Electronic Eye in Front of the Target
The Texas-based brand SME, aptly abbreviated from “Shooting Made Easy,” offers a range of firearm accessories, targets, laser bore sighting cartridges, and shooting cameras, which are considered the flagship products of its portfolio. One such line is the Spot Shot series, which mounts onto the eyepiece of a spotting scope (or a riflescope for specific applications), capturing and transmitting the image to a smartphone. This is especially useful for long-range shooting when you want to verify hits on the target. The traditional approach, where you visually inspect through the spotting scope, can disturb your shooting position and require repositioning—or you need a willing shooting buddy acting as a spotter to call your hits. Instead, a Spot Shot paired with your phone can be placed in a more convenient spot, visible just by glancing from your shooting stance, making the process easier, quicker, and reducing the risk of disturbing your position.
The second camera line, named Bullseye, essentially serves the same purpose for shooters but eliminates the need for a spotting scope and tripod. That’s the focus of the following lines.
Title photo: You can position your phone so that you can see the camera feed without disrupting your shooting stance.
It works!
Bullseye is, simply put, a camera that you place directly in front of the target. Its image is wirelessly transmitted via directional Wi-Fi to a router at your shooting station and from there directly to your phone. Two variants are available, differing in maximum effective range: the Sight In Edition operates reliably up to 273 meters, while the Sniper Edition handles up to 1,609 meters.
At first, I was somewhat skeptical about the product’s usefulness, especially given its price—10,508 CZK or 16,346 CZK for the “sniper” version isn’t exactly affordable. I was also a bit taken aback by the size upon unboxing—360x95x160 mm—but to be fair, a spotting scope with tripod takes up at least as much space in your range bag. Someone at the shooting range remarked that it’s “big, brightly colored, and ugly as a Yorkshire terrier,” and there’s some truth to that. But in practice, it turned out to be an extremely useful tool that outperforms even high-end spotting scopes.
First and foremost, it works exactly as advertised! No gimmicks, no limitations, no clunky user experience—something surprisingly rare. The only downside (besides its size and price) worth mentioning is the lack of a battery charge level indicator—basically a minor detail. It simply works, and you can see bullet holes on the target at any practically achievable distance. After all, how many shooting ranges in the Czech Republic offer shooting lanes over 1.6 km? Rain, sub-zero temperatures, or heat—no problem. The device endures it all without fogging. Its plastic housing feels and looks rugged. Poor lighting, including complete darkness, is handled by the built-in illuminator. A large sunshade effectively prevents glare, and unlike with a spotting scope, you don’t get image distortion from heat mirage. Also, unlike makeshift camera traps, you won’t need to pay extra for a SIM card.
Camera with the transmitter deployed. The router slides into a slot on the bottom of the device.
Once in hand, setup at the shooting range takes just a few minutes. The camera is placed in front of the target—safely below the line of fire.
In folded form with the router slotted into the camera, the whole device doesn’t take up much more space than a spotting scope with a tripod. Use the included quality carrying case for safe transport.
Setup collage. The interface is simple and user-friendly.Features
On the display, you can see your hits in real-time—just like with a spotting scope. When zeroing your riflescope, a reticle projected onto the target helps guide your adjustments. You can choose the reticle’s line thickness, color, and density, allowing for precise “eyeballed” corrections. There’s also an assistance function: tap a bullet hole on the display and the system tells you how many clicks, and in which direction, you need to adjust to hit dead center.
The system also calculates and displays the center of impact based on marked hits, which can then be used for further adjustment. Similarly, you can analyze previously saved photos of targets taken with your phone. All data can be stored and imported across devices like standard images. Personally, I often shoot series of cartridges with different parameters, testing various combinations of powder type and charge, bullet type, and seating depth. During a single range session, I might test dozens of different loads, and Bullseye saves me a significant amount of time—behind the rifle, walking to the target, and during post-shoot analysis. Lastly, there’s a two-shooter competition mode on a single target, where shooters take turns and the system recognizes and compares their hits, determining the winner. There are thirteen built-in shooting games, including a ballistic version of “Battleship.” A bit silly, but definitely fun.
The app can tell you exactly how many clicks you need to adjust your riflescope for proper zeroing.
Setup Instructions
Walk to the target, flip open the camera’s transmitter from the rear, and extend the “belly” section housing the router. Turn both on. Deploy the telescopic legs from the camera and place it 240–440 cm in front of the target. Taller targets may require adjusting the camera angle by extending the legs or propping the camera up. Then, connect your phone to the camera’s Wi-Fi network, launch the app (available for Android and iPhone), and use the live preview to align the camera lens toward the target. Move the router back to the shooting line, ensuring it has direct line-of-sight to the camera. If terrain makes this difficult, use a tripod via the standard ¼” thread, which is also available on the camera. In the app, input the target distance, target size, and click value of your riflescope’s windage/elevation turrets. The app supports both metric and imperial units.
Once you’ve got it in your hands, full setup takes about 3 minutes. If you want to use smart shot-tracking features, aligning the camera angle precisely using the display takes a bit of finesse. Sometimes Wi-Fi won’t connect on the first try—just restart the app. It’s a minor issue that takes only a few seconds to fix. Place your phone in a position where you can clearly view the screen from your shooting stance and start firing. The larger the screen, the easier and more accurate the control becomes. For basic observation and eyeball adjustment, a 4.5” screen is enough, but for using the advanced features comfortably, you’ll need at least a 6” display—ideally a tablet. Note that the manufacturer mentions possible signal interference under specific conditions. Personally, I’ve never experienced it—not on any of the four ranges I shoot at regularly, including one next to an RC aircraft field where interference might be expected. Even if two Bullseye units are used at the same range, interference is not an issue since each communicates with its own router on a dedicated frequency band.
Conclusion
I can strongly recommend the Sniper Edition of the camera. The less powerful version has its limitations—as with a good eye, hits can be seen directly through a riflescope with 18x magnification or more—but it still serves specific shooting needs. The Sniper Edition isn’t a must-have for every marksman, but if you’re shooting beyond 300 meters, it’s definitely worth considering. It saves a lot of time and simplifies result processing. Aside from the higher price, I have no real criticism. When you calculate how much time you spend walking back and forth to check the target—and that’s time you’re paying for by renting the shooting lane—the long-term value becomes evident. As an alternative to a high-quality spotting scope capable of clearly showing hits at 500+ meters, it’s not a bad deal at all.
You can purchase the SME Bullseye camera from STROBL.CZ s.r.o. More information is available at strobl.cz or directly on the manufacturer’s website: shootingmadeeasy.com.
Advanced function: calculated center of impact from marked hits.
SME Bullseye Sniper Edition camera.
Photo sources: Author's archive
Author: Tomáš Prachař
This article originally appeared in Lovec magazine, published by Extra Publishing