Scatt Trainer for Silhouette Use

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pdeal
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Scatt Trainer for Silhouette Use

Post by pdeal »

I recently bought a Scatt MX-02 Trainer. My hope is to try to use it for Silhouette practice. I know a few other people here and there are using these trainers for Silhouette so I thought it might make a good winter time discussion to see what people have come up with.

An issue with using these is that they are mostly intended for use with round bullseye targets. The MX-02 version, as far as I can tell, is basically just a very specialized camera that "sees" the bullseye. The older Scatt versions had a target frame down range with some infrared LED's and it would "see" those LED's. For more details on the use of the Scatt there are lots of youtube videos.

The thing that's kind-of unique about silhouette over many shooting disciplines is that there isn't really any precise aiming point. I think for training it's important to be holding on the same shape that we normally shoot at. What I've come up with so far is a black aiming point with an animal silhouette over it. It's all scaled to look to work at 10 meters (photo below). This seems to work. I did one also with the scoring rings on it so the shooter can correlate this to the hit shown on the PC but I think this may be a bad idea to use in practice since it gives a very different aiming point than we have in reality.

I think that maybe the Scatt trainers that use the target frame with LED's may be a better choice for silhouette shooters since I think that model doesn't really care what the target is since it's sensing the LED's and not the target. Not sure about this though.

The other thing I found to be difficult was mounting the sensor on a hunter rifle with a thin tapered barrel. I messed around using electrical tape to try to get it to work a little better but this was not very satisfactory. What I've come up with so far for this is I made a little dovetail to mount on my scope rings. I think this is a very good solution since it can stay in place and makes remounting the Scatt sensor much quicker.
ScattChicken.JPG
ScattMount.JPG
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atomicbrh
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Re: Scatt Trainer for Silhouette Use

Post by atomicbrh »

Can it do a wobble tracing, location of trigger break and dwell time after first stage is taken up?
pdeal
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Re: Scatt Trainer for Silhouette Use

Post by pdeal »

Yea it will trace the wobble and trigger break. It detects the trigger break based on the click of the firing pin. I think it has some time delays built in to account for bullet flight time. Regarding 1st stage take-up not in the standard unit. They do sell a trigger force sensor but it's about as much as the scatt unit itself. I've never known anyone to have one.

There are other trainers out there. In the past I had a Rika which I think may now be defunct. It was very squirrely and I didn't like it. I also had a Noptel at one point. I liked this very well but it seems like Scatt is mostly the last one standing of these. I guess the biggest reason I chose the scatt vs others is that it's been around for quite a while now and seems very well respected in the international shooting crowd.
Grantmac
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Re: Scatt Trainer for Silhouette Use

Post by Grantmac »

I haven't used one but I'm very tempted by a Mantis X10. Friends use them for archery and the data seems useful.
pdeal
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Re: Scatt Trainer for Silhouette Use

Post by pdeal »

Here is a printout of a Scatt trace FYI. Scaling things it looks to me like an 8 or above is pretty much a guaranteed hit on a chicken.

The trace below is 5 seconds total. The yellow is 1 second before the shot, blue is .3 seconds before the shot. On the left there is a good bit of data that can be analyzed. Including the speed of the trace average and in the last 250ms before the shot. The red is after the shot.
Scatt Trace.jpg
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Smayone
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Re: Scatt Trainer for Silhouette Use

Post by Smayone »

I have used a Mantis X on my Smallbore Hunter Silhouette Rifle. It requires an inexpensive adaptor for the barrel and provides an image on my I Phone similar to the picture for the Scatt. I use a steel Air Rifle Chicken (1/10th scaler) at 20 yards..from one bedroom across the hall to another bedroom. It senses hammer fall and the trace shows wobble in blue, then a short trace just before the hammer fall in yellow...assumed trigger pull time, an X at the hammer fall, and then red after the the fall. It generates a score and trace for each shot, and a composite score and analysis for groups. Can be used for Dry Fire or Live Fire. But it doesn't get a picture of the target. The Mantis X assumes that the moment before the hammer fall...when you started the trigger pull ...you were on the center of the target. If you do a really good break....off the target...and the start of the trigger pull and the hammer fall were close you get a good score. Provides good feed back on movement before, during, and after trigger pull. But you have to call your shots to say whether or not you hit the target.
I have heard some of the best shooters do a lot of dry firing. I do some. Lately I have been dry firing mostly with my Lever Action Rifle in the back yard on Air Rifle Targets (1/10th Scale) set at 8, 10, 15, 20 yards. I have a Ram, Turkey, and Chicken set up at 20 yards. When I dry fire with my Smallbore Hunter Rifle I shoot the Ram first...pretty easy...then the Turkey, and then the Chicken.
Having read your post I'm a little jealous. The Scatt System sounds great. But I've already got the Mantis X and I'm encouraged now to try it again.
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