DBChaffin Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 For what its worth, I have a Mk IV that I got from Flexmoney, and it works great. I did not get the chrono "rail" which does not come with it. Brian has the rail for sale in his store. I recommend purchasing that as an option, but being somewhat creative and having a brother who is a welder, we made one instead. It looks pretty good and appears to be spot on 2' from center to center of the sensors, and I HAVE put my Mk IV chrono head to head with other machines. An Oehler 3 screen, and Oehler 2 screen, another Pact, and a ProChrono to be specific. If my chrono was directly behind the Oehlers and the other Pact, it ran somewhere around 6-8 fps slow. If in front, it ran about 0-2 fps slow. This was consistent, shot to shot, as long as I tried it. I was VERY pleased. The ProChrono results were similar but not quite as consistent shot to shot. Not being able to test it against the other 3 chrono's at the time, I blame it and trust my Pact. I figure my homemade rail is a couple thousandths long. So basically, my chrono is 3-4 fps slow on average (taking the average of the back and front numbers above since the bullet is slowing some over the distance). Not enough to worry with, and heck, it gives a few fps more comfort when I go to visit chronoman at a match. I had a little trouble finding one (I checked with Brian first of course!) but I just ordered one of the nifty infrared printers to go with my Mk IV. Not even an option on other lesser timers. Great purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 TDean, I just sent you an email regarding your PACT order. PACT is offering, unbeknownst to me until this AM, a free mounting rod and rcbs powder check die as a Christmas special - good until 1/15. So, I had them upgrade your order when I placed itl Thanks! be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Thanky you sir, I replied to you email. I would like to reiterate....... You are Da'Man !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crawdad Posted January 5, 2002 Author Share Posted January 5, 2002 Dang it! Now I've got to decide between the Dillon 650 I've been slobbering all over myself for and the MKIV. Can't get both right now. Which do I go for first. Oh the pain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted January 5, 2002 Share Posted January 5, 2002 Get the reloader first friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crawdad Posted January 5, 2002 Author Share Posted January 5, 2002 TD, sounds like good advice. Believe I'll do just that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chp5 Posted January 16, 2002 Share Posted January 16, 2002 Thanks for all the replies. Based on your recommendations, I just bought a MKIV from our host. Thanks Brian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chp5 Posted January 16, 2002 Share Posted January 16, 2002 Brain, I just ordered the MKIV from you as well (Claudius Pritchard). Can you upgrade my order like TDEan's too?? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted January 16, 2002 Share Posted January 16, 2002 I called Brian yesterday to whine about the fact that the timer hasn't shon up yet. The word from PACT is they sold out over Christmas and are currently building more. They say by the end of the month(Jan) they should be shipping the new ones. Yippeeeee, a custom built timer!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenG Posted January 17, 2002 Share Posted January 17, 2002 Hey Brian, Do you think PACT will ship my scale first? I am chomping on the bit to start reloading. I keep looking at that lonely SDB press in the garage. It is killing me to have to wait 3 more weeks. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted January 17, 2002 Share Posted January 17, 2002 Did they sell out of scales too?!! Man, that's some hot stuff....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted January 17, 2002 Share Posted January 17, 2002 chp5, And thank you! You'll love it. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted February 1, 2002 Share Posted February 1, 2002 I recieved the timer, skyscreens, mounting bar and coupon for a RCBS "powder lock-out die". Yippee! Boy the MKIV has a lot of features! I have a few questions for those who know: 1) Can I adjust the loudness of the "BBBEEEP"? 2) Can I adjust the sensitivity of the shot sensor? 3) Can someone give me an example of how they use the "Cadence" function? Thanks Brian, this looks like years of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 I've never used the cadence function, but I think if I had to shoot standards, or practice for Bianchi, then cadence might just be the ticket to teach me proper pacing, i.e. using the bulk of the available time without going over the limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 OK, I just got my PACT too and frankly it's pissing me off. I accidentally pushed the RPM button which puts in into machine gun mode (reads shots of less than .1 sec). Well, now the friggin start beep is registering as the first 1-5 shots on the timer. I can't get it back out of MG mode. Powering off and on has no effect. Ideas? Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 SHIT....!! it's doing the same thing yours is!! It's reading 5 shots in .45 sec, that sucks... Someone help! I'll put my $$ on software glitch Eric. It seems we should be able to simply get out of RPM mode by pressing the TIME button or turning the unit off to reset everything. Nothing's working and the directions don't mention getting out of RPM mode. Dammit!, the one function I couldn't care less about and it frick'n the up the program, ..literally! (Edited by TDean at 7:43 am on Feb. 2, 2002) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 TDean, We're thinking along the same groove. I think they have may a bad burn of EEPROM - it happens to us at work occasionally. I'm going to call them today (in vain) or Monday. If they won't fix it, I'm going to ask them to release the source code and I'll fix the goddamn thing myself. Also, I'm going to work up a fix for the speaker volume and post it in my web space. I broke the case apart and the speaker is wired in, so it should be nothing to put a trim pot in-line. The speaker is just WAY too loud for indoor use while dry firing. The only good thing about all this is that reprogramming the unit is as simple as pulling the EEPROM and putting in a new one. One way or another we can make these suckers work. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 What's an EEPROM? To combat the loud speaker noise, I put 2 layers of masking tape over the speaker vents. This cuts the noise in half ! Can you think of a fix for the shot sensitivity? I want it more sensitive, so it can hear a hammer fall (dry fire). I called PACT this morning; they don't have an answering machine nor do they have an Email address posted on their website!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 EEPROM - Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. In other words it is a microchip that has the programming on it. You can change/update the software on your PACT by swapping this chip. Unfortunately, bad burns of EEPROMS are not uncommon. You shouldn't have to put masking tape over anything with the PACT. The primary reason I bought it was so I didn't have to "calibrate" the microphone or speaker with tape. For all the glowing reviews of the PACT, my unit has been a bust. What a disappointment. Upping the gain on the microphone so a hammer click triggers the unit is probably a pretty dicey proposition. Better to buy a low end unit and modify it for that purpose alone as I doubt you'll be able to easily "ungain" it. You also may be able to use an external mic on a stand with an amplifier and run that to the stop plate input jack. CED's are designed for this - don't know about the PACT. You may have to put a relay in between to give the PACT a dry contact signal. E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 It's a crime they don't op-check 'em before the they leave the factory! I know they were totally out of stock a couple weeks ago, so this latest batch they've built and shipped are probably all bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted February 3, 2002 Share Posted February 3, 2002 That's what really has me tweaked about this. This could have been detected with a 10 second QC check. All they had to do was turn it on and press GO to know it was bad. E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Bagoly Posted February 3, 2002 Share Posted February 3, 2002 Mine is several years old, and it works like it should. Just curious, I have REV. B4. What version is the latest? When mine was built, they pinched the wires between the case halves, and put a screw through a few of them. I had to separate the case and reroute the wires to get it to run properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nmchenry Posted February 3, 2002 Share Posted February 3, 2002 I am fortunate that my Pact is older and does not have the problem you have. It does sound like a software glitch but I am wondering if taking the batteries out might help. It does when our fancy TI calculators get hung on something and powering off won't correct the problem. I know zero about electronics so perhaps the timer has no memory whereas the calculator does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted February 3, 2002 Share Posted February 3, 2002 My PACT is Rev. B4. But that really doesn't mean anything as the programmer is resposible for updating the rev. The Pulling the battery has no effect - good idea, but no dice. I thought that would force it to do a core dump too, but no joy. E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted February 4, 2002 Share Posted February 4, 2002 We'll get on them tomorrow Eric. I hope they can just send another "chip", instead of us having to ship it back and forth again.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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