Send us your shooting files
Files from real matches and practice help us learn how electronic targets, rifles and ammunition behave, and make RotFL better for everyone. We take:
- ShotMarker backups (the most useful) and string exports (.tar);
- Garmin Xero chronograph files (.fit; plug it into a computer and send every file in Garmin/Shot_Sessions) and ShotView exports;
- SCATT training files (.scatt-expert, .scatt-basic and older .scatt), including a whole history;
- other chronographs' and weather meters' exports (LabRadar, MagnetoSpeed, Kestrel: CSV);
- photos of your target after a string (JPEG, PNG, HEIC), score cards and match results (PDF);
- a ZIP of any of these. Up to 20 MB a file, or 500 MB for a SCATT file.
Send everything, not a selection. All your sessions, all your strings, the bad days included. It's the easiest thing to do and the best: more data shows trends that a few picked files can't, bad days often show progress first, and the analysis sets aside outliers on its own.
Getting a ShotMarker backup
Read Downloading from a ShotMarker without breaking it first. It covers how full the access point is, when it's safe to download, and why one at a time.
- Ask first. Get permission from the access point's owner, or at a match from the match director. A backup holds every shooter's names or initials and scores from that ShotMarker, not just yours.
- Wait until the shooting is over and the scores are final. Never during a match: making a backup is heavy work for the ShotMarker, and it can slow or restart it.
- On the ShotMarker's Wi-Fi, open its page, tap the globe button to open System, then Save Backup. One person at a time; if the page is slow, wait and try again later.
- The file is saved on your phone or computer with a name like SM_backup_Oct_26.tar.
Getting your SCATT files
See what a report on your SCATT files can show: three years of one shooter's standing, and plateaus and steps (shared anonymously).
- In the SCATT app, export your sessions. Select all of them rather than picking and choosing: it's the easiest thing to do, and the best. Don't leave out the days you think went badly. Bad days often show progress first: in the plateaus-and-steps report, the worst sessions improved long before the average did. More data matters more, and the analysis finds the trends and sets aside sessions that are outliers.
- The file ends in .scatt-expert or .scatt-basic, depending on your edition. A whole history can be hundreds of MB; that's fine, it's sent in pieces and put back together at our end. Keep this page open until it says it's done.
Sending it
What happens to it
Every file is stored exactly as you sent it, encrypted with a key that only we hold. We use them to study target, rifle and ammunition behavior; anything we publish is in summary form, without shooters' names. To have a file deleted, write to privacy@readyonthefiringline.us with the reference you're given.