Solution for spotting hits at 1000 yard and beyond

[Sanwizard]

I’ve got a Nikon as well. My experience has been the opposite. The video quality when sending the image to an iPad is horrendous

The p900 has a nice little LCD screen. No need to send to any other device. Just pop it on a tripod or next to you if your shooting prone. The 2000mm lens is awesome. I have taken pics of Jupiters moons with that thing. Its better than most telescopes, as it also has image stabilization.

 

[mrtoyz]

The p900 has a nice little LCD screen. No need to send to any other device. Just pop it on a tripod or next to you if your shooting prone. The 2000mm lens is awesome. I have taken pics of Jupiters moons with that thing. Its better than most telescopes, as it also has image stabilization.

I find the screen to small to work effectively. Admit it’s better than having to squint one eye and look through the viewfinder tho! Lol

 

[Diver160651]

Target vision cam for me at the mile or 2000 yards. Our drone experience took too much time switching batteries and piloting at long distances. I can see drones to be helpful if there isn't good accessibility to the target though.

Good paint on the target helps a ton.

Spotting misses? If the dirt is wet, or tons of brush, pretty impossible no matter the caliber.

Any experience with the LED system at a mile or farther? Is there enough movement to set it off?

Good points -
I know we all love out toys BUT - the drone thing really is NOT great, especially for shooters wanting to shoot. That said, you can make creative videos.

There are a lot of small things that some in the thread seem to be missing. Probably the very most important is, identifying the miss in ELR. Here is what all the drone guys are missing, the miss angle no pun intended. This is also a problem for ground cam guys, bet a much easier work around. The guys at King of 2 miles also got caught by the camera angle issue and identified some of the misses on the wrong side. The camera really needs to be INLINE with the LOS. In other words, directly in front of the plate and at the plate level. It took me a year or so to figure the best way to accomplish this. At first we used AR to protect the cameras but latter used telephoto lenses. You can see the info in the thread link I posted. A misaligned camera will make a near miss appear on the wrong side of the plate. A moving drone will make this angle even harder as it is not exactly perfectly repeatable (camera angle) each time it is flown.


Magneto speed will depend on the plate size and weight paired to whatever caliber. With a 338+ it will work past 2K we had our sensors on our lights go of at almost 3K with a 24' 1/4 AR500 plate hung on a flexible hanger..

^ Funny story from above, we had a Magneto speed on a target fairly far out and left it one all day and night. The next morning, by buddy who is a very good shot brakes out his 308, later he tells me "the light stopped working", so we drove out and with one small rock triggered the light.. Note.. You have to hit the plate LOL.. He is one the Hide, so just had to bust his balls a tiny bit.

Actually a few of the guys in the photo are one the Hide.. Note some of the guys are shooting at 90° to the right of the image, so there are quite a few guys slinging lead

 

[mrtoyz]

I call Buddly on that one?

Lol. It took awhile no doubt. No claims of first round hits. Lol. We were both suprised.

 

[mrtoyz]

Good points -
I know we all love out toys BUT - the drone thing really is NOT great, especially for shooters wanting to shoot. That said, you can make creative videos.

There are a lot of small things that some in the thread seem to be missing. Probably the very most important is, identifying the miss in ELR. Here is what all the drone guys are missing, the miss angle no pun intended. This is also a problem for ground cam guys, bet a much easier work around. The guys at King of 2 miles also got caught by the camera angle issue and identified some of the misses on the wrong side. The camera really needs to be INLINE with the LOS. In other words, directly in front of the plate and at the plate level. It took me a year or so to figure the best way to accomplish this. At first we used AR to protect the cameras but latter used telephoto lenses. You can see the info in the thread link I posted. A misaligned camera will make a near miss appear on the wrong side of the plate. A moving drone will make this angle even harder as it is not exactly perfectly repeatable (camera angle) each time it is flown.


Magneto speed will depend on the plate size and weight paired to whatever caliber. With a 338+ it will work past 2K we had our sensors on our lights go of at almost 3K with a 24' 1/4 AR500 plate hung on a flexible hanger..

Funny story we had a Magneto speed on a target fairly far out and left it one all day and night. The next morning, by buddy who is a very good shot brakes out his 308, later he tells me "the light stopped working" we drove out and one small rock triggered the light.. Note.. You have to hit the plate LOL.. He is one the Hide, so just had to bust his balls a tiny bit.

Good points. Being able to accurately judge elevation and windage misses is really the key. As I’d said before what’s worked best is a multi pronged approach. LR3 camera, target light, spotter with reticle and good binos. Will add a Hawk eye to the spotter this season as well.

 

[LongshotCameras]

I'm with Longshot cameras and obviously, I'd say target cameras are the best solution but let me give you a little background on why I feel that way. We officiate multiple ELR matches every year and have had a lot of experience with spotting scopes, magnetospeed flashers, and our cameras because of that. There are certainly pros and cons to each and I've done my best to outline them below.

