Target Scoring Practice 1

In Bullseye, you will be scoring your neighbor’s target, writing that score on both the score card and also the target, and then moving to your target to check the score you were given by your other neighbor.

And in scoring his target and in verifying yours, there is a procedure to follow that makes things easier, or at least it usually makes it so.

Here’s the procedure many shooters use.

1. Ask the shooter what caliber and bullet type he is shooting. This will determine which overlay you will use if in doubt. Also, because “ball” ammunition leaves a smaller hole but is the same size as its “wad” counterpart, you’ll need to take that into account as you eyeball the target. (Plugs should only be used by match officials and, once inserted, cannot be removed until the score is agreed upon.)
2. Determine how many shots are to be counted as fired at the target. Note this is not necessarily how many shots were fired. For example, if the shooter fired an alibi and a total of fourteen shots, you would throw away the four best scores and keep the remaining ten even if some of them were misses. But if the shooter’s gun jammed during the alibi string itself and only thirteen shots were fired, you still “count” the shots as fourteen, and throw away the best four. (You don’t get an alibi on an alibi string.)
3. At the target, count the holes to see if you can find all of the shots. If so, you’re ready to begin the tally. If not, look carefully at the holes for elongations or overlapping but slightly offset shots. Note that a skidder will be elongated horizontally and that the beginning of the hole will be much narrower than the caliber’s diameter. Two shots almost in the same hole, on the other hand, will also be elongated but the roundness at the elongated point will be the same as the bullet’s caliber.
4. Tally the shots starting at the X ring and moving outward. Count the number of Xs and, on the score card, write an X for each of them. Then count the tens, write down that many tens, then the nines and so forth. The score card might look like this: X, X, 10, 10, 10, 9, 9, 7, 7, 7.
5. Sometimes, however, it will be easier to start at the low end and work your way in toward the center.
6. And at other times, you may find it easy to score all the holes except one large ragged hole with multiple strikes. By scoring the other holes first, you’ll know how many to look for in the ragged hole by carefully examining the edges for each bullet’s outline.
7. And finally, you will sometimes just have to look at that one big hole and decide if any bullets passed through the center of it leaving no mark, or if it is more likely the shooter missed the paper completely. Most scorers will give the shooter the benefit of the doubt if all the holes are near the middle of the target with no flyers. On the other hand, if the target has a couple of wild shots, you may decide it is likely the missing shots are completely off the paper. As the scorer, use your best judgment in making the decision. (A miss is recorded as “M” – Maggie’s drawers – on the score card.)
8. With the record shots recorded on the score card, you then compute the score. This is usually done by counting how many points less than 10 each shot gets. For example, if there were two shots in the X ring, five shots in the ten ring, two in the nine ring and one in the eight, that would be 4 points less than 100, or 96. And then count the Xs, in this case 2X. The score card would be: X, X, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 9, 8 = 96-2.
9. And on the target’s repair center, write that same score, 96-2.
10. You can then move to your target, look at the score written on the repair center and tally your own score to see if you agree. If not, ask the scorer to recheck. And if the two of you still disagree, then you can challenge the score – usually costing a buck or two – and the match officials will settle the issue.