Chrony tips / tricks?

[punkwood2k]

I have a bottom run Chronograph looking for help with.. its a "Shooting Chrony" chrono, for about $150 or so. The problem is that I can only make it to the range in the midafternoon, and around 3pm, it seems to stop working.. It no longer "sees" the bullets from what I can tell, probably due to the low angle of sunlight canceling out the shadow the chrono cues off of..

Any advice on what I can do to help the chrony "see" the bullet? I've heard of coloring the bullet black with a sharpie... ever do that?

 

[Squid284]

I've had a chrony and pro-chrono, both were very finicky with lighting with or without sky screens. Very frustrating to setup and get no (or weird) readings. My best results were at high noon and sending bullets through the same window, dead center and half way up the rods.

I have not used the magnetospeed in the dark while it was raining yet, but I would trust that data over the other two.

 

[reelserious]

I always try to go around noon as the sun is high in the sky. However if you can only go later in the day you may need to try something else. I saw a guy one time tilt his whole chrono over to the side facing the sun at about a 30 deg angle. He then tilted the rifle over to match the angle and used it that way. I don't know the results but it seemed like it might help.

 

[VTSEAL]

I wonder why the guy tilted the rifle??? As long as you shoot through the center of the vanes, the orientation of the rifle makes no difference. Using a cheap laser bore sight tool to align the bore/chrono is the easiest trick I have found for aligning a traditional chronograph. Good thing he didn't set up the chrono backwards or he would have probably been shooting the rifle toward himself!