Think I will finally pull the trigger and buy a chronograph. Looked into it a year or two ago and couldn't decide what one to buy. I can't spend the money and get a Oheler or it seems like it would be a easy choice. So am I better off buying cheap ( chrony or pro chrono ) or are the mid priced ( CED or Pact ) worth the extra money ? Any thoughts ?

No question about it... Get a shooting chrony...

you'll get the added benefit of every one here complaining what an inaccurate chrony you own... but then when you compare it to someone who owns the spendier chronographs, you'll find the readings pretty much the same...

the only guys complaining about them are the ones that claim they had a bad one.. instead of getting it fixed, they bought a spendy one and called the cheaper one junk...

on the flip side, I have several buddies that money is no object in their lives, who have the top of the line Oehlers and PACTS...

and each one has bought a shooting chrony after seeing how quickly I can set one up, fire a few shots and be broken down and one the way home before they are ready to shoot setting up their Spendy ones...

I can purchase a PACT or Oehler, but I see no reason to when this Shooting Chrony has served me just fine for 15 + years, regardless of what others here say...

tested against the others plenty of times... there has never been an issue with any real world difference in readings over the others..

of course 50 guys will be along to tell you that I am dead wrong... but welcome to the internet...where everyone is an expert, from the comfort of their living room Lazy Boy...

I have a PACT and like it.

The Oehler seems to be the Gold Standard, state of the art. It costs a bit more and is more complicated, taking longer to set up. I would think it's more precise than other consummer grade chronos.

Dr. Oehler makes some high end ballistic lab equipment, as well.

DF

Buy a Shooting Chrony; that way you won't be too sick when you accidentally shoot it. It happens........

Brice,
It all boils down to what its purpose is, how many time you going to use it, and what is your budget.

The Oehler is undoubtedly the best, hands down. To justify the cost of the unit I would have to be trying to make a living off of the data obtained.
If you are going to chrony 20 different rifles, with 20 different loads, and then sell the data, or write an article for a mag or whatever its worth it.

For the average guy using it for his own deer rifle or varmint rifle to get a ballpark speed of their load once or twice a year, it just aint worth the cost.

The shooting chronys, pro digitals, pacts, are all pretty much the same in as much as they all have pluses and minuses.

I chose the Beta-Master chrony with remote control about 20 years ago, and it has served my needs very well.

As others have stated I have compared it side by side with the others and found it to be all I need until it goes belly up.

Bottom line is buy what you like that fits your budget and usage the best.

+1.... I split the metal rod in 1/2 one time. Trip to Ace hardware for a dowel rod & back in business.

Another vote for the Shooting Chrony here. Had mine since March 1997 and it's still going strong. Sent it back to the factory about 10 years ago and they upgraded it to Master level for me. Forgot what that cost but it was reasonable. Have checked it against my buddies Chrony and they both seem to agree. Worst thing that ever happened to it (so far) was a guy I used to work with split one of the metal rods with a .17 Remington (at about 4200 fps IIRC). (Got a similar diameter replacement rod out of a hardware dept. and cut it to length). The metal rods also have a bright red tape marker about 3/4's of the way up so when using a scope I line up the horizontal reticle with the tape for enough elevation. At least the Chrony itself hasn't been shot yet but if it was I'd get another Chrony and be a lot more careful.

Pro chrony digital.

Pro chrono- I'm on my second one, both have worked well- cheap, simple.
Once you have one you will wonder how you reloaded without it. I can't imagine flying blind all the time.

I wouldn't take a Shooting Chrony if you gave me one. The Pro Chrono Digital is much more consistent.

That's my experience as well. Have been testing a ProChrono for several months now, comparing it to my Oehler, and the AVERAGE of what it records within 10 fps of the Oehler, no matter the lighting conditions, and doesn't miss nearly as many shots as the Shooting Chrony--and I've had three Chronys.

The big difference between any chronograph with not much distance between the screens and the Oehler is in the accuracy of individual shots. That's why I emphasized AVERAGE in the previous paragraph. Anybody who thinks the velocity spread of individual shots on a shorter chronograph (much less standard deviation) has any meaning is mistaken. But the ProChrono has proven vastly more reliable than any of the three Chronys I've owned, and only costs $100.

Can we file this under "hurt feelers report"?

Did you and your secret squirrel "buddy" ever complete the "side by side"...... you guys and your 15 year old chrony are "right" and the experts are wrong....test?
It's been a month and it's just crickets on your BS thread........
Regards,
Your pal, wageslave

Sweet dreams......

I recently got a Magnetospeed, and have to say I've been enjoying the ease of use. Not sure if it qualifies as midpriced.

I don't have a fancier chrono to verify it with, but drop data has been solid, and at the Icebreaker shoot the GAP crew said their's gave individual shot readings within 5 fps of their Oehler.

Gilligan,

you can feel free to file it where ever you like...

I can make a suggestion but then that wouldn't be appropriate since kids may be reading this...

yeah, it has been tested side by side with Oehlers and Pacts...

Mine's worked fine for me.. and has been tested against others with no difference registered...

and I am not going to throw it in the garbage can based on the 'experience' of others and their opinions of them... when mine has been fine...

and yeah, the "experts" are wrong, when they have never used my individual chrony, yet pronounce it wrong from 1200 miles away.....

and I am certainly not going to scrap it based on the posts of someone in Lewiston Idaho, who has added nothing to the conversation, except to use it as an opportunity to follow me around and toss his peanut gallery 2 cents into the conversation....

so when ya get up in the morning... GFY and then have a good day out there in Truck Stop Land... here's to another prosperous day for your business...

I've been running the Pro-Chrono for about 3 years now, no issues and it works great on cloudy or sunny days........

I have been using a PACT for twenty years this summer. I sent it back to have it checked a couple of years ago and they said that it did not need any recalibration. It takes a few extra minutes to set up, but I normally only chronograph loads once I have found one that groups to my satisfaction.

If I were buying today, I would take a hard look at the Magnetospeed. It would work just as well for my usage, and I wouldn't have to shade the sky screens on bright, sunny summer days. YMMV.

Thanks for your input. If I shoot my Chrony again (beyond repair) I'll probably give the ProChrono a try. It fits my retired budget better than the "35".

I have the Crony 1 , cheap and does the job, $100.00 cdn here in Canada. Personally i can not see how you do reloading properly without one, it would be like measuring powder without weight checks.

Magnetospeed

Mine is an old pro chrono and I bought it used. It has bullet holes in the cardboard inserts and has been grazed a few times , but still works fine. The other day I thought it was going haywire after sending some 180 gr. Nosler partitions over the top of it. Lets just say speeds were a little too fast (trying a different powder since I ran out of its favorite). Just got thru tearing those loads down. Back to the drawing board with that particular powder

My old shooting buddy had a past and he thought it was THE THING till I brought out the 338 and kept blowing the thing around so bad it would not get a reading. I bought a pro chrono for $100 at Cabelas while on my way to see my son in Idaho. We took that $100 cheepo out in the desert where all the GIs shot everything you could drag out there and set it up on a shot to crap TV set. First shot with the 338 and it went flying through the air and hit the ground rolling. I thought I just pissed away a $100. Went and picked it up and it was still working and had caught the speed. Just about ALWAYS caught the speed unless you just plain missed the eyes. Trusted the readings on that on till I voided the warranty with a 40 gr. Nosler @4080 fps thru the screen. I bought another one and not too sure it is as good as the first one.

I had Chrony's for years. Then I bought an Oehler 35p. I have been spoiled. Yes it does take longer to set up. I haven't timed it but I'd say the most time spent is looking through the screens from behind the rifle to get it all lined up. It depends on what you want to do. I load for arms that do not have too much in the way of information for loading, and so use the Oehler and PressureTrace to keep things under control. If I had an '06, a bunch of powder and bullets, then sure, a Chrony or other less expensive chronograph would do the job.

Yes, the Oehler takes a bit more time to set up. But with practice I've found the difference between setting up the Oehler and the Pact it replaced is marginal. Now, I have taped the cords together as recommended in the instructions, so they are a "unit." And I have found it is not an issue to leave the sensors attached to the rod at all times, so I don't assemble and disassemble these every trip. So I set up the tripods, insert the assembled rod, and run the cords back to the bench. I've found the fastest way to install the sunscreens is to first insert the three offside black supports, then hang the orange sunscreens on these, then connect the onside black supports. I roughly level the rod, then tweak the positiioning of the set up for alignment with the target, and finally confirm the level. It goes pretty fast.

Kuskokid,

Dunno when you got your Oehler 35, but when I got mine maybe 3 years ago it came with Ken's instructions on setting it up quickly. Instead of sitting behind the rifle, then getting up to tweak the alignment of the chronograph several times, he suggests leaving the (unloaded!) rifle on the bags with the scope aligned with the target. Then get in front of the chronograph and look back over it toward the rifle's muzzle, then tweak from that end until the muzzle is pointed 6-8" over the center of the screens. That saves a whole bunch of time, and works on smaller chronographs too.

It takes me at most 5 minutes to set up the 35, from the time I get out of the pickup at the range until the first shot goes over the screens.

I learnt some tricks about setting up an Oehler from watching D'Arcy. Not only is the looking back at the gun through the screens a great plan, it really helps to put some permanent marks in the ground where you want to put your stands. Nails with some flagging around the heads has worked for me.

The Oehler is no hassle, and it gives me more confidence than my small chronos

Wow! I am learning stuff left and right.

I bought mine off this website from a fellow in Texas, about three years ago, but the machine itself is maybe 10 years old.

I will definitely try these tricks tomorrow. HA!

Learn something(s) new every day.

utah708,

I have a small triangular stone half-embedded in the ground directly underneath where the pole of the front stand goes.