PROTECT the Chrony!

[Ken73]

OK, since I've joined the "I shot my Chrony" club (but I did not shoot the deputeeeeee!) I want to PROTECT my new Chrony from being shot again. I've seen Lexan/plexiglas (doesn't seem strong enough) and I've seen big heavy steel (ricochets worry me.)

I'm thinking multiple layers of Lexan/plexi glued together - I don't have a display on mine (mine is one of the master units with the remote display) so I don't care if I can't see it. Prefer it to be lightweight over heavy steel (and cheap!)

I saw where folks are trading out the steel rods for wooden dowels - sounds like a smart way to do it and prevent sensor damage.

Any thoughts?

[imashooter2]

Two galvanized junction box covers glued on opposite sides of a piece of 1/2 inch rigid foam insulation provides decent protection with light weight. To protect against a direct rifle shot, you are going to have to armor it pretty heavily.

[kenjuudo]

One inch 6061 aluminum, withstands a factory 30-06 at ten feet, sends the chrony on a flight, but it survived.

[Artful]

Yep wooden dowels or brass tubing - put paint or electrical tape to help line up -
I don't have Lexan in front of mine but you might keep an eye out for banks doing upgrade
as they take down the bullet proof lexan or glass -
Steel AR500 1/2 think will take hits well - the one inch aluminum looks good also.

[Fredx10sen]

1+ on the wooden dowels. I tapered the ends to fit and painted the dowels fluorescent orange for higher visibility.

[Roosters]

One day when I get a little extra money I plan on buying one of those to shoot !!!

[kenjuudo]

One day when I get a little extra money I plan on buying one of those to shoot !!!

I can save ya a hundred bucks, I'll send you a pre-shot one for the postage.

[monge]

Can you tell us how you did it to save us the experience!

[Ernest]

as a truly certified and I mean truly and welllllll certified crony shooter , I can tell you it boils down to getting into a hurry. only got an hour- drive to shooting set up crony-grab gun with test loads stand and deliver............

you get more points for the second one

[Artful]

Mine has mainly been hit with handguns. But when I use a rifle I usually set up the rests and test with a 22LR working down to get trajectory within reading range of the eyes - then switch to centerfire.

[Roosters]

I can save ya a hundred bucks, I'll send you a pre-shot one for the postage.

Thanks kenjuudo . That’s one of the reasons I like this sight people are always looking out for each other .

[mktacop]

I always wondered just HOW someone could shoot their chrony......then last Saturday I found out for myself. I managed to hit one of the sunscreen support legs with a 95gr .380 bullet. It bent the **** out of the support leg, but no damage to the chrony itself.

I really like the wooden dowel idea...think I'll go that route now.

[Southern Son]

you get more points for the second one

You might get more points for the second Chrony, but two consecutive hits on the same Chrony trumps everything!!!!!!!!!

[Ken73]

Sad to say that this was the second or third time I've had my Chrony out; I have my own "range" here at the house and set it up real quick. I wanted to test some of my new 300 BLK rounds out so I just kneeled in front and popped off a few. I bought it about 3 or 4 years ago and hadn't had the opportunity to use it! My father had an Oehler back 25+ years ago but he lost it in the house fire.

I *really* wish someone would make a durable (read, has a chunk of steel in front) chronograph that is bluetooth and would send data to a mobile device (tablet, iPad, iPhone, whatever.)

[Oreo]

Bluetooth to android should be pretty simple. Android programming is well understood, Bluetooth is well understood, and the shooting chrony uses a serial output to printer which is also well understood or easy enough to figure out. It would just take a motivated person to put it all together & sell it or publish his methods.

[canyon-ghost]

I shot a lot of handgun rounds through mine, never hit it. Then again, I always did it deliberately so, maybe I never got in that much of a hurry.

Could happen though.

[Oreo]

Is the 1" aluminum plate idea safe for use with handguns? I know it would stop the bullet but how bad is the ricochet risk?

[Plinkster]

Best to just shoot carefully, our range tried to armor one and finally gave up. The biggest problem comes in when a bullet just barely clips the top edge of the plate. The shrapnel does not travel in a straight line and usually ends up taking out the rear sensor, sometimes with a bullet that would have missed had the plate not been there. I'm not trying to talk anyone out of armoring one just pointing out how I've seen armor fail on them. Good luck and show us what you end up with!

[CollinLeon]

I shot one of the support legs on the diffusers ONCE. All it took was a hammer and anvil to bend it back pretty close to straight. If I hadn't been able to straighten it out, I figure I could have easily created some replacement rods with some brass brazing rods. To protect the electronics though, you're going to have to design something that would make Tim Allen proud. I'm thinking a piece of 2" steel if you are going to have it at 90 degrees to the path of the bullet, but you could probably reduce that to 1" if you sloped it at 30 degrees. Depends upon what you are shooting... If you're shooting .50BMG, go bigger -- steel's cheap compared to a chrony...

Now, if you do your shooting on cloudy overcast days, you don't need the diffusers nor the diffuser support rods...

[Ken73]

To protect the electronics though, you're going to have to design something that would make Tim Allen proud. I'm thinking a piece of 2" steel if you are going to have it at 90 degrees to the path of the bullet, but you could probably reduce that to 1" if you sloped it at 30 degrees. Depends upon what you are shooting... If you're shooting .50BMG, go bigger -- steel's cheap compared to a chrony...

So at a 45 degree angle it'd be about 5&1/2" long by 4" wide (the width of the Chrony.) At 30 degrees it'd be a little longer obviously but Speedy Metals sells 1" 1045 steel at $56 for a 12"x12" piece (they can custom cut for you.) So a piece of 4"x6" would be about $10 (approximately.) A 12"x12" piece weighs about 40lbs so the 4"x6" piece would weigh a little over 4.5lbs. Wouldn't be 30 degrees exactly but it'd be close enough (better than 90.)

So next question is - how do I support a hunk of 4.5lb steel in front of my Chrony without my wimpy tripod collapsing in on itself? LOL