Is one brand or type better than another? If so, why?

ll

I've only tried two - a Chrony F1 and a ProChrono. One I'm very happy with since it's never missed a shot and always works. The other I shot.

On purpose.

Still have the ProChrono, about $100 from Midway.

Redial

I've had an Oehler 35 for a couple of years now. I like it,but it is the only one I have ever owned so I can't to compare it to others.

I've only had a couple diff shooting chronys, and I would not even THINK of do load dev without one.

jeffe

The only chrono I've ever used is the Oehler model 35, too. I've also got the Oehler model 43 PBL, but that's just a more sophisticated version with strain gage and acoustic target.
The thing that sold me on the Oehler is the proof channel. Three sky screens--one starts the clock and two stop it. Then the computer compares the times of each and signals if they don't agree. That double check makes me believe the speed is accurate.
Oehler also makes commercial models for the military and shooting industry--models 82 and 83.
I think they are the standard to shoot for, excuse the pun!

There is another reason to go Oehler. I have had a 35P Oehler for 8 years now. and it has worked like gang busters the whole time while I have fired probably 20,000 shots over it. That is, it has worked fine until a couple of weeks ago. Then suddenly I couldn't see any numbers printing and thought it had broken. I bundeled it up and sent it back to Oehler for repairs with the request they send an invoice for the repairs, as it is well beyond the warranty period.

few days later, I got it back looking like it had been thoroughly reconditioned. A note was attached saying there really wasn't anything wrong with it except the printer ink pad had run dry and they had replaced it. Well, the way it looked, they had to have given it a real going over. Then the surprise. NO CHARGE!!!!!

I have since talked to several shooters who use Oehler and they all say Oehler just takes care of all repairs and never charges for it even years beyond the warranty period.

Happy Camper,

Don Shearer

I also have the Oehler and it is the industry standard....the only problem is getting it set up at the range. A minor nusiance for a qualtiy product.

I have a 35P and 43PBL too, they are the best by far I've used. The Shooting Cronys I had were always reading different, when set one in front of the other and often were up to 200fps different while alternating which was higher to top it off. I never felt worse than when I bought the second one, just to find out neither were accurate or reliable. I did feel better when someone hated setting up the Oehler 35P of his and TRADED me for my Crony brand... good for nothing but a ballpark idea crony. He was happy with it's simplicity. I had just gotten my 43PBL just a week before for $400. too, acoustic target and all. What a week that was!

The proof channel sold me. I was getting ready to order a 35P when the 43 was offered to me.
I would buy the Oehler 35P without a doubt.

for $69 bucks, the chrony is the most common one i've seen in the houston area. I can't imagine that it's any different, being that folks are generally cheap.

As for the proof channel, I don't see the "average joe's" requirement for it. yes, I've had displays of 5800 fps, I knew this to be an error, cleared that shot, and went on. Which, as I understand it, exactly the same thing the oehler?

I have never seen more than the standard deviation between a pair of shooting chronys, and have actually had my loads challenged for "claimed velocity".. shot over their's, and mine.. and then pulled on the ballistics table, and shot at 200 or 300 (depends on the range) for proof in the pudding.. BTW, since BC's change over velocity, most BC based (as opposed to bullet based) are a itty bitty bit high.

jeffe

No one has mentioned PACT yet and several friends have them and are satisfied with the results...not a lot cheaper than the Oehler.

I owned a couple of Chrony's and a Pact. I got so frustrated with both that I finally went Oehler. The Pact looks a bit more professional than a Chrony but the results on mine were the same. My Pact went back to Texas about a dozen times and never did work right. Very erratic and inconsistent. The premium you pay for the Oehler isn't enough to hold you back if you want reliability and accuracy. Last time I checked you could get the 35 Oehler, without printer, for about $225. You can add the printer later. I've had mine about 10 years, chronograph everything I shoot at the range and there's never been a problem, not even dry ink in the printer.

