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Ask HN: How to detect when a bullet hits a cardboard?

4 points by sn_master ↗ HN
Working on a project to create dynamic moving targets, and I need some practical ideas on how I can detect when a piece of cardboard acting as the target is hit. Ammunition used will most likely be standard 9mm Luger or .223 Remington.

Expected problems:

* The target can be as far as 25 yards.

* It is possible a good shooter can hit or intersect with the same spot multiple times, so counting simple circles would not be sufficient.

* It would be best if we can also detect how close to the bullseye was the shot, but that's not a requirement.

5 comments

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allears
Are you concerned about the exact timing of the bullet hitting the cardboard, or are you concerned about whether or not the bullet hits the cardboard? I think you don't mean 'when' the bullet hits the cardboard, but 'if.'

Probably you can use the motion of the target as an indicator, as detected by some kind of sensor.

sn_master
Knowing the timing would be nice to add a competitive element, but is not required at this early stage.

The problem with motion of the target is that once few bullets hit the same spot, the bullet would end up travelling through those holes and won't impact the cardboard which would trigger the sensor underneath. It's not a major concern with .223 but can certainly be a pain for the larger 9mm bullets.

Assuming we'll ask the user to shoot only a few making a sensor a viable solution, do you have something in mind?

nosmokewhereiam
Can you simulate firing with blanks and lasers, such as MILES gear, or use a similar system (for range practice) such as the Weaponeer?
sn_master
I am trying to build something simple and inexpensive. I suppose these ideas could work but they'd cost a lot and be very complicated to maintain.