I've owned the Chrony Beta Master for a little over 6 years. I've enjoyed having the remote on the bench next to me and the ability to save the shot strings after the unit is powered down. Although lately, I've made less and less use of those features.

I have had only a few issues with the Chrony failing to read a shot. Usually, it's been when the sun is at a sharp angle, blinding the sensors. In the handfull of cases where it's failed to read a shot at least one of the sensors has picked up movement across it's screen so that it simply showed Err:1 or Err:2 on the display.

However, just a week and a half ago I was at the range when one of the range officers politely asked if I'd shoot his FN 5.7x28 across it to get a velocity. I hesitantly agreed (I've never shot a pistol acrossed it as I'm not the greatest pistol shot and am paranoid about shooting it. ) Anyway, I fired a round across the screens without sacrificing my chrony in the process. Nothing. No reading, no error, no response at all. I fired a second shot. Nothing again. Perhaps that tiny little bullet, moving that fast needed to be colored with a Sharpie first. That was the first time I'd ever fired a shot across it and not gotten any response from the Chrony. It was a bit disappointing, but I hear it happens to lots of guys... er chronys from time to time.

Overall, I've been happy with it. If I were to do it over, I may go with the ProChrono Digital instead. I've heard good things about them and they are supposed to be less sensitive to poor lighting conditions than the Chrony brand.

Azar, how was the light? I sometimes use the Alpha Master Chrony of the club for tuning my airrifles and when I'm under trees or anything, I don't get readings. I have to be in the open. But I'm not at all an expert on this, so it might be I made some other silly mistake.

No your right Aloys, when shooting with my chrony and airrifles, the lighting has to be bright in order to produce a reading. Smaller calibers require greater light but not direct (overhead) with my chrony.

I have different diffusers for the chrony that I made from common store brought items that work better in some cases than the original diffusers that came with the chrony.

Aloysius,

It was bright and sunny. Ideal light for a chronograph is daytime, but overcast. Direct sunlight often blinds the sensors. The diffusers are small enough to not always shade the sensors. Especially as time passes and the sun shifts position in the sky.

I imagine being in shade would cause a lot of missed readings.

Well, I pulled the trigger and ordered the Chrony Beta Max tonight. I think it probably have more features than I need but I hate it when I settle for less. I can guarantee it will be smarter than me.

I'm sure there will be many questions to come.

wiersy111 wrote:

Tikka where is Ripley? Just curious as I work on Camp Ripley in Minnesota, a military base.

The Sporting Shooters Assoc of Aust have a range there.
Its about 20km South of Ipswich or 50km South West of Brisbane,

Cool I have spent a lot of time on our Camp Ripley during my career. Your Ripley sounds more fun.

My Chrony Beta Master arrived yesterday so after some reading I took it to the range today. I had to break through the top crust of the snow to get the tripod down to the ground.The temp was a balmy 15* with a 8-10 mph wind from my back right so I adjusted myself to minimize the effects of the wind as best as I could.

After what seemed like an hour I finally felt sure that I wasn't going to shoot the Chrony I sat down at the bench to shoot. All Went well the velocities all seem reasonable for my 5.56 loads. By the time I shot 3 strings of 10 my fingers barely worked any more. It was time to load up everything and head for home. At 15* I had no problem what so ever with the chrony. All readouts were shown as fast as I had expected.

Now at home I have to figure out what all this good information means to me. I had to manually enter the data into a spread sheet for now because I did not order their hodge podge of cables and fittings to connect to my computer. What do you guys use to link the Chrony to your computer?

My fingers on a key board (?)....

I don't use any software to connect the Chrony to a PC. I just type it into Point Blank.

Couple of things to watch with the Chrony (any flavor). Clear shipping tape over the sensors seems to help with refraction and also helps to keep false registrations from happening. It also helps keep those recessed sensors clean.

Make sure that you are unfolding it completely when using it. It is calibrated for an exact distance between sensors. I was never so surprised as when one of my .17 Remington loads started turning in velocities approaching 5,000 fps. A quick check showed that I had somehow failed to open my Chrony completely. Same load after making sure everything was set up properly dropped to 4,300 fps...right where it was supposed to be (20-grain VMax and CFE223). Rather startling to say the least.

I like the thought of the tape over the eyes. So faor while shooting I have not had any false readings, and my velocities are in the range I expected. Point Blank is kicking my but right now.

Not sure if anyone else does this but I put some painting tape on the diffuser rods about two inches above the chrony so I can adjust my rest and tripod more easily at the right height and keep the chrony level with my line of sight. The tape spans the width of the rods. This also helps prevent chrony homicide.

Good idea Mac. I really don't want to buy another Chrony for a long time.