Hit markers

Save that shoe leather

One of the drawbacks to long-distance shooting is the time it takes to go downrange and check the pattern of bullets' hits. We saved a bit of shoe leather at this year's Shoot-out, thanks to a new Bullet Sensor being marketed by DAS Electronics Inc., of Colbert, Wash., in partnership with Itronix and Speedwell Targets.

The lightweight (38 pounds), portable sensor uses a wireless signal to record strikes on targets at distances of up to 1,000 yards. Under ideal conditions, longer ranges are possible, a DAS spokesman told AFJ.

The sensor array that surrounds the target captures a bullet's point of impact acoustically, then uses a built-in radio transmitter to relay hit information to an Itronix laptop computer loaded with Bullet Sensor software. The system has been tested with ammunition ranging from .223 caliber to .50 caliber.

The Bullet Sensor downloads firing information to the laptop, automatically registering bullet hits and computing scoring, bullet velocity (if desired), weather conditions, ammunition lot numbers and other pertinent data. The system even records multiple hits through the same hole, with an accuracy of .0005 of an inch.

The Bullet Sensor let shooters at this year's AFJ Shoot-out know immediately how well they were doing on some of the long shots. Several commented that they could think of many practical uses for the system, particularly in basic marksmanship-training programs. That's because the laptop captures all firing data for each shooter, providing a running record not only of scores but also where on each target the hits were recorded during various shooting sessions.

The systems retail for less than $15,000.

More about the Bullet Sensor can be found at www.bulletsensor.com.

The disappearing mailbox

The contingent from recently renamed U.S. Glob al Nanospace (USGN) brought a vanload of products to Blackwater to demonstrate the scope of their company's military and law-enforcement activities. Included were a prototype protective ring for Humvee gunners, flat plates of the same material from which the ring was made, and a bullet-resistant airliner cockpit door. Those items all share a common purpose - they're designed to stop bullets. So far, so good.

But the USGN team also brought a pair of mailboxes - one carried a new type of blast-containment liner; the other was an ordinary, free-standing, corner-variety mail receptacle.

The idea was simple: Blow up the unlined mailbox with an explosive charge, then show how the blast from a similar-sized charge is contained by the liner.

Unfortunately, USGN's "mailboxes guy" didn't have any explosive material with him; worse still, he was unsure about what size charge the liner could with stand. Those are not minor oversights, particularly considering the audience that had gathered at Black water for the demo.

With some help from our Blackwater hosts, the liner-equipped box was set up about six feet in front of the number-19 sign at the berm end of the long-gun range. The first attempt to detonate the charge failed; only a slight "poof" was heard when the precursor charge fired. So a new blasting cap was affixed to the PETN, or explosive, cord.

This time the cord did what it's designed to do, sending the blast-barrier-lined mailbox in all directions. Parts of the mailbox blew a large hole through the number-19 sign, leaving just a 9 between the 18 and 20 markers.

"Was it supposed to do that?" one of the confused onlookers was overheard asking.
The answer, of course, is "no."

The Global Nanospace team learned a pair of valuable lessons from the mailbox demo: They should bring their own explosive charge to any demonstration and they should test their barrier product against a specific charge before demonstrating it publicly.

As for our evaluators, they, too, were the wiser after the blast. As one noted: "One thing's for sure - PETN is some great stuff."