Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting Electronic Targets - Wave of the Future?

Last Saturday we had a demo of electronic targets at our 600 yard midrange prone match. The things are really neat, but costly. Best pit service I've ever had!

Has anyone else shot on them?

No but I think they could totally revive the sport of Highpower. Our 600 yard matches take one relay to shoot, one to score, and one to (yech!) pull targets. Imagine doing away with the latter two, plus no pit changes. I don't know what the cost is, or what it could become, but I suspect it may soon be worth it.

It is sort of like when trap put in microphones and did away with the trap guy in the trap house, only the effects are greater.

We used three targets, set them up with an empty target between them. Relay one set up on target #2, #4, & #6 while really two set up on #1, #3, & #5. Relay three scored for relay one, as soon as relay one finished relay two fired their string with relay four scoring for two. The system broadcast over wifi, so the scorers were using either ipads, kindles or smart phones. I watched my score on my S5 that I had laying under the forearm of my rifle. We shot on regular paper targets, the computer was set up for either MR-1 or MR-1FC targets. I heard the price was around $3500 per target. If you weren't shooting you could select any of the three targets and watch the other shooter's score.

They have been around for quite some time, but I never have shot on one.

They would speed things up.

But I guess I'm a bit old school, matches would not seem teh same if we didn't do a pit rotation.

I suspect if I ever start shooting again I could get used to the idea of no pits. But seems like parts of the sport slowly die, of course I'm saying that and shooting an AR when I quit so I guess I should shut up. LOL.

starting to see them in Bullseye too.


the new CMP range over in Al. has them

We tested them at our range a few months ago. They worked fine for any boolit coming in orthogonal to the target, but our 800 & 900 yard lines are at a 10-15 degree offset and their error was up to 5-6" at that angle. So until we find something different, we're still pulling targets for Palma and LR F-Class.

You sure it wasn't those crazy winds at Rattlesnake that blew you 5 to 6 inches?

Five or six inches .... that's a breeze up on the 'Snake 😄

God I hope not!-Muddy

I just used electronic targets today at the BCRA shoot in Chilliwack. It's pretty cool to see your shots and scores come up on your cell phone, along with the bullet's velocity at the target.

Back for more tomorrow.

Absolutely the future, laser with range and wind simulated, no bullets needed.

Neat units. I'd like to put up a series of 4 or 5 and test that myth that shots are all over the place at 100, and suddenly converge out there at 3 or 400 yds. Given the costs, however, I'll probably not be the one to do it.

I wonder if those new radar chronometers could do that? With proper software of course.

I have shot thousands of round in to a acoustic target hung paper for months trying to prove it was off once in a while but it never was. My experience was only at a 100 yards. They are truly amazing and expensive coupled with a oehler 83 and a pile of bill wiseman pipes and knolege is stored.

I shot a match using Kongsberg targets over at Blair Athol in Scotland. The nice part was that you could see your shot almost immediately. The bad part was you could *only* your shot - no ability to see what else might be going on down the line (was that wild shot from the wind, or something I did?). Taking down and setting up at each yard line was a tedious affair, and honestly didn't really save much time over pit changes. If you had a fixed system and used it to only shoot one yardage a day, that would be another matter entirely.

Newer systems (Hexta, OzScore, Silver Mountain) have lower power requirements and more advanced software - some have more sensors for enhanced accuracy. The external mic systems like George mentioned tend to be unsuitable for venues where the bullets go subsonic (like BP cartridge matches) or where you may have a strong crosswind (can cause the group to appear to 'shift' across the target face).

The biggest problem is cost - between 5 and 10k per firing point. Not per yard line, per firing point. If you are putting in an entirely new target system, the cost is probably comparable to the construction cost of a conventional range with pits. If you already have an existing range setup, and are looking to retrofit... the cost is prohibitive. Ironically, the systems are most used in other countries where competitive shooting is more of a 'genteel' sport for the well-heeled, or where the (otherwise draconian) gov't has paid for the range improvements in the name of safety.

Supposedly Kongsberg is working on a wireless system that might be more (somewhat) more affordable.

For a typical member-driven club in the USA... I don't know that its going to happen anytime soon. At our club, the pits are in poor condition and needed rebuilt 10 years ago. But the HP shooters constitute a very small fraction of the membership (5-10 out of 1200+), and there is a long list of other things the club needs more. Even with spinning things to where the average member might get some use out of the targets, its just not feasible. I'm stuck rebuilding the existing targets one at a time as funding allows - for a bare fraction of what an e-target system would cost.

Hey Monte!

Good to see your opinion. We shot on the Silver Mountain system. Between Midland and Camp Grayling we shoot on the same range just move back to different firing lines (like Lodi or Butner also). I wasn't involved in the set up, didn't ask what it entailed to switch from the different targets for midrange matches (MR63FC, MR65FC & MR1FC) or the longrange format. I keep on Ray about getting at least one target outfitted with the system, so far I haven't been successful...

Screen shot from my S5...

The Silver Mountain, being one of the newer generation and utilizing wi-fi vs. hard-wired cables, uses a lot less power. The setup @ Blair Athol had a small Honda generator in the pits, and another that had to be hauled between yard lines. Granted, it was *very* small... probably an EU1000 or 2000, and pretty quiet.

My concern with the Silver Mountain system is primarily over whether the accuracy is sufficient for what we need for say a Registered Match where national records could be on the line - from what I've heard in discussion with people involved with demos and such, it isn't.

I shot in Switzerland once and every village has a 300 meter range.
They only shot prone and each firing position has a monitor so you can see your last shot plus your average shot so you can make sight adjustments based on average and not just chase the spotter.
There are no targets to pull and no pit changes.
No refacing targets.
Makes you wonder why we do things the hard way?

Because the government isn't paying for everything.

The subject of electronic targets was brought up again today at our midrange match. We were told that MRPA was negotiating with the club board of directors about the purchase of the target system. We do run a Fullbore Midrange match annually where national records have been set, I'm thinking MRPA feels confident scores will continue to be considered for records.

I shot with Paul today, I like those new McMillan team stocks...