Shot my Chrony!!

[Patrick L]

Well, I finally did it. I knew, when I first saw the units when they came out in the late 80s or so, that someone, sometime, would shoot theirs. I got mine for Christmas back in 1990, and have always been careful, but...[smilie=b:

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/patrickl_01/GunStuff.jpg

I was checking velocity on some warm .44 special loads. Maybe I flinched, I don't know. Suddenly I got a reading of "00:00" and I noticed a splash of light grey at the midpoint of the unit. I took a chance and kept shooting, and it stll read velocities. I guess I was lucky and just grazed the top. The paint mark and dimple on the middle section was the first hit, then you can see I just kissed the top of the plastic housing of the back skyscreen and did the same to the back metal wall. I didn't touch the front of the unit, luckily. Also, I just missed clipping the wire connected to the back screen. Lucky boy!

[KCSO]

Nice shooting, raise the sights an inch and you are dead on! I have seen many sky screens go south this way. I learned the hard way not to chrony multi ball loads. I have also had my wads in BPCR loads bounce off.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Lucky shot. If you could do that on purpose you would have an act to go on the road with.

[oldhickory]

Looks like the same unit I have, I hit one of the wire supports for the screens. Didn't kill it, but it did mess the plastic face up a little...Ah, it still works!

[AZ-Stew]

Before shooting, I always look along the SIDE of the barrel to ensure that I will have 4-6 inches clearance between my line of flight and the top of the Chrony. Looking along the top of the barrel only ensures that you'll be centered over the screens and won't hit your sunshade support rods. Just like crossing the street, you gotta look both ways.

Regards,

Stew

[NVcurmudgeon]

Before shooting, I always look along the SIDE of the barrel to ensure that I will have 4-6 inches clearance between my line of flight and the top of the Chrony. Looking along the top of the barrel only ensures that you'll be centered over the screens and won't hit your sunshade support rods. Just like crossing the street, you gotta look both ways.

Regards,

Stew

Good advice AZ. Another pitfall to avoid is setting up wth an iron sighted rifle, then changing to a scoped rifle without rechecking. (Scoped rifle= higher line of sight=lower line of fire.) I once got two Skyscreens with a single cast boolit. Lucky for me Oehler didn't charge too much for screens then.

[Wally]

I use colored plastic soda straws for my "guides" with my Chrony. If you hit a metal one it will invaraibly damage the unit. You need to make an "adapter" to us the plastic soda straws..
(I can advise how to do so, if anyone needs details).

I like the ones from Culvers--they are a royal blue.

[Pawpaw]

When you get a chronograph, the question becomes when you'll shoot it. Not if. When.

We've all done it.

[bradh]

Hey you hit what you were aiming at! What else can you ask for?

[yondering]

My old one looked just like that, only blue. One of the hits it took looked exactly like that, same location. Later I hit it in the same spot again, but about an inch lower; which peeled open the whole back of the unit. Still worked OK once I glued the plastic pieces back together.

[jhrosier]

I hit the skyscreen on my Oehler #33 twice.
First hit was fatal, second just a flesh wound.
(Hangfire + flinch was a dead center hit.:cry:)
Darn screens are $85 EACH!
It's a good unit and accurate with the 5' spacing, but it needs 6 D cells for power and is quite inconvenient to set up with 2 screen stands and the spacer bar.
One of these days I'm going to spring for a chrony with the remote readout and add some armor to the front.

Jack

[45nut]

I use colored plastic soda straws for my "guides" with my Chrony. If you hit a metal one it will invaraibly damage the unit. You need to make an "adapter" to us the plastic soda straws..
(I can advise how to do so, if anyone needs details).

I like the ones from Culvers--they are a royal blue.

I use a length of bright green weed trimmer line and make a circle.. much easier for me.

[leadman]

I had a Hornady gas check come off a 22 boolit and go thru the display on my old Chrony. Chrony was really good about it, they let me trade it in for one with the display on the bench.

[Wally]

Jhroier

I have an Oehler---a real pain to set up with the 5' skyscreen placement..The Chrony is so much easier to use IMHO...the remote display is great and it uses a 9 volt battery.

[JeffinNZ]

Mine took a hit from a gas check a few years back a friend was able to repair it. It now wears a Lexan faceplate.

[Junior1942]

Mine looks like yours but my hit was 1/4" lower. It busted the top off the front unit and clipped the wires in two. I wired it back together and it works fine.

[RSOJim]

Welcome to the shot chrony club. I had to send mine back to Pact to be repaired. They charged $14.95 and 4 months later it came back by Fed Ex and actually it works better than it did new. You are not the first nor will you be the last to shoot one of them. Thanks Jim

[softpoint]

AR style rifles work real good to kill chrono's. All you need to do is forget one time that the line of sight is about 4inches or so above the bore. When I owned my public shooting range , a guy with a brand new chrony came and set his up, shot about 5 handgun loads through it. It worked fine. Picked his Bushmaster flatop up, lined 'er up and.....#$@&%% It wasone of those with the readout on the unit too.
I have only shot one of the skyscreen sensors on my Oehler so far in all the years I've had it, ....But now that someone has started this thread, I'll be afraid to take it out and set it up for a few days!
One fella iknew got a walnut wall plaque and mounted his. Has it in his reloading shed on the wall. One shot kill

[Geraldo]

Darn screens are $85 EACH!


Yeah, but the Oehler has a pretty big window to shoot through. I haven't shot mine yet, but the day is young...

The only one I saw wounded was one of the small Chronys. We were testing ammo for a match and dinged a screen.

[Down South]

I've got a bullet nick in mine that looks just like yours. I was letting one of my grandsons shoot his 22 across it and he aimed just a might too low.

[Charlie Sometimes]

I hit one of the uprights on a friends once- he sent it back and I paid for the repair work. I had switched pistols, and the second one shot lower, and left! It hurt me more than it bothered him.

[NVcurmudgeon]

I hit the skyscreen on my Oehler #33 twice.
First hit was fatal, second just a flesh wound.
(Hangfire + flinch was a dead center hit.:cry:)
Darn screens are $85 EACH!
It's a good unit and accurate with the 5' spacing, but it needs 6 D cells for power and is quite inconvenient to set up with 2 screen stands and the spacer bar.
One of these days I'm going to spring for a chrony with the remote readout and add some armor to the front.

Jack

Your 33 must be a twin to mine, circa 1980. When I shot the screens they were only $10 each, IIRC. The only other trouble I ever had was when I left the batteries in, and they corroded. I sent it in to Energizer and they either bought a new unit from Oehler or got Oehler to refurbish my old one like new. I have not bought a battery for any use other than Energizer since, even sometimes going to another store to find them. I also use a 5' spacing and the old 33 still works like a champ. I scrupulously remove the batteries after every use!

[NoDakJak]

That looks like the hood on my old pickup truck and yes, the prairie dog did get away. Neil

[yondering]

That looks like the hood on my old pickup truck and yes, the prairie dog did get away. Neil

You too huh? I've got a crease/hole in the hood of my Jeep from the same thing; aimed that .223 just a little too low, took me a minute to figure out where the bullet went.

[watkibe]

I thought I was the only one that still had a Chrony that old that still works ! Mine came with cardboard cutouts to shoot through, with little white plastic shades on top. Within the first year the cardboard looked like swiss cheese. I found out that as long as it isn't a bright sunny day (and sometimes even then) it works just fine without any sky screens at all.

[McLintock]

When you shoot your chrony you really need to do it right, this was a 535 gr 45-70 ahead of 25 grs of 5744; kind of did a job on it. The trigger was going away on my Browning BPCR and I kept trying to get "one more shot".
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1620/1303399/2593806/235779401.jpg
Oh well, I fixed it for $35.
McLintock

[BD]

I'm shooting over a chrony that looks a lot like Patrick's. It replaced one that looked more like McKlintocks :)
BD

[Potsy]

A buddy borrowed mine and buzzed the wires that go "over the top" where the chrony folds.
He sent it in, had it fixed, kept it, and bought me a new one.
Good service from chrony but there's a sick part of me that wishes he'd have been an inch lower.
130 Ballistic Tips @ 3400 through the screen that day would've been pretty cool.

[wiljen]

I nailed mine this past weekend and Chrony's trade-up program makes it only $5 more expensive to trade it in than to just buy one outright from Midway by the time you include shipping.

[troy_mclure]

i saw a rental one get shot thru with a 300rum, that thing went flying almost 20' strait up.

i think its still at the range on display.

[HeavyMetal]

Man I am so glad I built a "Range Holder" for mine!

Basically 8 inches wide and just a touch longer than my Chrony, angled steel plate welded on the front and has a support in the back holding it up if it ever gets hit to deflect boolits up and away from the chrony!

A piece of mirror siliconed into the Ramped under side of the steel plat and a bicycle rear view mirror mounted on the side acts as a "periscope view" and I can see it from the bench with my spotting scope and it reads directly, not backwards, because I use two mirrors!

Never had it hit because of the plate, looks like new for the same reason. Used plumbing pipe to make a stand and it all screws together in three minutes at the range.

Surely somebody thought about a shielding set up besides me?

[ronterry]

Sorry no photo's but I shot my target stand yesterday? About 1" above the ground at 50YDS. A major league flinch with my 458 Lott. A little over 3" of wood did not slow it down none. (The stand is fine btw) Oh I killed a chrony about four years ago. 10mm straight through the center! It was one of those all in one ?Chronymaster? Great Chrony BTW! Have a Beta Master now, which isn't as accurate but very scalable with printers and what nots make up for it.