Deciding which chronoghaph to buy depends entirely on what you want from it.
A good Friend of mine has a little Chrony,and he likes it,even though he spends more money then I do on shooting stuff. It's quick and easy to put up and easy to carry. He does not want an Oehler,like mine,because he doesn't keep any files. I want the added accuracy because I keep files of most of the readings that I get. I also like the idea that any problem with it is only a phone call away from getting resolved.
Iv'e had it over ten years and am happy as a clam with it.
Frank

Do you go to public ranges or have a private range?

The range I go to most often, would be very difficult to setup the screens (they don't allow you in front of the shooting bench). Another one uses an elevated platform, so I would have to suspend the screens like 10' in the air.

Maybe once our club gets access to the military range again.

Do any of the chronographs allow you to connect to a laptop, or better yet, do an IFR transfer to an IPaq pocket PC?

I absolutely love my chrony.

Sets on a tripod in a minute, and I am ready to go.

Don't know how much help it is, but I've been using my Oehler 33 for about 20 years now. No print out like today's instruments. I just wrote the figures down by hand.

i shoot at the following public ranges, in houston, and I have zero trouble setting up my chronos during a cease fire.

Bailey House of Guns
Carter Country
Lake Houston gun club (public, but I am a member)
Thunder ranch (don't really like this place)
American Shooters, Katy

I am glad that I haven't seen the troubles others have seen with the chrony. And, frankly, 1% error is 30FPS at 3000 fps. I've shot over several of them, and 2 side by side (different models) and could not statistically, tell the difference.

If you don't have a chrono, spend $69 for a chrony. THen you can upgrade

jeffe

I've had a Pact PC for over ten years now and have had zero problems with mine other than shooting the skyscreens once with a rifle and the other time with and arrow and that's going to happen every now and then.

The "guts" (resonance chip and counter) are essentially identical on any of them, and are virtually flawless.

The difference comes in the screen sensors, which is where any error or failure to read will occur. The Oehler screens seem to be more reliable than most of its competitors. I have an Oeher 35 (and still have an original Oehler Model 10). I ordered my model 35 without the proof screen, knowing, as a previous poster pointed out, that with the Oehler, if there is an error it will be obvious.

If your light is consistent, the Chrony or any other will be fine. Hint: Really shiney bullets confuse the sensors. If you have continued trouble, smoke your bullets or darken them with a felt marker and, Wallah!, the screens can see them and your readings will improve.

A few things to remember about chronographs.

(1) There are two kinds of shooters with chronographs.......those who have shot them....and those who will.

(2) Resist the efforts of someone who walks up and ask to fire a few shots "just to check his velocity".......several things can happen...all bad.....(a) when he shoots his action will smoke, he will need to hammer the bolt open and he will dispute the velocity as being much to low, or (b) he will shoot your chronograph, give you a stupid grin and walk away.

I tell these folks ... "Sure, I don't mind but I need a $250.00 deposit in case you shoot it because if you do, you've already paid for it."

[ 12-19-2002, 22:00: Message edited by: DB Bill ]

DB,
You are exactly right. And I think that the $250 is a good idea.. as You've already GOT this one.

If it's a friend's load, I look at their fired cases, and then I shoot it over my chrony... As it stands, the only idiot that's shot mine is ME...

jeffe

I have had a shooting chrony for about 5 years now, and use is several times a month, in varying whether and lighting conditions, both small and big bores, cast and jacketed bullets.

The upside of the shooting chrony is it's cheap, mine was factory reconditioned and only $50. It is also easy to set it up.

The downside is that under some lighting conditions, it won't record shots, or records them intermittandly.

I will be replacing mine with an Oehler 35 or 43 pbl in the future. The way I see it is, Oehler makes a quality measuring device, all other chrono's are consumer electronic devices. Each unit has it's nich, if you're starting out, and don't want to put out alot of $, get a factory re-furb from shooting chrony, mine has provided alot of use and held up to a suprising amount of use and some abuse, for the $, I couldn't be happier.

