seeking suggestions

[nnn66]

A friend and I have been experimenting with some long range shooting for a while now and have discovered that we have a tough time discerning hits at times. The place where we shoot is devoid of vegetation, a bit hilly, and mostly dry dirt and rocks, so we can usually see impacts from the dust that is kicked up. I'm shooting 338LM and he shoots a 300RUM. The distances we shoot are between 1000 yards and 1 mile.

We tried steel plate targets, but found that they were a pain to move and we couldn't always hear impacts, so now we are using lightweight wooden frames with cardboard attached to them. We are lacking in optics to see bullets holes that far as we are limited to an inexpensive 60X spotting scope that isn't adequate to see a bullet hole past 1000 yards. Many times, we can tell when we've hit the target because we see the target move a bit or we can see dust kicked up directly behind it, but most of the time we are uncertain. We usually shoot a few rounds and then hop on our 4 wheelers and go out to the targets to have a look.

I'm just wondering if any of you guys might have some suggestions for making it easy to see bullet strikes at that distance. I'm thinking the easiest way to do it is probably to invest in some better optics. I've also seen a thread on here about some guys who set up a remote video camera system. That seems like a great solution, but I don't know that I can invest the money in the equipment. Are there any good tricks to making a bullet hole more visible or are we just stuck with making a trip down to the target to check it out? We have found that tannerite targets make it quite obvious when we've hit, but targets start to get a little expensive when we're having a good day!

 

[White Mamba]

How about some large ballons filled with a little flour

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

all the big kids use BIG steel.......and move the fire line,

cheap black spray paint over expensive gloss enamel sometimes shows well,,,,,depending on light conditions.

or

paint opposite of above, again target position and lighting will vary results.

 

[Hairball]

Get a target cam system of some sort. The camera will be far less expensive than upgrading optics. They sell one here in the online shopping section. I am looking for something with a high def camera and display right now.

 

[nnn66]

I appreciate the responses.

Balloons might work except that it's been my experience that a miss right in front of the target can throw a lot of debris up into the target. I'm sure it would bust the balloon as I had a piece of cardboard peppered with small stones last weekend.

Big steel and moving the firing line would work except that our shooting bench is already up on the slope of a mountain and we can't move any farther back. We had to put it up there in order to be able to see our targets at these distances because the terrain is quite hilly. We tried massive steel targets at first, but they required that I drive a tractor down there whenever we wanted to move them. Hoping to keep this a little simpler.

I checked out the target cam and I really like the idea. The price seems reasonable, so I'm going to keep that one toward the top of my list.

It seems that I once saw a post on here where a guy had painted white over black plastic sheeting and bullet impacts would knock the paint off and expose a big black spot around the bullet hole. I'm planning to try that one, but am really intrigued by the target cam. If any of you guys are using this target cam system, I would be interested in hearing about your experiences with it.

 

[BullseyeCamera]

Get a target cam system of some sort. The camera will be far less expensive than upgrading optics. They sell one here in the online shopping section. I am looking for something with a high def camera and display right now.

We have an HD (several HD resolutions to choose from) version of our Bullseye Camera System releasing soon. The HD version allows additional zooming ability. With an iPad (or Android Tablet) you will get a super-crisp HD display of your target as well as shot recognition where you will see your last shot, or series of shots, flashing after you shoot.

The standard definition version has served several thousand shooters well over the past year and 1/2 since initial release, but many users want the HD support, so we are adding it of course

 

[nnn66]

I noticed that the targetcam that is sold through this site says that you must have a ham operator's license to use it. How difficult is it to get this license? The place where we shoot has absolutely no cell phone service, so anything requiring that will be of no use to us.

 

[missed]

The license is easy to get. Search for ham clubs in your area and they will get you hooked up. I have the license test help CD from last years test. There are some android phone apps that do same thing also.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[Hairball]

download the test questions (they are good for several years) and just spend a week or two going over them by reading the question and then the answer. Test is written exactly the same so when you recognize the question you should be able to get the answer. Many test sights even offer a 4-6 hour class before the test to refresh info. We had 13 and 14 year olds passing the exam when I took mine several years ago.

 

[Grizzdude]

Is your steel setup to swing when hit? I have the same problem as you guys but usually within 1 mile I can spot the big black impacts on my white IPSC size steel target. Not all the time can I see it swing or hear the impacts, only sometimes but with your 60x spotting scope you should at least be able to see the black impacts on steel (I think?). I know there are ways to build the target cam system for around $300 or less if your on a budget, probably not as nice as what bullseye offers though.

 

[nnn66]

When we were using steel, I hung the steel plate from chains off of a steel A-frame that I built for it. We could not see it swing and only sometimes could hear it. Even after going down to view the target and knowing exactly where the bullet impacts were, I still could barely make them out with the spotting scope.

Last weekend, I made up some cardboard targets, about 18 x 24 inches and wrapped the cardboard in aluminum foil for high visibility. On a couple of occasions, I could see the aluminum foil flash in the sunlight as the bullet passed through it, but it wasn't consistent that I could see that every time. The nice thing about the cardboard is that I can strap a couple of targets to the 4 wheeler and then run down range and set them up rather quickly.

Sometimes we use tannerite targets and they are a sure indication of a hit. However, at first they were unpredictable because we were putting it into glass or plastic bottles. A near miss would throw debris and shatter the bottle without setting off the tannerite. We discovered that putting it into small, flat cardboard boxes eliminated that problem. Still, the price of targets starts getting pretty high using that stuff.

We are still pretty early in the learning stages and are having a lot of fun with it regardless of the difficulties in seeing hits on the target. Many times we know that we've hit the target; we just can't see the exact point of impact. Other times, we know it was real close, but can't tell for sure. I'm going to continue looking into target cams, but will be doing more shooting before I have a chance to get one, so I'm going to try the white paint on black plastic next.

 

[Grizzdude]

Just to make sure, you paint your steel plate white? Try that if you haven't yet. I just get the .99 cent cans at walmart.