All I want for Christmas this year...

[ktw]

I was fortunate enough to get in a full day and a half of range time this week. The weather is perfect; cool, dry and sunny, no snow, no mud, no bugs.

I spent most of it shooting on the 300 yard line. There was a lot of time spent walking back and forth between the firing line and the 300 yard berm; checking groups and marking up targets. I had the range to myself so it wasn't inconveniencing anyone other than myself, but it was eating up a lot of my range time. Got bit by the self inflicted adjusting-for-windage-in-the-wrong-direction problem on my vernier peep sight which really increased the number of trips. On those long walks I had plenty of time to think. And what I came up with is what I want for christmas this year.

I want a wireless camera mounted below and in front of the target, feeding images to a laptop on my shooting bench. I want image processing software on the laptop that lets me view the target at high resolution in real time, identifying and tracking the bullet holes, and allowing me to assign them to groups which I can then annotate.

I have a decent 45x spotting scope but not one good enough to resolve all of the 375 caliber holes at 300+ yards much less 27 or 30 caliber holes and after a while it's hard to keep track of a lot of holes over an extended range session regardless of the caliber.

So does anyone know of a St. Nick than can deliver on this?

-ktw

[RobS]

I don't know of any St. Nick that can assist with this type of equimpment, but I do like your idea. Although I often times have more than enough things when I go, but could make some more room for this possibility. More walks up and down the range could give you the home run idea that could make you a millionare..........are you ready to give that up? :).

[frankenfab]

Great idea. Sounds like an all new application for "vision system" quality control meaures that have been in use for many years. I wish I had thought of that!

[crabo]

Take your mountain bike and ride back and forth

[lead4me]

I haven't used one at 300yds but my friend & I did set one up to check targets out to 200yds for our muzzle loaders. It was his camera but it had a digital zoom and set on a tripod and zoomed to its max setting we were able to track our hits with out leaving the bench. Worked really good just kinda reminded us about how old we were getting....15 years ago we would have enjoyed the walk!!

[montana_charlie]

Sounds like another 'shot my Chrony' thread with 'camera' replacing 'Chrony'...

[Hip's Ax]

Your wish has already come true. I'll have to find the ad in Precision Shooting (I'm sure thats where I saw it) but here is one thing I turned up.

Long range shooters have been playing with this for a while.

http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/target-cam-system-for-long-range-shooting/

[Hip's Ax]

I think this is it.

http://www.targetteck.com/

[ktw]

Your wish has already come true.

I've heard of the cameras before. An acquaintance of mine mentioned acquiring one for his club's 600-1000yd range facilities a while back. In fact, here's a link (http://www.6mmbr.com/targetcam.html) on 6mmbr.com that talks about the one in your link, plus talks about the components necessary for a do-it-yourself project.

Those are simply remote video systems. My twist on the idea was adding image processing and bullet hole tracking to the system using a laptop. Even if I had to click each bullet hole in the image with a mouse to mark it on the screen, I'd be satisfied. By the time I have 20 or 30 holes in the target it's hard to find the new ones/keep track of the history, even if I can see them with the spotting scope and note them at the bench.

Have to admit though, that when you consider all the costs involved the mountain bike isn't a bad idea.

-ktw

[Duckiller]

Saw a spotting scope/computer combination designed to do what you want about 10-15 years ago that was supposed to be in final stages of development. Designer said he was trying to sell through Cabela's . Thought his projected price was fairly high, but at the time the kids were getting real expensive so it may have not been that bad. It did keep track of individual shots and only showed the last few, what ever you set. If wireless cameras have enough range you could probably eliminate the spotting scope and have your group size measured for you and printed out for your records.
Or if you are at the range alone an ATV would make trips back and forth faster.

[Buckshot]

..............I've seen home security cameras that transmitted the image to a screen and the price was very reasonable. But not being really interested I didn't pay any attention to transmit distance or power requirements. I doubt if they'd be compatable with a computer tho'.

.............Buckshot

[jj850]

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