Best ballistic chronographer for the money for new to rolling

wayupnorth

wayupnorth

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My Father and myself are starting to get into reloading for some of our odd ball rounds (460Rowland, 10mm, S&W 460) as well as our hunting rounds (300WSM and 243) as well as playing around with some 223 and 308 accuracy rounds.

picked up all the stuff we need after reading a LOT over the last year or so and i think we are ready to start rolling but i need or would like to pick up a good Chrony and was wondering what peoples ideas are on the best ballistic chronographer for the money on the market right now?

i dont mind putting out the cash for good quality stuff but i also dont want to drop big bucks on a piece of kit that is gonna be way more than i need.

unfortunately being in the far north i have to order whatever i need sight unseen and all the guys i know that roll their own rounds dont chrony they just go strictly for accuracy and call it good.

so far i was leaning towards the Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph G2.

should i just go for that one or.......

any input would be helpful.
thanks for the help.
 
For the money i use the f1 crony. Have read reviews where it was placed beside an ohler and preformed almost the same. good enough for me.I load for nine hipower rifles myself and never had problems.
 
labradar - expensive but works flawlessly (and gives loads of info (on loads))

check out my review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyAWRcDi_xQ&t=13s
 
I bought the base model Shooting Chrony:

http://www.shootingchrony.com/images/F1-M1_Chrony.jpg

It runs about $150 now (though it was only $99 a few years back). It is simple. It works. It's been to the range with me many times without any problems measuring everything from 22 LR to 7mm Rem Mag. My only complaint is that my 357 magnum rounds don't go anywhere near as fast as the powder manufacturer says they should. Lol.
 
i recently upgraded my pro chrony after about 5 years. It got to the point that a gust of wind would blow off the light diffusers. Did some serious research and narrowed it down to a magneto speed or Labrador. Here is a quick breakdown of your options based on my perspective:

Option 1- traditional "light diffuser" crony, like pro crony or master crony

Pros: most affordable, reasonably accurate

Cons: 1)you have to shoot through the diffusers, meaning you are limited to where you can aim downrange and can only set it up when the range is safe. 2) lighting conditions will impact measurements, so you could get slightly different results from session to session

Option 2- Magneto speed

Pros: 1) not impacted by light conditions 2) can be setup on a live range 3) no need to shoot through a target area 4) can be setup to download data to a spreadsheet for record keeping and analysis 5) two models, one less expensive the other expensive

Cons: I think the only con is that magneto speed attaches to the barrel. From what I read on the inter web, there will be some sort of shift in POI due to barrel harmonics. As well, the more affordable version seems to have a number of reviews that it can be fussy to setup. I have never used it, so take that for what it is work:

Option 3- Labradar

Pros- 1) no defined target area or barrel attachment, you can shoot pretty much anywhere down range and get a reading 2) can download all data to a spreadsheet 3) takes multiple measurements from muzzle out to 100+yards, one measurement every millisecond from what I can see. I believe this is more cool than function, but it is very cool 4) very easy setup and while range is live

Cons- 1) it is pricy 2) hard on batteries, which can be overcome with a usb battery pack, which adds to cost 3) if you a shooting on a range with other people, it takes some fiddling to make sure it is not triggered by the guy next to you, but not a big deal based on my experience.


Incase it is not obvious, I went with the Labradar. I actually had a magneto speed sporter ordered, cause money is money. However, my wife convinced me to upgrade to the Labradar, yes she is a hell of a lady (it was Christmas). I am very happy with the labradar, I love the fact that it is easy to setup and has so many features. Money well spent in my mind. It is so easy to use and setup, I will never shoot again without it. The magneto speed may have ended up being the same and I would seriously consider it, but if you don't mind dropping the coin, I'd say get the Labradar.
 
Labradar and USB power pack, buy once, cry once, and chronograph every load forever without having to go forward on a busy firing line to fiddle with a chronograph, and nothing attached to your barrel like the magnetospeed.
 
I have 2 Oehler Mod 35P chronographs and they have proven exceptionally accurate........but not cheap. I will never own another chrony as they lie, same rifle and same load showed over a 200 fps difference on two consecutive evenings. That is absolutely unacceptable to me..........Every time the light changes the Chrony gives a different reading, as I said totally unacceptable. The Oehler is somewhat affected by light conditions but has 3 screens and it checks it's self, if it doesn't like what it's seeing it'll give you an error instead of a false reading. This happens a lot late in the evening in low light..........for this I can forgive, for a 200 fps lie I cannot.
It will also read from arrow speeds right up to over 5000 fps, according to Oehler and I believe it.
 
I don't use the diffussers. Instead put opaque scotch tape over the screens. A tip I picked up from Handloader magazine. It seems to work well.f
 
+1 for the F1

I always take a few rounds of factory ammo to check calibration when firing my handloads. It is always on but I do it for additional assurance.

With my rifles and revolvers it doesn't seem to make much difference between a cold clean barrel and a warm dirty one.
 
MagnetoSpeed sportster for just rifles. Fairly cheap, change in POI is consistent enough to be irrelevant as the bullet velocity is the concern.

Don't bother with handguns.
 
Got Juice? said:
Happy with my CED M2 Chronograph. It reads everything from .204 Ruger's moving at 4000+ to lowly pistol rounds moving in the 600-1500 fps and everything else i have run across it (including crossbow bolts, and arrows)
Click to expand...

^^^^^ This is the route I went and very happy with it and not a fortune.. available at Fasttoys as well plus options
 
silverfoxdj said:
^^^^^ This is the route I went and very happy with it and not a fortune.. available at Fasttoys as well plus options
Click to expand...

That is correct. The BEST part of the CEDM2 is it will read EVERYTHING! Labradar? Nope. Magnetospeed? Nope.

I love new tech, but the limitations on Labradar, and Magnetospeed are a real deal-breaker for me. When they catch up or build something that works, I'll call them. Until then...
 
Got Juice? said:
That is correct. The BEST part of the CEDM2 is it will read EVERYTHING! Labradar? Nope. Magnetospeed? Nope.

I love new tech, but the limitations on Labradar, and Magnetospeed are a real deal-breaker for me. When they catch up or build something that works, I'll call them. Until then...
Click to expand...

once you try a labradar everything else seems inferior...mainly because of ease of setup.
 
Shooter1971 said:
once you try a labradar everything else seems inferior...mainly because of ease of setup.
Click to expand...

still can't measure sub .22 calibers... limited

still can't measure the speeds that they can achieve either.

That's a fairly glaring issue no?

For that kind of cashola, I can buy 2 CEDM2's or one CEDM2's and every conceivable accessory, and be less $$$. And have a chronograph without limitations
 
newt said:
For the money i use the f1 crony. Have read reviews where it was placed beside an ohler and preformed almost the same. good enough for me.I load for nine hipower rifles myself and never had problems.
Click to expand...

Please define high power...
 
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