600 yd Splatter Targets....????

[daniel brothers]

Is there anything that will show a splattered shot at 600 yds that acts and looks like a steel target?

I've been using 18" wide tractor plow disc, which work great, but was wanting something wider... thought you guys might have some ideas. 18" is wide enough for most everything...heck... if you can't hit that, than you better stay home...LOL. Just wanted something wider for working up ladder test without going back and forth looking for holes... even though painted tips work well for that. Really just looking for something bigger to keep down some of the leg work of back and forth to the target.

 

[memilanuk]

For a long time, before I got a ShotMarker e-target, I go by okay doing the following:

Put up a piece of freshly painted steel for sighters. The problem for me was the wind... depending on the time of year, 'calm' days are kinda rare. I'd use the steel to get centered up before "going for it" on paper.

I'd put up some sort of large paper - usually 3' x 3', white, if I could manage it - and use colored bullets that would show the holes with a little love from a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol.

I generally did my 'ladders' in a round-robin fashion - shoot sighters to get centered up, then shoot one of each charge on paper. Let the barrel cool, then take a couple more sighters to check/confirm/correct for the wind condition, then shoot another round of each charge on paper. Rinse, lather, repeat for the third shot of each charge (and so on and so forth, if you want more shots per 'rung' of the ladder).

Maybe not the most 'efficient' approach, especially with the extra sighters to help account for wind changes. You can still get some good info at distance even with a bit of fluctuation in speed and/or direction, but if there are big pickups / let-offs, or if it's flat out switching... wait for another day.

When it was all said and done, I'd go down and collect the target, and start making notes on it as I identified which charge increment each hole belonged to. I'd extend lines out to the side, which created (sort of) a jitter plot along the Y-axis, and helped suss out where the charges were stacking up (or not).

Another option that works pretty well is if you have, or can get ahold of, an old digital video camera. At the time, I was using one of those that was about the size of a coke can. Nowadays, an old cell phone that can take decent video might work. Put it on a tripod in front of and off to the side of the target, zoomed in so you can see bullet holes clearly. If you have a clean sheet of paper for the ladder, you might want to tape/staple a target sheet with actual bullet holes up there during setup to make *sure* you can actually see the holes using the camera/video. Set it to record, go back to the line, and shoot your test as described above. When you're done, go collect the target paper and the camera. Play back the video, and mark off each hole as it appears in the video. Pro-tip: if you're using steel for getting centered up like described earlier, make sure that the splatter from the plate is *not* going to take out the camera. DAMHIKT...

 

[MTlager]

Call Travis at field and cave outfitters. Cut any size gong you want !

 

[Forum Boss]

Birchwood Casey makes white background splatter targets. The bullet makes a black circle, quite visible at 500-600. Read this and watch the video.

See Bullet Holes at 500+ with White Background Splatter Targets « Daily Bulletin

Do you have trouble seeing your bullet holes (on paper) when shooting past 400 yards? That's a common issue even with premium ($1600+) high-magnification scopes. Here's a target that solves that problem.

bulletin.accurateshooter.com

DO a search for Birchwood Casey White Splatter — different vendors have different versions. Amazon is showing a round version for $8.99 5-pack, also a grid rectangle and a large, tall oval.

 

[daniel brothers]

wow... did not know casey had them... thanks so much

 

[memilanuk]

FWIW... my personal experience with the regular Shoot-N-C targets @ 600yds is that it's often very difficult to see the holes if they are very close to one another (terrible problem to have, I know) *or* if they are close to a line, the numbers, etc. And that's on a good day, before you factor in various ambient 'crap' in between you and the target - mirage, haze, etc. BTW, that's with scopes like NF BR, NXS, Comp, Vortex GE... maybe the B&W 'dirty bird' targets will be a different matter.

Last I checked they didn't have pasters for those (beyond whats on the target border), which drives the cost up considerably since they aren't reusable to any real degree. I can take a regular Shoot-N-C and put it on a sheet of cardboard which can be attached to the target frame with a couple spring clamps, and brought home and repasted over and over. Eventually the pasters do start to fall off, so they don't last forever.

Cheap/easy enough to try and see if it works for you. But don't be shocked if it doesn't.

 

[MikeT49]

Make your own. Spray paint a piece of cardboard with black paint. Cover the black surface with clear shipping tape or sticky back clear film sheet. Paint over the tape with white spray paint and you have a DIY splatter target.

 

[daniel brothers]

I have made several of those type targets which do work well out to a max range of 300 yds... but after that I need the larger splats similar to those made on steel. Those white birchwood targets may work better if they can be repairable several times. Steel is always the best... but was just hoping for something better or different. A wireless camera or phone might be the answer. thanks

 

[mattri]

Any reason to not just use steel? A gong painted white will show bullet marks very readily. When you want to shoot a new group just repaint it with a rattle can. No more leg work than a shoot-n-see style.

 

[daniel brothers]

we can't see shoot n see bullet holes at 600 yds... only steel... which we do have some smaller plow disc sizes, and are not really able to move larger steel pieces from the different farmers fields easily. We're just looking for a larger... lighter setup that makes visible impacts of a one inch splat size at longer distances.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I think a disc is your lightest option if you dont want to go with any of the above. A regular steel target will be heavy but easy to use if you can drive to it

 

[Ned Ludd]

Is there anything that will show a splattered shot at 600 yds that acts and looks like a steel target?

I've been using 18" wide tractor plow disc, which work great, but was wanting something wider... thought you guys might have some ideas. 18" is wide enough for most everything...heck... if you can't hit that, than you better stay home...LOL. Just wanted something wider for working up ladder test without going back and forth looking for holes... even though painted tips work well for that. Really just looking for something bigger to keep down some of the leg work of back and forth to the target.

Birchwood Casey makes an all-black 17.25" splatter target for monitoring shotgun pellet patterns:

Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C Targets 17.25 Matrix Patterning 5PK

The Matrix Target is a perfect match for the shooter that wants to assemble a large single target, pattern a shotgun, or to add their own aiming point...

www.midwayusa.com

You can use a fat black Sharpie to color out the yellow letters at the top and bottom, leaving a completely black target. If you cut a second target in half (except removing the strip with the red diamonds at the bottom) and tape it on top of another whole target, you will have a nice all-black rectangular scatter target that is perfect for a ladder test at 600 yd. Put your point of aim red or orange dot about ~4" above the bottom edge, in case some of the beginning charge weight shots go lower than expected after zeroing the rifle at 600 yd. I have used these with both .224" and .30 cal bullets and you can see the holes fairly easily at 600 yd, unless the mirage is really strong.

 

[JFrank]

I'm normally the minority so no exception here but I use white butcher paper with the non wax side towards the shooter this allows Sharpie colored bullets (3 of each is my preferred ) to show clearly at a 1000 yards if necessary

 

[ED3]

I've read about homemade 'shoot-n-see' type targets by using a (large) piece of colored foam artist's board, covered in cellophane tape, which is then spray painted in a color which contrasts the foam board. Apparently the tape is brittle enough to shatter in a relatively large enough chunk to expose the visible underlying colored foam board. I was about to try this, as an aid to using my target camera, and then along came the Shot Marker....