Electronic Targets-Other Questions

[powderbrake]

@powderbrake I very much like that design! My initial version was a small 24x30" model that folded for a little easier transport in the trunk of the car. It worked fine, but turned out to be more of a PITA than it was worth, so I'm looking at building version 2.0

Although I may have to do something like what @F Class John did with the off-set hanger for the sensor hub. Found out the hard way what happens when your sensor hub is mounted up top, and your ballistics program is off a couple MOA

Regarding size. mine is 36 wide X 40 tall, and fits easily in the back of my Tahoe, and I can drive to the 300 and 600 yard lines at our range

Your extended antenna is a good idea, and the pieces all come with the ShotMarker. Adam has also suggested mounting the sensor hub on edge to reduce it's exposure.

I had a problem with one lot # of bullets, and one keyholed 18" higher than the rest of the group and cut a sensor cable. You can see the keyhole behind the lower cable in the pic, about 2" to the right of the centerline. I replaced the cable, but I could just imagine hitting the sensor hub, so I decided to place a piece of 3/8" AR500 armor plate over the sensor hub.
That was easier than reworking the frame since I had all those cable clamps in place, and my son's company makes steel shooting targets, so I got the parts for free. Looks like this now. It is easy to get the sensor hub out from behind the plate, where it mounts on two screwheads.

 

[KenOath]

Regarding size. mine is 36 wide X 40 tall, and fits easily in the back of my Tahoe, and I can drive to the 300 and 600 yard lines at our range

Your extended antenna is a good idea, and the pieces all come with the ShotMarker. Adam has also suggested mounting the sensor hub on edge to reduce it's exposure.

I had a problem with one lot # of bullets, and one keyholed 18" higher than the rest of the group and cut a sensor cable. You can see the keyhole behind the lower cable in the pic, about 2" to the right of the centerline. I replaced the cable, but I could just imagine hitting the sensor hub, so I decided to place a piece of 3/8" AR500 armor plate over the sensor hub.
That was easier than reworking the frame since I had all those cable clamps in place, and my son's company makes steel shooting targets, so I got the parts for free. Looks like this now. It is easy to get the sensor hub out from behind the plate, where it mounts on two screwheads.

View attachment 1077588

View attachment 1077589

Was thinking of something similar to cover my hub as well, good idea there..I also copied your hooks on the back so I can hang the frame at one of the ranges I shoot at.

 

[GSS]

Chkunz / All,

Hello, I'm new here.
I have been a longtime member and mostly participate at http://www.usrifleteams.com/forums/ but this looks like a great forum too.

I am the Range Governor for the 600 yard range at www.nfga.org
After thorough research and getting prices from HEX, CMP, SOLO and ShotMarker I/we went with ShotMarker for my club in South Eastern New Hampshire. I traveled down to Bridgeville De in November of 2017 to try out the HEX in person for an 80 rd match and a 3x600. Awesome Range Awesome people.

HEX is a great system but was out of the question due to cost.
HEX were also physically too big and heavy to work in our existing pits with common / vintage target carriers.

CMP System is also out of my clubs financial zone.
I have yet to shoot on the CMP E targets so I have now 1st hand experience on those.

That left me with SOLO and ShotMarker to decide between.
Some of my longtime members had business experience with Adam from purchasing his 2 box Chrono and Auto-Trickler products and spoke very highly of his products and customer service so we went with Adam / ShotMarker. Have had zero regrets for this decision.

I started with two firing points early this year to test, bought 4 more later this year and plan to get at least 4 more in 2019.
Another club I frequent for shooting matches 45 minutes South of me in Reading Ma. plans on outfitting their range with ShotMarker System in 2019 as well.

We hold many 200, 300 and 600 yard XTC and Prone matches each season at NFGA.
This is a members only range (except for the matches) but we do not leave the electronic targets out for all members to use.
We set them up and take them down each time they are used for matches or practice.

