Shotkam - any experiences?

[rookie]

Hi guys,

I saw on fb that shotkams are available in australia now.

https://au.shotkam.com/products/shotkam

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Anyone have any experience?

I’m looking at their samples (on YouTube) it’s looks good if you’re not quite sure where your shot placement is.

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I’ve been shooting DTL (atleast once a week since the start of May) and have shot 24/25 a couple of times (last week with 2 second barrel hits), 23/25 a handful of times and 22/25 countless times.

I often get one shot out of 25 that I’m not sure how I missed .. so curious about this shotkam for that reason.

But I think my issue is gun mount. My next thing I want to work on is cheek weld at recoil. So not sure if this shotkam is worth it unless others have good experiences?

Just working on getting that so far elusive 25/25 (then on to 50!)

... the price at $895 is a fair amount of money to me .. I’ve saved up most of this for my first centrefire rifle, so the shotkam or a .308?

Your thoughts? Especially any A/AA grade DTL shooters .. that’s my goal .. before doing skeet

Maybe it’s better to see a coach?.. or continue with self practice... there are a couple of AA shooters that have been giving me useful tips where I shoot but they’re old school and don’t like to over think it with new things like this ..

Cheers,
Mick

[bladeracer]

Couldn't you get the same info from a $60 Go-Pro?

[on_one_wheel]

$895 will buy you plenty of practice shots.

Saying that, your scores more than reasonable considering you've only been at it once a week for 3 or 4 months.

Other things to consider with those shots that you're sure should've hit, could be
Holes in your pattern... have you patterned it?
Have you managed to find and inspect any unbroken clays? It generally takes 3 or more pellets to bust a clay but it's not uncommon to find the odd clay that's had 4 or 5 pellets hit it without a break, normal because it's been struck with less energy due to greater distance.

[rookie]

Couldn't you get the same info from a $60 Go-Pro?

I tried it actually .. I bought this: $26 (from eBay from China) .. I already had the GoPro

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I can’t say the results are anywhere near the same ..

- as there is no zoom on the GoPro, it’s hard to see the clay most of the time

- u have to video edit to scale and crop to something close to what that shotkam does .. this takes ages and where your actual point of aim is, is a big guess .. I pointed at the corner of the trap house before each shot but that wasn’t too accurate

- every shot the GoPro would move out of position, so u do have to mark a position before each shot - and if u shoot 5 targets, u have to move it back into a right angle by guessing (out on the line) ... trying to figure out where it’s pointing on a second shot is really just a guess

- the weight is quite noticeable .. but I could live with it

At the end of the day, u really want to video yourself whilst doing a round without any of these distractions.. so giving up on the GoPro method

This is the one and only video I made .. took hours to get it to this point .. and most of the cross hairs is just a guess during editing .. especially the position it goes to for any second barrel shots:

https://youtu.be/u7IMkiCV_zo - just fast forward to 8m 15s to get an idea of what I worked with ... I left it at 200% zoom because I also got a lense for $20 at 2.2x zoom .. but I received the lense later and I now find there’s no chance it was stay on with the recoil.

But I suppose, if I took that video at its highest, I did learn when I play loose, I was tending to miss by swinging past the target. .. gives me a sense when I need to sharpen up, to ensure I moderate the swing speed .. something like that ..

Shotkam would save an enormous amount of time figuring those things out but I guess one of my questions is, is there only “so much” it can teach u (for DTL anyway).

Even in sporting clays i doesn’t really tell u how much lead to use .. u still gotta figure that out ..

[rookie]

Saying that, your scores more than reasonable considering you've only been at it once a week for 3 or 4 months.

I was probably once a week during April + May and got more and more hooked (I bought my first shotty then) .. but I’d do about 4 - 5 rounds (about 100-125 targets) .. before that I was using hire guns for a month whilst waiting for my PTA to come through about once a week but shooting with mates more for the fun of it (I forgot I got my gun 28 March, not April).

I sorta started seeing the cost of the sport and thought I better take it somewhat more seriously ..

During June and July, I started going twice a week when I could but only doing 2, maybe 3 rounds on a day (limiting it made me more hungry to improve) ... and I think that’s better than giving yourself more opportunities during a day

On top of this, I might do a round of trench or skeet, to keep it fun with mates

Other things to consider with those shots that you're sure should've hit, could be
Holes in your pattern... have you patterned it?

Yep .. this was after the last time I adjusted my comb:

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Looks pretty tight but that was at about 24 metres instead of the traditional 30 or so metres I’ve read people talking about (don’t have room to go further back) .. but honestly I can’t remember if that photo is a 3 shot average or single shot (only photo I took)

I use fixed 3/4 and full chokes

Have you managed to find and inspect any unbroken clays?

No, but I do smoke most of them but if I chip one, I usually go after it with the second barrel

I found ammo can make a difference .. the faster the speed the more easy it does bust them .. but the recoil can hinder the second barrel shot.

I tried standardising on 1250fps but the Winchester 1290fps are cheapest to buy at the moment

It generally takes 3 or more pellets to bust a clay but it's not uncommon to find the odd clay that's had 4 or 5 pellets hit it without a break, normal because it's been struck with less energy due to greater distance.

I think I’d just rather blame myself ... I know when I don’t shoulder it right (u know u should put the gun down and remount but you say to yourself stuff it, it should be right ) .. I’m sorta guessing right now when I miss and don’t know it, I might have some cheek separation from the stock

Thanks heaps for the tips to look out for ..

Any experience with filming a round? .. I think sometimes might be better to video the gun mount rather than the point of impact..

Just seeing if anyone will swear by the shotkam ..

[flutch]

dont buy a 308, not cos the camera is better but because 308's are gay

[marksman]

I can see it as a useful tool for what you are doing
quite interesting really

[Bent Arrow]

No direct experience but I've seen them on line. I've only dabbled in DTL a little with my son (lack of time is a killer for me) but for me, I'd invest in coaching..........

[rookie]

Yeah hard to know what to invest in .. its an expensive journey and you wanna make the most of the coin you put into it ... coach might be an ongoing exercise whilst the shotkam should last a long time (also use it for trench / skeet next).

I shot 2 rounds this afternoon (lucky to have the layout to myself) - first round I was working on second barrel shots - and experimenting with squeezing the stock harder onto my cheek ... was missing with first shot but getting it with my second shot ...

Ended up figuring out if I leaned forward a little more that negated the recoil enough for me to get my second barrels more consistently ... then I wouldn’t have to mash the stock overly much into my cheek ..

So second round I treated it seriously, I hit another 24/25 .. missed #19 as I knew I was getting close to the 25 and was taking slightly longer to hit each one, trying to “make sure of it” then ended up letting that one get away from me ... the last 6 i went back to my regular rhythm and hit them no problem ..

So learnt something new .. when I tend to get close to the 25 I gotta pay attention to not changing my timing ..

The whole reason “why” I may have done this though is cause I don’t 100% trust where me and my gun shoots .. so I tried compensating for the uncertainty by trying to see the target for longer

I figure either I get that trust over a lot more shots or use a tool like the shotkam to assist ..

I think that’s where my thinking with it is - might give it a fixed amount of time (a month) to see if I can do it on my own (and more than once)..

I don’t mean to sound like I’m crazy going for this 25 .. I do enjoy it and that’s why I keep going for this challenge .. it’s just that it gets expensive if I’m on the wrong track with something and need to discard it ..

Thanks for your opinions - would be good to hear if anyone who has gone to see a coach at roughly the same stage/level I’m at

[rookie]

dont buy a 308, not cos the camera is better but because 308's are gay

will choose later ..

