Favorite Chronograph Poll

[Behyot]

I'm looking at getting a better chronograph soon, I see tons of discussion as to what everyone prefers and it seems clear Magnetospeed and Labradar are the favorites. I know each has its pros and cons and there is lots of info on here arguing those, however I was interested in getting actual numbers for which one is favored. I haven't seen a poll posted for this yet but let me know if I missed one. Price is certainly a consideration, however overall satisfaction with use is my main concern.

So, what's your favorite chronograph? I set the number of selectable responses to 2 in case people like both equally depending on what they're using it for.

 

[LawnMM]

There's no Con to the magnetospeed, if you're worried about group size and harmonics or whatever buy the MKM or Tubb mount for it

 

[david8989]

Magnetospeed 100%, no issues with misreads or not having it aimed at the target properly. Like said above, keep it on an mpa, mkm, tub, or wiser mount and it won't effect poi or harmonics.

 

[acudaowner]

while I do feel other chronographs have more information that you can access via phone apps that are nice I love my magneto speed Its quick on and fast off I never need to hold the line up while setting it up if i don't want it attached to my barrel there are other purchases that can take it off the barrel Its worked well for me so far .

 

[Hairball]

I use both

 

[hafejd30]

I have the magnetospeed. I use my suppressor on most rifles so the setup stays ready to mount on the can. I still want a lab radar eventually as well for when I go to range with friends etc and have 5 different rifles to test. But the magnetospeed does work very well.

 

[Devildog]

What no love for the Chrony lol. Checked off for the magnetospeed, I picked up there soft side case and it’s always in my range bag. I don’t think I’d want to do that with the labradar.

 

[lr123]

My magnetospeed is going on 4 years with zero issues, it’s been money well spent.

 

[California]

After using both I decided to buy a MagnetoSpeed. Thus far, I have really liked it (MagnetoSpeed V3 ballistic chronograph kit)

 

[cruze5]

i own the magnetospeed and use it on my ultra 7 almost bi weekly just make sure you use cr123 batteries and you will be a happy camper

 

[Behyot]

Looks like the results are basically what I would have expected, Magnetospeed is favored but Labradar is a close second. Good to see just the numbers, thanks everyone for the input!

 

[oniak]

I have a Labradar simply because one of the ranges I use is really strict about not being in front of the firing line if it is a hot range. Which means I would have to wait until the 20 min timer goes off and the range goes cold before I could attach a Magnetospeed properly.

 

[nobeone]

Labradar for me since I hand load for pistol too. If I only did rifle, I probably would have gone the Magnetospeed route.

 

[oniak]

Labradar for me since I hand load for pistol too. If I only did rifle, I probably would have gone the Magnetospeed route.

This is a good point. Never thought about that.

 

[Thunderskunk]

What's so special about the magnetospeed? I've only ever used the traditional chronograph with the V wires with a ".25%" precision. Magnetospeed claims .1-.5%? An 8 fps error would land me in the 1/8 moa correction at 1000 yards. I'm not on that level of precision to be worried about it, but I imagine those who were would need to eliminate that tolerance stack up, thus the .1% error guaranteed by the Labradar is a must, but I just don't understand the adjustable tolerance.

Forgive my hesitation though; both chronographs sound like they're the choice of the majority here, I'm just curious what the benefit is of the $400-800 magnetospeed/labradar versus the traditional $100 chronograph.

 

[Gustav7]

There's no Con to the magnetospeed, if you're worried about group size and harmonics or whatever buy the MKM or Tubb mount for it

...maybe no con for you.
Have to buy an aftermarket mount if you want to do groups and velocity at the same
Switching between rifles is slower and requires you actually take it off, then put it on, and make sure its all adjusted.
You can't efficiently (and sometimes not at all) measure anything besides normal rifle barrels. (I load and test pistols, revolvers. lever guns, shotguns, etc)

If you only do standard bolt guns or AR's then I'm sure its great. But for people who load other weapon systems, then labradar is the way

Forgive my hesitation though; both chronographs sound like they're the choice of the majority here, I'm just curious what the benefit is of the $400-800 magnetospeed/labradar versus the traditional $100 chronograph.

I have a pro chono I use and I hate it lol. It errors on 1 out of every 20 or so shots. It doesn't work reliably in the sunlight or if the sky is sunny then cloudy quickly, its not as accurate as a labradar, etc. AS soon as funds allow, labradar is on my list of things to get.

