How do I become an effective spotter? for rilfe shots.. UGH!

[Ladyvalea]

Ok...I'm new to long distance rifle shooting.. I went out to 300-500 yards with a buddy.. He spotted for me and I followed his directions and adjusted my shots on the 500 yard rifle target... but when it was my turn to look thru the spotting scope... I was like---- um, I didn't see it hit? um I didn't see dirt tossed up...Um??? I think a tad to the right above the left shoulder?? I can tell he was getting frustrated with me spotting for him...basically he was wasting rounds!! cuz I couldn't get him on target!! HELP!! any tips? sites? books?

[Adam B]

set yourself up directly behind the shooter, in most cases you should be able to pick up the bullet trace

[Vlad]

My reaction would have been, well lets try some closer targets.

At 500 yards you can't know if he is shooting all over the place or you are not seeing the hits. If his groups where 2" at 100 yards for example, and then 4" at 200 then you could expect them to be 8" at 400 and low. So you would know where to look for the hits. But if you start at that distance, it is hard to tell if it the shooter/rifle or the spotter.

[Dan Sierpina]

If the spotting scope is variable, set it on a lower power. Focus about 20 yards in front of the target, you'll see the bullet coming in from 12 o'clock. At 500 yards, it's coming in on a pretty good angle due to the drop.

Look at a ballistics chart, from 450 to 500 yards in 5 or 10 yard increments, and you'll have a better idea what is happening.

[CJW]

Assuming the shooter was doing his job and was near the target, it's a matter of learning to see what you are looking for (the bullet trace). It took me a while before I was able to spot it regularly. The less experienced a spotter you are, the more (I think) you benefit from better glass and higher magnification that make the trace easier to spot. You may also not be realizing just how steep the bullet movement is as it comes down on target 500+ yards out. Your eye may be looking for a horizontal indicator when it is really vertical.

Once you can reliably see the shot trace, then comes the hard part—estimating miss, converting that to the shooter's preferred call (inches, MOA, MRAD, clicks, target diameter, whatever; and make sure you know whether the shooter wants to know the miss, like "8 MOA low", or how to adjust, like "Come up 8 MOA!") and getting him the information quickly, more or less in real time. At that point, the skill you need as a spotter is the same that you need as a long range shooter, so practice at one helps the other.

I might also suggest you practice your spotting against a backdrop where you can see misses in the dirt or dust. That's what will start to tell you that the wrinkle in the air you think you saw really was the bullet trace falling right onto that little splash of dirt when the round hit the berm. After some of that, you will be calling based on the trace and not (or at least not just) on the impact.

Last bit of advice. Do not squint one eye and stare into the spotting scope for a long time. It will tire your eye and make things difficult. My general technique for spotting is (1) remove glasses, as they make it really hard to get good eye relief on most spotting scopes, (2) get my dominant eye comfortable on the scope with both eyes open, (3) cup the weak eye with a hand so that it gets no light but without having to close/squint it, and (4) wait for the boom of the shot before I start focusing on the impact area. If you are far enough to need a spotter, then the spotter has time to relax the eye and wait until just before the round impacts to focus. A relaxed eye will make using a spotting scope much easier.

[Jakobi]

Sit as near to the shooter as you can and take the spotting scope slightly out of focus. You'll be able to watch the wake of the bullet as it travels down range.

[Ladyvalea]

Yes..I was spotting for an awesome shooter[emoji1] and I was squinting my eye and looking thur a small spotting scope in the picture you can see it at the top ! Thank you for all the advice

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Edited August 22, 2014 by Ladyvalea

[mike4045]

Went thru this with a buddy. He was giving me info on where shot went not the correction. Once we got on same page it went pretty well. Just takes communication between spotter and shooter. Had him making hits on 8" plates in a couple of shots at 400. He was using a prismatic. Slightly out of focus really helps. We were watching berm impacts around plates since it was loose sand.

[bigbrowndog]

If you're looking for trace, you should place the target in the bottom of the scope, 6 o'clock. Also too much magnification on a bright sunny day can be frustrating due to magnifying mirage and narrow field of view. Too many folks max out magnification thinking they need it to see better when a bit less would be better. Also since it was his scope, you should really adjust everything to suit you, which a lot of folks are reluctant to do, but eye focus and tripod height are all individual type things.

[Graham Smith]

If you really want to learn spotting, you either need to team up with an experienced spotter or take a class that teach it. I tried a few times to figure it out but it wasn't until I took a class that teamed shooters up for three days of shooting that it really made any sense.

You are never going to be able to be in a position where you can see things exactly the same as the shooter but if you can get low, immediately behind them or low right next to them, you can start to learn to see the trace and the splash. That part is fairly easy. Knowing where that trace and splash is in relation to the target is the real trick.

Communication with the shooter is also an issue. If you are behind them, they can have trouble hearing what you are saying so sometimes it's better to be right beside them. That's a tougher place to spot from however. Here's a few pictures at the place I trained:

https://www.snipercentral.com/pm.phtml

[Ladyvalea]

Thanks

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[dauntedfuture]

A big part of this is going to be some quality glass. The scope requirements for watching trace is much higher then it is for watching for splash. If and when you are spotting a shooter it is always important to coordinate beforehand if you are planning on providing corrections. Knowing the width and height are important for providing corrections as " aim 6 inches to the right.." can get lost in translation. Some will tell you to hold right, another might say you are shooting right, it can get confusing. Consider what adjustments the shooter has, provided you are shooting paper its easy to adjust knobs from shot to shot, if you are shooting steel on the clock gross corrections like "hold one full target width to the right..." can be useful. Also consider that scope adjustments vary from MOA to MIL etc.

[Graham Smith]

While this is somewhat off-topic, this thread has some interesting comments on the job of a spotter. The author of the thread has a lot of time behind a rifle in places where targets tend to shoot back and thus has a very good perspective on the role of spotter and shooter. He generally considers the spotter to be the more important member of the team while the shooter is just "the monkey on the trigger."

http://www.sniperforums.com/forum/misc/37527-mildot-master.html