[shooting on a shoestring]

I've killed 2 skyscreens from my 35P ($35 each). A really bad shot in the lane next to me shot one, makes 3 down and counting.

[HORNET]

The older Chrony"s aren't happy if you center the readout screen with a 410459 at full throttle either. They do offer good deals on trading in & upgrading. Rebuilt ones are fairly cheap if you want to buy a spare while yours is broke....or so I hear [smilie=1:

[eveready]

I set up a target, fire one round then set my Chrony up in front of the target. Gives me an aiming point so I don't shoot the Chrony.

[Shooter6br]

I got a Pact no 1 with BIG sky screens Gave my Chrony away

[Shiloh]

Put a 220 grain round nose soft point through a red F-1 Chrony several years ago.
That was from the .30-40 Krag. Should have taken pics. Traded the remains in for the blue Chrony Alpha model.

Shiloh

[Shiloh]

Put a 220 grain round nose soft point through a red F-1 Chrony several years ago.
That was from the .30-40 Krag. Should have taken pics. Traded the remains in for the blue Chrony Alpha model.

Shiloh

[Dark Helmet]

You mean you only shot just one?:groner:

[72coupe]

I was trying to test some 80 grain sierras through my service rifle AR from prone position with the Chrony sitting on the ground. I didn't realize my prone position was as low as it apperently was on that day.

The 80 grainer mad a streak across the very top of both the front and rear sensors. Chrony said it was not repairable but sold me a new one at a large discount.

[James C. Snodgrass]

Mine is green and has 3 cute little 22 half moons in it . If you don't tear up one you ain't havin' fun . James[smilie=1:

[JIMinPHX]

Mine has managed to survive for over 20 years now, but it did take a hit from a piece of boolit lube one day. That small spec of lube was enough to damage the display, but not enough to stop it from working. If I was smart, I would have mounted a piece of polycarbonate over the front of the thing when I first got it.

[Murphy]

I purchased one of the first Chrony's to hit the market, Red in color and you had to shoot thru the hole of the cardboard insert.

I think I chrongraphed everything I could get my hands on and found some eye opening results. Things like, why does my friends S&W 29 using the same load, from the same box of ammo I'm using shoot 100 fps faster than mine? Interesting stuff....

I even went so far as to carry it to deer camp one year. My hunting buddy decided he wanted to try his Sharps and see how fast the loads were moving along.

I sat my Chrony up on a camera tripod and we stepped off 10'. He let er' rip with that big ole Sharps. Oh, did I mention it was a 45-120 he was shooting?

My Chorny and camera tripod went over backwards...*SHOCK* He's shot my Chrony!!! Noooo!

Nope, muzzle blast alone did it. The Lexan face was shattered but readable, I used it until a year or so back and sent it in on a trade in.

Gotta say, I like Chrony!

Murphy

[ronterry]

Murphy, your story is full of HOT AIR! :mrgreen:

[StarMetal]

I shot a five shot group on my chronograph that was under a 1/4 inch. Of course it ruined the chrony. :kidding:

Joe

[Ken O]

I started with the cheapest Chrony, I shot it, upgraded for a nominal fee. Then I did it again, and again. I was up to the Beta Master and I hit it with a 6.5 142gr SMK doing 2850. The thing exploded, a piece of sharpnel took out a window in the front of my house.

I found a lot of the pieces, swept them in a box and sent them to Chony (more as a joke), and put in a note that said "they just don't make things like they used to". I figured they would get a good laugh out of it.

A couple days later I get a call from Chrony, the lady says they can fix it, but it will cost $35. I said "sure" and gave her my CC number. I'm guessing the joke will come back on me, but I'll play along.

I get a package in the mail, and its a brand new in the box Chrony!

So, as with just about all gun related industry, the customer service is tops! Add this to my experience with Dillon, RCBS, and even Lee, no other industry I know of comes close.

[trk]

I've borrowed one from time to time from a friend who shoots/used-to-shoot while drinking beer. MANY holes in it, but still functional!

[Bigjohn]

I purchased one of the first Chrony's to hit the market, Red in color and you had to shoot thru the hole of the cardboard insert. Murphy

Same as my Chrony, so far it has only been nicked, not wounded or DRT. Who knows, maybe one day.

It is not reading at the moment, but I believe that is because one of the diffusers is in pieces (shot). :violin:

[jimkim]

I started with the cheapest Chrony, I shot it, upgraded for a nominal fee. Then I did it again, and again. I was up to the Beta Master and I hit it with a 6.5 142gr SMK doing 2850. The thing exploded, a piece of sharpnel took out a window in the front of my house.

