Hey guys I got all of my reloading equipment about a month ago and it just occured to me that it might be a good idea to get a chronograph to see exactly how hot my loads are running so as to not blow something up. That and the fact that some of the loads that I am wanting to do require a specfic velocity (in and max)in order for the bullet to do its intended purpose.

My wife is going to blow her top if I ask her for just one more thing. She gave me a grand to get all of my reloading stuff. But I have a little cash stashed away. Little being the key word here.

I was wanting to know about this shooting chrony.Theeb site is www.shootingchrony.com. The specfic model that I was looking at was the refurbished F1 that costs $50. All that I want this thing to do is to tell me the velocity and thats it nothing else. To be honest my budget could be as high as $200 but, the higher the cost the longer I go without a chrony. In a few weeks I'll have about $75. That should cover the entire unit plus shipping. I know that some of you guys will tell me that you get what you pay for and buy it once and cry once and believe me I go by that saying to but. All I really need at this point since I havent even reloaded one single round yet is something that will tell me what the velocity is and it being pretty accurate. For $50 as long as it is accurate and lasts me for a year (or two) until I can afford a better one that would fit the bill.

I know that some of you guys are all into bench shooting and extreme accuracy but this is the type of shooting that I do. Shoot every once in a while at paper (mainly to see where I'm shooting at and to sight in my guns). But I mostly shoot at junk and garbage just basically plinking. I got into reloading to make my own SHTF ammo
(shit hits the fan, I dont know if that accronim is know here or not basically self defense ammo for my Ar-15 M-193 and Hordany TAP and AK 47 (soft points). That and to save money and /or to shoot more for less. I find it hard to buy by the case because that is where the savings is. So I have to buy by the 2 or 3 boxes at a time.

Ok time for me to shut up now. So if any of you guys own one of these or have used one in the past please give me some info on it the good, the bad,and the ugly. Thanks all.

Welcome to the reloading family, I had the basic model Shooting Chrony for about 10 years and it worked perfect except when i shot it, sent it in for repair(they replaced it) and later moved up to the model that has the readout that sits on your bench. My shooting buddy has a Pact Chrongraph and it works excellent also but is a lot more money. I'm sure there are guys that have problems out of the Chrony but mine has ran fine for years.

Steve E............

There's nothing wrong with a shooting chrony.....accuracy is excellent and they just plain work....get the cheap model as there's very little to be gained with SD and other statistical stuff. You can spend a lot more money and not learn a thing more.

At this price every reloader should have a chronograph!!

The refurbed F1 will do what you want with no problems. I've had a Alpha Master (with the remote you can put on the bench) for four years with occassional use - don't take it to the range every time - and it works fine. It's not perfect and has missed an occasional shot - but I doubt any chrono is perfect. The Alpha Master can be found for around $100-110 if you look around. Well worth the investment and I believe a very important tool for the handloader.

Phil

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

There's nothing wrong with a shooting chrony.....accuracy is excellent and they just plain work....get the cheap model as there's very little to be gained with SD and other statistical stuff. You can spend a lot more money and not learn a thing more.

At this price every reloader should have a chronograph!!

I agree totally with those opinions.

I have the F1, it's not fancy but it gets the job done. It even works for arrows if you'r into archery.

The idea of shooting a Chrony makes sense to me. roger

The F-1 rebuilt chrony is a sturdy little bugger, too. There has been one permanently ensconced where it can bounce around in the back of my truck every day, for the past 9 years. Still works great and is always there when someone at the range wants to borrow a chronograph. They have gone up 20% in price though [Grin]. Nine years ago they were only $40 (or just slightly more than a gallon of gasoline today.)

I used a Crony for many years, until it jumped in front of a 9mm bullet It worked great for my purposes. Accuracy is a 'nice-to-have', as far as I'm concerned - more important is consistency. Let me explain - if you are getting a reading of 2350fps over your Crony, but the same round from the same rifle reads 2400 over somebody else's whizz-bang Oehler that's never told a lie, that's neither here nor there. What you want is to be able to pick up shot-to-shot variations within a string (relative only to one another), and determine the point of diminishing returns (where say 0.5gr more powder gives less of a velocity increase than you have been seeing). That typically indicates that you are fast approaching maximum.

If the choice is between buying the refurb Crony and waiting until you can afford something 'better', I'd have to say "buy the Crony".

I have an acquaintence at the range, I run into at times.. who is lucky that money is no object for him....

He has a real spendy chronograph of some sort... but watching me set up my Shooting Chrony... he finally asked me about it....

Telling me, that I can set mine up and chronograph what I need, and break it down in less time than it takes to set up his spendy one that tells him everything you could ever want to know....

We compared shots thru them side by side... no difference....

He finally sprung for an F-1 at a store.. and uses it quite a bit more than he does the speny one anymore....

