by Art Merrill - Friday, June 2, 2017

E-trust





This e-target monitor plots shots and displays other info for the shooter.

Electronic scoring targets have been popular in European competition for years and we see them in use at the Olympics, but e-targets are not catching on very quickly in the U.S.—rather surprising, considering how much we adore all our other digital gadgets. On the other hand, we all suffer computer crashes, smartphones that disobey us, credit card machines that won’t accept our card and other digital catastrophes, so mistrust of an implacable electronic scorekeeper is understandable.





Starting small





Acoustic targets, by far the most popular e-targets, have acoustic sensors in the corners or along the bottom.

Smaller demand equates to less sophistication

resulting in comparatively lower cost.

Elite Scorer

, for example, has a $1340 “plug and play” target system easily set up in your home with a wireless connection to your laptop. A metal box bullet trap with a paper target face sensor works up to 30 meters away with a +/- shot plot accuracy so small it might as well be considered error-free, and the shooter views the target face impacts on the laptop monitor set up at the firing point.





Light and sound





Exploded view of an e-target.





When a bullet strikes the rubber mat, the initial Mach wave stops there and the bullet generates a new wave upon penetrating the acoustic chamber (bullets don’t have to be supersonic). Individual acoustic sensors, usually three along the bottom or one in each of the four corners of the echo chamber, send a signal wirelessly or via cable to a central processor/computer when it detects the shock wave. Because the speed of the shock wave (the speed of sound) varies with air temperature, the sensor array also sends temperature data for calculations (the foam front and back act as temperature insulators). The bullet’s shock wave first strikes the sensor(s) closest to it, and milliseconds later registers with the sensors further away. The computer measures the time difference in the arrival of the shock wave at the individual sensors and plots it on an image of a target face. Accurate shot-plotting can be remarkable—the Kongsberg Target Systems’ accuracy is 0.025-inch at 1000 yards.

Changing the 200 yard high power target to the larger black of 300 and 600 yard targets is as simple as hand-turning a large plastic nut at the target corners, lifting off the foam material face, and replacing it with one sporting the appropriate diameter hole. Software automatically compensates for different size scoring rings on the ring-less acoustic targets. When shooting reduced 200, 300 and 600 yard targets at 100 yards, changing targets takes the tap of a finger—no delays for stapling up three different targets, and from match start to finish no competitor ever needs to move forward of the firing line.





E-targets don’t need visible scoring rings. Note the hanging rubber mat and wiring below targets.

The shooter gets instant feedback, and so does the audience, which brings us back to that “spectator sport” comment at the beginning. E-targets permit the host range to erect a large electronic scoreboard for spectators to follow every shot as each competitor fires, with the moment-to-moment tension of a NASCAR race. Ranking and winners are known before the echo of the last shot fades. The slowest part of the electronic scoring process is the amount of time it takes an official to walk to a bulletin board and staple a paper copy to it.





Tradeoffs and rabbits





E-targets eliminate pit duty, which might be a positive or a negative. While some competitors accept and even enjoy target pulling as part of the game, it does take a significant amount of time, whereas just a couple of workers in the pits can change e-target faces in minutes. In other competitions, changing targets consists of tapping a button at your lane. That equates to a lot more time and focus spent on shooting rather than on target duties.





A Vintage Military Sniper Rifle competitor shoots a 600 yard e-target at the Talladega Park in Alabama.

Errant bullet strikes on wiring, cabling or sensors will disable the target system (so will a rabbit gnawing on wiring—it’s happened). Especially for wireless systems, lightning in the area can interfere with data transmission, as could other strong sources of electromagnetic energy. Any failure in electrical service will, obviously, preclude or end a match.





Scope shooters no longer have scoring rings to reference when looking through their riflescopes. That lack of ring reference might also affect some shooters who use mirage at the target for wind doping. For some long-time competitors there might be a slight relearning curve with e-targets.





Challenge coins aren’t much use against unchallengeable e-targets. Photo by Art Merrill.

A negative harder to quantify is a perceived loss of tradition. No pit duty, no challenge coins, no slow target service alibi, and the sense that digital technology supplants human participation in competition. But the reluctant traditionalist can take succor from the high cost of e-target systems compared to cheap paper and glue. Multiple firing point systems for outdoor ranges are expensive, on the order of $2,500 for each point. Options such as shielded cabling to prevent signal interference, as well as maintenance, raises costs further. Replacing bullet-chewed foam and matting costs more than cardboard, too.





Got bleachers?





American shooters widely adopting e-targets is more evolution than revolution, but those in the know that I spoke with at both NRA and CMP independently said they believed the many advantages of e-targets makes them inevitable for formal competitions here. This same impetus saw the breechloader eventually replace Greener’s muzzleloader in competition, with the difference being that e-targets will not supplant traditional targets, but instead will augment them.



