How to use a chrono

[mattd]

Admittedly, mine is a cheap one, the Shooting Chrony Alpha model. But it’s always been finicky. And it’s taken a few indirect hits, shots hitting the shade post and busting the plastic around the sensor.

But lately I’m getting maybe 30% of the recordings that are believable numbers. Sometimes it reads Err1/2 meaning one of the sensors didn’t read. Sometimes it won’t even react. Sometimes it’s way off (been shooting my 250fps bow, and it will read 75.xx more times then it will read 250). Sometimes it’s a little off (230 instead of 250 w my bow. Maybe that’s accurate, but seems a bit odd for the one arrow I’m shooting to dip that low).

I live in the woods. And I never get open sun. Always thru the tree tops. I’ve tried using it in open holes of light. I’m the shade. With and without the shades.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there an ideal light setting? Or is it time to replace? I’ve looked and there seems to be a chrono shortage at the moment.

[BLAHUT]

I had one doing similar, strange readings, I replaced it with one that hangs on the barrel.

[MarkP]

I believe those are triggered by a contrast and not light itself what color are your arrows? Do have the skyscreens on?

[racepres]

Overcast day...or I don't bother...

[megasupermagnum]

Some are better than others. I've never been impressed with those fold up shooting chronys. The ProChrono DLX is simply outstanding. It isn't impervious to the weather, but it will work sunny, overcast, rain, snow, hot, cold. It isn't finicky at all. I think you will find it a much better unit than what you are currently using.

[racepres]

Some are better than others. I've never been impressed with those fold up shooting chronys. The ProChrono DLX is simply outstanding. It isn't impervious to the weather, but it will work sunny, overcast, rain, snow, hot, cold. It isn't finicky at all. I think you will find it a much better unit than what you are currently using.
Never used one...don't personally know anyone who gots one..
In My part of the rhubarb patch, I am the only one who has a Chronograph...That admits it... Got it years ago ... certainly when the ProChrono was "new"... Only one I know anything about...so....No Expert Here...
I Like Mine!!!

[jmorris]

Take it out on a cloudy day and try it out.

Mine works perfect with no screens if there is not any direct sunlight.

You can also see how to access the features built into the chronograph, you need a male headphone Jack and a momentary push button.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDToNDyiGQI

If it sunny, I have to position the chrono where there is no direct sunlight on the sensors. Generally by tilting the sky screens towards the sun to shade the sensors.

I would say there is no reason to bother if it’s not working right on an overcast day.

It needs to have a background that allows the sensors to pick up the shadow the bullet makes blocking the light from above. If you have no light above, everything will be a shadow and it won’t work. I have run at night using incandescent light bulbs (fluorescent bulbs turn on and off with cycles of AC current and won’t work). I rolled up a piece of white cardboard and set a 90degree makita flashlight down beside the chronograph, aimed up, it worked.

[huntinlever]

I always had good luck with the Competition Electronics Pro Chrono. Very confident in the numbers. The Magneto looks like an awesome solution - always waiting for the day I shot my diffuser chrono into oblivion, and the idea of a bayonet-style chrono was really appealing - but for me, I couldn't get the Magneto to work. I tried several things, including adjusting the sensitivity, but I was getting wild velocity swings (i.e., I'd increase the powder charge but the velocity would drop 100+ fps), so couldn't use it. Might very well have been my operator error - I know Blahut and many other people love them.

No chrono now but if I went back to one, I'd be getting the Pro Chrono.

[OS OK]

It's been a long time since I had to deal with that chrony.
I couldn't be sure but I thought it was direct light hitting the sensors.

I made a tunnel that would reflect indirect light inside and that pretty much solved my problems although it was still calling errors at times.

https://i.imgur.com/4fqoylH.jpg

[Bent Ramrod]

I do like OS OK, only I tape a paper target over both diffusers. I usually have some extras with me.

In the early morning, when light comes in from the side, I sometimes still get error messages. Another target taped to the sunny side of the diffuser setup generally cures that condition.

I also look for overcast days, and refer to them as “Chronograph Weather.” I still use the taped-on targets.

Chronys were pretty elementary, but they were also pretty inexpensive. They do seem to give accurate readings, when set up well. I calibrated mine with match .22 ammo, getting the reported factory velocities, and saw another one nearly blasted to smithereens from being too close to a fellow shooter’s .348 muzzle. The cardboard diffusers turned to woodpulp, the Chrony slumped down at an angle as its tripod mount sagged towards collapse, but the number “2724” racked itself up on the screen. Close enough to factory specs.

