Do you really need an FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph?
As sportsmen and hunters, we are constantly bombarded with new technology that is marketed as “must-have” or “game-changing” technology. This is true from the clothes we wear, the gear we carry, and the tools with which we hone our marksmanship skills and harvest our game animals. For many of us who have chosen these shooting and hunting hobbies, dare I say a lifestyle, our success hinges on wringing out the highest level of performance from our shooting equipment leaving only a single factor of variability left to perfect. The shooter.
No matter if your goals are perfecting your marksmanship skills in pursuit of becoming a better competitive shooter or ensuring ethical shots on game animals and extending your effective range, single variable testing and practice, is necessary. What I mean by single variable testing is the need to know, control, or cancel out every variable in the shooting equation so you can focus on perfecting the weakest link in the overall shooting system which is YOU, the shooter. Without proper data from our shooting equipment, it is all a guess or at best going off of what the manufacturers of our ammo tell us what those data points are.
This is where the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph becomes an important piece of the equation towards precision. This revolutionary piece of equipment will inform you in real-time every bit of data you need to know without a shadow of a doubt what your projectile is doing from the muzzle to the target.
The Form Factor and Specs
When you first go down the rabbit hole of chronographs, you most likely will make the same mistake I did. There is a running joke in the big bore air gunner community of “How many Green 4-pointers have you killed?”
What that is referencing is how many light-based chronographs (the brand not to be mentioned often selected is Green) have you destroyed by accidentally shooting the chronograph right in the face. The 4 points reference the 4 metal rods that hold up the light shades above the chronograph. I have achieved the distinction over my Airgunner career of bagging 5 of these Green 4-pointers.
So how is the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph different? It uses radar. You don’t have to shoot over the top of it for it to read your velocity. I have found that as long as you keep this thing a few feet to each side of you or directly behind you, it is insanely accurate, and after thousands of shots I have taken using this chronograph, it has only not registered the shot a few times. If you have tested other radar-based chronographs, you know the frustration of no data on a frustratingly high number of your shots and wasting a ton of time and money on ammo trying to collect that data. This is where the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph is superior to every other chronograph I have tested.
So here are some quick specifications:
- No External Recoil Trigger Required
- No External Battery Pack Needed
- USB-C Rechargeable Internal Battery
- Small & Portable at 1.8lbs, 7.4” x 9.6”
- Radar Tech Works in Rain or Shine
- Large LCD Display Screen
- Optional Bluetooth Phone App
- Measures from 400 – 4,000+ fps
- Determine Actual Ballistic Coefficient
- Shows STD Deviation and Spread
- Indicates Subsonic Yardage
Velocity and Ballistic Coefficient Data
The second you pull the trigger you will get velocity data not only at the muzzle but at 4 different distances down range that you can manually select. This data is then automatically used by the software built into the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph to calculate a Ballistic Coefficient (BC) on every single shot giving you an overall average of BC for your entire shot string.
This BC data is crucial in calculating proper ballistic solutions and knowing what your holdover or click amounts are at varying distances. This will save you a TON of time and tinkering while truing your data. As an airgunner, the cost of ammo isn’t all that big of a deal since shot for shot, is the most cost-effective form of shooting, but time is money. I can shave a ton of time messing with truing up my range card and focus on shooting technique. If you are a firearm shooter, this data will save you a ton of money if you are buying off-the-shelf ammo and a ton of time if you are a hand reloader.
Subsonic Yardage?
Another cool feature is when shooting supersonic ammunition, the software will tell you at what point the projectile will enter back into the transonic velocity zone and become subsonic. I shoot a lot of .22LR and there are heated debates online about the effects of the transonic zone on the precision of these projectiles in that 32 to 40 grain size range. I had always wondered at what point does a supersonic load like a CCI Stinger 32 grain fallback subsonic.
I was interested in this data point from a hunting perspective that the best chance for precision in taking shots on a target or game animal was to know what the furthest shot distance would be while the projectile was still supersonic.
I fired a 5-shot string using the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph and the data instantly told me that a 32-grain CCI bullet stayed supersonic for 90 yards. That was a very interesting data point and was actually further than I had thought as the online forum gurus claimed the projectile snapped back almost immediately subsonic after leaving the muzzle.
Energy Data and Terminal Performance
As a big-bore airgun hunter, this data just might be some of the most important data the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph can provide. We are bombarded with marketing fluff that uses velocity and foot pounds of energy (FPE) numbers to WOW! us in this arms race of big air power that is raging in the airgun sector. We have big bore airguns now that can shoot up to 1000 FPE!
But this is where the FPE marketing data can lie to you. The real question you should be asking yourself is what will that projectile be doing at the point of impact on the big game animal that you’re pursuing, not just at the muzzle? In order to have the highest level of terminal performance of your projectile, having the most energy possible at the point of impact is critical.
When testing your equipment with the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph you can see not only what the FPE is at the muzzle, but also at each yardage down range. This is critical in your ammo selection and even what big-bore airgun you may need based on the hunting distances you normally hunt. Where the data may lie to you for instance is you could have a .72 cal big bore airgun creating 1000 FPE at the muzzle, but the velocity is so slow from hurling a massive hunk of lead, your shot trajectory is insanely loopy.
If you know you may be taking shots beyond 100 yards, you may run the data and see a smaller caliber, like a .457 that can still sling an ethical FPE but have a higher velocity shooting higher BC slugs, having a flatter trajectory to your intended target while maintaining ethical FPE levels at every yardage. For me, I like to keep that number above 300 FPE for deer at any given yardage, and with the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph I can see that FPE level all the way downrange.
Just for rifles? Nope.
I have found a unique use for the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph with my Ravin R10X crossbow. Since the radar can pick up projectiles from 400-4000 FPS, I figured I would test it with my crossbow. I have a true velocity reading now for my Ravin that it is actually pushing 425 FPS. I just manually set the 4 down range yardages to 15-30-45-60 yards for a typical shot yardage with a crossbow.
I have been testing the Element Optics Ballistics App and HYPR7 optic with the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph and that combination has made me DATA DEADLY! The data provided by the chronograph is entered into the ballistics app which then Bluetooth pairs with my HYPR7 scope and without doing any calculations or messing with the zoom on my optic, the scope creates a drop compensation reticle on the fly with the Element Optics LIVE BDC reticle technology. With that data alone, I am able to hit apple-sized targets out to 55 yards (my personal limit for ethical crossbow shots on Deer).
Do you REALLY need an FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph?
After testing this unit for the last 6 months, my answer is a resounding – YES. I never go to the range without it. So in closing my final thoughts are this…. Having all the data from the FX True Ballistics Radar Chronograph gives you the time to spend on perfecting what matters most in the overall shooting system. You.
Blog Post by Chris Turek – UpNorthAirgunner
