| Longshot Marksman 300-yard Target Camera

› Recording videos of your rifle shots on targets just became a lot simpler with the new Longshot Marksman 300-yard Target Camera. Now you can set up in minutes and get real-time video images of your targets as they are shot, via your smartphone interface.
Longshot’s wireless camera is a portable and battery-powered target camera system that you set up next to your target at between 8 to 16ft distance. When positioned down range right by your target, all that annoying heat haze or mirage is cut out, just sharp images all the time!
The built-in rechargeable battery will last up to nine hours and the Longshot Marksman allows you to view the target remotely on your PC or smartphone via the easy-to-use and free, Longshot app. It has advanced features such as tracking and numbering the shots, saving photos, reviewing each shooting session for record-keeping, and recording video. It is easy and fast to use with a trouble-free connection, as it generates its own Wi-Fi.
It’s great when your targets are too far away to see clearly with a spotting scope, and you need to record images for video content or your load development records. With a Straight Shooter 300-yard guarantee, it costs £550 and is available from Country Sports Wholesale.

All the details
The Longshot comes in a nice self-contained case with a tripod, power cable, and a set of instructions for set up and app use.
It is pretty large at 9.5” high x 3.5” deep and is nearly 5” at its widest point. The tough outer polymer grey shell with orange accents means it’s pretty weather-resistant, and there is a tripod fitment at the base. This is also where the ON/OFF switch is located, and the charging port with four indicators for the battery level.
On the side, you will find the illuminated camera live window and an ON/Wi-Fi signal indicator. On the front, the 2.5” all-axis camera housing is ball mounted at the rear, so you can push and rotate the lens to get any angle for correct viewing of the target.
The camera is a Crisp Edge 2688x1512 Ultra HD Imagery unit that uses patented “Go the Distance” link technology to transmit the image to you. The tripod is quite small but has a wide leg footprint for stability and a levelling head, again to get a level and perfectly angled image.
The camera is designed to be focused at 8 to 16 ft, so set it up to the side of your target to get a complete image, and make sure the back or antennae of the unit is facing you at the firing point. At 8 ft you have a 34” x 20” field of view (FOV) and at 16 ft it is 65” x 38”.

There’s an app for that
Download the Target Vision app to your device and then switch on the Longshot. Next, connect it to the Wi-Fi network it is generating. Now you can shoot and see the bullet on your target in HD, which is brilliant. The app also features the ‘Blinker Shot Locator’, which allows you to find your newest bullet hole by touching the shot locator icon, causing the most recent shot hole to start blinking. However, you must tap each bullet hole as it appears for this to work. The ‘Shot Marking’ feature again requires a tap on each new bullet hole, but it will mark with a transparent marker each hole and will auto-number them. This allows groups on the same target, i.e. steels, to be segregated by size and colour differences.
Then, of course, you can capture both images and video for future reference when at home and store them in order to make a log of your day and the rifle’s performance in different weather conditions.
There is also a ‘Live Group’ feature that calculates your group size with each new shot marker, and a zero mode to calculate sight correction so you can zero your rifle. However, you will need to input reference distance points in the app for this to work correctly.

In use
I set the system up while using a rimfire at 50 yards and then a centrefire at 250 yards and found it very easy to use. The battery lasted very well, only dropping one bar after three hours of use.
The actual image was very good and clear from edge to edge, as long as you positioned the camera correctly and at the right focus distance. In use, the unit does help see each shot with minimal head movement from the rifle when shooting. The app takes a bit of getting used to but soon you are recording data and images. You can use the blink shot indicator if you like, but I tend to shoot three-shot groups when testing sporting arms and save the targets for reference. For steel silhouettes out to 300 yards, it was perfect to spot the sighting in shots as well as the hits, and it took a lot of legwork out of having to reset cameras as I usually do. I did not try beyond this distance as it said 300 yards, so I stuck to this or below and had a very strong signal and a clear view at all ranges. I also used it whilst out roe doe stalking to cover a woodland edge to stop me from changing my position and to see what was coming down a ride!

Conclusion
At £550 it’s a tad pricey but it saves time and captures quality video. It is very good and saves a lot of faffing around with external cameras for image capture. There is also a two-mile model, which should be fun and save a lot of strain on the legs, and a Longshot Hawk model that fits on the end of a spotting scope. I will be testing that next, so stay tuned.