What chronograph

[TBell]

600-175=$425

You really don't need the FPS to get to your best group, it is going to be what it is going to be, down from your comfort range on pressure. I think I can shoot, and sacrifice 4 rounds with it on the end of my barrel, to get real close to confirm FPS, (if you can measure your powder accurately and neck tension correctly) then take it off of the stupid barrel to confirm sight in.

From there your going to get on target at 600 yards or what ever, and tweak your FPS to adjust to get you on mark at your distance, and pretty much anything from there into 100.

I am a novice shooter compared to most of you. I don't compete except against myself and enjoy hitting stuff out to my specific distances with consultancy. Keep it simple for those you know aren't asking question that need that specificity to get where their question is going.

Most of the answers have good points and are extremely interesting reads, but a lot of them keep readers from reading on Because they aren't Relevant to the real question being asked.

 

[elkhunter1104]

To have to attach it to your barrel that changes the barrel harmonics and load development is thrown off. Proven fact as that is why they use tuners to adjust the harmonics. You have retest loads when you are forced to take it off. Waste of time, barrels and bullets. Those are $

I've never had to "retest loads". Why not do load development, find the load that works best in your gun, zero and then attach the magneto and get a velocity? It don't matter what little bit the magneto does shift the shots at that point. That's always been my point of approach but who am I. I don't care what the velocity is until I have found the absolute best load I can possibly come up with for any gun.

 

[rcwinkel]

I've made a LabRadar available for complimentary use at the public range I operate for some 5 years. My experience and observations:

• They are VERY programable. This is important to us as it allows us to 'tune it' to only recognize and track the bullet from the lane of fire it's being used in. It can be tricky, but definitely doable.
• It has issues tracking small bullets - even some .22's at moderate speed. Remember that radar relies on energy reflected from an object, in this case the base of a bullet as it flies downrange. A boat tail bullet, with its smaller diameter base, reflects less energy to track. Ours can lose track of a .224 after 75 yards.
• They need a lot of power to operate in full strength mode (the radar beam power itself is programmable). Ours get a LOT of regular use. A large rechargeable battery is a must. Regular batteries are ok for occasional outings but always carry a spare set.
• They are accurate and repeatable. 'Nuf said.
• They don't get shot up! I went through several Chrony's - all were eventually shot by a user. It is important that the LabRadar not be placed forward of the muzzle. Muzzle blast can damage or destroy them.
• Shot data can be stored on removable SD cards. Our regulars have their own SD cards so they can take the data home with them. Data is stored in CSV format.

I could go on, but all in all, in my book LabRadar is the only way to go.

 

[30calyooper]

Depends how much you want to spend! To be honest the Caldwell for under a hundred bucks does what most handloaders need it to do, and it seems to work in fairly diverse conditions like sunny vs. cloudy, even when sun is getting low on the horizon, etc. I have not properly checked its accuracy against more expensive option(s) but the results seem to hold true when using them to plot trajectories with a ballistic calculator such as Nikon's SPOT-ON...Like any chrono the key is to set it up properly, to get a good read on the projectile passing through the zone.

BTW, agree with the comments on getting a Chrony to work in a clean and consistent manner. When mine started showing a spread of +/- 200 for a pet load, I never did get it back to being reliable. Cleared everything and still, fubar...ran the same load/launcher combo through the Caldwell, got within a couple of feet per second of what I had recorded at an earlier session from a friend's very pricey Oehler. 'Nuff said, sticking with the Caldwell. And oh yeah as someone mentioned earlier - their customer support is top notch.

 

[TBell]

600-175=$425

You really don't need the FPS to get to your best group, it is going to be what it is going to be, down from your comfort range on pressure. I think I can shoot, and sacrifice 4 rounds with it on the end of my barrel, to get real close to confirm FPS, (if you can measure your powder accurately and neck tension correctly) then take it off of the stupid barrel to confirm sight in.

From there your going to get on target at 600 yards or what ever, and tweak your FPS to adjust to get you on mark at your distance, and pretty much anything from there into 100.

I am a novice shooter compared to most of you. I don't compete except against myself and enjoy hitting stuff out to my specific distances with consultancy. Keep it simple for those you know aren't asking question that need that specificity to get where their question is going.

Most of the answers have good points and are extremely interesting reads, but a lot of them keep readers from reading on Because they aren't Relevant to the real question being asked.

 

[jshepherd61]

To have to attach it to your barrel that changes the barrel harmonics and load development is thrown off. Proven fact as that is why they use tuners to adjust the harmonics. You have retest loads when you are forced to take it off. Waste of time, barrels and bullets. Those are $

I've been working with both the Lab Radar and the magneto speed for about three years now and love them both for different purposes. I have found the magneto Speed to be more consistent than the LR but, have found the LR to be a little more accurate for sheer velocity. So in my opinion the consistency will provide better data. The spread on the LR with the inconsistencies will give more false info!

