Rossi Rifleman

For the better part of 2 years I would wait for the perfect day with optimum lighting conditions (which I experimented with quite a bit) and would trot out my Shooting Chrony Alpha only to be bewildered with readings that were off from the published data by as much as 500 fps (usually reading faster, but sometimes ridiculously slower. I stuck with it because the thing was a gift from a family member and I didn't want any hurt feelings over ditching it. Anyway enough is enough so recently I bought a different make, a ProChrono Digital from Competition Electronics. What a difference! This new one reads everything without any errors and everything I have ran over it, from 45/70 through 22lr and even my air gun in the back yard has been seemingly right on the money. Daylight conditions seem to not affect it and it is so easy to use, no codes to remember, stores lots of shots, strings etc and the best part, it doesn't all go away when you switch the unit off like the Shooting Chrony did. Anyway, a big for the ProChrony.

Now onto QuickLOAD. This is the first time I have actually been able to compare real chronographed numbers with what QL says it should be. These were just my 45/70 pop corn loads, using Unique and Trail Boss with a 350 gr Dardas. The QL estimations were quite close to the actual speeds. The Trail Boss QL estimation was 1060 fps, this with 13.8gr. Actual chrono was a hair faster at between 1065 and 1075 for a 5 shot string. The unique loads were about 40 fps slower than QL. Of course it was around 32 degrees F out and it is quite possible that Unique is affected by the cold more than Trail Boss but still all and all I had a lot of fun seeing my new toys working together as they should! I am now finally, after a year wasted trying to troubleshoot the Shooting Chrony going to start working up my 525gr Piledriver loads for this summer. I have "measured" a fired case with water weight, got the variables set as close as I can figure so all I need to do is get out to my reloading shed and get started, no easy feat with all the other projects I have but will get to it soon. As I get to using the new chrony more and seeing QL results and learning how to tweak it for more accurate results I predict QL is going to open doors in developing new loads where published data is scarce.

As a side note, when I loaded my "start loads" last year with the 525 gr my Shooting Chrony was reading near 1800fps! That velocity should have dislocated my shoulder had it been true!

I guess you get whatcha pay for with chronographs too.
I use the RCBS rig that looks like a bullet.......gives good results.
The Oehlers were the best but they cost too........complete Model 35P system with screens, carry case & printer......$575.
Not bad really for a device that is so critical for proper load development.

Yeah sometime you do. The ProChrony I think was about $115 on Amazon so similar to the Shooting Chrony price. By the way I am not knocking the Shooting Chrony itself, only the particular one I own. I understand a lot of people have gotten good results with them..

Arktikos wrote:Yeah sometime you do. The ProChrony I think was about $115 on Amazon so similar to the Shooting Chrony price. By the way I am not knocking the Shooting Chrony itself, only the particular one I own. I understand a lot of people have gotten good results with them..

I had a Shooting Crony that got demolished by a 300 Win Mag in a blazing demo of stupidity on my part a few years ago but I recall that it gave pretty good results when used properly.
They had it on display at the club in the glass trophy cabinet with the bullet hole in it..........almost like having my low I.Q. tattooed on my forehead.

pricedo wrote:

Arktikos wrote:Yeah sometime you do. The ProChrony I think was about $115 on Amazon so similar to the Shooting Chrony price. By the way I am not knocking the Shooting Chrony itself, only the particular one I own. I understand a lot of people have gotten good results with them..

I had a Shooting Crony that got demolished by a 300 Win Mag in a blazing demo of stupidity on my part a few years ago but I recall that it gave pretty good results when used properly.
They had it on display at the club in the glass trophy cabinet with the bullet hole in it..........almost like having my low I.Q. tattooed on my forehead.

It does seem to happen more than you would think. That is one reason I was reluctant to buy the expensive ones as I suspect they are no more bullet proof than the cheaper models! I think where some get shot is when they don't take time setting up and have a target on the other side of the chrony to aim the rifle at. They get rushed at busy ranges and thats when there is an embarrassing moment, the worst sort in my book!

Heck, I've shoot mine a couple of times! Good think about cast bullets is they usually just knock a hole through them without tearing them up too bad. I have an F1 and that is the fellow that gets to sit in front of the target at 200 yards when I'm determining actual BC for my bullets.

I would love to have the Oehler Research 85 Ballistic Instrumentation with the 86 Acoustic Target but for now my CED and RSI stuff is working great.

Ranch Dog wrote:Heck, I've shoot mine a couple of times! Good think about cast bullets is they usually just knock a hole through them without tearing them up too bad.

I'm afraid a 165 grain Nosler Partition bullet from a 300 Winchester Mag traveling approx 3100 fps wasn't quite so forgiving.
There wasn't much left of the innards of that Crony.

Well after 2 years without a chronograph, at least one that didn't spit out erroneous reads I really hope I don't shoot this one for a good long while.