That said, it hasn't worked 100% of the time, and since I shoot during lunch time sessions, I don't have the time to fiddle around with the screens trying to figure out what I have to do with the screens to make them read. I'm guessing I've had 90% success with mine, but there have been a few days that really steamed me.

One ought to be able to see what he needs by this discussion, wish I had read something like this before I blew over 160 bucks on both the Cronys I had bought. It seems many have had good luck with them, but some have had bad luck too. Mine was horrible to say the least.

The Oehlers just work, period. Like Paul mentioned, I always wondered when the thing was not going to give me a reading too, very frusterating when working up only a handfull of loads especially. I have a 454 Taurus RB SHORT bbl that had been regularly pushing 310 hardcasts at 1700 fps with 31.5gr and then it went down to 1450 fps, well after I got my Oehler it always shoots 1500 now! I knew the thing was never at 1700. The same load with I think it was Speer 300s, was 1350 when it was at 1700 with the 310 HCs, go figure?

The only time my Oehler has NOT read a shot to date was at dusk, then I remove the diffusers and it works for another half hour or so. It has yet to give me an erronious reading of 5000 or anything so far too. No bullshit either! 60-100 bucks could "possibly" buy you some serious disapointment, where as another 150-200 buck will "certainly" buy you a lifetime of satisfaction... guaranteed.

As far as I know the Oehler 35 still utilizes a built in printer on the 35P model and you have to still buy the type you want right from the get go, with or without the printer. The printer is nice but all my stuff gets wrighten down anyway, so it just a $100.00 extra not-necessary item really.

LOL reguardless.

Oehler replied to an email I sent them about adding the printer to the 35P.

The printer kit isn't listed on the website, but they do have it. The electronics to support it are already there, and they give you the instructions on how to connect it in the kit.

I shot a Beta model Chrony for two years, enjoyed it's utility and use. I then added a printer to it and enjoyed it also, noting that on occasion I would get some fast readings. I then started averaging several strings of shots to determine speeds. I then graduated to the Gamma model with printer and shot it for two years, still noticing that on occasion, particularly on bright sunny days, I would get some fast readings, and continued to average the strings. I then bought an Oehler 35 model and with the third screen, I feel better about my speeds as recorded, each session. I still average string speeds to get that true picture for a certain load. With the Oehler I am at peace with this phase of working up loads, day in and day out. They each have their place for shooters, pick your poison. Good shooting.

Do any of these new chronographs input directly into a laptop computer? So you could put the data directly into your database?

One caveat with any chronograph. If you shoot gas checked bullets, use some additional screening for the front of the unit. I used plexiglass, and still had one penetration that did some damage to the read out screen. Still works, but damaged nevertheless. As I have my own range here at home, I made a stand with a section of half inch steel in front of the read out. Checks don't get through that!

"I made a stand with a section of half inch steel in front of the read out. Checks don't get through that!"

But watch out - they may come back to you !

The Oehler 43 will, and has to interface with a laptop computer to be used. It manages data within it's own program and is exportable to the Oehler Ballistic Explorer ballistic program for great management of data, it also gives psi data too. It is the best out there, but not cheap. It sets up the same as the 35 and uses the same screens but plugs into the 43 unit instead which is plugged into the laptop via an RS232/serial cable.

The 43 has a template screen that information in three catagories are loaded and saved, tests, guns, and loads. Once the data is saved it can be reloaded anytime and more tests fired. The extra time it takes over the 35 is esentially part of associating to and storing the data. Once your familiar with how it works it is faster than wrighting EVERYTHING down over and over again.

Shooters,

We in the Denver area have an Oehler 35P in an unusual set-up which I'd like to tell you about. We find the Oehler to be an excellent unit and at the Cherry Creek Gun Club have three of them. Two are set up in our 100 yd. indoor rifle range and the other is in our indoor 25 yd pistol/small bore range.

