Oehler Chronograph mod.

[smokeeter]

I've been shooting sabotless for almost 3 yrs now and never had to worry too much about stray sabots damaging the sensors or diffusers on my chronograph. Well it finally happened, I started to rework some loads for my .50 cal. savages and low and behold 3 hits in that day alone.
I know that there have been some shield boxes constructed for various other chronographs so I got the wheels turning and came up with a protector for my older oehler 35.
At first I was going to try to come up with a steel protector but then I rethought the idea and really didn't want to have anything that could deflect a bullet and create a bigger problem , so I decided a plywood shield would protect enough for sabots and eat a bullet if it so happened.
The Oehler uses a conduit in either 2 ft or 4 ft length , since the sensors are set up a specific distances I first needed to get a longer rail to accommodate the shields, 28 in. fit the bill for my 2 ft. set up. I cut some hardwood blocks and drilled them to fit some old 2219 arrow shafts I had laying around, then I glued the blocks to the V plywood shields that I cut to fit the sensors on the Oehler. I then drilled and 11/16 hole in the plywood to fit the rail ahead of the sensor and glued them in place to prevent movement.
This was a very easy project to complete and quite effective in solving the problem of stray sabots.
here are a few pics of the modification.


Here's one of the busted sensor protectors. luckily the eye wasn't damaged and is still functional.

[Al]

been there, done that with shotgun sbots. Ended up having buddy box mine in with 1/2" plywood and attaching it to a survevors tripod, a bit bulky, but sabot proof and adjustable to no end now.

[Richard]

Nice set up Paul!
Richard

[Jon]

Paul. Great idea and well thought out I'm impressed.
Jon

[Al]

what are you going to use for diffusers?

[smokeeter]

Sept 22, 2010 7:27:58 GMT -5 Al said:

what are you going to use for diffusers?

I'll jury rig the old ones ( when needed) so far the speeds are consistant without them, I don't feel like busting any of them up, I haven't got a replacement as of yet.

[Al]

maybe rig up some thinner white plastic like the Chrony's have???

[smokeeter]

I might just cut a couple of strips of white plasticore about 2 in. wide and pop a couple of holes at either end to fit over the arrow shafts. Cheap and easy.

[smokeeter]

Just an update on the effectiveness of the plywood shields. I got away from shooting sabotless loads in my .45 and had an occasion to shoot three of our .50 cal savages with saboted loads and never realized what a hazard they are to chronographs until I saw the results embedded in the 3/4 in. plywood.
Heres a pic of the front protector which has at least 3 impressions of 50 cal. sabots and the center shield has one on the upper right portion.
I figured I would make a shield for each of the sky screens and I'm glad I did, I don't think that a protector at the front is enough.
The eyes don't seem to any worse for wear at least for the time being.

[craigf]

Smokeeter, with as much as that thing is worth, great job!

[spaniel]

Nice project. I never got around to doing this for my Chrony, so I tape a piece of plywood over the front screen and only use it on days when I don't use the diffusers. If I need something to help align it I use uncooked spaghetti in place of the steel rods for the diffusers, since the rods go right into the eye unit and hitting one with a sabot would certainly bust the whole unit up.