I have read a few threads where people have show concerns for the health and welfare of their chronograph while shooting over them. This is with some justification.
I can remember when a few years ago my local deer hunting club purchased a new chronograph for our members to use to test their loads with. Well the first shot that was fired over it was with a .300 win mag loaded with slow powder with large granules. The shot was from about two feet.
At the shot, muzzle blast shot one of these large granules straight through the LED display and destroyed the readout. The chronograph was stuffed!
When I purchased a chronograph I didn't want the same thing to happen to mine so I built a solid steel protector for the delicate device that had cost me some good dollars.
The protector consists of a steel channel with a half inch steel plate welded onto it at an angle of about 15 degrees. Strong support webbing was added and then I fired a .338 win mag into it from a distance of about 10 feet. (See the impact mark in the photo).
This worked quite well and the projectile deflected off into the blue for parts unknown with out any significant damage to the steel plate. (I did test it in a safe place). I now have confidence when testing my loads that no damage to my chronograph can take place.
To see the readout you do have to walk up to the chronograph and peek over the rim of the front plate. This is a bit of a pain but I can put up with this in order to ensure the survival of my chronograph.
Further improvements to the protector include paint marks on the slopping section of the protector to proper align the cross hair with the sensors on the chronograph. Another improvement was to add a Perspex cover over the chronograph that was painted with a thin layer of matt white paint to simulate a bright cloudy day which is best for chronograph readings with smaller bullets.
One of the advantages of this device is that I now have the confidence to set it up at 300 yards and fire some shots over it which is something that I would not be game to do with a bare unprotected chronograph. This gives some good data when checking bullet B.C.s etc. Cost of the project was only a few dollars and it took about 3 hours to make. This device has seen about 5 years service now and I am very happy with it.…………..Topshot.
I can remember when a few years ago my local deer hunting club purchased a new chronograph for our members to use to test their loads with. Well the first shot that was fired over it was with a .300 win mag loaded with slow powder with large granules. The shot was from about two feet.
At the shot, muzzle blast shot one of these large granules straight through the LED display and destroyed the readout. The chronograph was stuffed!
When I purchased a chronograph I didn't want the same thing to happen to mine so I built a solid steel protector for the delicate device that had cost me some good dollars.
The protector consists of a steel channel with a half inch steel plate welded onto it at an angle of about 15 degrees. Strong support webbing was added and then I fired a .338 win mag into it from a distance of about 10 feet. (See the impact mark in the photo).
This worked quite well and the projectile deflected off into the blue for parts unknown with out any significant damage to the steel plate. (I did test it in a safe place). I now have confidence when testing my loads that no damage to my chronograph can take place.
To see the readout you do have to walk up to the chronograph and peek over the rim of the front plate. This is a bit of a pain but I can put up with this in order to ensure the survival of my chronograph.
Further improvements to the protector include paint marks on the slopping section of the protector to proper align the cross hair with the sensors on the chronograph. Another improvement was to add a Perspex cover over the chronograph that was painted with a thin layer of matt white paint to simulate a bright cloudy day which is best for chronograph readings with smaller bullets.
One of the advantages of this device is that I now have the confidence to set it up at 300 yards and fire some shots over it which is something that I would not be game to do with a bare unprotected chronograph. This gives some good data when checking bullet B.C.s etc. Cost of the project was only a few dollars and it took about 3 hours to make. This device has seen about 5 years service now and I am very happy with it.…………..Topshot.
