Target Cams

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JFrank

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so at our local 600 yard event, some of the fellas are bringing these target cams to get dialed in really good.
So now they are absolutely destroying the x ring at 600 more than ever before ok.
So what little chance the average guy without the $10k rifle had just went away.
So here’s my question- how should I respond?
Say nothing ...
Say hey what’s up with that ..
Go somewhere else ..
J
 
What do these do that a good spotting scope doesn't do? Real question, IDK much about competitive long-range shooting.
 
So before these, they couldn't accurately identify where the bullets were hitting? Don't high-level long-range competitions typically involve spotters in butts/pits doing the same thing? I would have assumed that competitive long-distance shooters generally have some fairly reliable means of seeing where their rounds are hitting. Is that not right?
 
At a a sanctioned Benchrest event people are in the pits marking all competitors hits during the sight in period you are able to see fairly well (but not perfectly like a target cam 10 feet away . ) Then at the call to go hot no more help is aloud not even with the person at the bench next to you.
F class is different, each shot is marked for you or an E target is used.
This is totally different whereas I feel the guys that don’t have a target cam are at a huge disadvantage.
Just wondering if I’m being petty
 
I have been out of rifle shooting for a while, all mine was F class with markers applied in the pits or BPCR silhouette with instant gratification.
My LR friend reports that electronic targets are getting more and more common.

I never saw a 600 yard walkdown match.

A target camera is no more expensive than a good spotting scope. Tool up.
 
Perhaps you missed the point.
Let’s put a hundred dollars on the table ok, you sight I’m from 600 yards and I’ll sight in from 10 feet and we will see who gets the highest x count for that hundred dollar bill
 
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You can get a new drone with a 720p video camera for under $60. You can likely get one that is busted and can’t fly anymore for about nothing.

Download the app to your phone and chunk the busted thing down by your target and you get this.

6B0AC7DD-4D76-4208-9169-91E113CDB737.jpeg

Cheaper than any marketed “target camera” and a lot less than real good glass.

If the goal is for everyone to get better I really dislike handicaps on winners, would much rather allow the others improve too.
 
I thought this was a competition forum!

It is, and most competitors are long since reconciled to the notion that shooting games are mixed skill/gear enterprises, and that there will always be some other thing to spend money on if one is looking to chase every edge.

Sometimes, certain categories of gear are so overwhelmingly advantageous that they truly remove all challenge (clearly not applicable here - one of those scopes that automatically triggers the shot on its own is the kind of thing that would qualify) or need to be segregated to only compete against others in the same category/division. Where the lines are on the latter is a judgment call, but what you're describing seems to me (a competitive pistol shooter who only dabbles in riflelry on a casual/recreational basis) to simply be an alternative approach to several traditional, and non-core-skill testing, tools/techniques. Some of the nicer ranges are now building target cameras and electronic scoring right into the range itself. Shooters have always had access to spotting scopes, and more expensive scopes do a better job of making holes clearly visible. Higher-level competitions often have people marking shots in real time in the butts. As jmorris said, this avenue is far cheaper than investing in the kind of spotting scope glass that will let you see holes at 600 yards.

I guess I think either you've been able to see your hits in the past, in which case this isn't really a material advantage, or you haven't. If you haven't, this just opened up another, potentially cheaper, way to solve this problem.
 
Glad to see I’ve gathered some interest, at a sanctioned event this would not be allowed. Period
Anyone caught using electronic advantages , your DQ
 
Sanctioned by whom? As Dave says, many ranges provide cameras or e-targets. Pits are expensive to build and rotating through pit changes takes time. I know the CMP range at Talladega has a very nice setup. On the other hand, one range lost business because poor linkage from target to tablet dragged out the matches.
 
You can get a new drone with a 720p video camera for under $60. You can likely get one that is busted and can’t fly anymore for about nothing.

Download the app to your phone and chunk the busted thing down by your target and you get this.

View attachment 860509

Cheaper than any marketed “target camera” and a lot less than real good glass.

