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CHRONY Beta Master chronograph

CHRONY Beta Master chronograph

A chronograph is an essential part of my equipment. Over the years I have had quite a few machines so I jumped at the chance to try the new CHRONY Beta Master, which takes a lot of the physical and mental leg work out of the job. At an agreeable sub-£140, it is a competent machine that will do everything I require. Incidentally I have owned seven chrono’s over the years - six of which died in spectacular, gun-related accidents; for that read not aiming properly though not all by me. Not sure if that’s a record, the seventh happily passed away from old age.

High and Wide

The CHRONY design is distinctive with a compact, hinged, steel body (threaded for a tripod) that folds into itself, which is colour-coded; in this case blue. This holds the two timer sensors and also mounts the sky screens that provide the essential shadow in bright light. Two sets of four rods are provided and six sky screen sections so you can if required mount them low or higher and wider. There’s no integral display screen, but a small remote unit/controller, which offers easy viewing and operation from the firing position, plus there’s less chance of blast damage as with a muzzle-facing display. Power is supplied by a PP9 battery.

The remote unit is the brain and stores data and can connect to a PC for downloading. The memory holds up to 60 shots that can be divided into 10-shot strings if required, this capacity can be upgraded to 1000-shots. In essence each model is an improvement from the one below with extra features added. So what do you get?

• Numbered shot velocities
• Display remains until the next shot
• One string from 2 – 32-shot memory
• Measures high, low and average velocities
• Shows ES (extreme spread) and SD (standard deviation) variations
• Feet and metres per second selection
• Retrieval of individual shot velocities
• Deletes individual shots from memory and automatically adjusts figures
• 60-shot memory
• Remote can be switched off and removed for information retrieval
• Moves instantly from string to string
• Interrupts shooting on any string without memory loss
• Each string delivers its own statistics

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Set Up

The Beta Master comes with a length of remote cable that uses telephone jacks to connect the sensor array to the remote display. This can also be used for connecting to a PC. There is a separate battery cable that will give power to the remote alone for checking/downloading data; the battery fits into the main body for range use. Controls consists of three buttons along the top - FU, FORGET and ST (far right), lower left is the ON/OFF switch. On the left side is a printer connection socket.

Before starting you will need to clear any factory data, this is done by the FORGET button. You must bear in mind that all data collected is in temporary memory only, so switching off will delete it. After 10-shots the display will show Ln (last number) indicating the string is full. If you fire another then you will lose the first reading of the initial string.

Basic and Advanced

Pressing the ST button will save the data and open a new string to use. Likewise you can use ST and FU together to scroll through the shot strings. Space does not permit a full explanation of all functions; suffice to say read the manual. I found it easy to use the Beta as a basic shoot and see machine by firing a few shots then using the controls to display Hi, Low and Average speeds, along with ES and SD. Obviously the longer the shot string, the greater the accuracy of the information.

Conversely you can save it all to take it home for full analysis. Regardless of how you do it the CHRONY Beta Master is an impressive and practical design that offers a high degree of ability that will suit any shooter who wants to know more about what their guns and ammo are doing.

  • CHRONY Beta Master chronograph - image {image:count}

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  • CHRONY Beta Master chronograph - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • CHRONY Beta Master chronograph - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • CHRONY Beta Master chronograph - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

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