I inherited a Pact chrono when my stepfather passed away and have never used one before. What is the best way to set one up to avoid testing my bullet performance on the screens or the sensors? I don't have any lasers or anything like that to help with setup. Any help would be appreciated.

Dennis

[ 07-31-2003, 15:49: Message edited by: DennisF ]

Dennis,
Put the chrono unit about 10-12 feet in front of your muzzle. I use a camera tripod to hold the chrono. Using sand bags or equivalent, eyeball down the barrel to make sure there is about 6 inches clearance with the sensors. This is not critical, just a precaution that you don't misjudge the distance an pop a sensor. Adjust the tripod unit to get the desired clearance. Keep any cables/sensor units away from muzzle blast.

PACT can be reached at 800 722-8462 for model-specific information.
Ron

Fastest way I've found is to set up your rifle, bolt removed, aimed at the target. Get between the chrono and target and "aim" the chrono looking into the bore and adjust it. Verify your location from behind the rifle and make any minor adjustments as necessary. Took me longer to type this than it usually takes me to set mine up that way.

Thanks for the replies, I have already contacted Pact and received the manuals on the Chrono.

Thanks

Dennis

Funny- I am just preparing a letter size piece of paper, left half red, right green, with a yellow dot in the middle.
This will be attached to the rear screen of the sensor assembly (10 - 12 ft in front of the muzzle) and I hope it will faciliate the installation: I move the screen until the crosshairs are in the yellow spot.

Ok, but let's begin at the beginning.

1) Place your UNLOADED rifle on a front/rear rest with the sights on target.
2) attach the sensor rail to the camera tripod, bring the sensor rail into position.
3) when alone, connect a string to the rifle sights and align it with the barrel. This gives you a good idea where to place the sensor rail.
4) set up the screens and the greenred paper with the yellow dot about 6" above the sensore casing
5) go to the rifle and check where it aims at. Do not touch the rifle - go to the sensor tripod and correct.
This may be redone several times - it's much easier to have someone with you.
6) mark one sensor and its plug (piece of sticky tape, paint) in order not to get confused with the start/stop-connection ( this could have been expected from PACT, but there are some not so clever things with their system as the "stop" connector left and the "start" right).
7)remove the color paper, check the alignment a last time (remember there is ample space to shoot through, and remember that whith scopes center of bore is about 2.5" lower than line of sight.
8) swich the system on. Have a spare new 9V battery with you, esp. whith low temperatures.
Display says "Fire when ready".
Do so.

Good luck (if it does not work, you forgot to load your gun)

P.S.: In addition, I use one of those cheap laser levels attached to the barrel.
And I do all this because I started out with shooting the sensors - which is a cheap replacement: the expensive electronics are with you at the rifle (make sure they are not in the muzzle area).
And one last thing I learnt: even with ample memory and a printer, write down the readings on a piece of paper - these batteries may give up without warning !

[ 07-31-2003, 17:18: Message edited by: waitaminit ]

waitaminit,

I was just thinking about doing the same thing with mine, except I am going to use a black dot on an 8&1/2 x 11 sheet of paper hung from the rear screen. I intend to build a more "permanent" holder that will be mounted to the Pact base on mine, but this will do in a pinch.

Dennis

A couple pieces if advice from the school of hard knocks. I've had my pact for 6 years. Two years ago it stopped working. Refused to register anything. I called pact to ask about shipping instructions, they asked a few simple questions, then told me what I was doing wrong. I had just got my 300 WSM. 1. I had the screens too close to the muzzle. Stretch the wires out straight all the way,(about 15 feet). 2. The chrono box was right next to the rifle, muzzle blast can disrupt the reading. 3. seperate the 2 wires, don't let them intertwine or twist together. Now it works every time, I put the box on the next bench from me.

Pact is a great company to do business with, no B.S. answers, just good info.

Thanks for the help everyone.

I used it this morning and managed to arrive back home with the entire chrongraph in one piece. Since I was sighting in a new scope I went to the 25 yd. range at my club, once I had the scope dead on at 25 I hung a piece of gray paper behind the back screen and placed a black 1" stick on dot 8" above and dead center over the sensor. From using the balistics calcuator on the guesstimated velocities, I figured that at 6' from the muzzle I would probably hit about 1 &1/2 inches below the dot. It worked like a charm.

Thanks

Dennis

Another tip. If you are using a variable power scope, set it at the lowest magnification. At 3 or 4 power you can "see" the screens as a blur in your scope. Then you can center your shot without hitting your equipment. As said, 10-12 ft. is a good distance from the muzzle.

rg1,

I set my scope on 3 to shoot