Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters JULY column--Chronographs

JB, thanks for another informative article. I'm on my third chrono. First was a Shooting Chrony, then a Pact timer with the chrono mod in it. Now a Pro Chrono Digital. The Pact was good for years then began to show faster than normal readings, especially when the battery voltage dropped. It is too old to be repaired now they tell me, (1985 vintage). The Pro Chrono is a pleasure to set up and use.

I usually record "extreme spread" instead of SD. Is it equally worthless with a small number of shots?

MD,
Great article,
I had a Shooting Chrony pro for several years, and like some of yours it went bat [bleep].. Worked well for several years. I now have a Labradar and love it. So easy to setup and use. The SD card and the excel spreadsheet make things easy to track and sort. Helps to confirm and get better handloads with real world data not just a guess and depending on what the "books" say it should be.

Great article. Beware though, excessive use of chronographs can cause mental illness. At one time I owned 3 of the darn things...and had them set up to operate simultaneously...because I didn't "like" the numbers I was getting. Imagine, if you will, a proven rifle load, same batch of carefully handloaded ammo, same rifle, same atmospheric conditions within 2%....and getting velocities up to 80 fps different on successive days. Two Oehler's and a Pact. Which verified each other, seldom showing much more than 8 fps variance. Aaaargh. Doctor friend prescribed selling two chronographs and daily infusion of alcohol, flavored with juniper berries. I'm taking it one day at a time.

thanks for the great article on chronographs Mule Deer ! when Ohler started selling 35p chronographs to public again i purchased one also, its by far the best chronograph made and i own 2 other brands too.but as i get older i use chronographs less every year for my rifles but for archery i have one set up in the basement . i also looked up the price on the LabRadar chronograph and for the package its just under $600.00 it would be nice to own but for me i own 3 already i don`t need another one anymore. thanks again,Pete53

I started loading back in the 50s and all I had to go by for velocity was the manuals and they were not as trustworthy as I would have liked. When I had access to proper test equipment and a decent lab I designed a chronograph in the later 60s. It wasn't even as "user friendly" as the one described. It had wire screens and it just gave a binary read out that had to be manually converted. At least it told me the velocity and it was more or less correct. Built out of outdated parts and hand wired it had few saving graces. Questionable results meant a trip back to the office and a calibrated scope.

I love my pro chrony. accuracy is close enough and the very occasional failure to read are not a problem big enough to worry about.

Started out with a Chrony back around '99 and it still works fine albeit at the home of a friend. Pro Chrono showed up several years back and I have no problem with its performance. I never was one to pursue high velocity with any firearm, preferring precision instead. I was a bit bemused to discover that low velocity spreads were not the Holy Grail. That came to light one day when a 5 fps spread was FAR less precise than 25 fps, this with a .338 Win.

Another surprise came from following the suggestion of a Hodgdon rep who suggested I could fill a .22 K/Hornet case safely with their magical Lil Gun. It was a Ruger #1 and I was amazed to see excellent groups with 40 gr bullets that were topping 3400 fps with something around 13.5 gr of powder. Hey, I didn't need a .222 after all!

Until the primer pockets grew.

They are a useful tool, but not nearly as useful as a functional brain.

John, thanks for the telling, very well done!

I do too, have had it for 20 years.

Wonderful article, really enjoyed it.

Still using my Magnetospeed.

Mule deer: Labradar chronograph have you used one much ? i wonder what would happen to this type of chronograph during cold weather will it freeze up ? or if left in vehicle over night in the cold winter would it freeze up and break ? in a heated shooting house with small windows that the barrels are poked out ,i suppose this type chronograph would still have to be outside somehow ? my ohler just stays in shooting house year around cold or warm and it just works as long as it has a fresh battery.but i do see the Labradar works better in low light conditions and thats positive thing and like that feature.

Great article John--enjoyed the read, and in a sense, a look back into the world of the later 1970's.

Back in 1977, I would often see this older guy at the range, shooting his wildcats--he was a dedicated looney.

He always had the "ancient" unit along, and one day he asked me, "Do you know what that is??? It's a CHRONOGRAPH !"

He spoke about it in near mystical tones, as if he had the secrets of atomic energy at his disposal within that device....

Pete,

Just bought my Labradar this spring so haven't used it in real cold, but the directions say it shouldn't be used in real cold, as I recall not below about +20 Fahrenheit.

However, it would NOT have to be outside a shooting house, because in fact it needs to be at least a little bit BEHIND the muzzle, and farther back when shooting rifles with muzzle brakes. In the photo, the muzzle of the 7mm magnum I'm shooting is 1-2" in front.

It also supposedly doesn't work with bullets below .20 caliber or velocities much above 3900 fps. Some users have reported occasional exceptions, but so far mine has not worked when I tried it with .17 caliber bullets or .20's at 4400.

I knew that guy.....and miss him.

Jerry,

Glad you enjoyed it!

That's funny about the old wildcatter! Was that at the Logan range? I only shot there once, to sight-in my Savage 99 .308 before the 1967 season. The next year my family moved to Boise, and while I came back to Bozeman a few years later, only stayed a little while before moving on. Never have shot at Logan again except for a Sporting Clays deal maybe 15 years ago.

Not long after purchasing the Custom Chronograph, I tried even harder to avoid other shooters at the range, not just because some got mad when velocities didn't match their imagination, but because I eventually realized somebody could shoot my investment....

I was sure if you read this that you would know who I meant--he was a great guy, reminded me of what I imagined P.O. Ackley would have been like.

Most of his cartridges were AI's.

I saw that you called, so will try to give you a ring later this afternoon...

John,

Yes, that was at Logan, back when all there was in the distance was a 100, and 300 yard berm--and two wood benches.

He was always there early in the morning--about the same time I would go in order to beat the wind, which often came up about 11:00 am.

I often wanted to visit with him, to see what new creation he had along. Really interesting guy, because he was different than all the other shooter's out there. I would estimate that he would have been about 75 years of age at that time. Fun times!!

If I could go back in time, there would be a BUNCH of questions I'd ask various people met along the way!

I should also mention, that there was another elderly guy there who also used a chronograph.

His name was Wiggle--he was a genius with several college degrees, and who sported some old black, thick lens glasses, and always wore J.C. Penney matching big Mack's shirt and pants.

One day, he was out there shooting, and followed a string of cussing, as he had just blasted his Chronograph!

He was truly eccentric. Pat went to see him one day, and the guy was watching an old black and white TV that had about a 10 inch screen, that was set in the far corner of the livingroom. He sat in the other far corner, watching the TV with a binocular...

That made me chuckle. Thanks.

Good article JB. I figured it was only a matter of time before you came around with a Labradar. 😀