seeing your target question.

jerry malbeck

New member
I was sighting in a rifle yesterday and at 100 yrds could not make out the bullet holes with a pair of 8 power binos or my 3x9 scope.I dont want to spend a arm and a leg for a spotter so was just looking for some guidance on in your exp what will get the job done.Would like to see out to 300 if possible without breaking the bank .
 
I have a 40 power Leupold spotting scope i use. It is a nice one too. @ 300 yards i have trouble seeing all the shots. And most times i can't find them all.....

200 yards takes some serious focus. But i can always find the holes in the target.

I think to see 300 yards with regular targets is going to be costly.
 
In the northwest you may not have enough mirage to be a problem but w/heat, temperatures and humidity we have, it is rare to see bullet holes in the black at 300 yards even with the best of spotting scopes. The higher line of sight above the ground, the better your chances; looking across a draw or valley would reduce or eliminate the problem.

I talked our club into buying a Unertl 100mm team scope to try to score 200 yard SR1 targets on the frame and more often than not we could not see all holes in the black in S. TX., even with the team scope, and this was back when most competitors were shooting .30 caliber rifles.

Shoot n' see targets would be your best bet as stated above.

Regards,
hm
 
Yesterday mid morning target in the shade(shooting south). Had no problem seeing 7mm bullet holes at 300 yards. Target was freezer paper shining side out. 2 3/4" center with 1/2" black marker ring. Redfield regal spotter(1986) and riflescope 4-16 Vortex PST, both easy to see bullet holes in white, spotter could see holes in black ring. Paper on a cardboard backer.
 
I paste 2 in red dots on white target paper and with my 300.00 dollar leupold spotter at 200 yrds. with the write lighting I can see 22 cal it is tough sometimes. Even the big dollar spotters it would be hard to see them at 300yrds.
 
My Redfield is my old, ride in truck all the time spotter. With same target I have no problem seeing 17 cal holes at 300, with my Meopta HD. The Meopta I purchased a couple years ago when I noticed the quality of the Redfield (or my eyes) had diminished, spotting sleeping coyote, over a mile away at times with little to no snow requires clarity and good color.
 
Lots of factors in play. Bullet holes in black on backlit targets are much more visible. Cardboard backers tend to close up restricting light passage, but mirage/light is the biggest factor.

I was spotting for a 300 yard rapid fire team match one morning with the sun at about a 25* from 2 o'clock and could see each bullet as it was fired; they appeared as if a shiny copper wire was arcing all the way to the target. Nope, could not find any of the bullet holes in the targets, though. In over 25 years of competition, have never seen that before, or since. The scope was an 80mm Kowa 25x.

Regards,
hm
 
I have a Buschnell legend spotter 20x-60x that works just fine for me and bought my nephew the same power range from Cameraland that I gave him for Christmas, it works well too. A solid tripod is a plus. the short bench tripods are good if the bench is solid. Tall one need to be pretty solid. I have a tal one that is pretty flimsy and it is a pain. Luckily the camp host at the camp grounds we stayed in in NV found a heavy duty one and held it for three years incase the owner came back. He was packing up for the season and was going to toss it, it came home with me.

Give Doug at CamaraLand a call, give him your price range and what you need it for and he'll do a good job of getting you into a nice spotter. I'm guessing you should be in the $200 - $300 dollar range.
 
I just use old cardboaard "think old bourbon case boxes" or any other non beat up cardboard with a 1" or 2" dot on it depending on the range. It cuts pretty clean holes that I can usually spot with 12x minimum. If I can't see them, at least I get a little excercise! Yes, it sucks.
 
Originally Posted By: jerry malbeckI was sighting in a rifle yesterday and at 100 yrds could not make out the bullet holes with a pair of 8 power binos or my 3x9 scope.I dont want to spend a arm and a leg for a spotter so was just looking for some guidance on in your exp what will get the job done.Would like to see out to 300 if possible without breaking the bank .

How much are you concerned with spending?
 
I really hate spotting scopes, just more crap to lug around.

Search for a bushnell 4x16 4200 with an AO, will be the answer to your prayers. ON a clear day, I can see my 7mm bullet holes at 400 yards.
 
Dark colored targets are (for me) very hard to see bullets holes at much over 50 yards without some type of optics, be it a larger powered scope or a spotting scope. I have an old Simmons (POS) spotting scope but I can see holes at 200 yards with it. White targets show holes much better than dark ones. Not a whole lot of options when using a low powered scope, other than walking to the target and looking. I do that at times myself.
 
I go to the local printer and have them print my targets on off white cream colored paper with what ever size black dot I want to use 1/2 at 100 and 1" at 200.use off white paper because on a bright day I have found white paper can glare,I also use a black card board backer.works for me
 
Originally Posted By: jerry malbeckI was sighting in a rifle yesterday and at 100 yrds could not make out the bullet holes with a pair of 8 power binos or my 3x9 scope.I dont want to spend a arm and a leg for a spotter so was just looking for some guidance on in your exp what will get the job done.Would like to see out to 300 if possible without breaking the bank .

I've been working with Target Vision, they make the Longshot camera, ours is LR-3 UHD unit, goes out well past a mile with the model we have, these are pictures of video still shots at night with my lightbar illuminating our grids at our 150 yard targets, using the Gunwerks MaraudR chambered in 22 Creed we helped develop.

Longshot also makes a Marksman unit that will work out to 300 yards that's half the price of our LR-3. Way Way better than even a Swarovski spotter at that range. Only thing it will not do is allow you to follow your spoilers.

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