Which Chronagraph?

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For the skyscreen rods, go to your local Panda Express and get the wooden chopsticks. Separate them and place them back to back and take a 3rd one and place it 1/2 way between the other 2. Super glue the 3 together so the 3rd acts as reinforcement to the other 2. The length is a perfect replacement for my Chrony Beta Master and the tapered ends fit in both the Chrony body and the sky screen hole. This way, when you shoot the sky screen rod, you won't bust the plastic insert to the chronograph. Sometimes it could be an errant muzzleloader sabot or a shotgun wad so it's not just the bullet that can hit the rod.

Panda Express must know that we are using their chopsticks for things like skyscreen rods and lead casting pot stirrers because now you have to ask for them at the counter instead of leaving a pile of them with the forks and cup lids. No matter, I ask for one set at each visit and build up a stockpile that way.
 
Here is another vote for the CE unit.
With your left over budget ...buy more bullets or powder.
 
I have the Caldwell G2, the upside down chronograph. My only criticism is that the tripod is a !little flimsy but I replaced the top with a ball type connector and it's much better. The G2 goes on sale periodically and its a good deal.
 
I've gone through a number of chronographs, some have expired from "lead poisoning", some have been replaced because a better "mouse trap" was available.

With optical sensor chronographs, a lot of the sensing problems went away when I bought the auxiliary light set up. Ambient light was just not reliable enough.

I bought the auxiliary lights for the CED M2 chronograph and it works better than when using ambient light. I still have the M2 but have not used it in a while.

I'm sure other chronographs will work well with the auxiliary lights.

Since the CED M2, I've purchased a Magnetospeed V2 and more recently, a Labradar. The Labradar has been the best chronograph so far but it is pricey.

Any of the chronographs will serve as designed, it just depends on what idiosyncrasies you want to put up with.
 
I don’t bother to chronograph loads that are not accurate enough to miss a chronograph 120 inches away.

If they can’t hit the targets I need them to, it doesn’t matter how fast they are going. At that point it’s just a matter of putting them it the right spot in relation to your target.

If you can shoot a 6 inch group at 10ft, you can miss just about any chronograph/skyscreen combination, even 3 in a row like this.

3D6C5E4B-3C9E-4B2D-A2E4-A80C7B60744E.jpeg
 
I bought the red Chrony Alpha Master with the display box and have been very satisfied with it. I would highly recommend getting the display unit because you can't go forward of the line until a cease-fire. The diffusers may eventually crack like mine did but they can be easily ordered by phone 1-800-385-3161.
 
rsrocket1 said:
For the skyscreen rods, go to your local Panda Express and get the wooden chopsticks. Separate them and place them back to back and take a 3rd one and place it 1/2 way between the other 2. Super glue the 3 together so the 3rd acts as reinforcement to the other 2. The length is a perfect replacement for my Chrony Beta Master and the tapered ends fit in both the Chrony body and the sky screen hole. This way, when you shoot the sky screen rod, you won't bust the plastic insert to the chronograph. Sometimes it could be an errant muzzleloader sabot or a shotgun wad so it's not just the bullet that can hit the rod.

Panda Express must know that we are using their chopsticks for things like skyscreen rods and lead casting pot stirrers because now you have to ask for them at the counter instead of leaving a pile of them with the forks and cup lids. No matter, I ask for one set at each visit and build up a stockpile that way.
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I have a couple thousand of the nice ones from Costco. I'll send you some lol
 
spitballer said:
I bought the red Chrony Alpha Master with the display box and have been very satisfied with it. I would highly recommend getting the display unit because you can't go forward of the line until a cease-fire. The diffusers may eventually crack like mine did but they can be easily ordered by phone 1-800-385-3161.
Click to expand...
People make screens out of cut-up plastic milk cartons, but the clip-together ones for the Chrony are convenient since they fit in the small box.

There is a remote switch that can be used to reset shot groups, and the remote printer can be used to reset it also (although the instructions for that are pretty well hidden) but I agree - the remote display is the way to go.
 
FWIW on an overcast day you don’t need the rods or screens, like in post #15.

When we have cloudy days first thing I think, is if I have any thing I need to chronograph.
 
Toprudder said:
People make screens...
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...roger that IMO a good screen and side shade make the difference, I attach a 9 1/4" by 24" piece of fluorescent light diffuser I cut from a skinny sheet I bought at Lowe's. Just clip it right on to the existing diffusers with clothes pins or binder clips.
 
I have 2 of them.
A Competition Electronics ProChrono Digital and
a Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph

Both work well, but have their own idiosyncrasies with sunlight etc..

