Syringe Gun Accuracy Feedback?

I've been trying to improve my accuracy with the syringe gun, but I find that sometimes it's hard to determine how many shots are hitting.  The syringes are tiny and at long distances I have a really difficult time seeing where they land.  The blood splatter when they hit is also minimal, and is useless for determining accuracy at range.  The lack of precise feedback is making it frustrating for me to learn to adjust for gravity and target speed with the syringe gun.  I feel like a person with 20/200 vision trying to learn how to throw a baseball.

Experienced medics, how have you adapted to this problem?  Is there a hitbeep feature in TF2 (allows you to hear a small beep whenever your weapon makes contact)?  Or a console command to increase the amount of blood splatter from weapon damage?  Are there cues that I'm just missing?

The needlegun is, as you say, a tough weapon to use. The problem you may be having is that you may be trying to use it like a regular gun. Because the darts fly in an arc and in a thin stream, if you aim straight they can miss the target easily. I use the weapon to instead create a wall of needles the enemy has to run into to get me. An example- on dustbowl, stage 2, cap 2 I'll run out with an uber from the gated tunnel. My partner is gunned down, so I run, persued by a scout. Going down the far right tunnel, I backpedal, spewing out needles, flicking my mouse left and right rapidly and strafing from right to left. As the scout turns the corner, he is hit my a thick wall of needles and is trying to target an erratically weaving medic. If he's dumb enough to continue, those needles will keep flying into him and kill him, without me worrying too much about how many land When retreating from persuing enemies, always try to turn a corner, backpedal and sprew out some needles, just to be on the safe side. Then find a class you can hide behind to save your ass.

Unfortunately, due to the weakness of the medic and the needler, this tactic will only work on some classes.
Scouts- go down fairly easy, but be quick as they catch up (running backwards reduces your speed). they will almost always try to finish you off.
Soldiers- nightmare. If I'm low on health, I'll often just leg it back to base (forewards, allowing greater movement speed) dodging all over the place. High health, feeling sucicidal- maybe.
Pyros- easy against stupid pyros who'll try to flame you, more difficult against ones who try to shotgun you. A close matchup
Demomen- much like the soldier, though be wary of pipe bombs missing you only to fly forewards past you into your advancing path.
Engineers- almost a free kill, unless you're near death
Heavies- although they'll rarely chase you, I'd get the hell away. As they're slow moving, you can usually escape with just a few bullets in your ass (unless they quit)
Medics- very dependant on health and needler accuracy- the better medic will often win out (unless is HP is rock bottom)
Snipers- like the engineer, ensure you keep moving erratically to avoid a snapshot headshot.
Spies- A fairly easy kill, but that revolver hurts if they hit you. The main threat is backpedalling straight when there's a spy behind you, waiting for the free kill.

The gravity and the arcing of the needles is something that is easy to explain (aim higher up when hitting further targets) but difficult to accurately judge ingame- keep practicing with it, and you'll soon know how high it's gotta be aimed.

The needler is, for me at least, a last resort weapon if my ally falls or if I'm alone (such as coming from spawn). Don't expect to get huge numbers of kills- it's not a weapon truly built for killing like the minigun or rocket launcher is. Your best weapons are your allies and your wits.

If you need any more info, feel free to ask

Qinetics

In tunnels, like the vents in turbine, the needle gun takes on an entirely different and more sinister aspect. It becomes the alpha and the omega. Wield it with respect.

I use it to round corners while running away, keeping scouts at bay.
Also, i listen to the in-game sound.  If you hit someone with the needle, you can hear it quite well actually.  You just have to get used to the sounds.

Yeah. I ask the question a lot while shooting. Than the demoman screams from 100 yards away and I'm like "Yes!"

While you're playing, have a look at the bottom of your screen. if you're on a CTF map, there is a small dividing line between the red and blu intel icons. If you're on a CP, it'll be the narrow gap between the CP icons. Try useing this line as your primary sight. Since the needles arc, the sight in the centre of the screen is only partially accurate at best. It's also important to learn to lead; the needles have a travel time and if you're shooting at where your target was, you'll miss. Also, try to use corners to your advantage. Since the needles do have travel time, you can use corners to put the hurt on someone without them ever having an open shot at you. Works especially well in the spiral ramp on 2Fort.

Worst comes to worst, never underestimate the power of spam. Needlegun has a huge clip size and ammo stock, so if you even THINK someone may be coming around that corner after you, spam away.

I pretty much have found that using the needle gun, pipes and flamethrower are VERY similar in terms of what hits people. You have to lead your shots a fair bit, and for medic I've found that you have to lead them ALOT!! Grab a buddy one day and have him run back and forth then shoot at him with needles. It seems pretty zany how much you have to lead the shot.

yes! if you aim at the guy, you will miss.  If you lead about 2~3 seconds into the future, it will hit, longer if it's a fresh stream of needles (they travel slowly).  Don't underestimate their range though, if you aim high enough you can hit very far away.

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You can hit enemys from your sniper deck to their's if I'm not mistaken, on 2fort.