The Chrony is ideal for the level of interest I have for load velocities. What happens on the target interests me a lot more.

[jsizemore]

If you broke the plastic that holds the sensor then it could be your problem.

When I set up the rifle I aim at my target with the bolt out. I then set the chrony with the metal posts installed about 10' from the muzzle and aim it at the rifle. Mine has a dedicated tripod so setup is fairly quick. I put mine in front and behind an Ohler 33 and velocity was within 10fps. Shot once on a rainy day from inside a garage. Florescent lights wouldn't trigger a reading. Installed a couple incandescent clip on lights over the chrony and life was good. Did the same with a couple flashlights on an overcast day.

[huntinlever]

If you broke the plastic that holds the sensor then it could be your problem.

When I set up the rifle I aim at my target with the bolt out. I then set the chrony with the metal posts installed about 10' from the muzzle and aim it at the rifle. Mine has a dedicated tripod so setup is fairly quick. I put mine in front and behind an Ohler 33 and velocity was within 10fps. Shot once on a rainy day from inside a garage. Florescent lights wouldn't trigger a reading. Installed a couple incandescent clip on lights over the chrony and life was good. Did the same with a couple flashlights on an overcast day.

So essentially you bore-sight your chrony then? Hadn't thought of that, thanks. My recollection is just sighting in on target, setting the rifle locked in place, moving the chrony around until "clear" from the scope's POV, and hoping for the best. Not the best.

[OS OK]

Chrony's are pretty handy gadgets...
That first 'old chrony' pictured above, I bought for tuning fast bows we used in 3D unmarked matches.

I've used them on the 50 yard bench to find out how much velocity different .22lr cartridges lost on the trip to the target...

https://i.imgur.com/2S36WI7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/9YLSHBh.jpg

I've also used them to find out how much velocity is lost when a hollow point cast plows through a milk jug of water...
First find out what the velocity is going into the jugs...in this picture I also find out how many jugs the HP will penetrate & what the recovered HP looks like...

https://i.imgur.com/Fv674Ip.jpg

Then find out what the velocity is exiting out of the jugs...
just drape some plastic over the front of the chrony & I laid a strip of glass over the sensor holes, then carefully align the jug...

https://i.imgur.com/RJvlPuQ.jpg

Then let'er fly...

https://i.imgur.com/eQKaRb9.jpg

It went in at 908 FPS ... it exited at 450 FPS.
I know, you say..."Who cares?" ... Well, at the time..."I cared! 50% of the energy is dumped in just 6" of water."

FIRST TIME EVER


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2maRWzS58gQ

[Rapier]

I years ago, blew holes right through my reader blocks and shades and then replaced the "holy" parts. My shade still has a few little light transfer holes. Those that will and those that have. A lesson learned about wind gusts and sun shades. Catch the front edge of the shade, it blows up everything. I just fixed it.

[gloob]

It went in at 908 FPS ... it exited at 450 FPS... 50% of the energy is dumped in just 6" of water.
50% of the momentum was transferred. 75% of the kinetic energy was lost!

[OS OK]

50% of the momentum was transferred. 75% of the kinetic energy was lost!

would you show me how you figured that?

EDIT: nevermind, I see what I did! "DUUUH!" :bigsmyl2:

[bubbadoyle]

I had one doing similar, strange readings, I replaced it with one that hangs on the barrel.

Since I got my Magnetospeed the only thing I use my pact chronograph for is archery equipment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[15meter]

First chrongraph I saw was about 1990. It lasted about 10 shots. Worked fine right up to the point the guy who had borrowed it from his buddy(who was at work) decided to try Remington Accelerators through it. Bullet made it through the sky screens, the sabot made it through the chronograph itself as it was doing somersaults down the range.

Who woulda thunk that little bitty piece of plastic could do that much damage?

I need to dig out a chronograph I was given several years after that, Oehlers chrono that had to be one of the earliest on the market. Sensors set @ 10 FEET spread. Everything calculated in base 8. Then refer back to a paper manual to decode your velocity. Fun stuff.

[dtknowles]

I have a shooting chrony and get an error message once is a while. It is my second :( You have to be extra careful if you using it when shooting a pistol offhand. Best to use with a benchrest. I did not shoot the box just one of the posts that hold the shades but that broke a sensor. I sold the parts and bought a new one. I don't do any of the special things other have posted I just set it out, shoot thru it and read the velocity, only get an error once in a while.

Tim

[jsizemore]

So essentially you bore-sight your chrony then? Hadn't thought of that, thanks. My recollection is just sighting in on target, setting the rifle locked in place, moving the chrony around until "clear" from the scope's POV, and hoping for the best. Not the best.

I saw a guy had setup his rifle/chronograph with this pvc contraption. It just clicked that all I had to do was aim the rifle cuz the bullet had to go that way. Then just boresight the chronograph to the rifle sighting from the target side of the chronograph back to the gun with the rods for the skyscreens as my "sight". Darned if it didn't save a bunch of getting up and down from bench and running back and forth from bench to chrony. Some days it felt like I'd run a marathon (really, half marathon). Real simple, fast, and no extra stuff to remember when I went to the range.

[elmacgyver0]

You know,
If the gun cycles, the bullet hits where it it is supposed to.
What else do you what?
What are you trying to kill anyway?
It is fun to know how fast your bullet is travelling, I get it.
I have a Chrony F1, haven't screwed it up yet.
Do plan on getting a Lab Radar, just for the fun of it, but really?
Don't hunt T-Rex, just mainly paper.
Most every game has been taken in the 1800s with no way to clock ammo and just black powder.
I don't get the hype.
Just for knowing and hobby fun, I get it.
I do a lot of stuff for the heck of it, so I get it.
More idiots like me, I guess not, guess I'm not the only one.
When I kill paper, I want to make sure it is dead. LOL

[15meter]

You know,
If the gun cycles, the bullet hits where it it is supposed to.
What else do you what?
What are you trying to kill anyway?
It is fun to know how fast your bullet is travelling, I get it.
I have a Chrony F1, haven't screwed it up yet.
Do plan on getting a Lab Radar, just for the fun of it, but really?
Don't hunt T-Rex, just mainly paper.
Most every game has been taken in the 1800s with no way to clock ammo and just black powder.
I don't get the hype.
Just for knowing and hobby fun, I get it.
I do a lot of stuff for the heck of it, so I get it.
More idiots like me, I guess not, guess I'm not the only one.
When I kill paper, I want to make sure it is dead. LOL

My chronograph was given to me 20 plus years ago. I bring it out to the range about every 5 years just to screw with people. It is fun seeing how consistent my reloads are. If it every dies, I doubt I'll replace it.

Here it is in all it's glory:

310033

310034

And yes, you have to turn it off between every shot to reset it. After you go through base 8 yes/no gyrations to come up with a 4 digit number that you that use the special decoder chart to figure out the FPS.

With start and stop modules spaced 10 feet apart and connected with RCA phono plugs and long wires, it looks like a Rube Goldberg does LSD design.

[megasupermagnum]

You know,
If the gun cycles, the bullet hits where it it is supposed to.
What else do you what?
What are you trying to kill anyway?
It is fun to know how fast your bullet is travelling, I get it.
I have a Chrony F1, haven't screwed it up yet.
Do plan on getting a Lab Radar, just for the fun of it, but really?
Don't hunt T-Rex, just mainly paper.
Most every game has been taken in the 1800s with no way to clock ammo and just black powder.
I don't get the hype.
Just for knowing and hobby fun, I get it.
I do a lot of stuff for the heck of it, so I get it.
More idiots like me, I guess not, guess I'm not the only one.
When I kill paper, I want to make sure it is dead. LOL

It depends on what you need. Some people like to see how their bow does with heavier or lighter arrows. If you compete with a handgun, a lot of times you have to meet a certain power factor. You had better test that and not just trust data. If you are a long range rifle shooter, you had better be developing loads with minimum velocity spreads in mind, they matter as much as group size up close, maybe more so. Since you mention hunting, a big reason to check speed for hunting loads is to see how much speed you loose in the cold. If all you do is shoot 200 yards, then it doesn't matter, but a lot of powders will loose 50-100 fps in the cold, you had better take that into account for those 300+ yard shots.

[jmorris]

With start and stop modules spaced 10 feet apart and connected with RCA phono plugs and long wires, it looks like a Rube Goldberg does LSD design.

And probably more accurate than anything you could buy these days.