I like the caldwell because it records data to my phone.
Whereas with the CE you have spend another $50 to get data on a PC

Caldwell does NOT service their product!
If you shoot it, it's dead.
CE will charge a MAX of 1/2 the MSRP and that's only if it's not repairable.

 
My Competition Electronics optical chrono has been great. It rarely misses a shot, and has worked in far lower light than a friends Chrony model. Lining up the chrono and target and gun is always a pain for rifle though.

Also recently got Labradar. Hands down the best thing for rifle, but at a price. The instructions say that it needs 50 feet to read the projectile though, so maybe not the solution for handguns. Labradar does have $50 off on their website this month.
 
I chrono a lot of stuff - usually a 2 hour session where I test 5 charge weights for 6-8 loads. To me it's well worth the 50 bucks to avoid the write/type cycles.
 
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Caliper_Mi said:
Also recently got Labradar. Hands down the best thing for rifle, but at a price. The instructions say that it needs 50 feet to read the projectile though, so maybe not the solution for handguns. Labradar does have $50 off on their website this month.
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I have not seen any problem reading shots 5 yards away, in fact that is what my friend always sets the first distance to when he is running loads. It also calculates the actual muzzle velocity as well. The only time I have seen a problem is when we tried to measure velocity from my S&W 460 at an indoor range. I believe the concussion was causing the Labradar to reboot. We did not have enough room to try moving it away from the barrel.
 
Offfhand said:
Look for Oehler 35P chronos on ebay. These are the gold standard of hobby chronographs and occasionally they are listed at very good prices.
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Used to be. My Oehler sits in the box since I bought a Labradar. I can use the Labradar indoors, in poor light, in wind that would blow over the Oehler skyscreens (pretty much every day in my area), and without having to go downrange at a public range to set up. You also get closer to a true muzzle velocity. It is so easy to set up that I can bring it to the range a lot more times per year than with a traditional chronograph. With all the shortages of common reloading components during the Obama years, and accumulating different types of powders and primers, it is a real advantage to be able to chronograph new combinations with minimal effort. It's expensive, though. It was worth it to me because time is money.
 
WYO said:
Used to be. My Oehler sits in the box since I bought a Labradar. I can use the Labradar indoors, in poor light, in wind that would blow over the Oehler skyscreens (pretty much every day in my area), and without having to go downrange at a public range to set up. You also get closer to a true muzzle velocity. It is so easy to set up that I can bring it to the range a lot more times per year than with a traditional chronograph. With all the shortages of common reloading components during the Obama years, and accumulating different types of powders and primers, it is a real advantage to be able to chronograph new combinations with minimal effort. It's expensive, though. It was worth it to me because time is money.
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I'm probably going to pick one up since it is on sale now. I can use it in situations where I can't use my existing chrono (indoors, outdoor elevated deck, etc).
 
WYO said:
Used to be. My Oehler sits in the box since I bought a Labradar. I can use the Labradar indoors, in poor light, in wind that would blow over the Oehler skyscreens (pretty much every day in my area), and without having to go downrange at a public range to set up. You also get closer to a true muzzle velocity. It is so easy to set up that I can bring it to the range a lot more times per year than with a traditional chronograph. With all the shortages of common reloading components during the Obama years, and accumulating different types of powders and primers, it is a real advantage to be able to chronograph new combinations with minimal effort. It's expensive, though. It was worth it to me because time is money.
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I still use my Oehler 35 as much as my Labradar, especially when checking high velocity loads (over4000fps) which is another of Labradar failures. I consider the Labradar still a work in progress because it has too many issues, and they seem unwilling to make improvements. I sent one to my son to go over and redesign but he hasn't had time to mess with it.
 
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SC_Dave said:
... My budget is <200. Does anyone have a recommendation?
Thanks, David
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I had a Shooting Chrony Alpha for a lot of years, and it worked well. Foolishly, I sold it when I bought my Magnetospeed V3 before realizing that the latter was a hassle with handguns. So I bought a Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph to replace the Alpha. It is inexpensive, works well, and I like the app.

I will soon take possession of a Labradar. This time, I will hang on to both the Caldwell and the Magnetospeed until I am satisfied that the Labradar fully meets my needs. You might watch the classifieds for a used Magnetospeed Sporter being sold by someone who is upgrading. (I may hold on to the Caldwell in any event just as a backup, as it works equally well with handguns and rifles.)

Oh, and the Labradar is currently on sale; if you order direct (mylabradar.com) it's $50 off with $9.95 flat rate shipping.
 
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