Scoring BR targets

[JimV]

At club .22 BR matches we shoot ten rounds at each bull at 100 yds. Targets are scored for points rather than group size. The targets are good quality short fiber paper. Occasionally the following situation arises:

1. The shooter is sure he has fired 10 shots.
2. The group is typically small, < 1.5".
3. Only 9 holes can be positively found (sometimes less than 9.)
4. Looking at the back of the target is inconclusive.
5. Using a bullet to measure the hole sizes is inconclusive.
6. No sign of a hole off the bull but somewhere on the paper.

It's possible, though unlikely, that a wild shot went completely off the paper. It could also have gone exactly through one of the other holes, but there's no way to tell which one.

Anyone know if there is some accepted practice for scoring such targets?

 

[Randy B]

The only way I know is that if the holes aren't visable then they are deemed not to be there. This is the reason we use a moving backer system in Benchrest group shooting.
the backer has to follow the targer for verification. Some guys will go to great lenghts to cheat the system even at fun shoots. When we shoot score shoots then one bullet goes into each bullseye and the score is added if there are more than one bullet on a bull the shooter gets the losest scoreing hole. Best way to keep em honest!!

 

[big boar]

A long time ago (in a gallaxy far far away) I shot a lot of 22 target, quite a bit competativly but only club matches. All of our targets were either 5 or 10 bull type and only 2 shots per target. This avoided the problems you have. In matches where you shoot more than 2 per target (high power bench rest) you must have a "moving backer", that is a piece of paper that moves very slowly across the back of the target to PROVE that there were 5/10 shots fired. (I once said I put all 10 through the same hole, looked like only 1 shot was fired. Nobody believed I shot 10 so I had to confess to the 1 shot group.) I'd say you should go to the 2 shot/target style, avoids all sorts of problems. If you look at some of the targets for 22 I think they still state somewhere at the bottom "2 shots per bull". This is only for score, for group you'd best stay with 5 shot groups. By the way 5 into 1 1/2" @ 100 is pretty good.

 

[JimV]

A long time ago (in a gallaxy far far away) I shot a lot of 22 target, quite a bit competativly but only club matches. All of our targets were either 5 or 10 bull type and only 2 shots per target. This avoided the problems you have. In matches where you shoot more than 2 per target (high power bench rest) you must have a "moving backer", that is a piece of paper that moves very slowly across the back of the target to PROVE that there were 5/10 shots fired. (I once said I put all 10 through the same hole, looked like only 1 shot was fired. Nobody believed I shot 10 so I had to confess to the 1 shot group.) I'd say you should go to the 2 shot/target style, avoids all sorts of problems. If you look at some of the targets for 22 I think they still state somewhere at the bottom "2 shots per bull". This is only for score, for group you'd best stay with 5 shot groups. By the way 5 into 1 1/2" @ 100 is pretty good.

Thanks to you and Randy B for the comments. A moving backer is not feasible at my club, but fewer shots per bull is definitely a good idea.

Regarding the 1.5" groups - not too unusual. Here are a couple of 10 round groups I shot in practice today. POA is indicated because I was testing some ammo and sometimes aimed at a different spot on the target. These two shot with Eley Sport were quite good. Got poor results with RWS Target Rifle.

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