Has anybody else employed a drone to add another element to your long range shooting experience? Check out some short YouTube videos.
KS Drone Gunner
KS Drone Gunner
- Thread starter KSLawDog
- Start date
It would be better for me than target cams where I shoot.
30 feet in front Of most of my targets is 100 or more feet down.
30 feet in front Of most of my targets is 100 or more feet down.
Would it violate federal law to accidentally shoot down your own drone? 
Drone would be nice!!!
I’m in the same boat as steelhead. Target cam would not work for my shooting areas.
I’m in the same boat as steelhead. Target cam would not work for my shooting areas.
Most ranges frown upon having a drone downrange for a myriad of reasons:
1) distracting other shooters
2) fire hazard of the lipo batteries on the drone if accidentally shot down
3) safety violations and distractions
Theses are valid concerns. How would you feel if you were shooting and some guy's drone is buzzing around the target?
I have "gently" asked various range ROs if i can send my drone downrange to spot; each and every time, I get the look from them like I just had a ND.
But if you were shooting on private land, or shooting in a desert range, having a drone makes perfect sense.
1) distracting other shooters
2) fire hazard of the lipo batteries on the drone if accidentally shot down
3) safety violations and distractions
Theses are valid concerns. How would you feel if you were shooting and some guy's drone is buzzing around the target?
I have "gently" asked various range ROs if i can send my drone downrange to spot; each and every time, I get the look from them like I just had a ND.
But if you were shooting on private land, or shooting in a desert range, having a drone makes perfect sense.
If you are running a drone you’re not paying attention to your shooting,
even if you put it on station, you’ll still be paying attention to it, try distraction free shooting instead.
nobody cares to watch you miss from a different angle
even if you put it on station, you’ll still be paying attention to it, try distraction free shooting instead.
nobody cares to watch you miss from a different angle
Damn thats pretty damn interesting. What would also be cool is if the drone could be rigged with some sort of kestrel or similar device to get down range wind and atmospherics and then get those relayed back to the shooter....one day...some skynet stuff there 
Yes. But as LowLight pointed out. Get an operator so you can focus on your shooting. Preferably w his FAA Drone License if you want to be 100% clean.
We set up at 500 and just wanted to try a few angles. I think the shooting Cam from Caldwell worked better. You don’t have to deal w batteries lasting 20min. I like the drone as a way of confirming after the impact.
Wish I could rig it to paint the steel. Lol.
We set up at 500 and just wanted to try a few angles. I think the shooting Cam from Caldwell worked better. You don’t have to deal w batteries lasting 20min. I like the drone as a way of confirming after the impact.
Wish I could rig it to paint the steel. Lol.
You need to shoot at another range! My ranges aren’t that busy. I am typically the only one shooting at the target.
Wow, you must be a real joy to be around. In case you’re a little bit behind on the technology, the drone sits where it is until I tell it to move. I can focus pretty well on my shots and there are plenty of hits, and misses, drone or no drone.
That definitely wouldn’t work in my areas.
The live video is compressed and almost useless on a small display in the sun. Watching the video later at 4k is cool. You need to be careful on where it's positioned, flight path of the bullet, and fragments it you are too close. Battery life if you don't have someone else flying means you need to fly and get it into position, judge wind etc. Then transition to the rifle shoot, and be back on the drone with enough juice to get home. A mile in heavy winds will limit your air time.
Nothing new to see here... Using a drone as a spotter is old news.
Personally, I wouldn't use one. They're way too many stupid people in the range that'll see your drone as a Target. In the air, deal with the FAA, on the ground they're just going to deal with you.
If you are going to use the Drone I hope you have your license. FAA frowns on not having your license and registering your drone. And they have also given the police the power to enforce their regulations.
Personally, I wouldn't use one. They're way too many stupid people in the range that'll see your drone as a Target. In the air, deal with the FAA, on the ground they're just going to deal with you.
If you are going to use the Drone I hope you have your license. FAA frowns on not having your license and registering your drone. And they have also given the police the power to enforce their regulations.