Spotting scopes: work great in many cases and are the only way to see trace but they are definitely limited in the south where mirage starts around 300 yards and is an issue almost year-round, and at ELR distances you just can't see an impact.

Magnetospeed flashers: work decently well BUT they will go off if you hit short and a rock hits the target, if you hit the target frame or hanger, if your bullet skips into the target.... They also go off if you hit the target but the only way to truly tell if you did or didn't is to walk down and check or verify it with a target camera

Shotmarker: I have used this system once while practicing at 1000 yards and the software interface is pretty simple and it seems to work well, but my biggest issue with it is that it projects my shot on a digital image of the target and I prefer to actually see my impact on the screen rather than a digital representation of my impact. It also requires calibration and a custom target frame with the microphone pieces preinstalled. Also, I believe is at more risk of being shot than a target camera. Again, I haven't used this system much so take my comments on this with a grain of salt.

Target cameras: In my opinion, this is the simplest and most cost effective way to verify impacts at long range and extreme long range. When running competitions, we have one camera setup at each target and are able to verify in real time if an impact was a direct hit, skip, or debris. You can also see misses pretty well with a target cam if setup correctly which is extremely helpful if you don't know where your shots are going. You can also mark and track your impacts with these to know exactly where your impact was whether you're shooting 100 yards or 2 miles. Target cameras also work great on paper and steel whereas the flashers only work on steel and the shotmarker only works with paper.

Longshot vs. other target cameras: There are a few different models of target cameras out there. Compared to the competition, longshot cameras are the highest resolution at 2688 x 1512 (2-3x the competition), longest range with a guaranteed 2-mile range, and sit 2-3x further back from the target than any other system. The system has rechargeable batteries with a run time of 9 hours, a signal strength indicator and comes in a hard carrying case. We also offer a bulletproof warranty for $39 that protects the camera for 2 years in case anyone shoots it. If interested in learning more, please check out our website: www.longshotcameras.com

 

[Diver160651]

I'm with Longshot cameras and obviously, I'd say target cameras are the best solution but let me give you a little background on why I feel that way. We officiate multiple ELR matches every year and have had a lot of experience with spotting scopes, magnetospeed flashers, and our cameras because of that. There are certainly pros and cons to each and I've done my best to outline them below.

Spotting scopes: work great in many cases and are the only way to see trace but they are definitely limited in the south where mirage starts around 300 yards and is an issue almost year-round, and at ELR distances you just can't see an impact.

Magnetospeed flashers: work decently well BUT they will go off if you hit short and a rock hits the target, if you hit the target frame or hanger, if your bullet skips into the target.... They also go off if you hit the target but the only way to truly tell if you did or didn't is to walk down and check or verify it with a target camera

Shotmarker: I have used this system once while practicing at 1000 yards and the software interface is pretty simple and it seems to work well, but my biggest issue with it is that it projects my shot on a digital image of the target and I prefer to actually see my impact on the screen rather than a digital representation of my impact. It also requires calibration and a custom target frame with the microphone pieces preinstalled. Also, I believe is at more risk of being shot than a target camera. Again, I haven't used this system much so take my comments on this with a grain of salt.

Target cameras: In my opinion, this is the simplest and most cost effective way to verify impacts at long range and extreme long range. When running competitions, we have one camera setup at each target and are able to verify in real time if an impact was a direct hit, skip, or debris. You can also see misses pretty well with a target cam if setup correctly which is extremely helpful if you don't know where your shots are going. You can also mark and track your impacts with these to know exactly where your impact was whether you're shooting 100 yards or 2 miles. Target cameras also work great on paper and steel whereas the flashers only work on steel and the shotmarker only works with paper.

Longshot vs. other target cameras: There are a few different models of target cameras out there. Compared to the competition, longshot cameras are the highest resolution at 2688 x 1512 (2-3x the competition), longest range with a guaranteed 2-mile range, and sit 2-3x further back from the target than any other system. The system has rechargeable batteries with a run time of 9 hours, a signal strength indicator and comes in a hard carrying case. We also offer a bulletproof warranty for $39 that protects the camera for 2 years in case anyone shoots it. If interested in learning more, please check out our website: www.longshotcameras.com

Well where were you in 2008-20012? Good post

How are you getting around ground effects?

 

[TACC]

Maybe it is the range conditions...but on our south florida range, in the swamp, the mirage makes it extremely difficult to spot marks on steel with white paint. I use swarovski str 80 hd, and many other shooters on range also bring good scopes, but we all struggle to be sure about hits at 1000+ yard.

I agree with you over 1000 is almost impossible to see hits through a scope, unless as some of the guys got 3 or $4000 scopes.

Still doesn't find a solution for seeing vapor trails or misses?

 

[LongshotCameras]

Well where were you in 2008-20012? Good post

How are you getting around ground effects?

What exactly do you mean by ground effects?