Which chronograph to get

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D

DCG

Well-Known Member
Right Gentlemen and Ladies, I’m going to have myself a new chronograph to replace my old Pro-chrono Pal, which one have you got? and would you recommend it.
For my purpose it’s going to have to be portable ( not mains powered) but accurate as I use it for OCW load development.
Any recommendations greatfuly received.
dcg
 
DCG said:
Right Gentlemen and Ladies, I’m going to have myself a new chronograph to replace my old Pro-chrono Pal, which one have you got? and would you recommend it.
For my purpose it’s going to have to be portable ( not mains powered) but accurate as I use it for OCW load development.
Any recommendations greatfuly received.
dcg
Click to expand...

If you have unlimited funds then a LabRadar... otherwise Magnetospeed is the way to go
 
SuperChrono® Acoustic Shooting Chronograph Steinert Sensing Systems

A friend has one of these and it is very simple to set up, much more tolerant regarding position below bullet path than the light/shadow triggered ones...works in the tunnel range...not fussy about light/clouds/sun. Doesn't alter POI like the Magnetospeed so better for load development.

However it does pick up the wazzock in the next lane with a muzzle brake so better if you are alone...you can cycle through the readings so even if it has picked up the wazzock you can easily differentiate them. Similar price to Magnetospeed I think.

Alan
 
I've got the Magnetospeed Sporter and for the price it's pretty good. Works in all weather, takes about 2 mins to set up, it's compact and light. Only downside is that it won't work with a moderator, you'll need the V3 for that buts it's the best part of £400. Not worth the extra in my opinion as the loads I developed (using the OCW too) have been accurate out to 500m so far with the velocity recorded without the mod. For about £20 you can buy an adapter that allows you to connect it to your smart phone and using the free app it can give you a better display and more info about trends/patterns ES/SD etc.
 
I have had a Chrony BETA and a Caldwell. The Chrony has been great for 10 years and is still great. The odd day when the light is wrong for it, but you can overcome that with a towel. The Caldwell is slightly better in that it used LED strips on the sun shades and seems to handle more light conditions.

I didn't go with a Magnetospeed as it does affect POI and I use the chronograph for every shot in load development to check ES/SD whilst at the same time looking for accuracy. Don't like changing barrel harmonics by sticking things on them.

The front door is definitely the Radar Lab, but I don't think I need that level of accuracy to get 1/2 MOA groups. If I was competition shooting maybe, but I'm not.
 
I use a Caldwell and have no complaints. Am on my second one as I...ahem...mighta...kinda...shot the first one...
 
I rate the Chrony range of instruments. They are inexpensive. They are certainly durable accurate enough & if used properly they are very repeatable. They do have a couple of drawbacks though & I'm currently working on upgrading my club Chrony to work anywhere.

I have got a pair of LED 12 volt 17cm long strip lights (car running lights off £2 each fleabay) running on a LIPO battery (made up from old computer battery cells). These lights are simply held on top of the sun screens with rubber bands. They give an excellent flicker free illumination & trouble free operation whatever the weather & also in dark conditions. If it is extremely sunny or operated in flickering neon or mains LED light, I will arrange a dark top cover screen to stop over illumination screwing up the operation.

To allow the Chrony to be left out down range during rainfall & not letting it get wet, (It always seems to rain at the wrong time - right in the middle of a firing detail) I'm going to fit the head into an appropriate size (Tesco or similar polythene) storage box & cut out the ends to allow the bullets to pass through.

The biggest problem with Chronys is stopping club members shooting the instrument. Ours has been hit three times so far LOL & it still works fine after being mended! - Fortunately the bullets spared the vital parts.
I've come to the conclusion that they most often shoot it because there is no decent aiming reference. So I'll put some heavy bright coloured broad crosshairs on the front & rear faces of the cover box to make alignment easy.

Ian
 
I have the Magnospeed V3 having had others, this gets my vote. Simple to set up and has an SD card to store data. Even use it with airrifle.
 
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Yorric said:
I rate the Chrony range of instruments. They are inexpensive. They are certainly durable accurate enough & if used properly they are very repeatable. They do have a couple of drawbacks though & I'm currently working on upgrading my club Chrony to work anywhere.

