Chronographs - Shooting Chrony woes.

Tokay444 said:
It’s massive. It’s finicky. Many report missed shots. It’ll pick up shots from the guy shooting beside you. If you shoot supressed you need to buy a microphone and even that may not work. It’s fragile and falls over in the wind. The way it files it’s data is a PITA. It’s more expensive than a Magnetospeed. I can go on. Should I go on?
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It’s not finicky once you figure out how to use it.

Since I started using the Doppler trigger rather than the blast trigger mine has not missed a shot and will even pick up my pellet gun shots. A microphone is unnecessary.

If it’s clamped to the bench how will the wind blow it over?
 
That's a good point, I've used it to check speeds with my 50 BMG and it worked perfectly. I just put a bit of plywood in between so the muzzle blast wouldn't blow it away, as Labradar instructs you to do.
 
RePete said:
I have seen 3 of them go down at the same time at a Major match in the US. And with known problems that the company had failed to fix.

I refuse to deal with a Canadian company that sells in USD.

They originally said about $550, then when it came out it was $575. No biggie. The they added USD on their web site. Since then, problems have abounded unresolved.
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Completely unaccptable.
 
Had a Chrony in the late 80's, early 90's. Got torqued with the unit reading wrong in varying light conditions, when I wanted to see what a new load would do. Not sure when I bought it, 91 or 92, but a two screen Oehler was a vast improvement. Seeing as I have the Oehler already, and a Magnetospeed V3, the only thing I may do, is buy the 3 new screens and shades setup for the Oehler, which are not overly expensive. Cheaper than the Labradar anyway. I generally set up the Oehler when people are down range doing their targets, sometimes I have to wait for a second break, most times I can get it set up on the one break. The magnetospeed is useful for the winter, at an indoor range, for pressure/speed evaluation on new guns or loads where I don't really care about how things do downrange. I also used the Oehler with my bow, set at 30-40-50yds to see what the velocity loss was on my arrows, which is not as much as people think. Manetospeed now has a set of pads for tapered barrels, which help a lot. First try with it on a Ruger 1a was interesting, the newer and proper pads fixed that.
 
Ganderite said:
Chrony used to st their units on the range behind my house. When they left, they left me the units. Usually 6 to 8 of them.

I have used Chronies for about 25 years. I have noticed a few things about them.

First, reliable readings are best obtained 15 to 20 feet from the unit. 10 feet causes problems.

Best accuracy is obtained if the bullets pas through on the exact same path, so aim at something well behind the unit.

i only test on an overcast day. I don't bother with a sun shade.

I use small drinking straws as aiming guides.

I have seen a number of tests where a Chrony was placed in front of and behind a big Ohler. Velocities were the same.
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Nice tip re the small drinking straws.

Thanks
 
I've used Labradar since April 2015, so about 160 range trips of experience, likely logged somewhere around 12,000 rounds of velocity data from it. It's fallen over in the wind on a tall tripod. I've dropped it on the floor too. Hasn't skipped a beat. I like the Excel file for the shot data, I record all my load data on Excel sheets so it isn't a pain for me. When at the range I keep a paper notepad or use the notes on my phone to keep track of which series is which gun/load. It works with muzzle brakes, supressors and archery. Even 177 caliber BB guns at 240 fps in the back yard.

Labradar is a US company, the units are manufactured in Quebec.
 
todbartell said:
I've used Labradar since April 2015, so about 160 range trips of experience, likely logged somewhere around 12,000 rounds of velocity data from it. It's fallen over in the wind on a tall tripod. I've dropped it on the floor too. Hasn't skipped a beat. I like the Excel file for the shot data, I record all my load data on Excel sheets so it isn't a pain for me. When at the range I keep a paper notepad or use the notes on my phone to keep track of which series is which gun/load. It works with muzzle brakes, supressors and archery. Even 177 caliber BB guns at 240 fps in the back yard.

Labradar is a US company, the units are manufactured in Quebec.
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Having used Chrony, Oehler and watched others use Magneto, it's pretty clear the Labradar is the premier velocity measuring device for regular shooters. If the cost of the Labradar is insurmountable, the others work too. Oehler is right up there in cost, though, I wonder the viability of there product sales.

I really don't care about items priced in US$, no matter what it is. I buy lots of stuff from US suppliers, it's just a simple math calculation.
 
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