I needed a chronograph, wanted an Oehler, but could not deal with the size and shape of the Oehler 35P complete package of items (rifle size case full of chronograph, sensors, screens, rail, etc.), as my wife and I live full-time in an RV now.
The CED M2 chronograph was recommended by a number of forum member, and also on other websites, as the next best thing. It is a LOT smaller, and packs, even with a separately purchased, high quality (stable) tripod into 2 very small bags.
It is also VERY user friendly, with a control console that is not much harder to understand and use than a calculator with modest "features".
It's an ideal package for me - if it worked reliably.
But, after 3 weeks and 3 range sessions, I realize, and have now confirmed, that I have run into a few problems. Let's go through them, starting with simple ones first, and moving into the more complex ones. Note that I am NOT comparing the CED M2 to any other chronograph when noting those problems. I am simply pointing out what does not work as well as it needs to for reasonable satisfaction for a buyer.
SCREEN STABILITY:
The screens when mounted on the rail and attached to a tripod are a huge lightweight sail in even a 5 to 10 mph wind. Without countermeasures, the entire screen and tripod assembly will fall over, even WITH a pretty good $85) tripod, because the screens have great leverage over the tripod. I solved that by using a tripod that has a hook from which a stabling weight can be hung. On that hook, I hang my range bag, in which I insert several pounds of ROCKS.
That problem I view as solvable and not a crisis.
SHORT CABLES:
The cables that connect the screens to the console are only 20 feet long. That is already short, but it gets a little worse. The cables, in going from the screens to the console on the shooting bench, have to go down to the ground, across the ground, and then up to the tabletop, and then back at least 2 feet (so the darn console is not pulled off the table when the screens get blown over by the wind ). And, the STOP sensor is 2 feet further out than the START sensor, so you lose another 2 feet there. Realistically, this all limits you to about 12 feet from the shooting tabletop edge to the front sensor. That's if you don't stick the muzzle of your rifle over the edge of the tabletop! Realsitically, you lose another foot there, so now you are at 11 feet maximum from the muzzle to the START sensor.
The cure I thought MIGHT work, and DOES, is going down to your local Radio Shack store and buying a 6 foot 1/8 inch size TRG (Tip-Ring-Ground) cable, with male and female ends that match the screen cables and the console. I went all out, and paid the darn $30 for the very best gold-plated contacts version, just so I could say I gave this rig the very best test. They DO work, in the sense that the unit functions equally with or without them attached. They do allow me to position the unit out an additional 6 feet. That's the good news. The bad news is that they made no difference - they did not solve the muzzle blast problems noted below.
REACTIVITY TO MUZZLE BLAST:
This is a biggie. The unit reacts adversely to rifles' (note: plural of rifles, not just one rifle) muzzle blast. When I fire my 308, the unit sometimes works ok, but other times errors out right after firing. When I fire my 338 Lapua, the unit errors out just about EVERY time, but still sometimes catches the shot FIRST, and then errors out. When my friend with the Windrunenr in 338 Lapua fired HIS rifle, with its 30 inch barrel, the unit errored out EVERY time period. 15 shots in a row.
How do I know it is the muzzle blast. Simple. See directly below.
REACTIVITY TO MUZZLE BLAST FROM OTHER SHOOTING POSITIONS!!
This is a REAL problem. I noticed during the first range session, after about a dozen errors had occurred, and I had wasted a good chunk of my $1.10 per round 338 hand loads, that the unit immediately errors out anytime ANY rifle, ANYwhere on the firing line, even if 10 stations away, fires!
I'm not kidding.
Anyone who doubts my word is welcome to join me at Best of the West Shooting Range in Liberty Hill, Texas on almost any weekend, and see for themselves. A rifle fires, the unit errors out. I hit the CLR button, and try to fire my rifle before anyone else fires again (no joking). After I fire, IF it accepted the shot and gave me what looks like an accurate reading, it STILL errors out, and I have t clear it again before my next shot.
Maybe it's the roof over the firing positions that somehow causes this effect, but then don't almost ALL ranges have roofs over the firing positions?
I haven't found a solution to this problem, other than going to the range when the number of shooters there is likely to be low. This means when it is dark, or raining, or miserably cold. I don't regard this as a good solution.
A couple of people have suggested moving the screens even further out. That would certainly attenuate any muzzle blast from my and all other shooting positions, but: (1) remember the cables are already extended,a nd I don't know how much more they could be extended without creating problems, and (2) the further out the screens are from the bring line, the more precise their positioning must be to prevent shooting them, and (3) at this range where "cease fires" are the only chance to change targets, and ceasefires are called only every 75 to 90 minutes, people routinely crossfire to shoot at a still unshod target, and the screens won't show in a high magnification scope, so would be easily shot!
I'm not sure what to do.
I don't think the infrared screens would help, as they would provide a more consistent foolproof LIGHT signal, but they would not eliminate the reactivity to muzzle blast.
By the way, when I fired my carry piece through the screens, the 357 SIG round, zipping along at 1350 fps did error the unit, BUT like my 2 rifles, the unit did still capture each shot accurately first before erroring out from the muzzle blast.
I would really like to get this unit working properly, because I really like the interface, and I see that the results are very repeatable in terms of numbers delivered. But, the problems are driving me nuts.
Ideas?
Please do not suggest elaborate housings to isolate the sensors better from muzzle blast. Remember the size constraints that led me to this unit in the first place?
