Chronographs: What to do?

[GLTaylor]

I have been shooting and loading for nearly 50 years now. I have learned so much since starting to watch this forum. I am questioning some things I thought I knew and learning a ton. Great fun! Thanks to all!
My current question is about chronographs. I am on my second chronograph (shot the first one years ago). I don't use it a lot, just when working up a load for one of my rifles. I usually shoot loads until I find a promising one, then check velocity, ES, SD, etc. to run the velocity and get my initial come-ups for distance. Mine is a simple optical instrument = a Chrony something.
It is a pain in the rump some days if the light isn't right and sometimes I have to re-set it once or twice during a string, when I get an "error" reading.
From what I have read, the general opinion is that these may not be completely reliable, or a frequent pain in the rear.
I have looked at a Lab Radar. They seem to be rather pricey and may be a bit complicated to set up. Recently there was another article about not using one brand of chronograph during sight in (which I don't generally do anyway).
I'm not running a laboratory here. This is for occasional use and the budget is not unlimited.
Please give me your opinions and recommendations. What say you?

 

[idcwby]

Lab Radar is easy to setup and if your just a little tech savy easy to run. You can get good data with it. I like mine way better than the shoot through styles of the old days. You can use it on just about anything that shoots a projectile. If you get one, get an external battery pack because it will eat batteries.

idcwby

 

[TheBoctor]

Magnetospeed Sporter. Pretty much designed for what you're doing. Doesn't have all of the bells and whistles but will give you good results and spit out Ave/SD/ES and pretty easily found for $180.

 

[Jud96]

+1 for the Magnetospeed sporter. We had a Chrony before and it was a pain to setup and I lost trust in it after getting so many errors and weird velocity readings. Got the Magnetospeed sporter on sale for like $160 and have had it for a few years now. It's simple and has never failed me.

 

[WildRose]

I have been shooting and loading for nearly 50 years now. I have learned so much since starting to watch this forum. I am questioning some things I thought I knew and learning a ton. Great fun! Thanks to all!
My current question is about chronographs. I am on my second chronograph (shot the first one years ago). I don't use it a lot, just when working up a load for one of my rifles. I usually shoot loads until I find a promising one, then check velocity, ES, SD, etc. to run the velocity and get my initial come-ups for distance. Mine is a simple optical instrument = a Chrony something.
It is a pain in the rump some days if the light isn't right and sometimes I have to re-set it once or twice during a string, when I get an "error" reading.
From what I have read, the general opinion is that these may not be completely reliable, or a frequent pain in the rear.
I have looked at a Lab Radar. They seem to be rather pricey and may be a bit complicated to set up. Recently there was another article about not using one brand of chronograph during sight in (which I don't generally do anyway).
I'm not running a laboratory here. This is for occasional use and the budget is not unlimited.
Please give me your opinions and recommendations. What say you?

I've been through several over the years, all "top of the line" optical units.

My next one will be the Labradar. I'm tired of throwing good money after bad buying chrony's that don't quite cut it.

 

[nvschütze]

I like my Competition Electronics ProChrono. I have small binder clips on the uprights (clipped around 5/32" O-rings) to align the thing, so I never shoot it by mistake. Set-up is fairly easy, and I have a pair of "sunglasses" for it so too much overhead sun doesn't fry its vision. I just align the clips with the target and the reticule, and I'm sendin' bullets downrange. I place the binder clips high enough to have the bullet go over top the body by about three inches. The blue line in "aim-my-chrono" is the path of the bullet; notice how it's below the crosshairs. The golf shaft is to aim the chrono right at the target. I rarely get ERRs and DUPs...

 

[Mram10us]

Another vote for the MS sporter. I compared with my buddies labradar last month and there was little to no difference. I got a new one on sale for $150ish and you will find them on our site for sale very often even cheaper. Get the extra connector to plug into a phone or ipad and you're good to go.

 

[FEENIX]

I purchased a LabRadar last year but have not used it yet.

 

[Len Backus]

I am moving this to Rifles, Bullets, Barrels, Ballistics

 

[Runandgun]

Another vote for the MS Sporter. Inexpensive, easy to use and accurate.

Accurateshooter.com recently published an article comparing the MS and Labradar and Oehler. Bottom line the MS and Labradar were equally consistent. Oehler was consistent too, but its reported velocities were offset a little low by a few fps.

 

[coop2564]

I got to shoot using a friends labradar a few weeks ago. Really cool how much info your get from that unit and the tracking of bullet is valuable info for sure. I see one soon in my future.

 

[GLTaylor]

Guess I'm going with the MS. Anxious to see how it works!

 

[jrg]

I have been shooting and loading for nearly 50 years now. I have learned so much since starting to watch this forum. I am questioning some things I thought I knew and learning a ton. Great fun! Thanks to all!
My current question is about chronographs. I am on my second chronograph (shot the first one years ago). I don't use it a lot, just when working up a load for one of my rifles. I usually shoot loads until I find a promising one, then check velocity, ES, SD, etc. to run the velocity and get my initial come-ups for distance. Mine is a simple optical instrument = a Chrony something.
It is a pain in the rump some days if the light isn't right and sometimes I have to re-set it once or twice during a string, when I get an "error" reading.
From what I have read, the general opinion is that these may not be completely reliable, or a frequent pain in the rear.
I have looked at a Lab Radar. They seem to be rather pricey and may be a bit complicated to set up. Recently there was another article about not using one brand of chronograph during sight in (which I don't generally do anyway).
I'm not running a laboratory here. This is for occasional use and the budget is not unlimited.
Please give me your opinions and recommendations. What say you?

The Magneto Speed V3 will do everything you want plus store all the info on a sim card that you can download on your computer. We use ours just like you described for Numbers only when working up a load. It is easy to set-up & less expensive than a Lab Radar. Have been using ours for about 3-4 years with 0 problems!

 

[blackbrush1]

They all have strengths and weaknesses.

The MS will often affect POI and less frequently groups. Very accurate.

The LR won't read over 3900fps and can be a bit tricky in terms of triggering. Accurate

The Oehler has to be fired through and needs daylight. Very accurate.

That being said, my Oehler permanently mounted in a box for ease of set up is for sale....