In a bullseye/precision pistol match, it is normal to score the targets of the shooter to your right or left. So you don’t hold up the pace of the match, you’ll want to be efficient about it. Here’s how.

Procedure for Scoring Targets

Material

Here’s what you’ll need.

• A pen or pencil (pencils tend to work better in the rain)
• A scoring overlay (not a plug which can mar the bullet hole)
• Your neighbor’s scorecard, which you probably received from him or her at the beginning of the match.
• Nice to have: A clipboard at least as big as the scorecard

Process

Here’s what to do when you go downrange to score your neighbor’s target.

1. Count the bullet holes. You should find 10.
   • If you only see 8 or 9 holes, look closely to see if a hole was made by more than one bullet. If you can’t find where 10 rounds went through the paper, you might be scoring a miss.
   • If the shooter had an alibi string, you’ll need to know how many shots were fired so you can score the lowest 10. E.g., in a 12 shot alibi, you score the lowest 10 and ignore the top 2.
2. Record each shot’s score on the scorecard. Start with marking Xs, then then 10s, then the 9s, etc.
   • When a hole touches a scoring ring, it gets the higher score.
   • When needed, use an overlay to see where the real edge of the bullet hole should be, because paper target tends to shrink the hole after the bullet passes through.
   • On judgement calls where it could go either way, I encourage you to just give the benefit of the doubt to the shooter and give the extra point.
   • I’ve seen people write an M for a miss, but also a 0.
3. Record the total score on the scorecard, e.g., 93-3X. It is faster to count down from 100 instead of up from 0.
   • E.g., for a target of shots scoring [X, X, X, 10, 10, 10, 10, 8, 8, 7], I would start on the right with the 7 and move left, counting to myself as follows: “Three – Four, Five – Six, Seven.” Three because of the 7, adding two more because of the 8, and again two more because of the next 8. Essentially, count up the differences between each shot’s score and 10, the highest possible score.
   • Subtract the sum from 100, write the difference in the total box, and mark the Xs in that box. E.g., 100 minus 7 is 93, so write 93-3X.
4. Mark the target with the total score so that shooter can see what you came up with, giving them the chance to object. I tend to write it on the right-side of the target, closer to the top.

When you’re done, check on your own target and then get back to the firing line so you can carry on with the match.

An Example: Scoring a Rapid Fire Target, Step by Step

Let’s use this target for practice.

Treat this like one of the rows on a scorecard.

Target

Total

X

RF 2

First, count the holes and notice that one of the two holes in the X ring is wide. That’s where the 10th bullet went.

Then, start filling in the scorecard from left to right, starting with the highest scores.

Target

Total

X

RF 2

X

X

X

10

And keep going until complete, like this.

Target											Total	X
RF 2	X	X	X	10	10	10	9	9	9

But now you wonder if that 8, which is close to the 9 ring, is actually a 9. So you take out your overlay and center the .22 hole over the hole in question and look to see if the circle on the overlay touches the 9 ring.

You look at it closely and think it just might actually touch, so you make a call and give it the benefit of the doubt, scoring it a 9.

Target											Total	X
RF 2	X	X	X	10	10	10	9	9	9	9

Now you add up the missing points, starting on the right and moving left. This one is easy. Each 9 counts for 1 lost point from a max score of 10, so you have four 1s. Four points taken away from 100 total possible points is 96, and you see three Xs.

Target											Total	X
RF 2	X	X	X	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	96	3

Counting 4 points down from 100 is much faster to do on the spot than trying to add all the way up to 96.

Closing thoughts

This works well even when you get down to scores around 50, though of course the more mental math the harder it is to keep track. If only a few shots are in the scoring rings, count up from 0.

You’ll get faster at this scoring routine with repetition, and it is easier when you’re looking at the written scores on the scorecard.

In the local pistol league, we don’t use scorecards. We bring the targets back out for the shooters waiting for the next relay, and they score and write the score on the target. While writing this post, it has occurred to me that it would be easy to write each shot’s score at the bottom of the target like a mini scorecard to make it easy to do the math. I may start doing that.

Oh, about the overlay

I mentioned a scoring overlay above. I keep one in my gun box. Here’s what they look like.

You position this overlay over the bullet hole on the target so you can get a precise idea of whether the hole touches the scoring ring. Sometimes it helps see if more than one bullet went through the hole.