Looking at purchasing a chronograph for load development. Will be used for big bores and double rifles as well as big bore single shot rifles such as Sharps and Hi-walls. Was looking at the CED chronograph on the Dillon reloading site. Any comments regarding the CED unit or other chronographs are welcome.

Price is not the primary concern, but quality, accuracy and ruggedness of product are. Thanks for your input.

ProChronograph for me.

I sorta divide chronos into 3 groups:

1. Very inexpensive but quite useable...such as the Chrony, of which I have one. And have never had ANY troubles with it....

2. Moderate cost,but very useful and lot of bells and whistles available. CED...a very excellent, fine-working example there-of...

3. Oehler...best on the market that most handloaders can afford. (I have one of those too...)

Anyway, if I had to have only one chrono, it would be the CED. I don't need one as good as an Oehler, though I sure enjoy having it. The CED wasn't on the market when I bought my Oehler.

I bought the Chrony to use when I go to the public range, right after a "friend" blew a hole in my first Oehler with his .300 Wby. The Chrony has ridden in the bed of my pickup every day for 16 or 17 years and still works fine, but could use some more options in its functions. Incidentally, the Oehler with the hole in it still works fine too, he just luckily didn't shoot any of the essentials inside.

get a shooting chrony with the remote readout .. and the carrying case

ANY chrono is lightyears better than none

Just went to the Oehler site and they said they were no longer producing the chronographs.

The three different model Chronies I had were one exercise in frustration after another.Some guys are just lucky that way.

The only annoying thing about my Oehler was the little battery going dead every now and than. My home made 6 C cell power supply took care of that. roger

I had an old Alpha model Shooting Chrony and had trouble with it dropping shots. I now have been useing a Pact M1 for the last dozen or so years and feel it is much better in this reguard. I also like the large "window" on the Pact screens over the small one on the Alpha Chrony. I was replacing shade supports more then I like to admit until I bought the Pact.

I have no personal experiance with any of the other brands, but I`ve heard a lot of shooters crow about the CED chrony. With Oelher out of the crony business I`d look at Pact or the CED

CED M2 at Graf and sons is $194 to your door. just bought one

It is extremey sad that Oehler is no longer making their chronographs.

They are, without any doubt, the very best.

We have tried CED and Chrony, as well as another one made in Germany and very expensive.

None compares with the Oehler.

The German model works, but, sadly, it has to beused with a PC. Which is a royal pain in the posterior.

We have 4 Model 35Ps and quite a few sky screens!

I have a Pro. Checked it with a buddy's more expensive Pact and they agreed within 25 fps., so the Pro suits me for the limited amount of speed checks I do.

The electronics (clock) in all chronographs is essentially the same, and all are almost foolproof. The difference is in the detector screens. Some are obviously much better than others.

Here's a thought for all of you chrono-guys: My understanding is that Oehler still supplies his skyscreens as replacements. Is it possible to hook an Oehler Skyscreen to another brand of chronograph? That is (regardless of the plug compatability, which can be changed or jerry-rigged), is the Skyscreen signal compatable with a Pro Chrono or PACT or whatever? If so, you could hook Oehler Skyscreens to any chronograph and have the equivalent of an Oehler.

The Oehler is the best because they make the best screens The glareing issue I have w/ Chronie is the small, poor screens. The CED is better because the screens are just a bit larger & will lose less shots. I shoot along side a friend w/ a MasterChrony & he misses fully 50% of his shots. I rarely miss any but I would give the Oehler less than 1% errors.

My ProChrono works very well and is a piece of cake to setup and use. It does have an optional connection to hook up to a computer but I've never considered it. At 15 feet away I can easily read the display. It has never missed a shot and I attribute that to the larger sky screens. The cost is quite reasonable as well.

Ken....

I have the blue Chrony. I have had it miss the bullet several times. Are there bigger screens for it? Would taping a piece of paper over the screens help to essentially enlarge them?

A vote for the Shooting Chrony.

Cheap, works great, with a good return policy for when you shoot the thing. (Which I haven't yet but everyone says we all do).

quote:

Originally posted by NEJack:
A vote for the Shooting Chrony.

Cheap, works great, with a good return policy for when you shoot the thing. (Which I haven't yet but everyone says we all do).

quote:

Originally posted by NEJack:
A vote for the Shooting Chrony.

Cheap, works great, with a good return policy for when you shoot the thing. (Which I haven't yet but everyone says we all do).

They offer to sell you a refurb.

quote:

Originally posted by BECoole:

quote:

Originally posted by NEJack:
A vote for the Shooting Chrony.

Cheap,

They offer to sell you a refurb.