 

[elkbow]

I have both a Magnetospeed and Labradar, each has their pro's and con's. Nice being able to choose for a particular situation.

 

[Randy Tidwell]

About a week ago we did a side by side comparison on the MagnetoSpeed (mine) to my friends LabRadar in our shooting tunnel. They were within 3 fps on 5 shots. The MS regisitered every shot, the LabRadar missed 4 or 5 shots.

There was a couple shots that it miss read completely. We were testing my 300 RUM, the LabRadar showed a couple shoots to be under 2000 fps.

I have found that the MS will definitely affect accuracy, with the unit hung on the barrel the groups open up or moves it.

Glenn said that the LabRadar does not like the tunnel, gets false readings there that he does not experience at an outdoor range. I don't shoot often at public ranges, so it will be a while before we get a chance to do a comparison out doors. Too many bad experiences at public ranges.

Both units work great, each have their on set of idiosyncracies. I prefer the MagnetoSpeed.

 

[Satterlee Scott]

Magneto speeds are cool because you can use them when other folks are shooting and they give extremely accurate VE. The MS is cheaper than the Labradar but you can get a shift in POI when it is attached. I haven't seen a group size change with it, just the POI shift. The Labradar is super accurate as well and won't mess with your barrel harmonics but is more money and is tough to use at a public range.

 

[SilverbulletMAG]

The perfect shooting chrono has yet to be seen. I started with a ProChrono Digital and later added the Bluetooth adapter and light kit. It was a good unit for what it was.

Tried a buddies Magneto speed and love the fact you never miss a shot and can be pretty certain of the results your getting. However, I'm not fan of having something hanging off the end of the barrel during load development and it's a bit of a PITA to setup with stories of shooting off the top of the magnetospeed being worrisome.

Recently purchased a Labradar and that too has some annoyances as well. The "sight" at the top is a joke and the tacky straw trick helps but still isn't perfect. They need to redesign it with a better way to aim the radar at your target. Getting it to track your bullet out to 25 or 50 yards is pretty straightforward but getting it to track a 180 grain .308 round out to 100 takes some fine tuning. I also wouldn't use this if all my time was spent at a crowded range. Getting the sensitivity dialed in to trigger all the shots takes some time and patience. If you have a muzzle brake, it at least triggers nearly every shot. Rifles without a brake are trickier.

If we could get a magnetospeed style chrono that easily mounted to the front of a benchrest, not coming in contact with the rifle at all, universal enough to use on all rifles and sensitive enough to be reliable without being a mm from the barrel....I'd buy one.

 

[Jeffpatton00]

what type of chrono do you use?

I have a magnetospeed v3 and like you, I was concerned about the barrel clamping arrangement altering the grouping during load development. I like tinkering so I built this bracket, which attaches to a picatinny rail on the bottom of my front handguard, and suspends the chrono's surface 0.200" below the bullet's line of travel. I mounted another pic rail on the bottom of the bracket for bipod attachment. I just bought a mill and I've thought about making these for folks who want one, but haven't started doing that yet.

 

[5Spot]

Check out the Wiser Precision Chonograph Mount at 6.5 Guys website. It allows you to mount a Magnetospeed to a hand guard or (I believe) a front swivel stud.

 

[basinman]

I only have a Magnetospeed and it works great and is easy to use. The point of impact does change a little on some of my barrels but I don't make any scope adjustments with it on. I wait until I have established my load and then adjust the scope without the saber on.

 

[Swiftkill]

I rarely try to shoot a group while chronographing....too distaracting making sure I am shooting through the chronograph. Wouldn't you get the best group ypu can and THEN run some bullets through the chrono to see what speed it is shooting?
I recently just switched to Federal factory ammo for my 220 swift. The ammo is what it is. So, I chronographed it. I must be the luckiest bastard in the shooting world!!! The 1st group ever with this load (#2) was ok. a few weeks later I changed my brake to a JP with a 6.5 mm hole and whatever happened, a looser hole and longer brake may have changed the harmonics. My second target here, I called that flyer out. 5 shots still less than .5. The 4 shots were inside of 3/8". AND, I'm sure that's a reflection of my shooting. That group is no accident. Im sure in a tunnel with a world class BR shooter, that gun is an easy .25 or better shooter. The orange target is the best group I ever shot with this gun with handloads at .307" at 4122 fps. Then really stopped experimenting much with handloads for this. Although, I think this new Federal round is better, if I can settle down and have no wind. It is a Lazer out to 400 and 500 yards is a chip shot. The gun is 25 years old with several prairie dog trips through it and numerous competitions and at least 2000 rounds. That is a Schneider barrel from the winchester factory. This gun is like an old chevy...it got faster and better!