Which Chronograph?

[Travelor]

Searched this and BR Central as well as Google.

Question is which chronograph is THE one for reloaders and prints. I can possibly purchase a Oehler 35P and know I can get a Chrony and a CED. I would really like a printer and/or computer interface.

I currently ahve a F1 Master Chrony and am looking to upgrade - why? I have no clue as to why other than it is Christmas and wife is looking around.

Thanks,
George

 

[bg]

I personally have a Oehler 35P which of course are not made any longer. It is a great unit. If I didn't have the 35P I would seriously consider PVM-21 infared chronograph sold by NECO. Their website is www.neconos.com. Their telephone # is 1-800-451-3550. They are located in California. Call & talk to Ed,the owner) and he can tell you all about it. Be sure and as him about the power supply for use in the field,since this is a 110V unit).

 

[rstreich]

I agree. If you are willing to shell out the money for an Oehler, get a PVM-21 instead. You'll lose out on having a few calculations available on the display, but you get a lot more with the provided software.

Actually, I like the fact that I don't have anything available while I'm at the range. I'd get distracted thinking about it while I'm trying to shoot groups.

robert

 

[SlowpokeRodriguez]

Find a used 35P you will not regret it....

 

[flatlander]

I've owned an Oehler M33 since 1986, and bought a CED Millenium about a year ago. The M33 takes six D-cell batteries, and was prone to missing shots when even one of the batteries would drop below 1.5v. The CED is powered by one 9v battery, and has a compartment to carry a spare onboard. It's still running on the original, so I'm not sure what sort of battery life to expect.

I had to wear bifocals to read the M33's display - with the CED, I can shoot with non-prescription shooting glasses and still read the display easily.

Even with the latest Oehler diffusers, the Skyscreen IIIs had problems picking up shots in all but ideal conditions. The CED's screens have missed only two shots to date, and that was late in the day with the sun very low on the horizon.

I intended to use the CED's interface to download data into Excel, and bought a USB-to-serial adapter to do so. But according to CED, many of these adapters have bugs in their drivers, and will not work with the Millenium. Apparently, that's the case with the Belkin adapter I have, since I haven't been able to get the interface to work. The newer version of the Millenium comes with a USB cord, and a few other updates, including a faster CPU which should give a little more accuracy with 2' screen spacing.

Aside from the above glitch, I've been very pleased with the CED. I still have the M33, but haven't had it out of the shop since getting the Millenium. If I can find the time on a day with good conditions, I'd like to set both chronos up - with the CED in front of the bench, and the M33 right in front of the target at 600yds. I'd like to record both muzzle & remaining velocity with a bunch of the bullets I use at LR and use the data to compute some real-world BCs.

 

[Forum Boss]

If someone has an Oehler 35P and a CED in the Southern California area, I've been thinking of doing a "Chrono Showdown". I have access to three models of Shooting Chronys and a PVM-21.

The latter,PVM) works great... with an asterisk to the comment. The software for data recovery is very sophisticated, but requires a fairly high level of user computer/database savvy to exploit to its full potential. There should be a "level 1" simple interface. Still, if I had the money,and a laptop), the PVM-21 would be my choice. The bank of infrared emitters/sensors seems to completely eliminate any problems with ambient lighting. We've tried the thing in fog, bright overhead light, shadowy light, and even complete darkness and it didn't skip a beat.

 

[Spotcheck_Billy]

Interesting tidbit about the 35P and batteries. I foolishly ran out of printer paper for my 35P while at the range when I was chronographing a lot of loads for several rifles. I continued chronographing with the printer function turned off and just wrote the info in my log book the good old-fashioned way. Lo and behold, that 9v battery lasted and lasted. My conclusion is that the printer is the cause of the 35P's strong appetite for batteries.

I like my 35P, it's the best chronograph I ever owned. But I'm afraid if somebody offered me $600 for it they'd walk away with a 35P and I'd be ordering a CED in a heartbeat.