To respond more to this Threads Intent and Questions of Recurring Maintenance and Installation / Setup questions:

The more expensive options had recurring maintenance costs of replacing membranes.
ShotMarker has zero recurring maintenance costs unless you shoot a sensor.
(I believe Silver Mountain SOLO System is the same zero Maintenance as SM but I have zero experience with SOLO)

HEX at over 120 lbs per target would take 2 men to set up.
This was a big negative for me because that stops one person form using for a quick practice.

The 6 foot square 1x3 wood frames with corroplast centers we built for our ShotMarker targets are light yet sturdy. ( similar to the pictures above )
I can pull one out of the target shed by myself, put it in the carrier, pop the 4 sensor ( 8 actually as 2 mics per sensor ) onto the magnetic bases, plug in the wires to be powered up and running for a practice session in about 5 minutes.

All my SM electronics ( sensor hubs and access point ) stay on charging stations locked up in the target shed when not in use.
One charge of the devices keeps us running for two days of matches with no need for a power source or cumbersome / additional recurring expense and maintenance item of required portable batteries in the pits or on the firing lines when in use.

Below is a link to a you tube video that shows ShotMarker setup that was recently filmed at Scarborough Fish and Game Club in Maine.
(They are about 1.5 hrs. North of me and bought Shotmarkers for 16 firing points. Great people / Awesome Range, I travel to shoot there 1 -2 times a year )
Their impressive target frames are made out of thin wall aluminum so they are extremely sturdy but they take two people to put into and out of their carriers.

The video also shows just a small sample of how awesome the user interface and functionality is on the shooter and scorer tablets.

Disclaimer:
I have zero business affiliation with Adam / ShotMarker and nothing to gain from info or opinions I share.
I am simply a happy customer of a great product and great service.

George

 

[Bindi2]

Put your hub below the line of fire somewhere and use a long cable and aerial.

 

[Bindi2]

For those that do seating depth tests etc use a ET with a built in chronny and watch what happens at different ranges then throw in a tuner for more interesting data. Some long held beliefs may just become myths when analysed.

 

[GSS]

For those that do seating depth tests etc use a ET with a built in chronny and watch what happens at different ranges then throw in a tuner for more interesting data. Some long held beliefs may just become myths when analysed.

That would make a great thread so it doesn't derail this one..
If you have done this I'd love to hear more about what you did and what you found.
Having bullet speed at the target as a by product of using an E target is a very nice side benefit.

 

[SWRichmond]

Gogogogogogogo. This feedback loop is fantastic.

This is looking very promising. A simple modular product easy to deploy.

Beta products are cludgie, expensive and difficult to deploy but avid users deploy them anyway. Gen-one products are actual consumer products, see wider adoption more quickly, generate significant end user channel-chatter, end-user feedback and field modifications.

Shot marker appears to have the hallmarks of a true Gen 1.0 product; I am a buyer of Gen 2.0.

Seriously guys this is looking good.

 

[GSS]

Some more info regarding Setup and Installation the way we use our system that I hope may be helpful to others.

We cut coroplast centers the size of an MR1 target and made up a jig for these inserts to slide into with the different 200, 300, 500 and 600 yard centers that we use in practice and matches. We lined up the pinwheel center of the X on all these inserts and jigs with the optical center of the sensors. Before matches we will staple the targets onto the inserts we will need for the match ahead of time so when we change yardlines it is very quick for a couple people to go down and slide the new inserts in. We typically get this done by or before everyone os back to the next yardline.

In the early matches using E targets we had some complaints from F Class Shooters and High Magnification scope match rifle shooters that the X was getting blown out so they didn't have as good of an aiming point as they would like to have. This doesn't affect iron sight shooters or x scoped service rifle shooters like me but to accommodate we stapled F class centers at the top of the aiming black. The F class and High mag shooters that chose to do so simply used the upper target as their aiming point and adjusted their scopes zero's down accordingly to center up for the record shots indicated on the tablets. Those that chose to use it loved the option.

Note. The pic with the 200 yard SR center with the sensor hub mounted on the target face was an early test of the system / targets. Since then we now mount the sensor hubs below the lower target frame crossmember and mount it sideways on the side of the frame so it is now below the berm with no chance of getting shot.

We keep our access point on the firing line on a 7' tall 2 x 4 with stakes on the bottom that we stick in the ground at each firing line. We put the access point right at the line facing towards the shooters as Adam recommends and we get excellent system signals all the way back to 600 which is as far as our range goes.

 

[GSS]

Regarding size. mine is 36 wide X 40 tall, and fits easily in the back of my Tahoe, and I can drive to the 300 and 600 yard lines at our range

Your extended antenna is a good idea, and the pieces all come with the ShotMarker. Adam has also suggested mounting the sensor hub on edge to reduce it's exposure.

I had a problem with one lot # of bullets, and one keyholed 18" higher than the rest of the group and cut a sensor cable. You can see the keyhole behind the lower cable in the pic, about 2" to the right of the centerline. I replaced the cable, but I could just imagine hitting the sensor hub, so I decided to place a piece of 3/8" AR500 armor plate over the sensor hub.
That was easier than reworking the frame since I had all those cable clamps in place, and my son's company makes steel shooting targets, so I got the parts for free. Looks like this now. It is easy to get the sensor hub out from behind the plate, where it mounts on two screwheads.

View attachment 1077588

View attachment 1077589

I really like the way you have your sensor cables attached to your frame.

I keep my sensor hubs below the frames and berm mounted sideways on the target carriers where they couldn't get hit but 1/2 of the 5 mins it takes me to set up a frame each time is unpacking the cables and routing the cables around the frame to each sensor and the hub. If I secured them to the frame the way you did it would cut my setup time down to a minute or two for each frame. It also acts as a strain relief so the weight of the cable isn't pulling on the connection potentially causing it to come loose. The ShotMarker cable to sensor connections click in nice and tight and are quite secure but we use a small pice of duct tape at each sensor to support the cable.

I plan on converting to your method of securing the cables to the frame on each target when the season starts up again in April. I will just have to secure them in a way that they won't get damages when I am sliding the frames in and out of the locked up target shed where they are stacked when not in use.

Thanks for Posting the Pictures and info !
George

 

[GSS]

I would like to hear some reports on how the various brands compare in other areas specifically installation and maintenance.
How do the various brands compare on ranges where they must be set up and removed for each use our club uses a military range and when we leave for the day or weekend the range has to look like we were never there.

What are current prices including complete systems and various replacement parts might be helpful.

These look difficult to set up for two people with a heavy duty special purpose built trolley.
I don't think I could set one of them up by myself for a quick 30 minute offhand practice session..
Plus my ranges 16 vintage style original design target carriers would collapse under the heavy weight ...

 

[Rick Ratzlaff]

These look difficult to set up for two people with a heavy duty special purpose built trolley.
I don't think I could set one of them up by myself for a quick 30 minute offhand practice session..
Plus my ranges 16 vintage style original design target carriers would collapse under the heavy weight ...

Why would you even take them down George. Your range is secured. Leave them up 24x7x365. Doesn't get any easier that that. Then you could draw revenue from shooters doing load development, and provide a database for target record keeping. Hex Systems or goBallistic And club performance improvement.

 

[GSS]

Why would you even take them down George. Your range is secured. Leave them up 24x7x365. Doesn't get any easier that that. Then you could draw revenue from shooters doing load development, and provide a database for target record keeping. Hex Systems or goBallistic And club performance improvement.

Ours are very easy to set up and take down, Around 5 minutes restringing cables every time. Will be easier next season after I secure the cables to the frames like posted above.

Would be nice if I could leave them out but they would get trashed by irresponsible / unsupervised shooters.

Why don't the people / club in the Australian Video leave them up 24/7/365?

 

[243Mendoza]

Ours are very easy to set up and take down, Around 5 minutes restringing cables every time. Will be easier next season after I secure the cables to the frames like posted above.

Would be nice if I could leave them out but they would get trashed by irresponsible / unsupervised shooters.

Why don't the people / club in the Australian Video leave them up 24/7/365?

There are vandals/vengeful members/visitors in every club/range.

Not to mention that on some ranges, the winds would tear targets apart.

 

[Rick Ratzlaff]

Why don't the people / club in the Australian Video leave them up 24/7/365?

Some do