I recently got an Ohler model 35 and was wondering the set ups you guys use for hauling it back and forth from the range. Do you leave the skyscreens attached to the rod all the time and just take off diffusers for transport? or do you take it all the way down every time?I am considering a big duffle to put everything in.

Gee, I fit my three Chrony chronographs, and the printer, and the remote readout and spare batteries and spare rolls of paper all in a shoebox...

ricciardelli, is that before or after you've shot it to pieces?

I bought a cheap plastic, double rifle Doskocil gun case. I also opted to get the shortest rod for holding the sky screens, which fits into the gun case. The accuracy of the Chronograph is somewhat diminished by something like �6-10 fps, but for my/our purposes that's close enough. I'm therefore able to leave the ski screen holders attached permanently to the rod by cutting out some of the foam in the case for them. Did the same for the printer and the video cam tripod which also fits in there. The diffusers just stack neatly into the case. The tripod I use is a Velbon. I've managed to set my stuff up as quick or quicker than the guys with the smaller types of chronographs with this setup.

I also went to the electronics store and got some plastic cable wrap for the lines, wrapped them for neatness and I'm able to wind the cable around the other items in the case around the edge. It's all nice and neat and just a helluva lot better than any Chrony (or three,) that doesn't give you accurate readings anyway.

I second Bob338's comment. I also use a rifle case, and it is long enough that I can fit a 4' piece of condit in there, to allow the wider spacings on the skyscreens. The case holds the chronograph, the skyscreens, supports, diffusers, and some paper and clear packing tape for the rain shield. I live in the Seattle area, and I often shoot in "misty" conditions. I ginned up a simple rain shield from a piece of visqueen plastic sheet, and three 1/8" welding rods. I taped the rods (a whole rod and a fraction, enough to span 4 feet and a few inches for overhang) to the edges of the sheet, on each side. The sheet is a bit wider than the diffusers, and hangs down on each side, weighted by the rods, supported by the "V" formed by the support uprights. I tape the sheet to the supports with a small tab of tape, so that the muzzle blast doesn't blow the sheet away. Works great, and rolls up and stores in the case perfectly.

I use a Starlite case when beating it around on the wheeler to a shootin spot. I put the 4' rail and diffusers in a soft rifle case. Normally the rail with the screens on it just gets stuffed behind the seat in the truck, usually I just leave it in there... they're tougher than snot ya know! I have a spare rail and screens for my Oehler 43 so I tend to abuse them more than I would, had I no extra.

Brownel's use to have a hard plastic carrying case for the Oehler 35P listed in their 2002 catalog. # 682-100-001 for $25. Say's its big enough for the 35P, 3-screens, 4' rail, Pair of folding stands, and accessories. Black 50" long with foam interior, lockable latches. Heck I'm going to check their website, I need one too.

Phil

P/S

Just checked Brownel's Website. They still list it, same number, but it's $30 now (inflation) I guess.

I have the 35P still in the box, haven't been able to get to the range in a while. Was thinking about building my own rail system. But for $50 for Oehler's 4'rail w/2 folding tripods. Has anybody got this system? Is it worthe the cost? And is it sturdy?

Phil

[ 04-19-2003, 18:54: Message edited by: Greyghost ]

Here is the true scoop. If you want to know exactly how fast your bullet is missing the animal by cause you wasted money on a more exensive bulky brand, then spend a lot of money for your great big cadillac chronometer.

If you want to know how fast your bullet will be going when you hit an animal cause you have time and money left to go hunting, buy a chrony.

Mine is repeatable, accurate, and its only drawback so far is that at sundown, when sunlight enters at a very small angle, it reads too high. A minute or two later, after sundown, it does not read at all.

I think the fancy bulky chronometers are great for people with those tastes, and I would not bash other peoples tastes. But you do not need to have haularound problems if you buy compact units. Mine fits into a shoebox, with the cartridge case for the loads I am testing that day. Now the spare 9 volt battery does present storage space issues...

I RECENTLY PURCHASED A CED MILLENIUM AND HAVE ONLY
TAKEN IT OUT ONCE TO THE RANGE. I SHOT BOTH RELOADS AND SOME FACTORY LOADS IN 7MM REM MAG AND
NOTICED THE VELOCITIES FOR FACTORY 150 CORE-LOKTS
WERE ABOUT 100 FPS slower than stated from REMINGTON. All reloads seemed about in line with
stated velocities. The skyscreens and detectors,
cable etc. all fold down small enough to fit in the 1x2' box they were shipped in but it is a
hassel to take it all apart when leaving, so I may
try a foam gun case as mentioned here. I would think the detectors are pretty durable and bouncing around in a pickup truck wouldn't hurt
them but how would one know? Also is there a
standard way to check the accuracy of a chronograph other than published factory load data? Any help appreciated! BLR7!

How do you know your Chrono is accurate ?

I own two PACTs. Their handbook (a euphemism) recommends to shoot some rounds Eley Tenex through it which should show a speed of soandso much, i.e. they suggest I buy the most expensive .22 ammo and take an extra gun to the range.

My second PACT is the basic model (the first one is their "professional") which I intend to use for metering the speed at different distances.

First thing I did was setting up the two sets of sensors next to each other on a wooden rail I prepared for this purpose.

Shooting through the two start/stop units should show the same speed +/- 5 fps.
Knowing that nothing on earth is perfect,I was prepared to receive a wider spread, but what I found on the two displays was much worse than I ever expected.
Sometimes it was the first, sometimes the second unit displaying the higher values, and the spread was drastic (not on both at the same time- this would have been the ammunition).

The sky was a little grey at noon, no clouds or sunshine - ideal conditions.

