Chronographing Pellets

[Lenny]

I have a Chrony F-1 chronograph, which I use once in a while to chronograph firearm loads. I tried to chronograph pellets in my basement and I can't get it to register a shot. Are there any tricks to get it to work indoors on pellets?

[David M]

Most chrono's will not work under fluro lighting,
check your light setup and use old incandescent globes.

[Lenny]

Thanks. I have fluorescent lighting in the basement. I am thinking of using a piece of plywood on top of V rods with two 60W incandescent bulbs directly over sensors.

[Green_Canoe]

I've used my Chrony successfully outdoors but I did find I got better results if I kept the pellets close to the sensor.

[Lenny]

I got it to work about 40% of the time. 60W light bulbs seem to works better than 25W or 100W. The shot had to be well centered to register. The odds were improved by all fluorescent fixture turned off. Still some shots didn't register or gave an error without any reason.

[mikeyj]

Do you have the accessory diffuser screen? That helps indoors.

[PhatMan]

Lenny,

I attach two (2) LED torches (one on the top of each diffuser screen) using a ring of Blu-Tack - works a treat.

Have fun :)

Best regards

Russ

[Lenny]

Do you have the accessory diffuser screen? That helps indoors.

I have the diffusers that came with the unit. I wasn't using them. I thought they were only needed for outdoor use.

[Lenny]

Lenny,

I attach two (2) LED torches (one on the top of each diffuser screen) using a ring of Blu-Tack - works a treat.

Have fun :)

Best regards

Russ

Russ,
Thanks for the tip. Could you give a link or post a picture of "LED torches" you used. I googled it and came up with different varieties. Most were just LED flashlights. Some were like LED stick. Single LED? Multi-LED?

[mikeyj]

Do you have the accessory diffuser screen? That helps indoors.

I have the diffusers that came with the unit. I wasn't using them. I thought they were only needed for outdoor use.

They help whenever you have direct light source, rather than diffuse light. You need them on a sunny day but not a cloudy day.

[Green_Canoe]

Lenny,

I attach two (2) LED torches (one on the top of each diffuser screen) using a ring of Blu-Tack - works a treat.

Have fun :)

Best regards

Russ

Russ,
Thanks for the tip. Could you give a link or post a picture of "LED torches" you used. I googled it and came up with different varieties. Most were just LED flashlights. Some were like LED stick. Single LED? Multi-LED?

Depending on the power supply LED lights powered from the AC power found in your house can cause the same "flicker" issues that make fluorescent lights a "No Go" for chronograph work. LED torches (flashlights) powered by batteries will be an excellent option however.

I think if you install the diffuser and illuminate it brightly with a non flickering source you should get good results with the understanding that pellets are tiny and hard for the sensor to see.

[Rover]

Good info; I have enough trouble chronying in bright sunlight.

[Gort]

This is what I use; http://www.competitionelectronics.com/p ... ng-system/#
They have infrared leds, not visible to the human eye. It works extremely well.
Gort

[Lenny]

Yes, lots of good information in this thread. Thanks to all for input. I am trying to digest it all. I started out with making do with what I had lying around the house, but should have done more research. I made a nice contraption from a plywood and two lightbulbs, which ended up half-useless.
Didn't plan on spending any money on this, but looks like I will have to.

I chronographed my two IZH-46M pistols and the numbers came out pretty decent. One that I resealed over a year ago had average velocity of 454 fps. The one that still has the original seals (14 years old) showed an average velocity of 488 fps. Since the seals are so old, that's why I wanted to check it out. It actually showed a higher speed. The difference between the two pistols is 34 fps. Probably because the pellets I am using fit a little looser in that one and easier to push through the bore. Does this sound possible or did I screw up resealing job? Extreme spread looks good 7.1 fps and 7.4 fps respectively.

[william]

Not to be a curmudgeon, but... unless you suspect a velocity problem with your pistol why bother? When I was young (in my 50's) and carefree (I could do it on my boss's time) I velocity tested every type of pellet I'd ever considered using. The only general rule I could derive was that there is no correlation between chronographed velocity - either magnitude or consistency - and performance on target.

Then I decided to take Mako's advice to stop futzing around with testing and spend the time practicing / shooting.

[Lenny]

Not to be a curmudgeon, but... unless you suspect a velocity problem with your pistol why bother? When I was young (in my 50's) and carefree (I could do it on my boss's time) I velocity tested every type of pellet I'd ever considered using. The only general rule I could derive was that there is no correlation between chronographed velocity - either magnitude or consistency - and performance on target.

Then I decided to take Mako's advice to stop futzing around with testing and spend the time practicing / shooting.

My main reason for doing this was to check if old seals are still holding up. Turns out they are doing as good or better than new seals. I would rather do this then change seals on schedule. For accuracy sake or pellet selection I agree it is pointless. The target is too generous and I can barely keep them inside an eight ring.

[Rover]

Good ol' Mako!

[Green_Canoe]

Yes, lots of good information in this thread. Thanks to all for input. I am trying to digest it all. I started out with making do with what I had lying around the house, but should have done more research. I made a nice contraption from a plywood and two lightbulbs, which ended up half-useless.
Didn't plan on spending any money on this, but looks like I will have to.

I chronographed my two IZH-46M pistols and the numbers came out pretty decent. One that I resealed over a year ago had average velocity of 454 fps. The one that still has the original seals (14 years old) showed an average velocity of 488 fps. Since the seals are so old, that's why I wanted to check it out. It actually showed a higher speed. The difference between the two pistols is 34 fps. Probably because the pellets I am using fit a little looser in that one and easier to push through the bore. Does this sound possible or did I screw up resealing job? Extreme spread looks good 7.1 fps and 7.4 fps respectively.

While I agree with the folks that say chonographing is useless when it comes to predicting accuracy the truth of the matter is as an engineer I just gotta know the ave. velocity and SD. So just for comparison sake my results are as follows as best I can recall without going to my records using RWS Basic pellets (7.0 grains):

IZH46(no M from 1998) 430 fps
IZH46m (2014 w/about 4k rounds) 460 fps

[Lenny]

While I agree with the folks that say chonographing is useless when it comes to predicting accuracy the truth of the matter is as an engineer I just gotta know the ave. velocity and SD. So just for comparison sake my results are as follows as best I can recall without going to my records using RWS Basic pellets (7.0 grains):

IZH46(no M from 1998) 430 fps
IZH46m (2014 w/about 4k rounds) 460 fps

That's close to my velocity on the pistol I resealed, so I am good there (I used 7.0 grain R-10 pellets).
488 fps in my other pistol is icing on the cake. The specs. are 470 fps. Pellets slide into that one with very little resistance.
Thanks for sharing your data.

[Gerard]

I bent my F1's rods and hot glued them into the plastic diffuser strips, crazy glued the plastic strips together so they wouldn't fall apart so easily. All that just to offer a place to stick a couple of LED pucks with magnets. Works reliably. No errors if I'm shooting over both sensors. Pictures: