Chronographs (Any good ones that won't break the bank?)

[Mike Fontaine]

Hi All,
My Dad is looking to buy me a chronograph for my birthday. Something I need but would probably never buy myself (because when I have extra money I always buy a new gun- I've got a problem :? ). Anyway, I don't want him to spend a lot of money. Can anyone recommend one that's not too expensive (i.e. $125.00 or so)?
Mike
p.s. You guys have been so helpful with so many questions I've had in the past. I always appreciate it. I've learned so much about the sport of shooting and reloading from many of you. Just want to take a minute to say thanks.

 

[Ol` Joe]

Any of the Shooting Chronys are a choice. The Pact M1 is a few $$ more but might fit the bill too. CED makes good ones I`ve been told.
Gee, it seems almost all of the basic models on the market fits the criteria.

I`ve a Pact and the Shooting Chrony Alpha. Both work, both are resonably priced. I like the Pact for my purposes`.
I`d look at the features and decide. Do you want the electronics on the bench with you, or out there with the screens? Does it have to except a printer? Do you need one that figures standard deviation, avg velocity, ect?

 

[Bruce Mc]

I have the cheapest shooting chrony, it cost maybe $80. It has worked great, no problems at all. You have to write down the velocity because it doesn't have any memory or computions.

 

[Brian]

I have a CED Millennium that I got from RSI, and it's top notch.

I like the fact that the display sits on the bench near me and has very large numbers (though I haven't done it, they say you can set it out 100 yards and read the numbers through a spotting scope -- I believe it) and I like the large sky screens. It has editing capability, some basic calculation capabilities and you can dump numbers into a PC.

Plus -- and this is a big plus -- you can get an IR lighting source for those troublesome dark, dark days.

The down side is it's about $200 at RSI, and you'd need to buy a tripod. The IR source is something like $90 extra.

 

[Colin]

My buddy has the Alpha Chrony and it works great, even after I blew up some 70gr, Speer tnt's out of my .25-06 all over the thing. Couple of holes in the face of it, but it still reads pretty well. It does have a tough time reading velocities while sitting under trees, I've noticed though. If you have clear skies above, it's great.

 

[Mike Fontaine]

Thanks for all the great info!
Mike

 

[Ol` Joe]

It does have a tough time reading velocities while sitting under trees, I've noticed though. If you have clear skies above, it's great.

The chrony picks up the shadow of the branches wobbling over head and thinks they are bullets pasting by. Move the screens, you`ll never get any brand to work properly under these conditions.

 

[Guest]

I have a Beta Master Chrony, and I can highly suggest it. It will run you around $120-130, but shop around and you might get a better deal. I also own a PACT Professional, but don't use it much anymore since I won the BMC, because the little chrony is so much easier to pack to the range.

 

[FOTIS]

I have a Beta Master Chrony, and I can highly suggest it. It will run you around $120-130, but shop around and you might get a better deal. I also own a PACT Professional, but don't use it much anymore since I won the BMC, because the little chrony is so much easier to pack to the range.

tHAT IS WHAT i HAVE.

 

[Guy Miner]

Same as Brian. CED Millenium. Very nice chronograph and under $200.

Man, I remember when NOBODY had a chronograph... All of us were shooting much, much faster loads back then... :grin: Or at least we thought so!

 

[BlaserGun]

I just got a Pact XP Pro with IR kit, when it's dark it can also detect my pellet gun .17 cal. I've modifyed the powersupply to the IR kit by removing the transformer and soldered the cable to a USB cable and it is now power supplied from my laptop :wink: