OEHLER's New System 89 Chronograph

Measuring Bullet Performance Downrange

- Rick Jamison

The System 89 equipment is minimal at the firing point. Aside from a normal chronograph setup, there is a computer and a radio with an antenna on a tripod.

Imagine watching your shots grow into a cluster on a laptop computer screen as you fire at long distance. Velocity figures appear and a proof channel verifies each recording is valid. Time of fight is there, along with ballistic coefficient (BC), velocity at the target, horizontal and vertical shot dispersion, group size and radial group standard deviation. Average, standard deviation, the fastest shot, slowest shot and extreme spread emerge for all the numbers mentioned above. While this may sound too awesome to be true, that is what Oehler's new System 89 does and a whole lot more.

J.T. Parr is standing between the PVC bar with four microphones and the radio on a tripod. PVC extensions on the bar are stabilizers for microphone orientation.

The target with the orange bullseye serves as an aiming point. This same target is used for a full day's shooting without being replaced. The System 89 program records everything necessary, including group position and size.

"Time of bullet flight is everything." Those are the words of Ken Oehler, inventor, developer, producer and supplier of test systems for the entire shooting industry – private, commercial, industrial and governmental. If the piece is handheld, shoulder-fired, or if the projectile comes from artillery or a tank, an Oehler system can measure the performance. In the field of ballistics measurement, Ken knows whereof he speaks. An accurate flight time is the key for velocity, energy, drop and wind deflection - everything, just as Ken said.