 

[6.5SH]

What's so special about the magnetospeed? I've only ever used the traditional chronograph with the V wires with a ".25%" precision. Magnetospeed claims .1-.5%? An 8 fps error would land me in the 1/8 moa correction at 1000 yards. I'm not on that level of precision to be worried about it, but I imagine those who were would need to eliminate that tolerance stack up, thus the .1% error guaranteed by the Labradar is a must, but I just don't understand the adjustable tolerance.

Forgive my hesitation though; both chronographs sound like they're the choice of the majority here, I'm just curious what the benefit is of the $400-800 magnetospeed/labradar versus the traditional $100 chronograph.

Speed of setup and ease of use. Both of these lead to more use and therefor more (and more accurate) data. Time is money (as are ammo, components and barrel life). You won't be using an optical for an entire practice session, or wasting a range session to fire 5-10 shots.

 

[Thunderskunk]

... Time is money (as are ammo, components and barrel life). You won't be using an optical for an entire practice session, or wasting a range session to fire 5-10 shots.

I hear that.

I typically only chrono when I've loaded something a bit differently or I'm seeing a change in groupings I didn't expect, but my data book isn't thick enough yet notice how humidity and pressure effect point of impact, so I don't have enough skin in the game that it would save me any time.

 

[ctso030]

Magnettospeed works great, I shoot suppressed and haven’t noticed much poi impact .

 

[Dthomas3523]

What's so special about the magnetospeed? I've only ever used the traditional chronograph with the V wires with a ".25%" precision. Magnetospeed claims .1-.5%? An 8 fps error would land me in the 1/8 moa correction at 1000 yards. I'm not on that level of precision to be worried about it, but I imagine those who were would need to eliminate that tolerance stack up, thus the .1% error guaranteed by the Labradar is a must, but I just don't understand the adjustable tolerance.

Forgive my hesitation though; both chronographs sound like they're the choice of the majority here, I'm just curious what the benefit is of the $400-800 magnetospeed/labradar versus the traditional $100 chronograph.

You should be truing your data anyway. So any small error on chrono won’t matter.

 

[6.5SH]

Ya but which? MV or BC. With a Magnetospeed, ...it's BC

Rule of thumb is 600 yards and in MV, past that BC

 

[Dthomas3523]

Ya but which? MV or BC. With a Magnetospeed, ...it's BC

It doesn’t matter. You true whatever it needs to get your data lined up. I’ll tweak mv, bc, and sight height if I need to.

As long as you make sure you have the correct rifle/bullet data inputted, change whatever you need. Worrying with why you needed to is wasted energy as we don’t have access to what’s under the hood in XYZ flavor of software to figure out why you needed to change the MV (for example).

Also, if using something like a custom drag curve, you can only change the MV as there is no BC.

Most of the time, I either only use the chrono for load development and/or a starting point for MV in software. I couldn’t care less where my MV ends up in the calculator as long as I get correct solutions when I need them.

 

[BBVDD]

I'm new to shooting in f-class matches and getting my ammo right with that. I have a labradar sitting beside my gun and I can tell if a bad vertical shot is me or my ammo.

I can't do that with a magnetospeed.

Eta: I've yet to have any aiming issues with the Labradar. I have an Arko Machine base for it. Set it down and point it down range.

 

[shoot4fun]

Had the original Magnetospeed and the wheel on the side broke. Sent back for repair but bought a V3 while waiting and was happy until a buddy pressured me into a Labradar. Bottom line I never liked the Labradar and eventually sold it. The Magnetospeed is all I need. I trust it.

 

[Dthomas3523]

I used to think the same way. And that's how we used to do it. Back before we had good chrono's. I used to true my MV by getting BC's from Litz before he was a big deal. At that time BCs were more solid than velocity because of the chronos back then. Now, with our ability to measure and model, BCs are being put into more question. To the point AB is going around creating individual drag models for people using a common bullet. I attended a sniper conference and the former head of the FBI ballistic lab gave a demonstration of data he gathered by shooting over a Oehler System 88 showing how BCs weren't nearly as consistent as we used to think. Bullet to bullet out of the same gun. Out of two different guns.

