My LabRadar Arrived in the Nor’east Blizzard – Update Test 1

Posted on by

See end of Article for Update.

Watching the snow fall in mid-morning March 13, 2108, UPS was out making deliveries like Santa at Christmas time and at my doorstep was a package I was expecting. It was the LabRadar Chronograph which uses Doppler radar to determine the speed of your bullet. Instead of watching the snow I could check out the LabRadar unit and install new firmware off the web. It was easy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a special adapter trigger, it can read arrow speed too. Error rate is 0.1%. It can read incremental speed at some yardages as your bullet travels down range. I purchased the bench mount base ($40) so it is stable.

I purchased the carry case for another ($40) the total cost puts folks over $600 but some folks can share it and split the cost of ownership. Since I do lots of testing it made sense.

The archery trigger cost is $45 dollars.

Upon validating package contents, I read the user manual and went on “youtube labradar channel” and saw the many video’s.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWLcaC5zBL-ZcdLZS9BRmKg

 

This unit is a great “easy to set up” tool for those of us who reload our own ammo or desire to know which powder/bullet combo is better for either hunting or competitive target shooting and calculates Standard Deviation of your string.

Soon as the snow lets us we can get to the range and see the LabRadar in action.

I called them to say we received it. The carry case was on back order but informed that it just shipped.

UPDATE

Test Day 1 March 16, 2018 Temperature 30 degrees. Used AA batteries. Shooting 6.5 Creedmoor with 142 grain Sierra HPBT with 45 grains Superformance powder.

First thing I did was to turn on so I could see the blue LED and select a new string, arm the unit so LED is Amber and fire a shot. It said that the Doppler could not find my bullet. Ok, got to be sure that the unit is pointing at your target.  Must have been off a bit. I selected a new string and adjusted and fired. Vel; was 192 meters/sec. Oh my, must change that to fps so I went into the menu and made changes. Accordingly added a string 3 and ARMED unit and fired my rifle three times. Vο= 2570 fps V=2540, V=2535 fps and gave me some down range velocities and energies that I did not set yet.

The unit worked nicely. The book says to use a tube or straw to point the unit for best results. See new image below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted in Chronographs and Radar by Ed Hale. Bookmark the permalink.

About Ed Hale

I am an avid hunter with rifle and Bow and have been hunting for more than 50 years. I have taken big game such as whitetail deer, red deer, elk, Moose and African Plains game such as Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok, Blesbok, and Impala and wrote an ebook entitled African Safari -Rifle and Bow and Arrow on how to prepare for a first safari. Ed is a serious cartridge reloader and ballistics student. He has earned two degrees in science and has written hundreds of outdoor article on hunting with both bow and rifle.