Embarrassing Moments: Shooting Chrony Bites the Dust
“Shooting Chrony” is a product name. “Shooting Chrony” should not describe (post-mortem) what you have been doing to your chronograph. Sooner or later all of us may make a mistake, and ventilate our chronograph. With luck, the bullet just “wings” your chronograph, and the damage is minor. But if you hit the unit smack dab in the middle, you may have to retire your chrono for good.
A while back, Forum member Jeff M. (aka “JRM850″) experienced a “low blow” that put his Shooting Chrony out of commission. With tongue firmly in cheek, Jeff started a Forum thread entitled Chronograph Not Picking Up Shots in Bright Sunlight Anymore. Looking at the photo below, the problem is obvious.
This was Jeff’s first chrono kill in 23 years of use, so we shouldn’t be too critical. Jeff explained: “I didn’t realize a friend was shifting from a 300-yard target to 100 yards.” The agent of destruction was a low-traveling 58gr V-Max running at 3415 fps. What happened? Well, when one is shooting at 300 yards, the trajectory will be higher than at 100 yards. We should say, however, that this may have been a low shot, or the 100-yard aiming point may have been placed lower to the ground (closer to the bottom of the target frame), as compared to the 300-yard aiming point.
Other Forum members offered some sarcastic responses:
Try it on an overcast day – it might work again.
It looks like the V-Max performed just about as advertised.
Aww…a little duct tape and some Super Glue and you’re good to go.
Double Check Your Aim Point and Trajectory BEFORE You Shoot
The lesson learned here is that you should never change targets (or aim points) without checking your bullet’s flight over the chronograph. We like to align the barrel so the bullet exits a good 6-8 inches above the electronics (check your manual for recommended shot height). In addition, we always boresight the barrel so we can see the actual target through the bore. Then, with gun UNLOADED, bolt removed and action clear, we look back down the barrel so we can see daylight through the bore, with the gun set on solid rests. If you look through the middle of the “V” formed by the sky screen supports and you can’t see light shining through the barrel’s bore, you probably have a set-up problem and you should re-align the rifle.
Use a Test Backer to Confirm Your Bullet Trajectory
You can put tape on the support rods about 6″ up from the unit. This helps you judge the correct vertical height when setting up your rifle on the bags. Another trick is to hang a sheet of paper from the rear skyscreen and then use a laser boresighter to shine a dot on the paper (with the gun planted steady front and rear). This should give you a good idea (within an inch or so) of the bullet’s actual flight path through the “V” over the light sensors. Of course, when using a laser, never look directly at the laser! Instead shine the laser away from you and see where it appears on the paper.
After you have used the laser boresighter to get the rifle centered up in the chrono’s “sweet spot”, confirm with a test shot or two (see photo). Even when using an in-chamber laser boresighter, it is not uncommon for the bullet’s actual point of impact to be different than the laser’s dot location.
Similar Posts:
- Chrono No-Nos: Remember this Device is a Tool, Not a Target
- How NOT to Ventilate Your Costly Chronograph — Set-UP Tips
- Don’t Kill the Chrono! Setting up Chronos to Avoid Stray Shots
- Range Tip: How to Avoid Blasting Your Chronograph
- How NOT to Ventilate Your Chronograph — Set-Up Tips
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Tags: Bore Sight, Boresighter, Chrono, Chronograph, Shooting Chrony, Sky Screens
I know the post is not about which is the best chrony but,why not try a barrel mounted chrony like magneto speed. Yes there is some POI change but when I chrono I usually don’t shoot for groups at the same time. And you only need 5 or 6 shot to get a good average speed with it, there is no problem with ballistic program and distance of chrony. Another fact is that my shooting range as baffle so the light chrony was giving me problem with sun/shade. And it take 1 minute to install. Maybe I sound like a salesperson but im just very happy of my chrony. Mike
Many years ago, when Chronys first came out, I arrived at the range where two guys were together at a bench. I heard one say to his buddy:”You shot my brand new Chrony”. And so he had. The owner of the unit bout cried, but they seemed to remain friends as they finished shooting an hour later. The damage was just like that shown in this photo. I made no offer to buy it.
Just 1 comment….if you haven’t shot your chrony YET..
You’re just not using it enough.
and
regarding buddies who want to shoot over your chrony
…you shoot it ,,,ya bought it.
I took another brand chronograph to a public range one day. Lots of guys wanted to see how fast their bullets were going and to a man, they all wanted me to do the shooting so as to not be responsible for the sky screens. I was able to shoot quite a few rifles with ammo included that day. I took a shot with each gun to verify point of aim before shooting over the screens.
Check the 2nd picture down in this article for an aide that prevents blasting your Chrono to pieces:
http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2010/04/basics-chronographing-effectively.html
All I can say looks like operator error.
I don’t think they warrantee bullet strikes, and no you can’t borrow my chronograph.
I have been using a Chrony for 20 years and have never come close to shooting it. The first model took a hit from a stray gas check and a friend fixed it – it gave up the ghost for good 2-3 years ago.
I loan my chrony out about every chance I get with the aforementioned caveat, “you shoot it, you bought it”.
I want a magneto speed.
I never did it myself, But someone told me about it.
Now you must be aware of the shot that shook the world; this thread seems to be appropriate.
One fine day, a shooter of some notoriety was running in his barrel at the local range. It was a brand new barrel and so he was doing some load development at the same time as the shoot and clean routine.
Well, he pulled the trigger on the eighth shot. The cleaning rod shot through the Chrony taking both down range at a rapid rate of knots and bulging the brand new barrel.
Despite swearing the witness to secrecy, news of this incident spread rapidly despite his denials. So fervent were these denials that the quickest way to get him to walk away from a group was to ask what speed a cleaning rod does out of a 308 barrel…..
Send it in for warranty.
I’ll never use a laser bore sighter. They’re pointless (when you can site with the bore) and useless (typically not bright enough to see in full daylight). I’ve seen more Elmer Fud barrel explosions are our range from laser bore sighter a than anything else.
Even my 10/22’s have bore cleaning holes which I use for sighting. All else failing, I will get close with factory scope setting and use the 1 shot zero method (aiming for an inanimate object down range then moving my sites to the POI).
Anyway, at least now you can buy an Oehler =D