My two favorite things. Here is one of my new favorite pictures of drone. I posted once before some pictures of shooting targets and then flying the drone downrange to view the target. This time I decided to try some video shots of the new steel plate targets.
First off here's the drone used. It's a Mavic 2 Pro. Very high quality Hasselblad camera (photography is my other passion).
Here's a shot of the controller, which you can see the view being broadcast from the drone. This is the optional "smart remote" which has it's own built-in screen. The original controller you just connect your phone to. Mavic seems to struggle supporting Android phones well, and I got tired of fighting with their sloppy updates and conflicts with phone updates. Also it provides a much longer flight time and my phone isn't drained after flying this way. This drone has a range of about 5 miles (8km) and can broadcast the picture in realtime back to the controller. I was hoping for sound of the steel as well, but nope.
Weapon used for this was my favorite FX Impact MKII .35 caliber (9mm) PCP Air Rifle. It pushes a 81 grain pellet about 870 fps.
For this video, I shot two different ways, once from the drone which was I flew to just front and side of target 100 yards away, and then the second part from a GoPro9 that was in about the same position.
Listen to the sound difference between the two, One interesting thing I found out is that most drones do not have a microphone. So the sound is actually recorded from the controller (which is right next to the rifle in this video, and 100 yards from the target). The GoPro sound of course is recorded from the GoPro, which is near the target and 100 yards away from the rifle.
I think one of my earlier drones did have a microphone, I guess they took them out because you would just hear prop noise most of the time, but it would have been good to have in this scenario where the drone is landed, props stopped and just the video filming. Something to think about if you're going to use a drone for long range steel shooting is checking for mic. There are some other portable mics on the market, but most of those only have range of a couple hundred feet.
"Parking" the drone gives a much longer battery life as well. Normal flight time is about 30 minutes, but with it landed and just sending video, could easily get an hour, then start the props and fly back.
Here's the video. Pay attention to the sound difference. I just love the sound of the steel clanging on the second part, can barely hear it on the first. Notice how the clanging is louder than the rifle with it's moderator attached:) And for you technical shooters, not shooting for groups here was just doing quick shots for noise, the rifle is much more accurate than shown here when I try, although 100-150 yards is about the limit with pellets. Some folks like shooting slugs, which are shaped more aerodynamically and stabilize better at longer distances. For my needs the pellets do just fine and as you can see, hit pretty hard at that range.
