Another vote for the Oehler 35P......love the printer. I just write the date, temp., firearm etc. at the top of the paper tape, then write load data beside each string after I finish firing the five or ten rounds. Available direct from Oehler or Natchez Shooter's Supplies, www.natchezss.com Get the adjustable light stands and 4 ft. rail.

Another vote for Ohler 35p. It works. It is very reliable. Love the printer. dave

slygunner

I have used an Oehler Model 33 for about 15 years.
Due to some health problems I had not used the unit for about two years. I had left the batteries in the unit and they leaked. I called Oehler and asked if they would replace the contacts and check the caliberation. I sent them the unit and asked for an estimate for repairs.
I received the unit back in 5 days with a note,
No Charge. They had unscrewed my cover and put it on a complete new unit. They replaced the sky screen covers
and recaliberated the unit.
I called the customer service rep that I talked to and explaned to him that it was not a fault of the unit but my stupidity for the battery leakage. He told that it was company policy to take care of their customers.
Needless to say when I do need a new chronograph it will be Oehler.

James

Years ago, when I did a lot of ammo testing and velocity data, I used an Oehler 35P for the bulk of my testing, and a Chrony for a backup for light trips to the back 40 for short tests. The Oehler uses three sky screens that can be spaced at any convient distance apart. The suggested is 4 feet. In effect you have two chronographs, which compare readings and make sure the reported velocity is correct. Just for grins one day, I set the Chrony inside the first and second syk screens of the Oehler, making it a three reading chronograph, two from the Oehler and one from the Chrony. You have to remember the Chrony has a ~18" spacing between the sky screens. The results? The Chrony was NEVER more than 2fps different from the readings of the Oehler. Pretty darn good for a $75 Chrony compared to a $350 Oehler.
Today, I use the Chrony exclusively, and never look back. I won't knock Oehler, they make a good unit and they service it very well, but IMHO, it's not needed for velocity readings that are accurate.

Well looks like I'm the sole one with a CED Millenium. I like the functions & especially that you can just plug the unit into your PC I download all the data into Excel.

Seems to last forever on just 1 - 9 volt alkaline battery & very large display.

I Australia they have a rep here that supports it with parts etc & you can talk to him. Oehler are strictly special order here & cost a heck of a lot more too.

Regards
JohnT

I have an Oehler and a chrony. I have had many error readings and wrong readings with the chrony. So far no errors or suspiciously low readings with the Oehler. I would sell the chrony for 20 bucks plus ship if anybody is interested. pm me.

Oehler 35, I tried a Pact & wasn't happy, too many error readings. I have been using the Oehler for 6mos now & haven't missed one shot yet.

I use a Chrony F1 Master ($99 Midway). I wanted a chronograph but didn't have $350 to drop on one so I went with the F1 Master. No complants so far. It doesn't have a printer and it won't average your shots. The only upgrade it has is the display has a 15' cord so it sits on the table you shoot off of. I like that, I don't have to get up after every shot to read the display. If I had the extra cash I would have bought the Oehler 35P but what I've got works good.

Terry

I bought the plain jane PACT 20 years ago and have used it without a problem ever since. My only problem is that it must read low all of the time because everyone else on the internet gets higher velocities for their loads than I do.

I have a shooting chrony I picked up as a factory refurb several years ago for $50. The plus's are it's cheap, and it sets up quickly. Minus is at low sun angles you often don't get readings, which for Alaska means mid day in the the winter and you aren't guranteed to get readings. You might have to fiddle around with shading if you have weird lighting.

I killed it with an errant gas check @ 1400 fps from my 480 Ruger, and haven't gotten around to getting it fixed yet. The other upside of a $50 chrono is you're only out $50 when you finally shoot it.

Thanks for the info guys! I have a friend that has an oehler and I enjoy testing with it. I don't have alot of money and the only time I really need one is to test loads for new guns(which isn't often) or the occasional retesting of proven loads. If I were to go with a Chrony which one should I really look into.
Thanks,
slygunner

Oehler 35.

I have used a lot of Chronys and accuracy can be subject to light and they frequently read high.

Mike

Amen on the Chrony. After you shoot it (and you will)
They will take the corpse in on trade. Their rebuilt units have to be the best buy going. For a read only memory use a note book. The readings are easy to read without the extension.
Good luck!

I have a Beta Master Chrony and am really happy with it. If I were really, really, serious about super, duper accuracy of my readings I guess I would probably shell out hundreds and hundreds of dollars and get a Oehler 35 though. If you have the money, get the Oehler. If you are on a real tight budget, get the Chrony.

I use my chronograph pretty heavily when I get a new rifle and develop a load or two. Then my chronograph sits idle for years at a time.

This makes three users of the CED Millenium. Easy to opperate, easy to setup, easy to download readings to your computer, and I can set the screen on the bench next to me to get an idea of whats going on with each shot. Sure beats having to look downrange and try and read a screen from distance.

I had a Chrony the Pro Chrony model. Lots of error readings and the screens were prone to tearing out. Blasted the screen with a plastic sabot chrono'ing some loads for my father once. I got it fixed no problem but after that reading where very erratic and I got even more error readings. Something was still not quite right with it.

I read a review on the CED whre the guy set it up with his Ohler and was very impressed with the accuracy of the readings comparing the two.

I also have an Oehler and a Chrony (BETA Model). I have never had problems with the Chrony, and since it is so much easier to set up than the Oehler, I now use it almost exclusively after checking it against the Oehler to see how accurate it is. It gives essentially the same readings as the Oehler.

slygunner,

Welcome to the forum.