Have done this a couple times when we couldn't tell where we were missing. Just flew it out, parked off to the side, watched a few hits to confirm, flew it back. No big deal
Once I pushed out past 2,000 yards, we considered using a drone for a few reasons.
1- spot misses, which as we all know is increasingly more difficult as you get past 1,000 yards. So, we thought it would provide a alternative to a high end spotting scope.
2- alternative to spotting cameras, which we used with mixed results
3- it also provides an alternative to a high end range finder. The high end drones provide the distance to the remote control (which can be held by your “spotter”, so the shooter focuses on shooting).
4- if you are unsure if you hit the target, you can pause shooting and fly in for confirmation. Especially, if shooting paper at distance.
Truth is though, we already had access to the drone and wouldn’t cost anything to test these theories.
-But, life changed and we didn’t test it...
1- spot misses, which as we all know is increasingly more difficult as you get past 1,000 yards. So, we thought it would provide a alternative to a high end spotting scope.
2- alternative to spotting cameras, which we used with mixed results
3- it also provides an alternative to a high end range finder. The high end drones provide the distance to the remote control (which can be held by your “spotter”, so the shooter focuses on shooting).
4- if you are unsure if you hit the target, you can pause shooting and fly in for confirmation. Especially, if shooting paper at distance.
Truth is though, we already had access to the drone and wouldn’t cost anything to test these theories.
-But, life changed and we didn’t test it...
I have Mavic ii pro. have used it at 1 mile shooting. It worked but at 20-25 min battery time it was kinda useless for me since it takes myself a while to shoot when I'm shooting at those distances. I now use target cam instead,but if you have a drone why not use it. I would recommend the target cam over a drone for most applications.
The best advice is if you can land it in a safe space and leave it on station, but not expose it to frag.
I think its a neat idea when you could spend a few thousand on a drone that is able to stay stationary in wind if you can do it do it show the video's of your success when for a hundred dollars or so you could get a stationary set up and forget it camera via blue tooth to show you the same image with less hassle
I was at a local PRS match in Southern MN, and the guy hosting had a drone. He ran it out to watch the shots at 1,350 yards. He said it was also a brand new drone because someone shot it during the previous match a month or two ago. It was pretty neat to see your shooting at the target in video afterwards.
I think the drone is a nice toy for the purpose and fun to play with. I have a drone and have done this. It is not all that practical as mentioned above, but who cares. Eventually I will have my own long range property and will invest in a target cam at that point. One of the most fun things I have done is use two iPhones on Facetime with one in a little trench in front of the steel plate at 1,000 yards plus. With this set-up you also get live audio "ping" feedback immediately upon impact which is kinda fun.
At Ko2M we run redundant video systems so we can keep going if a camera gets shot. The old Target Cam (Not Target Vision) is the system that Walt runs and what this guy is using in the video is more or less the same components. To actually get it to be reliable signal that we can judge from, we end up needing to use panel antennas that are about a square foot across at the transmission and receiver ends. Getting a signal and getting a consistent signal are very different things.
The real issue is that the resolution is so bad and the optics are so shitty that is can be hard to see impacts. Certain lighting conditions make it all but impossible to see anything but the target sway. Keep in mind that when they say 700 TVL, that is actually under 640x480. Drones may have a 4k camera, but the stream is always a small fraction of that and the best I know of will do 720p out to a little less than a mile before it starts loosing frames. That is with the drone in flight so there are no line of sight issues. Once you park it on the ground, you are looking at a much worse broadcast environment. That said, I do know one shooter that does exactly this while practicing but he is shooting down at the target and can see the drone on the ground from the firing point.
At some point it is a lot easier to simply prop up a cell phone and stream video to another phone. When reliability is really demanded then the things get way harder which is why I ended up building my system out the way I did.
-Alex
I'm absolutely doing this! My favorite spot i shoot long range is a farm that crosses a mail road and i have to drive up gated roads on both sides. I waist to much time driving back and forth so i am definitely doing this
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