Ya gota wonder why it was refurbed in the first place. I really am not a chrony lover. roger

I,ve shot to death 5 chronographs so far , almost all with a double action handgun .... I had troubles with the Pro Chrono but sometimes ir worked well . the Chrony is a wonderful tool . I hope I don,t shoot my current one .. I have quit using the rods and translucent plastics and try to chronograph when the light is good .. I think the night lights are the best idea , and putting it in a box spray painted flat black ......
Sure has helped me have Real reloads not reloads of ignorance ...

After reading about chronographs on this forum and my personal observations at the range, I wouldn’t think people would want to spend any more money then necessary on one. Seems like chronographs get shot on a regular basis. Maybe those are the refurbished ones that Bartsche wonders about.

My consumer history:
I paid $80 for a Chrony and shot it with a pistol.
I paid $80 for a Chrony and shot it with a pistol.
I paid $100 for ProChrono and shot it with a pistol.
I paid $100 for a ProChrono and have only been using it with rifles.

My consumer reviews:
The Chronys [Canada] only trigger on every other shot for me.
The Prochrono [China] trigger on every shot for me.
So if I shoot my current Prochrono, I will buy another Prochrono

My technique:
I do on use the sky screens or "V" sticks.
I put my eye next to the muzzle and look to see that the chrono is 4" under the path to the target. The chrono should be oriented parallel to the path of the bullet, or the readings will be low. The inverse cosine of 8 degrees is 99%. So for 1% error, get it within 8 degrees of alignment.
Put the chrono on a camera tripod out there 15' in front of the shooting bench [so the escaping gas does not affect the optically sensed reading].
My old eyes cannot see the display at 15', so I have a pair of binoculars on the bench.

My editorial on Chrono design:
If you put a number of chronographs LINED UP in series, they all read the same, which is much more accurate than needed.
Designing a chronograph with more accuracy than needed is a 1970's undergraduate electrical engineering group project level task.
Manufacturing them and marketing them at $80 retail is a lifetime effort for someone with real talent.

quote:

Originally posted by tnekkcc:

Manufacturing them and marketing them at $80 retail is a lifetime effort for someone with real talent.

Or off shore labor and Bengal phone (nothing) trouble shooting. roger

When an engineer dies and they divvy up his work load, the interface with India and China are the bottom of the bucket.
The standard joke is that he died to get out of this work.
I know someone who died last week, but it is too soon for that joke.

Alright time for the stupid question!!!

If going to purchase the ProChrono Digital, do you need to purchase the stand separately? I've looked at all the major distributors and I don't see that information in their descriptions.

Thanks,

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
Alright time for the stupid question!!!

If going to purchase the ProChrono Digital, do you need to purchase the stand separately? I've looked at all the major distributors and I don't see that information in their descriptions.
Thanks,

All three of my chronies came with rickity tripods. roger

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
Alright time for the stupid question!!!

If going to purchase the ProChrono Digital, do you need to purchase the stand separately? I've looked at all the major distributors and I don't see that information in their descriptions.

Thanks,

I bought mine at Cabela's and had to buy the tripod seperately. A good tripod will probably be close to the price of the chrono. I think mine was on sale for $89 but I did buy a fairly heavy duty one.

Ken....

I can't feature shooting your chronograph. What's the matter? You can't see it only ten feet away?

I once nicked the bottom edge of the screen holder on an old Oehler Model 10, the kind that used paper screens that were only two inches tall, so you had to put your shot through both screens, five feet apart, within a 2"x4" space.

But a modern chronograph with a "screen" detection area almost a foot tall? Why would you shoot the chronograph.

Well, anyway, I guess that is one more advantage to the late, great Oehler -- the screens are not a part of the chronograph, so if you shoot them you have only damaged a component and not the clock/computer itself.

I have an Alpha Chrony Master - $119 some yrs ago.

Have had no problems. Can't see myself reloading without a chronograph. Don't leave home without it going to range!

I bought a Chrony when they first came out. That was also the time when the high priced boys discovered they could make a chrony for a lot cheaper that what they were charging. I still have the same one. It's still working.
I've proofed it with target grade .22 ammo and against the high dollar chronies and it is amazingly close.

I have a CED. It works just fine. Nice big screens so there is less chance of shooting it. I get good data, it "does the math" for me, is relatively easy on batteries and is about as reliable as gravity. It holds more data than I can create during one range session. It misses very few if any shots if I use it like the manual says. It is reasonably priced for the features it has and how well it is built.

I recommend the CED.

I have a buddy that has one like mine who always uses it with the optional indoor light. His never misses a shot.

Fitch

I've been shooting over the same PACT chronograph and skyscreens (I haven't shot them yet) since the early 80s and it's worked fine.

I can't even buy replacement skyscreens for it because PACT says the new skyscreens will not work because my unit is sold old.

Been using a Gamma Master last 7 years or so after my Oehler got blasted by my EX-friend