The unusual set up is in an underground rifle range where we have the sky screens installed on a 10 ft base rather than the conventional 4 ft. Each shooter brings his own controller to plug in (and it will acommodate both Oehler and Pact controllers). For quite a few years we had it set up with incadescent lights overhead and orange light filters. The use was heavy as the club has near 400 members and probably 75 or 80 of them use the chronograph at various times. One problem we found was that with an indoor facility the muzzle blast did kick up some dust and unburned powder which in time clouded the sky screen lens. This was solved by regular cleaning, but remained a nuisance.

Recently we found that one of the sky screens was suffering from bullet. Well, we bought new sky screens and instead of just replacing them, we decided to mount them upside down. We mounted the sky screens overhead looking down so as to get by some of the dust deposit we had seen from before (and yes we know the electrostatic precipitation on the lens will continue). The lighting is from 40 watt incadescent bulbs in boxes located a foot and a half under the sky screens. Each light box has a slit for the light to pass through. The light is then passed through an ordinary diffuser plate like used on overhead room lighting and then is passed through orange filters. This orange filter seems to help with contrast.

By putting the sky screens overhead, the pie shaped area where the bullet can be "seen" by the sky screen sensor is wide at the level where most shooters position their guns. This new installation has been in place for just a month now, but the feedback from club members is all positive.

Thought you might like to know,

Don Shearer

Is the Cherry Creek gun club anywhere near the dam? Used to shoot out there about 40 years ago. Wasn't much development there in those days.

Re Oehler 35: I don't understand why the data sent to the printer cannot be made available to a laptop.

The Oehler 35 printer connects to the top of the controller, connected with a multi-pin socket. It's not an IR cable. Buy just the controller or get it with the printer and snap them together. If you need the data to go to a computer then you must invest in the 43 PBL.

Contact Oehler and they will send a Model 43 PBL demo disk to try in your computer. It's free!
That way you can see exactly what it will and will not do for you. BTW, the folks at Dexadine who do the Oehler software are quite helpful, too. They e-mailed me an answer to my question on a Sunday. Those are the kind of folks I enjoy doing business with.

I think the technology of skyscreens is truly amazing. How they and the 4 million-beats-per-second clock can time a tiny projectile travelling 4000fps over a 4 foot screen spacing is awesome. In my mind it ranks up there with the development of the transister.

tbob38,

No, the Cherry Creek Gun Club operated the facility near the Cherry Creek Dam as the concessionaire at one time. We don't any more and that facility is now municipal facility operated by the Parks Dept.

The Cherry Creek Gun Club is near the Aurora Buckingham Square Shopping Center and just off Havana St. at 1300 South. Right in town.

Since we are in town we have everything indoors - even big bore rifles smaller than 50 BMG. Actually we have done a lot of noise supression work and so far have not had a single complaint about the shooting.

You say there wasn't much development out by the dam when you were here. Well, you should see it now. Solid development south beyond the Douglas County line (about ten miles past the dam). A lotta folks here now.

Don Shearer

I have had an Oehler 33 for over 20 years just as one of the other posters had mentioned. I have never sent it back to Oehler because it has never failed me. I would like to get the new 35P with printer but I'm so familiar with the old 33, that writing things in a notebook with a pen just doesn't seem to be a big enough inconvienence to justify the cost.

A printer is nice but I need something to do between shots while the barrel cools....writing things down, etc gives me something to do.

As a side note...how many of you take your bolt out to help the barrel cool?

I use a CED Millenium and can't think of anything I need that it doesn't have. It has a BIG display which can be canted for easier viewing plus you can select it to 'vocalize' the speed of the last shot. It is compatible with all the standard printers like the little HPs plus it will interface to your PC at home via the serial port for data logging. Great widget and Dillon sells it for under $200. Good Luck...

XWind

Have used a Chrony for the last few years with handgun ammo, excellent investment, you will be surprised at the velocities you are really getting from factory ammo.