Besides, a housing would have to be incredibly heavy too, so that it would not fall over in the wind. And, shooters at nearby stations would find it in their way when cross firing to a "clean" target. And, I doubt that the range would allow me to set up a fortress on the firing range anyway.
Fire away with GOOD, practical, ideas.
Jim G
p.s. I have witnesses to all the above.
The CED M2 chronograph was recommended by a number of forum member, and also on other websites, as the next best thing. It is a LOT smaller, and packs, even with a separately purchased, high quality (stable) tripod into 2 very small bags.
It is also VERY user friendly, with a control console that is not much harder to understand and use than a calculator with modest "features".
It's an ideal package for me - if it worked reliably.
But, after 3 weeks and 3 range sessions, I realize, and have now confirmed, that I have run into a few problems. Let's go through them, starting with simple ones first, and moving into the more complex ones. Note that I am NOT comparing the CED M2 to any other chronograph when noting those problems. I am simply pointing out what does not work as well as it needs to for reasonable satisfaction for a buyer.
SCREEN STABILITY:
The screens when mounted on the rail and attached to a tripod are a huge lightweight sail in even a 5 to 10 mph wind. Without countermeasures, the entire screen and tripod assembly will fall over, even WITH a pretty good $85) tripod, because the screens have great leverage over the tripod. I solved that by using a tripod that has a hook from which a stabling weight can be hung. On that hook, I hang my range bag, in which I insert several pounds of ROCKS.
SHORT CABLES:
The cables that connect the screens to the console are only 20 feet long. That is already short, but it gets a little worse. The cables, in going from the screens to the console on the shooting bench, have to go down to the ground, across the ground, and then up to the tabletop, and then back at least 2 feet (so the darn console is not pulled off the table when the screens get blown over by the wind
The cure I thought MIGHT work, and DOES, is going down to your local Radio Shack store and buying a 6 foot 1/8 inch size TRG (Tip-Ring-Ground) cable, with male and female ends that match the screen cables and the console. I went all out, and paid the darn $30 for the very best gold-plated contacts version, just so I could say I gave this rig the very best test. They DO work, in the sense that the unit functions equally with or without them attached. They do allow me to position the unit out an additional 6 feet. That's the good news. The bad news is that they made no difference - they did not solve the muzzle blast problems noted below.
REACTIVITY TO MUZZLE BLAST:
This is a biggie. The unit reacts adversely to rifles' (note: plural of rifles, not just one rifle) muzzle blast. When I fire my 308, the unit sometimes works ok, but other times errors out right after firing. When I fire my 338 Lapua, the unit errors out just about EVERY time, but still sometimes catches the shot FIRST, and then errors out. When my friend with the Windrunenr in 338 Lapua fired HIS rifle, with its 30 inch barrel, the unit errored out EVERY time period. 15 shots in a row.
How do I know it is the muzzle blast. Simple. See directly below.
REACTIVITY TO MUZZLE BLAST FROM OTHER SHOOTING POSITIONS!!
This is a REAL problem. I noticed during the first range session, after about a dozen errors had occurred, and I had wasted a good chunk of my $1.10 per round 338 hand loads, that the unit immediately errors out anytime ANY rifle, ANYwhere on the firing line, even if 10 stations away, fires!
I'm not kidding.
Anyone who doubts my word is welcome to join me at Best of the West Shooting Range in Liberty Hill, Texas on almost any weekend, and see for themselves. A rifle fires, the unit errors out. I hit the CLR button, and try to fire my rifle before anyone else fires again (no joking). After I fire, IF it accepted the shot and gave me what looks like an accurate reading, it STILL errors out, and I have t clear it again before my next shot.
Maybe it's the roof over the firing positions that somehow causes this effect, but then don't almost ALL ranges have roofs over the firing positions?
I haven't found a solution to this problem, other than going to the range when the number of shooters there is likely to be low. This means when it is dark, or raining, or miserably cold. I don't regard this as a good solution.
A couple of people have suggested moving the screens even further out. That would certainly attenuate any muzzle blast from my and all other shooting positions, but: (1) remember the cables are already extended,a nd I don't know how much more they could be extended without creating problems, and (2) the further out the screens are from the bring line, the more precise their positioning must be to prevent shooting them, and (3) at this range where "cease fires" are the only chance to change targets, and ceasefires are called only every 75 to 90 minutes, people routinely crossfire to shoot at a still unshod target, and the screens won't show in a high magnification scope, so would be easily shot!
I'm not sure what to do.
I don't think the infrared screens would help, as they would provide a more consistent foolproof LIGHT signal, but they would not eliminate the reactivity to muzzle blast.
By the way, when I fired my carry piece through the screens, the 357 SIG round, zipping along at 1350 fps did error the unit, BUT like my 2 rifles, the unit did still capture each shot accurately first before erroring out from the muzzle blast.
I would really like to get this unit working properly, because I really like the interface, and I see that the results are very repeatable in terms of numbers delivered. But, the problems are driving me nuts.
Ideas?
Please do not suggest elaborate housings to isolate the sensors better from muzzle blast. Remember the size constraints that led me to this unit in the first place?
Besides, a housing would have to be incredibly heavy too, so that it would not fall over in the wind. And, shooters at nearby stations would find it in their way when cross firing to a "clean" target. And, I doubt that the range would allow me to set up a fortress on the firing range anyway.
Fire away with GOOD, practical, ideas.
Jim G
p.s. I have witnesses to all the above.