I am glad I went that route the first time... as VapoDog said, every reloader should have one....

A chrony is just as essential to a reloader as a press and die set are.....particularly when you see these guys with $900.00 scopes, and "only shoot" Nosler Partitions or Barnes X bullets.... and yet are too cheap to spring $50 to $100 for a darn chrony...

cheers
seafire

I'm onto my second basic chrony - the first one got in the way of a 6mm06 where the bullet failed just in time to have the core go through the chrony and the jacket through the skyscreens. Anyway, it was replaced with a later model.
I've read about comparative tests done between chrony and other better makes and it seem that if you have a better (read more expensive) make, the chrony is not as accurate. This might be so, but it still is helpfull when you are reaching top end loads.
I set my chrony up in front of a oehler and there was a velocity difference between the oehler and my chrony of almost 100 fps(2950 vs 2870fps) - the chrony giving the faster readout.So I now have an idea of what my actual speed is and take the discrepancy into consideration when working up loads.

I have the Alpha Master Chrony. I love the readout being at my bench and being aboe to shoot a string before having to stop and write. The F1 IIRC only displays the last shot.

I was happy with my Chrony (not sure of the model?), until I decided to chrono some .416 Rem loads. On my range, I can't set up the chronograph very far in front of my shooting position because the range is in constant use - no breaks to look at targets, targets run back and forth on wires. So pretty much just in front of the muzzle is as good as I can manage. The Chrony took one blast from the .416, and turned itself off. I never managed to get it turned on again...

Until this slight mishap, I had actually used the Chrony to my complete satifaction for quite a few loads. So as long as you don't kill it by hitting the unit itself or the skyscreens attached, and as long as it is far enough from your muzzle to render blast less of an issue, I think the Chrony should provide you OK service.

- mike

quote:

...something that will tell me what the velocity is and it being pretty accurate.

TOMAST's comparison of the bullet speeds between oehler and chrony could have other causes besides brand names. I have compared my Oehler 35 with 3 other brands and in my experience the difference between speeds was negligible. Where the Oehler really stood out was it's ability to "catch" 100% of the bullets. The other brand's owners usually needed to fiddle with something to evercome either high, bright sky, or tree shade or intermittent clouds. Oehler's skyscreens are the best at doing what they're supposed to do; turn on and then turn off the timing clock when a bullet passes over them.

However, the point is moot. Oehler no longer sells recreational chronographs, only expensive commercial ones. So go ahead and buy that refurb F1. It's better than nothing.

Also, reread Rikkie's post above about diminishing returns. Good advice.

My F-1 has always worked well.It is fine for a basic chrono.


Regards , Mike

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:

quote:

...something that will tell me what the velocity is and it being pretty accurate.

TOMAST's comparison of the bullet speeds between oehler and chrony could have other causes besides brand names. I have compared my Oehler 35 with 3 other brands and in my experience the difference between speeds was negligible. Where the Oehler really stood out was it's ability to "catch" 100% of the bullets. YES The other brand's owners usually needed to fiddle with something to evercome either high, bright sky, or tree shade or intermittent clouds. Oehler's skyscreens are the best at doing what they're supposed to do; turn on and then turn off the timing clock when a bullet passes over them. And they don't brake or need tape

However, the point is moot. Oehler no longer sells recreational chronographs, only expensive commercial ones. So go ahead and buy that refurb F1. It's better than nothing.Sad but true

.

Why are the chrony guys always trying to justify why they own that sweet old thing????????? Some people get their tools at Harbor Frieght. They're happy. roger

Gadzooks, Roger! If a refurb chrony is $50 what could Harbor Freight sell a brand new China made chronograph for? $17.97? Might as well buy a few!!

They are out of refurbs until a few more are shot.

I don't see how one could load the odd balls without a chrony.It's easy enough to get the latest data for a 30-06 or a 300WM,but try a 264WM with modern powders or N-550 or Big Game in a 338.06.

Yes ,I miss the odd shot,so what ,I have the other four shots in that group.

quote:

They are out of refurbs until a few more are shot.

Like they say in the Mastercard commercial: Priceless!

Hey, you can have my old one with the 9mm hole through the brain. I'll just go get it down from the wall, between the Kudu and the Gemsbuck horns

I'm glad to hear (sort of ?) that I'm not the only one who has killed a chrony...twice! I used the F1 for years and it still works fine, I have the Gama Master and it too works great. Seems like the F1 took a little fiddling with sometines to make it work, like one of the above posts mentioned. I used to take a .22 pistol with me to make sure I had it set up right before I shot the loads I wanted to check. I don't do this with the Gama, it just works.

I have the Beta Master and it is a very convenient little setup. Worth the money for sure.

I have a Beta Master and really like it. I have solved two of the commonly mentioned problems with Chronys.

To prevent shooting it, I simply put a strip of 2" wide blue masking tape between the front screen supporting rods, just above the Chrony. That way, if I see blue (masking tape) and can't see the target I know I'm too low.

(BTW, the same tape is used to hold the rods and screens together so they don't blow apart with magnum muzzle blast.)

Second problem mentioned a lot is missed readings or errors. The Chrony has a small "target area" to shoot through, which seems to be a max. of 6" above the unit and about 2" wide, centered above the sensors.

I call the 2" x 4" area right above my tape the Chrony's "sweet spot" and never get errors when set up that way. And I KNOW I will never shoot it!

Hope this helps!

Cool thanks for the info guys.

One of the reasons I like the Chrony is that they ARE frequently shot. I don't much care to go to our club to chrono ammo and then have to tell my friends, "No, you can't clock your loads over my chronograph."

I have both an Oehler and a Chrony. Don't let others shoot over the Oehler, but if they want to chrono their loads I just haul out the Chrony, hand it to them, and say "shoot yourself silly..."

Reason for that approach harks back to about 1988 when one of my closest friends shot my Oehler with a .300 Weatherby. Believe it or not, it didn't hurt the operation of it at all, but it doesn't look too great any more. (Mine is an early Oehler which had the sky-screens each in boxes about the size of a Chrony. That's what he shot...one of the sky-screen boxes.)

So. I still use the Oehler sometimes, but ONLY I use it. For the $40 I paid for a re-built Chrony, I don't worry one way or the other if they plug that with a .577 T-Rex.....

BTW...they both show the same readings within about 10 f.p.s.

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:

Why are the chrony guys always trying to justify why they own that sweet old thing????????? Some people get their tools at Harbor Frieght. They're happy. roger

Or,
why are people always trying to justify paying 6 times as much for an oehler, with exactly the same published intrument error, 0.5% ?

Everyone wants to justify what they have, and if you pay more, you SHOULD get more...

in this case, it's like buying bottled water vs tap water.. wet and cures a thrist...

but if you add additional parameters to your reading, then sure, an oehler wins..

but add "for under $100" then the oehler can't even play... it's a question of what one is after...


and most people don't know that their cell phone has an alarm, but they carry it every day

Everyone should have a chrony, if they reload... should be part of the "master" reloading kit
jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:

Why are the chrony guys always trying to justify why they own that sweet old thing????????? Some people get their tools at Harbor Frieght. They're happy. roger

Or,
why are people always trying to justify paying 6 times as much for an oehler, with exactly the same published intrument error, 0.5% ?jeffe

Jeff, I'm sure you know by now that I have owned 3 different model Chronies. Each had problems that rendered them soft brown mushy stuff and when I contacted Chrony (India?) I got absolutly no where. At least twice on AR I have delineated the problems I've had with these inferior productsonly to be answered that mine is great and mine is as accurate as a Oehler, and mine bounces around in my turck and when I go to use it it always is there for me.

Now either there is a lot of going on or you ALL have been much luckier than I. I'm a slow learner I guess having tried three of these whatevers, before changing camps.I think that last phone call to India really frosted the ole gulionies. If you accept the way it performs and are happy let no evidence change your opinion. Chrony roger

The next time any of you are in Roseburg, Oregon on a Sunday, come to the Roseburg Rod & Gun Club outdoor rifle range. It's at the SW corner of the intersection of I-5 & the Winchester exit, so it's easy to find. I'll be there almost any Sunday. And ask to borrow my Chrony. I'll open the back of my truck and YOU can fish it out and use it. Then you can decide on your own, based on eyewitness experience, if it's being there and still working is BS or not. My truck will be the little blue Toyota 4x4 which I bought new in 1979 and which is also still working just fine....

Maybe some folks ARE just unlucky....

I bought a Beta when they were $59. Shot quite a few over it. Hit a wire and knocked it out of whack. I did get it to work. Then I went to a lumber yard and bought several wood dowell rods of the same size for 6 cents each. Each one made extra sticks. They won't damage the unit when hit. Cheap and easy to replace and do everything the wire legs do.

Problems started for me when trying to chrony patched round balls and a patch hit the face and destroyed it. I wrote them, reply said to mail my unit in for price quote. So I did. Got a post card back: "Please remit $35".

I sent it to the address on the card and it was returned. Eight months later after lot's of frustration at not being able to make contact. I got a letter saying: "rec'd your damaged S/C, please remit $85".

I wrote back: "what happened to the $35 quote?? IF that is not correct, please return my damaged S/C". I've never been able to get another reply.

Finally I wrote a letter and sent copies to every place that sells them I could find. The only reply I got was from Lock Stock and Barrel. "Rec'd your letter, we will check with the vendor and contact you promptly". Yeah sure, that's been 5 yrs and not another connection.

I wouldn't have one if they GAVE me a box car full of the fkg things!

George