[Tex]

I have one. You won't get the same quality of video with anything else. I bought it because I started shooting shotgun in sporting and was/am practicing by myself most of the time and needed to know where I was missing different targets. I also use it in comps if not SCA rules, so you can go home and see every shot again - what you did right and what you did wrong. If I was shooting DTL and only missing a few each 25 I would put the money to some coaching rather than a Shotkam; but then I think they are a great training tool and while expensive, I could sell it for near what I paid so even if I lost $100 it is value for money. See if your club would buy one and then rent it out....

[rookie]

I have one. You won't get the same quality of video with anything else. I bought it because I started shooting shotgun in sporting and was/am practicing by myself most of the time and needed to know where I was missing different targets. I also use it in comps if not SCA rules, so you can go home and see every shot again - what you did right and what you did wrong. If I was shooting DTL and only missing a few each 25 I would put the money to some coaching rather than a Shotkam; but then I think they are a great training tool and while expensive, I could sell it for near what I paid so even if I lost $100 it is value for money. See if your club would buy one and then rent it out....

Thanks Tex, I finally got the 25s and shot a local comp (ACTA is too expensive to join at this time of year so can only shoot at my local).

What I found is shooting comp is probably the next evolution on the shooting journey. In my first comp I was placed in A grade after the first 50 targets (the club keeps track of local non-ACTA shooter scores) but what I learnt was the focus required and the difference between that and regular shooting would get me more regular 25s.

I thought shooting comp, the nerves would make me shoot worse, but its actually the other way around. So next comp is in a month so will look forward to trying to replicate how I did.

I would still love to get the shotkam and really like the idea of the club purchasing one. Great suggestion!

I ran into a guy that said he has one and need to run into him again to see if he can bring it one day. He said he doesn’t use it often at all now - he is an A grade DTL shooter and probably figured out what he needs to.

I think it’d be invaluable for sporting clays, especially for practice before a comp if ur serious. I’d really just want to get the lead right for skeet at the moment and confirm “what I think is happening” during a DTL round is what is happening from a barrel perspective.

With the ever changing ammo stock levels, I seem to be changing cartridge brands often (going from 1250-1290, 8 shot - 7.5 shot) depending on what’s available and relatively affordable. Would be good to see I’m consistent with the swing and it’s actually the POI that changes from the cartridge .. or if this is all in my head ..

Would be great to have a pattern board that moves at 50-60kph! Now that I think about it, I heard there was some guy that invented interchangeable chokes that did this with a pattern board on the side of a truck! He’d get his mrs to drive by whilst he stood in a field shooting the pattern board on the side of the truck

In regards to coaches - I assume too that they’re invaluable but a few of the guys I shoot with are very helpful. Once one of them noticed I wasn’t moving my torso with a hard left hander and instead was relying on arm movements. They’re the things you never see yourself .. I paid more attention to that and the following week I shot the comp and did well.

Just not sure I’d see a coach often enough as I’d need too (I couldn’t afford it and to practice as well). But maybe they’d set u up with a routine .. not sure ..

[Elite_Sniper]

The 64GB is popular with instructors because they can keep a lot of client files on it, however, the 16GB is good for 500+ clay videos or 200+ waterfowling videos and is plenty for most individual users. Similarly instructors tend to use the Pelican case more; most individual users just put the ShotKam on the gun and leave it on. Also, the 16GB does come with a basic hard case.

[mchughcb]

I have 2 x 2018 models and use them all the time. Don't shoot competition only hunting on shotguns and rifles.

https://youtu.be/HBwgH5RNtb4

[rookie]

Thanks for responses - thought about getting one this Christmas as they were down to $850 AUD - but got a .308 instead.

After getting a few perfect rounds, I think (don’t take my word for it) consistent dedicated practice is the key for trap. You get muscle memory and then gotta be focused enough for each target for the whole round.

https://youtu.be/HBwgH5RNtb4

Interesting the 20g through the shotkam - didn’t know you have to be that accurate - almost as accurate as if shooting with a rifle by the looks of it!