Your two main variables are BC and Speed. You already know this obviously, everyone does. Not lecturing here. You can tweak one or the other to match your engine with DOPE. Or both at the same time. Typically, you'duse one of the two to anchor yourcurve and then tweak the one that is the most prone to being variable. So now, with some of the most accurate chronos we have out there, why wouldn't you use MV as the anchor and use BC to adjust the curve? The MV is the most likely to be accurate. You're correct, you can change whatever to get your engine read dope, so why tweak them randomly? Why not use a trusted agent? If I was in an adhoc, expedient environment and just needed it to agree I could absolutely randomly change the two randomly, but proceed that way as a norm?

Your BH is extremely quantifiable and easy to measure. You shouldn't have to be making random BH changes to get things to line up.

The way I do it is extremely easy. I zero and chrono at the same time with a MPA bayonet. I group for accuracy at 300 still using the bayonet. Then shoot at distance to confirm my data, still using the bayonet. I true the BC if they don't match. I've been using the same 105 Hybrid BC for the same lot of 3500 bullets for the last 18 mos. The same SK S+ G1 BC for two years. I do not use CDMs, I have found a few to not line up for me. The fact that they can go to matches and come up with different, individual, custom CDMs for people's individual guns kinda reinforce that for me.

You’re overthinking it. And you’re speaking in a perfect world scenario. Meaning whatever calculator you are using, the math on the backside is perfect. That’s not always the case.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Nah, it's pretty easy. We're just arguing about truing a MV vs BC.

I watched this evolve for the last decade or so. We have done it using slightly different ways over the years. From the Atrag days on PDAs, multiple Accy 1st classes, to the migration to AB, newer versions of AB with DSF, and CDMs. I trued MV before people on Snipers Hide talked about it. In those days phones didn't have apps and all you had was JBM, the Sierra Ballistic application for desktop, and other similar clunky engines. I talked to Litz about deriving my MV by getting my data and dope to match one day when I was getting some BCs from him. He said he had been doing the same thing. Around the same time we got Atrag on HP PDAs and Hodnett was teaching it as part of his courses. As it's evolved with different devices and engines folks have declared, "this is the way!" and then a couple of years later we've changed it slightly but it's still the same basic process inside of sub.

You and I are advocating two slight variations. Tweak the MV at distance before Trans, or trust your chrono and tweak a G7. I find it useful to not treat my MV as arbitrary for evaluating my load, loading process, and throat erosion. I dont put a lot of work into it, it's just a familiarity of equipment, rifle, and load for me.

I’m not arguing over doing anything over the other. It’s situationally and software dependent.

Not all software is created equal. And none of it is perfect. I don’t limit myself by saying “I know my MV because of chrono.......so I must absolutely make it work”......because I have no idea what is under the hood in a particular solver that might limit me from using the perfect MV I just got from my chrono.

Also, we can’t tell people “turn off spin drift” and in the same breath say “you have to use that chrono MV.” As if one part of the solver doesn’t necessarily work perfectly, other parts may not.

If I can use my chrono MV, I do so, if I can’t, I don’t worry or care about it.

 

[ChadL]

Labradar for me since I hand load for pistol too. If I only did rifle, I probably would have gone the Magnetospeed route.

Same with me plus I use the Labradar for my pcp air rifles and bows.

 

[Andrew07]

Magnetospeed has worked well for me but would like to try a lab radar

 

[TxWelder35]

What's so special about the magnetospeed? I've only ever used the traditional chronograph with the V wires with a ".25%" precision. Magnetospeed claims .1-.5%? An 8 fps error would land me in the 1/8 moa correction at 1000 yards. I'm not on that level of precision to be worried about it, but I imagine those who were would need to eliminate that tolerance stack up, thus the .1% error guaranteed by the Labradar is a must, but I just don't understand the adjustable tolerance.

Forgive my hesitation though; both chronographs sound like they're the choice of the majority here, I'm just curious what the benefit is of the $400-800 magnetospeed/labradar versus the traditional $100 chronograph.

Because the traditional optical chronos suck giant balls.

they will read different velocities as the sun and clouds change the lighting conditions. They will miss shots.

 

[T-TurtleWang]

I've been using the basic magnetospeed and it works great. It's hoesntly easier to set up then the v3 and I have less errors with it. Maybe idk how to set-up the v3 but right now the sporter is so easy to set-up right everytime. I wish the v3 had the same kind of strap set up the sporter has.