Gaschecks slamming into chronograph

[mingol]

When I first started using my Chrony, I found that gas checks were coming off and hitting the Chrony. Sometimes they would hit the 1/8 inch wood dowels that I was using on cloudy days to mark the sides of the bullet paths and cut the dowels right off. This was unacceptable.
I went to the local glass shop. The place that fixes glass in storm doors and suchlike. I bummed some scraps of quarter-inch LEXAN sheet. It has to be LEXAN, which is the stuff that 'bulletproof' "glass" is made of. I made a piece that was big enough to cover the machinery part of the Chrony and used a couple pieces of coathanger wire to hook it over the front of the Chrony. The gas checks make nice round imprints in the LEXAN but no damage to the Chrony has occurred since. Sometimes I still lose a dowel, but they're cheap and easy to find - any hardware store has them. I get an average of 1 hit on the LEXAN from every hundred shots or so.
Best regards
John

[Lee]

Marlin Junky not to hijack the thread. I looked at my chrony cable. It appears to be a 6-wire cable. that explains the increased width vs. normal telephone line. Don't know about Max/Staples. If you can't find replacement email me, I'll look thru my "stuff". I might have 6-wire connectors/cable or the sources to obtain them. (Which might be/might not be cheaper than ordering from Chrony......................Lee

[Ranch Dog]

After the second strike on my chrony with it 8', I asked this question over on Shooters Forum. A fellow told me to move it into 5'. That was a year ago and thousands of boolits through it without another hit!

[MT Gianni]

McDonalds straws fit the dowel slot on a chrony just fine. You don't even need to eat the junk they sell. Gianni.

[Hanz]

Gas Checks?

Here's what happens when 255grains of lead hits your friends Chrony:







I bought him a new one and get this: I have the one I shot because it still works! The clear lens is broken but it kept ticking.

If you ever want to test a friendship just shoot your buddy's Chrony while he's standing there watching

[9.3X62AL]

Still works? Cool--my first downrange box didn't survive a hit from my CZ-52, die it did.

[Marlin Junky]

I appreciate the tips on protecting the chrony; however, smacking the chrony with gaschecks was merely a symptom of the problem. If my chrony wasn't hit several times by stray GC's I never would have known they were separating from the boolits during flight. I'm hoping gaschecks annealed at a higher temperature and boolits about .0005 to .001" greater in diameter will result in exactly zero GC separations the next time the .35 Rem gets a work out.

BTW, I'm pretty sure the chrony cable an connectors can be purchased at Radio Shack and the ends can be crimped on with my modular phone plug crimping tool (the thing I use to make ethernet cables).

MJ

[7-30 Waters]

I had a gas check come off one of my 35 cal RCBS 205gr sized .360. Just missed the LCD on my Shooting Chroney F-1. Didn't matter anyway because my uncle shot one of the rods that holds the sun shades on. I ended up trading the unit back to Chroney for an F-1 Master. My buddy I reload with wasn't so lucky with his F-1 Chroney. A gas check smacked his Chroney and killed it.

I can't say if this has happed to other bullets since I have never recovered any of them. I have no good explanation why it lost the gas check either.

[Ed Barrett]

The first picture shows some damage from 5010 surplus powder hitting the unit at 10 feet. It made holes in the label but didn't hurt the paint.

The second picture shows a very close call. A friend tried to check the velocity of some loads with a scoped rifle. The Chrony and tripod went down and I knew in my mind it was "destroyed" picked it up and it worked fine. My friend thought he was going to have to pay for a new one for me, we settled on him buying lunch.

[Dale53]

I was the "agent" to buy the new chronograph for my home club. I called Dr. Ken Oehler, at the time, and ordered the new chronograph (an Oehler #33). He asked my how many extra screens did I want? I, just a bit indignantly, asked him why he thought I was preparing to shoot our new screens. He calmly stated, "Well, everyone else does, what makes you different? I bought two extra. We trained our guys (I was the trainer) and I pointed out the difference in "sight line" from "barrel line" and showed them how to sight alongside the barrel to make sure they were in the "safe zone". You couldn't use the chronograph until you went through the "training course" In the several years we had the #33, the screens were only hit twice. One of the fellows was a welder, so he made a "shield" out of 1" steel. That really helped.

However, we then went to the #35 chrono (as I remember, Oehler offered a great "upgrade" price. We've only had the screens hit once or twice (knock on wood ). The guys have been really good about "taking care".

We now have 650 members and since problems go up "by the square" with increasing numbers, we will no doubt be having more problems. Of course, it can be bad now, as Oehler is no longer making their consumer grade electronics. Hopefully, they will continue to supply the screens.

FWIW

Dale53

[Marlin Junky]

I added two more gascheck dents to the Chrony today. Now I wish I had purchased 5000, .35 Gator checks instead of the Hornady checks. I guess I've discovered why the .35 Hornady checks are cheaper than all but their sub 7mm checks. I guess they're fine for a .357 but start pushing 250 grain boolits at over 2000 fps and expect an occasional check to separate from the boolit. Is there a cheap cement anyone can recommend? I'm sure Loctite 380 would work, but at over 70 bucks a fluid ounce, forget about it!

MJ

P.S. I may try annealing in my propane fired B-B-Q which will do over 600F. I can't believe stupid propane is $2.85 a gallon though!

[schrate]

Hi guys, first post at this site
Note that copper and brass annealing process involves quenching in water while still hot
It is just the opposite of steel

[Marlin Junky]

I've got one more trick up my sleeve before I start cementing Hornady gaschecks to the base of SAECO 352's with Brownells "Super T". I'm going to remove the dumb taper from the mold's GC shank. Even if I have to open the checks up a little to start them, I don't think a tapered GC shank is the way to go on a heavy .35 boolit.

MJ