I found a lot of the pieces, swept them in a box and sent them to Chony (more as a joke), and put in a note that said "they just don't make things like they used to". I figured they would get a good laugh out of it.

A couple days later I get a call from Chrony, the lady says they can fix it, but it will cost $35. I said "sure" and gave her my CC number. I'm guessing the joke will come back on me, but I'll play along.

I get a package in the mail, and its a brand new in the box Chrony!

So, as with just about all gun related industry, the customer service is tops! Add this to my experience with Dillon, RCBS, and even Lee, no other industry I know of comes close.

Now you know roughly, how much it cost them to manufacture, package, and ship that model. I agree that the reloading/casting/shooting industry is like no other.

[archmaker]

I added a remote switch so I can scroll through the results after I do a string of shots.

This way I do not set my gun down and record the results, then pick up shoot and repeat.

Is a real time saver, and helps with the accuracy. :)

I bought the stuff from Radio Shack and worked like a charm.

I need to add the poly shield to the front of mine.

[Patrick L]

I'm really enjoying reading your stories on this matter. I'm glad I'm not alone!

FWIW, mine is the original red unit. It originally had the cardboard screens that you shot thru a hole like Murphy described. I did nick the edge of the hole once. I got the first upgrade which replaced the cardboards with upright wires and some hazy plastic covers. I just recently ordered new screens, not because of damage but because of age. The plastic got brittle and was starting to crack at the slots for the wires.

Keep the stories coming!

[AZ-Stew]

I added a remote switch so I can scroll through the results after I do a string of shots.

This way I do not set my gun down and record the results, then pick up shoot and repeat.

And I believe this is how most chronographs get shot. Hand-held firearms. If you don't want holes in your bullet speedometer, put your firearm on a good rest so you can control muzzle direction and keep the bullets above the screens.

Regards,

Stew

[ronterry]

I probably should mention that after a shot mine years ago, I use a rest when using a chrony.
Here's why - even the best like Rob Lathan I've seen flinch his pistol toward the ground on a misfire, I've done it or DO IT is a better term on misfires, seventh round in my revolvers, delayed boom in my 500 S&W ~ it human to do so, and even more human to do it before the boom after a long day of shooting.
So a two dollar bad of sand is a lot cheaper than a 100 dollar chrony. Just my 2 cents...
I actually use a 20 dollar pistol rest that's adjustable, and works great for testing load acceracy and velocity at the same time. Spread doesn't mean crap if they can't group in a particular gun.

BTW: I've seen guys chisel a box inside a railroad tie, and mount a couple of pieces of hardened steel on the front like a 30° nose cone. They mount the hole deal on a couple of saw horses. Cheap insurance, especially in these economically challenging times.

[archmaker]

Yeah I hear you on using a rest. But I have never shoot my chrony with a gun while standing.

But I can assure you that an arrow will make the unit unreadable. :)

I think this is my third one.

[Southern Son]

There is a gunshop in Brisbane that has several on display, mounted on boards like trophies. I don't think that I want to win the competition that would get me that trophy. I have no hit my Chrony with lead (YET), but a lube cookie will leave a mark.

[masscaster]

Actually, I'm quite happy someone shot something that actually has no purpose being around a shooting range, or firearm.
Take it out, bury it, water it well, and forget about it.
masscaster

[Dan Cash]

I center punched one some years ago. Bought another and made a mount with 1/2 inch AR steel at sharp obliquity to protect the machine. Worked until I hit it with a 550 grain .45 slug. I did not dent the unit but the shock of the hit unglued the innards, The sight of the mount and chronograph turning cart wheels in a cloud of smoke only needed a cry of "Hi Yo Silver, Away" to be complete.

Dan "The Whiner" Cash

[watkibe]

Do people really shoot over their chronograph from the off hand postion ? I would be amazed every time such a shooter didn't hit the chronograph ! When I shot mine, I did it the same old fashioned way I always do it: from a rest.

[AZ-Stew]

I don't know about "off hand", but I know there are folks who both sight in for hunting season and shoot over chronographs while holding a rifle or handgun in their hands with their elbows on the bench, using no other support. I've seen it many times while helping out at our range with "sighting-in days" before hunting season. If you try to outfit them with a good rest so they can actually sight in correctly, they just can't get the hang of it. Sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and walk away.

Regards,

Stew

[drinks]

I hit a support rod, but I had already replaced the steel rods with wood dowels. A friend managed to put a .45 gas check in his, heeding his experience, I bought some Lexan at Home Depot and heat shaped a shield, shortly there after, a .22 gas check hit it and almost wenr through, so I added 2 more layers on the face, for .295" of Lexan, it has stopped a .45 gas check that penetrated 2 layers but not the third.
However, I am sure someday I shall score a bullet in the 10 ring!