New Tech Reveals Hidden Mysteries of Shooting
Jun 06, 2024
Introducing the ShotTracker. This piece of technology is much more than just a camera. With an app, the Shot Tracker is a real-time digital coach that tracks your shot, records your pattern, and tells you how to improve after each shot. This thing is absolutely crazy and we're stoked to show y'all what this thing can do. Let's go!
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So what is ShotTracker?
Here is what Take Aim Technologies has to say: "ShotTracker is a high-tech training device that enables you to improve your trap, skeet, and sporting clays score by instantly showing how well you placed your shot pattern on the clay. It provides easy-to-understand corrections to precisely place your pattern on the clay so you can smash your next shot.
Sounds like a hoot! But before we can put these claims to the test, we have to set it up.
The Set-up
The first item you'll notice in the case is the ShotTracker unit itself. It's about 6 inches long and looks like a shot camera. Don't be mistaken - The specs on this thing are impressive packing a Quad-core CPU, Gyroscopes, Accelerometers, and an HD camera into this little unit. Now for most of us, that doesn't mean a whole lot. Basically, with proper inputted data, the camera can track the clay, its speed, its direction, and your general shot pattern area relative to the clay. But in order for it to output this information, you must set it up correctly with accurate information about your gun, gauge, choke tube, target, etc.
Step one is to boresight the ShotTracker. This can be done manually, or automatically with the included target. Basically, you have to set a target in the distance, record how far you are from that target, and input how big the target is. In our case, we went that manual route and set a 108mm clay pigeon on a post at 30 yards away. Once it knows the size of your target at one distance, it can measure, calculate, and track your shots at varying distances. A little more time spent on the front-end setup will result in a much more enjoyable, and productive experience.
Step two would be to input your shotgun and shot information in the profile section of the app. The app is called "Clay Tracker Professional" and can be found on the app store. This app will walk you through everything we're explaining to you as well. It's going to ask about your choke tubes, pellet type, size, and velocity. This information can be found on your ammo box. It's also going to ask about your point of impact or POI. This will require you to pattern your shotgun on paper if you don't know this information. In short, POI is how your shot spreads vertically down range. First, get some patterning paper with a 30-inch circle, and shoot at its center from 20-40 yards away. Analyze a couple of shots and determine where your shot pellets are landing relative to the center point of that target or your POA (point of aim). If half of your pellets are above the center, and half are below, you have a 50/50 POI. Again, take multiple shots to confidently input which ratio you believe is most accurate. In our case, our shotshell, shotgun, and choke tube combo resulted in a 70/30 POI.
The Process:
It's time to shoot! Pull up the Clay Tracker app and pull the trigger! Our first couple shots ranged from 20-50 yards and the ShotTracker picked up every single one of them! Once you shoot, the ShotTracker will auto-initiate its calculations when it senses a shot. In a matter of seconds, it determines where your pattern landed, your barrel approach to clay, and a number of other crazy details. Using this thing was A LOT of fun. The app will give you real-time audible feedback as well. For example, it may say "Good shot" or "The pattern center was high and to the right". With the track feature, the app will show you the path of your barrel movement as you approach the target. With this same feature, you can watch the live video that its camera recorded moments before your shot. This thing is amazing.
Here is a look at the app's interface when you're shooting. The green circle is the center mass of your pattern. The blue outer circle is the fringe area where your pattern is less dense. The orange arrows show the clays trajectory. The black circle with a "T" is where you pulled the trigger relative to the clay. The red cross-airs is where you should have pulled the trigger for a more successful shot. Below the animation area, you can see other details like shot result, clay path, clay range, and its speed. When you hit the Track button, the screen will appear like the second image below. The circled numbers (5,4,3,2,1) show your last barrel movements before you pulled the trigger. This is super valuable information as it shows you how you could potentially move to the target more efficiently. Gun movement is a huge part of successful shooting. Remember, less movement is always better!
The Camera: By hitting the pano button, you can watch a live replay of your shot, and your approach to the target. (shown below)
Conclusion:
Long story short, the ShotTracker is an incredible, powerful tool. It wasn't only a ton of fun to shoot, but the feedback and information it gave us while shooting was very intuitive and helpful. The concept of shotgun lead is a mystery for a lot of shooters. We believe that the technology that this tool offers could be very effective in showing shooters what lead should look like for various shots. In addition to lead, equally important is the ability to look at the approach you take on targets. This was one of the biggest eye-openers for me. I certainly need to spend some time working on my mound and merge.
The ShotTracker takes a lot of the mystery and guesswork out of shooting. With this kind of tech available, a dedicated shooter could become a threat in very short order on the competition course. This product isn't for everyone. We believe that gun clubs, shooting teams, and highly dedicated individuals should consider this product. With high school trap becoming more and more popular, more folks are having to step up on a volunteer basis. These guys and gals may be great shots, but coaching is a dedicated discipline. We can see this tool being extremely valuable for a shooting team. Its solid technology gives accurate feedback, and could take a lot of burden off of a volunteer coach who maybe doesn't always know what to look for when coaching.
To learn more, check out the ShotTracker website! It certainly has the TFL stamp of approval!
