually doing that? 100-200 FPS off.
With the labradar it seems to either function correctly and accurately or it gives you an error message. It’s never given me a reading that left me scratching my head and wondering if it was correct.

The labradar is also so much faster and easier to set up so I end up using it much more. Expensive but worth it in my opinion.

 

[jepp2]

my question is there any accuracy issues with this chrono?

I have seen tests were 3 models were compared. Results were remarkably close.

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/comparing-3-chronographs.3953388/

I decided to go from the dark ages (Chrony) to the middle ages (CED). Wanted to see how they compared. Here was my setup and results. At first the data looked quite a bit different, but when I ran the % difference, negligible to me.