If the goal is for everyone to get better I really dislike handicaps on winners, would much rather allow the others improve too.

That's an awesome idea, but does wifi or bluetooth go 600 yards?
 
That’s a good point and I am not sure how far they go.

On this project I used a directional RX and remote TX camera that I also have used on rockets and other RC stuff. You have to have line of sight but I do know it works out that far.

 
Sanctioned by whom? As Dave says, many ranges provide cameras or e-targets. Pits are expensive to build and rotating through pit changes takes time. I know the CMP range at Talladega has a very nice setup. On the other hand, one range lost business because poor linkage from target to tablet dragged out the matches.
NBRSA,IBS
 
F class is a different discipline where e targets or shot markers are in play for each shot also a seven second delay, for a different reason
 
My gun club range, the longest distance is 200 yards, and the mirage is so great that you can't see bullet holes on target, even after installing a six foot by six foot white backer behind the target for contrast. A bud of mine purchased one of these sound based target systems and it works great!

The last I saw him, he was rather upset.:fire: There is an electronic box that mounts to the target and it is hundreds of dollars. Bud has been shooting competitively since the 1960's, he can keep his bullets in the center, however, some enthusiastic people showed up to shoot on the 200 yard. They set up targets at 50 yards, maybe 100 yards, and of course at 200 yards. They had to be forty or fifty feet away from his firing point and yet, one of them hit the electronic box on his target! :cuss:

Understand, you put something downrange, there are people out there who only hit planet earth because it is so big and because gravity prevents the bullet from reaching low earth orbit. I regularly shoot at an indoor range, and one of the Range Masters has pointed out the bullet holes on the support tables. These tables are long enough to put a rifle rest on them. Bullet holes have appeared from shooters who bring their target up to seven yards of their firing point, but flinch so badly, that they hit the support table in front of them!. And there are bullets holes in the center range ventilation housing that are way off axis.
 
Surely you're not suggesting that the OP "miss" his target and take out one of these target cams to restore the prior competitive conditions, are you? :evil::neener::evil:
 
Understand, you put something downrange, there are people out there who only hit planet earth because it is so big

There are vandals who will shoot AT anything they see, too.
We had to scrap a pistol plate rack because the nitwits kept punching it with rifles.
We had nice target frames that got shot up by fools who thought it was more fun to punch a hole in the frame than to hit a target on the backer.
We had genuine armor plate gongs that were ruined by idiots shooting the pistol target with rifles and the rifle target from about five yards instead of 100.
Not to mention the perforated chairs and Bianchi barricades.

As to the OP, if the rules don't allow cameras, he should call the users' hand. If the rules don't say, tough.
 
Thank you Gentlemen for your input,
Since we haven’t discussed this as a rule I’m going on feel, and it just doesn’t feel right and that’s what I said to the match director.
We’ll see where it leads , I normally don’t get my panties in a knot over small stuff but I’ll bet I’m not the only guy that would at least raise an eye brow.
J
 
Would the cameras from drones show from 300yrds? Are they clear enough on your cell phone to show hits clearly? Where would you find busted drones with cameras?
I like these ideas, maybe use angle iron to protect the camera from errant shots, what about splatter from steel targets?
I could see improvements to our home range next yr with some cheap cameras and better stands for the steel.
 
We have 300 yard reduced target F-Class at our range. With any kind of mirage etc is is nearly impossible to see hits in the black, good scope, good spotter, doesn't matter. It's very frustrating to shoot a nice grouping that is off center because you have no idea where the rounds are hitting. No camera, no pit, no markers, just blind shooting. After three matches I quit doing it.

A camera setup would be nice for that.
 

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  • 2nd F-Class Match 5-25-2013 2nd Target.JPG
    2nd F-Class Match 5-25-2013 2nd Target.JPG
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Non sanctioned Benchrest events typically use clay birds against the bank for the 600 yard sight in, get as close as you can let er rip
 
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