We have tried them all, and found the Oehler 35P to be the best there is.

Others might be cheaper, but if you wish to have one that you will still use years from now, this is the only one I can recommend.

'nother CED user, The download function is a valuable tool that you wont know you needed 'til you've got it.

CED also has IR screens for indoor shooting. Here is Aus the sensors retail for AU$60 each, don't ask how I know cheaper then buying a new unit.

When set up to the manufacturers instructions I have not had an error reading.

Does anybody use the voice function?

CED Web page http://www.cedhk.com/show.php/Object82

Richard is that $60 for a set of the IR screens or $60 for each ie. $120 total. If its just $60 I may just get one.

Regards
JohnT

I have had 2 different Chronys in the past. They were too temperamental in various lighting conditions. I now have a ProChrono which I'm pretty happy with. It only costs very slightly more than a Chrony, but works about 100% better. I can't compare it with an Oehler since I've never owned one, but as someone who has handloaded over 30 years, I find it to be an invaluable tool . The readings are good, good feature set, and just slightly over $100 price.

Sly, it looks like I might be the only one who has a Pact pro chrono, the new pro model has only been out for 4 months or so. It is very consistent, easy to set up and comes with a built in printer. It has more ballistic software built in than I need, but it's there if that's your thing. The downrange trajectory tables are great. I keep mine on a tripod and all you have to do is turn it on and shoot through it, it isn't real picky about light conditions, and I have used it indoors as well as out in a lot of varying ligthing. It is a clean simple setup and it has been compared to several different chrono's (including Oehler's) and the velocities it gives are right on.
Good Luck--Don.

Oehler 35P.

Fish,
I'm glad that you brought the Pact to my attention. It has all the features and if it not as sensitive to light as the others it could be the ticket. With my friends Oehler, we go to one place in the morning to shoot, and we go to another spot to shoot in the afternoon because of the lighting conditions.
Thanks,
slygunner

I've had a ProChrono since 1992. Despite its tripod base being "sandbagged," it's been blown over in heavy Montana winds more often than I care to remember and has several bands of black tape holding it together. It still works very well but, as others have reported, certain sun angles seem to play havock with its reading's. Give the "eyes" a bit of shade and it always works.

BA

G'day JohnT,
That'd be AU$60 each mate. Give Peter a call he's a nice bloke and he'll be able to help you out.

BOXTRADE
Mr. Peter Dawson
PO Box 129
The Gap,
Queensland 4061
Australia.
Phone61) (07)-3300-3536
Fax: (61) (04)-1102-9179
E-mail: peter@dawson-trading.com
Website: www.dawson-trading.com

Two problems and two solutions..

I have the F-1 Master or something like that. It's the one with the Remote that I have on the bench when shooting.

Yes, there are some problems with battery life, when voltage is low the readings are unreliable. I fixed that with a trip to Radio Shack to pick up some additional battery clips. I now use two batteries, still supplying 9 volts but double the current. You need two clips (one for each battery) and a third clip to connect the batteries to the clip thats attached to the unit. My clips have red and black wires with black being negative. Using two clips, solder the black wires together and the red wires together (these are for the two batteries). Take the third clip and solder the black wire to the pair of red wires and do the same to red wire to the pair of black wires, Use heat shrink or tape over the joints to prevent shorts and now you are done.

My Chrony is mounted on a camera tripod. One needs to remember that the Chrony needs the bullet shadow to hit the two sensors in the correct sequence. I have experienced conditions where a bug trips one or the other and generates errors. With the remote, it's easy to reset the error. With the tripod setup you must be aware of the sun and where the shadow is cast. Depending on season and the time of day it's quite possible that the bullet shadow will not trip the sensors. Do yourself a favor, the setup is easy. Hold you finger, or a pen in line with the expected bullet path and observe where the shadow hits. Then adjust the Chrony to ensure that the bullet path does indeed cast it's shadow over the sensors. With my tripod, I have 90 degrees of adjustment angle which lets me effectively use the chrony from sunrise to sunset. Yes it looks a little bass-ackwards when the is tilted 45 degrees or so, but who cares when it works.

Hope this helps you folks

I vote and I use the chrony

Thanks Richard. Dealt with Peter before. In fact that's who i bought off. You're right, he's a nice guy & supports his product.

Regards
JohnT

I have the cheap red Chony from Canada.
Sometimes it works great.
Sometimes not at all, like in the rain or late in a sunny day.

If it had a manual trigger sensitivity, maybe I could get it to work all the time.

I would pay the $360 for the fancy brand, if I thought IT would always trigger.

Another CED user. Had a top-o'-the-line Chrony, worked OK til it started going wonky on me (missed shots, weird reads, etc.) Fairly quick and easy to set up, don't have a d/l link to my Mac yet (working on it). The potential for getting IR sensors down the road so as to allow use on dark/overcast days was a plus for me. The software is nice enough, does some interesting things that I don't have in other ballistics software. You can link loads to guns, to data runs in the exterior ballistics software, load records, etc. Sometimes gets a little convoluted as a result, though. Nice to be able to convert B.C. numbers to a proper G7 model; slightly (_slightly) more accurate at longer ranges.

Lots of people have and love the Oehlers, and there's certainly nothing wrong w/ their results. I just figure theres probably about 10-15 years worth of advancements and improvements in electronics and sensors since the 35P was designed, might as well take advantage of it. If Oehler were to offer an updated model, I'd probably take a very serious look at it. For other people, 'proven' designs are the way to go. All depends on you.

HTH,

Monte