I have got a pair of LED 12 volt 17cm long strip lights (car running lights off £2 each fleabay) running on a LIPO battery (made up from old computer battery cells). These lights are simply held on top of the sun screens with rubber bands. They give an excellent flicker free illumination & trouble free operation whatever the weather & also in dark conditions. If it is extremely sunny or operated in flickering neon or mains LED light, I will arrange a dark top cover screen to stop over illumination screwing up the operation.

To allow the Chrony to be left out down range during rainfall & not letting it get wet, (It always seems to rain at the wrong time - right in the middle of a firing detail) I'm going to fit the head into an appropriate size (Tesco or similar polythene) storage box & cut out the ends to allow the bullets to pass through.

The biggest problem with Chronys is stopping club members shooting the instrument. Ours has been hit three times so far LOL & it still works fine after being mended! - Fortunately the bullets spared the vital parts.
I've come to the conclusion that they most often shoot it because there is no decent aiming reference. So I'll put some heavy bright coloured broad crosshairs on the front & rear faces of the cover box to make alignment easy.

Ian
Click to expand...

Those sound very useful improvements for the Chrony. I am currently minding the one my friend replaced with his Steinert Acoustic, maybe I will have a play.

I have some Makita 12volt rechargeable batteries...

Alan

p.s. a thought occurs...when you say "flicker free", have you actually tried the Chrony with the strip lights yet? I remember being surprised that the lathe chuck was strobing when I was wearing my Ledlenser head torch as a work light to do a bit of machining...Could you post a link to the eBay listing...there seem to be a lot of variations...
 
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Alantoo said:
I remember reading somewhere that Chrony users were one of two types...those that had shot their instrument or those that were going to! Alan
Click to expand...

Hell, I bought my Chrony in the US twenty years ago and even though it’s been shot several times by others (All of whom said they’d be terribly careful and their rifles were perfectly zero’d etc etc)
it still works well apart from being a little temperamental in certain sunlight conditions.

I think it’s a great little instrument for what are really ‘field test’ data and certainly useful enough info is provided.

The opaque plastic storeage box is a great idea and I really must try that .. needs a hole in the base for the tripod too.​

For interest, Birmingham proof house will test/chrono your ammunition for a fee, but remember, the data they provide will have been obtained in their barrel, not your own, also, under what really amounts to lab conditions. So, my conclusion is field testing your own ammunition in your own rifle is much more useful.
 
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I have two and a half Chrony's and a Lab Radar. Lab Radar is the most useful but has a couple of downsides: Can't be used below +14F temperatures and is said to be somewhat delicate. Don't let it fall to the ground.~Muir
 
I have an F1 Chrony works ok in summer although you do still get a few error messages and misreadings, winter time it’s very erratic, bordering on useless.. I was in two minds over the Labradar and Magneto V3, opted for the V3 and i’m very happy with the unit, gets my vote.
 
NigelM said:
I have had a Chrony BETA and a Caldwell. The Chrony has been great for 10 years and is still great. The odd day when the light is wrong for it, but you can overcome that with a towel. The Caldwell is slightly better in that it used LED strips on the sun shades and seems to handle more light conditions.

I didn't go with a Magnetospeed as it does affect POI and I use the chronograph for every shot in load development to check ES/SD whilst at the same time looking for accuracy. Don't like changing barrel harmonics by sticking things on them.

The front door is definitely the Radar Lab, but I don't think I need that level of accuracy to get 1/2 MOA groups. If I was competition shooting maybe, but I'm not.
Click to expand...

I can't find the link anymore but there was a Sierra Bullets tester who had a bracket for the Magnetospeed so it could be clipped to picatinny rail under the forend. I'm sure one could be altered to attach to a bipod mount etc thereby eliminating any poi issues. Saying that I just developed the charge weight using the chronograph and muzzle brake and then used that velocity with the moderator and it has been spot on out to 500m so far.
 
nun_hunter said:
I can't find the link anymore but there was a Sierra Bullets tester who had a bracket for the Magnetospeed so it could be clipped to picatinny rail under the forend. I'm sure one could be altered to attach to a bipod mount etc thereby eliminating any poi issues. Saying that I just developed the charge weight using the chronograph and muzzle brake and then used that velocity with the moderator and it has been spot on out to 500m so far.
Click to expand...

I might well be wrong, but to my mind load development is all about getting the load right for the specific harmonics of your barrel. Strapping something to the end of the barrel must change those harmonics so you end up tuning your load to the barrel with the Magnetospeed attached. You can do your load development without it attached, but then you're not measuring ES/SD as you go which is all part of developing a long range load.
 
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