As I killed two sensors last year, I ordered several spares. Now I have about eight of them. In several tests with the air rifle I found that changing the sensors yields different results.
Just for curiosity I checked the resistency of the sensors with my ohmmeter: all different. I don't know if this of any meaning .

I tested the twin constellation on site only once and I am aware that the low November temperatures may have influenced the readings. Within the next two months I'll try this setup again and I'll change sensor combinations.

Maybe I find someone with an other chrono which I can stick between my two sets to get a third reading.

Until now I find my findings a bit disquietening but statistically totally irrevalent: I strongly refrain from saying anything negative about the PACTs.

The chronograph people (don't remember if it was PACT) are well aware of the reliability of their products. For the situation I discribed above (two chronos with different readings) they recommend the "calibration" of the setup by using different spacings between the sensors.

But what if the second chrono shows a higher and next time a lower velocity than the first one ?

A bit long, but it had to be said - spoiled a nice November day.

[ 04-19-2003, 20:36: Message edited by: waitaminit ]

Waitaminit, The little Crony`s accuracy can suprise ya. I own both the crony and a Pact M1 that my wife bought me for Christmas one year. With my eyes I had a hard time reading the cronys screen at anything past 8 / 10 ft and wanted something with a screen that sat on the bench, thats why the Pact.
I tried setting up both cronies back to back when I first recieved the Pact and found readings were very similar, within the SD of the load in most cases or better. I don`t know to accuracy they are claimed to produce, but if they are accurate to .01% then a load giveing 2800 fps will vary + /- 28 fps. If one crony reads it high and the other low you end up with a 56 fps variation, I found variations quite a bit lower than this (normally 5/10 fps like you found as I remember it). Do understand this was one set of cronies tested by a everyday guy on a public range, with no scientific std to compare them to.

"tested by a everyday guy on a public range, with no scientific std to compare them to."

But you did test and report results. and the fact that the two were the same makes it more science than most of the opines offalled here.

fun intended.

I've used them all that have been mentioned. The Oehler, the CED, and two chrony's.
Set one of the Chrony's behind the oehler. Not enough difference in reading to differentiate.
The oehler misses a reading every now and then too, just not as bad as the chrony.
The CED seems to be the best It never seems to miss a reading and has the largest LCD, if that matters.
Some people shoot at night and with the CED you can get an infrared attatchment and shoot at night and the unit will actually speak the velocity although it is hard to hear with hearing protection.
My mistake, I have no experience with the Pact.
My Chrony was given to me by the guy that ahs the CED now and other than occasionally missing a round, it seems to be as accurate as the others.

Kynadog, About ten years ago, Oehler mailed to me a 35 in a plastic Doskocil case, with everything inside it (size ~ 52" X 9" X 3"). The Doskocil model number is 5209. Yes, I break it down each time it is taken home and reset it up each time I use it again. It isn't the easiest model to set up but seems to have fewer chrono errors. It has larger windows to shoot through and it doesn't have the brains in front of the gun. You might try a duffel bag or leaving it semi-set up but your chrono may be more susceptible to damage or mis-adjustment/alignment/spacing. Some may decry the use of any chrono at any time, Some may want to chrono every shot, I think the judicious use of a chrono may lie somewhere between those extremes. YMMV Best-o-Luck

Ol' Joe, I see the point.

Even +-28 fps being 1 % of 2800 fps, is close enough.

And as you shifted the figures by two decimals, I did it with one: left out a 0 -> what I ment was +- 50 fps.

Back to the original question:

I leave the skyscreens on a four foot rail, and transport them without a case. I just place the rail in the back of my car on top of the guns and don't worry about it. All I have to do is attach the rail to the two tripods, assemble the diffusers, and plug the cords into the unit. It doesn't take that long.
I worried more about not getting the screens back in the exact same spot if I disassembled it every time, rather than damaging it it transit. It seems to be pretty robust. I'm not sure I would let it bounce around in the bed of a pick-up, however, at least not on the dirt roads I regularly travel! With just reasonable care, it seems to work very well leaving the unit assembled. The diffusers are too easy to set up for me to even think of leaving them attached. They are plastic, of course, and it seems quite easy to break one of the diffusers if left permenantly attached.

Now that I've answered the original question, (I hope), I'll also weigh in on the F1 shooting chrony versus the Oehler. I've had them both. Once you have owned the Oehler, there is no comparison. The F1 does a reasonable job, most of the time. Some days it gives the same readings as the Oehler, other days there is wide variation. The best that can be said about the F1 is that it generally works quite well. It is very hard to determine when it is not giving accurate data. That uncertainty is what drove me to the Oehler. The triple skycreens on the Oehler are a huge benefit, and really help to eliminate any doubt.

Good Luck to all of you who at least have the interest to use some chronograph, and stop blindly believing what the manufacturer's salesmen slap on the box.

Bill

kynadog -- I used the Chronys for years, and really appreciated the simplicity of the set up. After using the Beta and Gamma models with printers long enough to really wear out the diffusers, replace malfunctioning printers, etc, I finally went to the Oehler 35P, all the time dreading the setup procedure. The experience of using the Oehler has been excellent for me, and I now have a procedure that makes the setup and usage simple. I leave bar assembled with eyes bolted on, wrap the cords around it, and place back in the box it came in. I have cut holes in the top of the box for the long screws to fit in. The printer is placed underneath the bar. When I get to my range, I simply screw the bar into a camera tripod already set up to height, place the skyscreens in place on the bar, attach to the printer on my table, and I am ready to shoot. I now enjoy the accuracy of the Oehler and find the skyscreens much more durable than the Chrony. If you drop a shot on the Oehler, you are simply not alligned properly, to shoot over the eyes. Good shooting.

[ 04-24-2003, 17:16: Message edited by: phurley ]