[Smokey Joe]

Shootest--A few years ago I lucked into a great price on a Shooting Chrony Gamma Master, so I bought it.

Have never been sorry for a moment that I did. The high-end chronograph has all its "brains" on your shooting bench--The sensor unit has only the sensors, so if you shoot that, there are only the sensors to replace.

The SCGM also keeps track of how many shots you've taken, and works up the math for 10-shot groups, doing FPS of each bullet, average FPS, high and low FPS, and the standard of deviation for that group. Then it prints it all up on adding-machine tape (which I tear off and tape to the target in question.)

There is no math for you to do, no writing down of anything, no keeping track. YOU concentrate on doing the shooting (and making sure to miss the sensors!) The gadget does all the rest.

BTW, Shooting Chrony recommends that you replace the supplied steel sunshade supports with wooden dowel rods, so when you shoot the support, you don't damage the base the rod fits into. I just got the smallest dowel rods I could, cut them to length, and sharpened them down to fit the holes in the base and the sunshade.

(A thought for ANY chronograph...) I obtained a used fishing tackle box that will hold all the Shooting Chrony stuff, plus all the ancillary junk like an extra battery and a spare roll of adding machine tape and spare dowel rods. And a couple of pencils and a roll of Scotch tape. When I want to take the chronograph to the range, all I have to grab is the one tackle box, plus the El Cheapo Wally World photographers' tripod the sensor unit mounts on.

Anyhow, if you can get a good price on a Shooting Chrony Gamma Master, that IMHO would be the way to go.