[jmorris]

You know,
If the gun cycles, the bullet hits where it it is supposed to.
What else do you what?
What are you trying to kill anyway?
It is fun to know how fast your bullet is travelling, I get it.
I have a Chrony F1, haven't screwed it up yet.
Do plan on getting a Lab Radar, just for the fun of it, but really?
Don't hunt T-Rex, just mainly paper.
Most every game has been taken in the 1800s with no way to clock ammo and just black powder.
I don't get the hype.
Just for knowing and hobby fun, I get it.
I do a lot of stuff for the heck of it, so I get it.
More idiots like me, I guess not, guess I'm not the only one.
When I kill paper, I want to make sure it is dead. LOL

It’s not magic, just more information you don’t know unless you measure it.

Shoot paper past 300 yards and it’s a much more useful tool than if your a pistol guy at 15 ft though.

[Tripplebeards]

I’ve had GCs come off and take the shades off. Mine has to be in bright open sun or it won’t read. Also if I’m too close it will give readings of 3000fps on 45 Colt trail boss loads…or just don’t read them. I have the Beta. Bought new 20 years ago. Still works fine but just finicky.

[jsizemore]

I don't have a way to read pressures of my loads. I don't necessarily use the same components as the published data used. Cases could be different for instance. I've had 7.62 x 51 cases that had start loads from manufacturers that were at the neck shoulder junction. The chrony gives a chance to see if there is something different with my results and published data and adjust accordingly that fits my budget. Of course you also have to adjust for the barrel length too. Just another tool to keep from tearing up equipment and me.

[huntinlever]

Hope it's not hijacking, but as I mentioned the Magneto didn't work for me - wild readings that didn't make sense. On the guide gun it fit fine in the normal position and I adjusted the sensitivity but nothing was working. Wish it did because if I get a diffuser type I know the day would come I either lose a GC to the unit or just shoot it outright. Any thoughts on the Magneto issue?

[megasupermagnum]

Hope it's not hijacking, but as I mentioned the Magneto didn't work for me - wild readings that didn't make sense. On the guide gun it fit fine in the normal position and I adjusted the sensitivity but nothing was working. Wish it did because if I get a diffuser type I know the day would come I either lose a GC to the unit or just shoot it outright. Any thoughts on the Magneto issue?

I assume this is on some kind of firearm. You would be wasting time trying to get one to read an arrow. I don't own one, so I can't help you.

[uscra112]

I'm still using my original red Chrony, purchased second-hand late '90s. Haven't had the troubles the O.P. reported, but then I don't use it for archery. The metal skyscreen rods were long ago replaced with bamboo skewers, in case I hit one. I never have. It's confusing to use, but it at least it works every time.*

I've been given a blue one with the remote readout, which is my backup. At the rate I'm going it may become an "estate sale" heirloom.

*My expensive Labradar doesn't. Despite hours of fiddling with it and $$$ expended on special batteries, table mounts, sighting gadget, etc. I have never gotten a single plausible reading from it.

[Tripplebeards]

Thanks for the tip on bamboo skewers! To be honest I really don’t use mine that much and probably can count on both hands how many times it’s been used. I normally never pull it out until I find an accurate load. That way I can figure out the drops at long range shooting.

[ukrifleman]

I have white tape markers on the front rods of my Chroney F1 about 6" above the sensors as an aiming point, so that I can get consistent shots over them.

I tested it against my club's lab radar using some 7.5 Swiss cast loads and the readings were within 5fps.
Happy with that.
ukrifleman

[OS OK]

I don't understand all this controversy over what aiming through a chrony is all about...this is worse than lame!

Think about it for a moment. If you shoot off a bench or stand freestyle, all you must do is place a 'target' or a spot or an 'X' made with a marker on a paper or cardboard and then stand back to where you intend to fire from and see that the target is centered within the uprights & between the skyscreens and the body of the chrony.
This will keep even the tallest scope from lowering your barrel so much that you hit the chrony.

https://i.imgur.com/0xAN4pv.jpg?1

[jmorris]

I don't understand all this controversy over what aiming through a chrony is all about...this is worse than lame!

Think about it for a moment.

I always try and aim OVER mine but yes it’s not hard to avoid hitting one if you give any thought towards the goal.

If you can line up targets to hit them, you can line things up to avoid hitting everything else…


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6E_c7zkZXc

[OS OK]

I always try and aim OVER mine but yes it’s not hard to avoid hitting one if you give any thought towards the goal.

If you can line up targets to hit them, you can line things up to avoid hitting everything else…


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6E_c7zkZXc

That's pretty slick with the wind and all...I kept looking for a chrony doing something, then about the second time watching, I started to get what you did.
Us Old'Farts are slow but eventually we catch on! :bigsmyl2: