I've relied on using the range chronographs since, well, forever.

Yea, once in a while one of them would get creamed, but since the range owned 2, there was always the other to use while the damaged one was getting replaced.

But this time, and in the span of 1 week, both Chrono's have been shot. Gotta say, we must have the deadliest chrono killers in the area.

The best as I can figure, the damage occurs during public range sessions (which I'm never there) when the place is busy and people are feeling hurried.

So, I decided enough with that, and dropped the $$ and ordered up my own chrono.


And I'm not letting anyone else borrow it. Too many good shots around here...

I killed one of my own several years ago……with a 44 magnum handgun. I’m a lot more careful nowadays.

AR's I believe a responsible for killing quite a few chronos . Most because many times people are unaware of just how much higher their sites are than the bore.
Killed my first one with a 38-55 that I had just installed a new flip up Tang site kind of the same deal I really didn't realize how much higher my site plane was in the barrel rip the top right out of the crony

I've only ever shot one. It was my first. A Shooting Chrony. It took the sensors out.

I did it in with a single shot NEF 30-30 many years ago.

I've mentioned more than once to people - as a last step, pull the bolt and look down the barrel (you know, the non-pointy end). If you see the expensive part, then you 'aint ready to fire...

Planning to shoot mine once Labradar's become more available.

I haven't shot mine, yet, but that is probably due to my wanting to replace it. It might help that I lost the original diffuser and supports so my replacement struts are much higher than the original. I put the target in the upper portion of the

I've seen a few shot and have been careful with my setting up ever since the first one I saw shot. I haven't had someone shoot over mine though I had a guy insist he be allowed to use mine a couple weeks back. He wasn't happy I told him he would have to wait until I was done. I wrote a thread on it here shortly after it happened.

Like others, I'm looking at a Labradar too. They are spendy but I would have it half paid for if I wouldn't have bought a chronograph and later a Magnetospeed.

I killed one but not by shooting it, but dropped it coming back from the range. It flew into a lot of pieces and never worked right after that

This Shooters Chrony is perhaps the biggest POS ever created...............don't buy one or ever believe the data it puts out (my ex-wife in a little red box) !!!!!!!!!!!!

Buy an Oehler 35p and be done

I bought a used one and it has been shot a few times. It uses cardboard inserts and you shoot through a window a few inches above the top of the chronograph. It does not have the big wide ears to shoot through. I've never shot it, but can see how someone could. Mine is a pro tach and only reads velocity. It works great for that, but does not give SD and ES. Maybe I should shoot it? Nah, I know my handloads have pretty low SD's and ES's.

My best friend is a great shotgun shooter but pistols are a different story. He’s adequate and he’s certainly quite capable at self defense ranges but he’s usually just sending rounds down range for fun. He wanted to clock a 10mm he had just bought so I let him shoot over my chronograph once….that’s all it took for him to nail the 1/8” skyscreen. 😂

That reminds me that I need to hit submit on my Midway order with the new screen. 😉

If you log your velocity readings you can pretty quickly see your SD’s and ES…..I like the simplicity of the “older” styles like yours and my ProChrony but my technological expertise ceases to be so simplicity is my crutch. 😁

Calculating SD and ES isn't too difficult if you record velocity readings.

Never killed one....yet. But if you don't mind a little one upsmanship...I did crease the hood on my old Dodge PU.

back when we had Mini 14s as patrol rifles. I did that at a training. hopped out leaned over the hood and fired 5 quick rounds right through the hood of a new patrol car

This was 30 years ago. I don’t use old fashioned carbureted chronos anymore.

I’ve had the same Pact for nearly thirty years. Still going strong. If I set it up to close, the muzzle blast will cause the sky screens to come apart. Every time that happens, I think oh [bleep] I shot it. Not yet.

Chrony is no longer in business.

I was looking for some new diffusers for my old Chrony F1. The 3-piece snap together ones, that eventually fell apart. Discovered they were out of business. I also have a Magnetospeed, and a Pro Chrono, but was wanting to keep the Chrony F1 in service. Mine is one of the green body models, I don't know if they are different from the red one, but mine always worked just fine.

Had one back in the 90's that said my rifles and pistols had MV's of ERR on about 3/4 of all shots no matter what kind of light conditions were prevalent.

One day it accidentally got shot by six rounds from a .41 Magnum Blackhawk. By some fantastic coincidence the pieces all fell into the same pile on the ground where they were accidentally shot six more times.


Bought an Oehler 35 after that. There are easier ones to set up nowadays but since that Oehler hardly ever misses a reading and I can rely on its accuracy it's managed to avoid accidental death and dismemberment for close to 25 years now.

Yup. I ordered up a MagnetoSpeed...

Another vote for the Oehler. I've had a 35 pre P since the early 90s. Early on there was a problem, but Oehler fixed & updated the unit at no charge. The empty port is there to install the printer now. It still works great. The only complaint is that this time of year if I get to the range a bit later than usual, when the sun gets low around 3pm the screens dont pick up the shot sometimes or I get a flashing display meaning the proof channel disagrees with the other channel. There have been a couple of these units sit for weeks in the classifieds for such a good price I considered buying it for a spare. Just in case.

I cant understand why makers put the $$ part out where it can get shot. Scheiss happens. I've shot 2 skyscreens over the life of the chrono. Both times with full power 44 mag from a 6" pistol, both times it was the stop screen. First time cost $25, the last time it cost $45 for a new screen.

Labradar looks interesting but is more $$ & has its own set of quirks that may be improved if they get some competition. Magnetospeed is another imperfect, but much cheaper, option.

LabRadar fixes shooting your chrono.

True enough, but what about people who want to shoot their chronograph?

I remember how pleased I was when I brought that Chrony home. Time and science advance though. What was cool, becomes crap.

I treated myself to a MagnetoSpeed V3 for Christmas. I've used it a few times and really like it so far.

I've accidentally shot mine twice. Next time will be on purpose.

I killed a useless POS Pact by throwing it over the roof of the tractor shed…. almost thirty years ago……

Bit the bullet ( so to speak) and bought a M35.

Buy a Labradar, THEN shoot your old chronograph….

I am happy with my Pro Chrono and Magnetospeed. 😋

My dad did that on a '78 powerwagon. Funny chidt.. I have the same kind of crease on the top of my chronograph..

I put the control box of my old PACT by thr 100yd target and gutted it with a 7mmRM. Moved on to Pro Chrono and Magnetospeed with much less fuss.

I've got a pile of cartridges & bullet combo's piling up waiting on the chrony. MagnetoSpeed says any week now, tho Mr. Brown is sayin' any month now...

I'm on my second Pro- Chrono, this one with the Blue Tooth. I love them, been using them for 30 years. Tried a Magneto Speed but having to change all the spacers between rifles got to be a PITA.

Haven't shot one yet but I'm sure this will jinx me.

I put little wraps of bright tape on the metal upright rods high enough for my bullet to pass through when the horizontal crosshairs are on them. As long as the crosshairs are in the tape the bullet will go over the sensor not thru.

The one I dropped was a Pro-Chrono and I too updated to the Blue Tooth model. It is still in the box, I guess I need to read up on it and see what it does the other one did not.

Well, I shot two chronographs to death, one accidental and the other a deliberate murder. The accidental was with a .44 Spl.. the bullet hitting one of the posts holding the diffuser. Must have scrambled the brains of the thing because it never worked after that. The deliberate killed on purpose was an Oehler Model 10; very frustrating to work with anyway and giving erratic readings. One dat I just said to hell with it and put a 180 Sierra Pro-hunt thought its gut and tossed the whole mess into the range trash can. Felt a hell of a lot better the rest of the day.
Paul B.

Woo hoo! Big Brown delivered the chrony today. Time to get back to the range.

First up is 6.5 Staball and the 143 grain ELD-X. Hodgdon's H4350 load is spot on, so I'll compare that load against its Staball load and see what gives.

Hell, I might even take the time to read the chrony instructions ...

You bought a MagnetoSpeed? Yeah, you'll read the instructions.

Wise advice. Wise advice indeed.

I get to page 3 - the Parts List. Ok, there's 20 listed items. Not too bad. Let's go thru 'em.

1. V3 Bayonet Sensor. Check. Oh, wait - the top of the sensor has a nasty gash/scrape in it! Well, that kinda sucks.

Oh, but let's continue...

2. Check. 3. Check. 4 Check.

5. Alignment Rod. Uhh, where the hell is the alignment rod? This thing shipped with Inspector A and Inspector B both signing off on it without a freakin' alignment rod in it!

Screw the rest of the checks. This POS goes back today.

Pathetic...

Puddle, I would contact Kestrel/Magneetospeed And let them know your concerns. I had the little piece of plastic where the steps tucks on my bayonet break a few months ago, and they sent me a brand new one. I have the Sporter so I do not have an alignment rod, but I did buy one. I lost the SOB in not time, a Dow rod works better.

Well, MagnetoSpeed didn't mess around.

Tech Support agreed the mess with the sensor sucks and they're sending me an entire new kit.

I told them it was Ok by me, in fact, encouraged them to take the shrink wrap off and actually look inside to make sure everything is there and not fouled up BEFORE shipping it to me.

What a concept.

Have my own, but had a couple close calls with military rifles and their extremely elevated sight plain.

thought I was the only one that did that

I purposely shot a chrony similar to the one Steve posted a pic of. What a POS ! Had to take a 10/22 to the range everytime I went to 'test' the chrony setup. Even then, sometimes it took 20-30 rnds of 22LR before the chrony would begin to read properly and not display "Error" every time. 22LR ammo is way less expensive than CF rifle ammo. After leaving the range that day, I went home, called Oehler and ordered a 35P. Been happy ever since. I will admit to also owning a Magneto-Speed V3 which is more convenient than the Oehler, but accuracy is affected with the MS.

Well, just to wrap a nice little bow around this thread, it looks like this last incident with 2 range-supplied chrony's getting shot within a week was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.

The range is now out of the business of supplying chrony's to its members. If a member wants to aim real good and nail a chrony, it'll have to be their own.

Fair enough.

I've killed three, one with a sabot from an inline muzzle loader, another with a 0.030" Walters fiber wad from a 45-110 Sharps, the last one was shooting two different '94 Winchester 30-30's, the newer angle eject has a mile of slack in the trigger before boom, the old 1950 model does not, i always level the sights, bring down to face of chrono then up to fire, cant do that fingering on an old '94 trigger............................dumbass! that 170gr Hornady chitcanned that rig.

Years ago I took a chip out of the edge of a skyscreen for my old Oehler 33. Didn't kill it though. I was experimenting with reversed gas checks seated on top of a compressed load under a plain based cast bullet.

LOL, damn, i was shooting up cheap chrony and prochrono brands, an Oehler setup is on my to do list someday.

I've killed two Chronys so far. The first one was during my first outing with it. I was having fun shooting rifles and pistols over it until I tried some 65 gr 45 ACP ammo that I had never shot before. Turns out that stuff shoots quite a bit lower than 230 grain hard ball and sent the whole thing including my tripod flying. I replaced it and was a bit more careful about knowing where the bullets were going before shooting over the Chrony. I did learn that the metal rods they give to shoot through aren't the best idea. Nailing one of them will also tip the whole thing over and make the hole you stick the rod into oval shaped. Wooden dowels are much safer. I eventually shot that one too. I was getting errors shooting a 22-250 over it and thought if I shot just a little lower I might get a good reading. Not! So........I bought another one and still have it. It's clunky and temperamental, but does work. Twenty five years after buying my first Chrony I got a LabRadar. Woo Hoo! Can't shoot this one and I figure I'll sell the Chrony. I was real happy with it until I realized it won't measure some of my hot 22-250 rounds or pretty much any of my 204 Ruger loads. Less than 22 caliber or over 4000 fps are a no go, so I still have the Chrony. I won't be replacing it again if it gets shot.

I took one out about 16 years ago.

Don't have an AR, but a couple so armed friends have come extremely close to taking mine out.

Never shot a chrono. Can’t find a recipe online anywhere.

Remember what they say about Chronys. You’ve spent a lot on this hunt. Don’t cheap out on bullets!

my first one took a 550g hard cast from a Siamese Mauser 45/70
spectacular penetration! wound channel one could drive through!
DRT.

Did a light tattoo on top from muzzle break blast lifting it a hair until I secured it in a prone position FFP.