The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - First USPSA shoot: Trying to gauge my scores

g.willikers · July 3, 2010, 03:03 PM

No matter how enticing they make it sound, you should not engage in any kind of shootin' contest for big stakes, with the guys who won this match.

But seriously, what exactly is the question?
Judging from the results, your hits were either mostly outside of the high scoring A zones and/or you took a long time with each stage.
But that's completely normal for a first try at this.
Your hits were only slightly down, mostly it was the time factor that reduced your score.
But that's the name of this game.
Fast and accurate are both needed to do well.
If you are asking how the scoring is done, the USPSA rule book, available at uspsa.org explains it.
In a nutshell, a stage is scored by hit factors.
The actual score on the target is divided by the time it took to do the stage.
And that is the hit factor.
The winner of the stage, with the highest hit factor, gets all the points as if they had all perfect hits.
Every one else is scored as a percentage of that.
Like grading on a curve in college or high school.
Confusing but amusing.
But a lot of fun with a gun, eh?

July 3, 2010, 03:03 PM	#2
g.willikers Senior Member Join Date: September 28, 2008 Posts: 10,442	No matter how enticing they make it sound, you should not engage in any kind of shootin' contest for big stakes, with the guys who won this match. But seriously, what exactly is the question? Judging from the results, your hits were either mostly outside of the high scoring A zones and/or you took a long time with each stage. But that's completely normal for a first try at this. Your hits were only slightly down, mostly it was the time factor that reduced your score. But that's the name of this game. Fast and accurate are both needed to do well. If you are asking how the scoring is done, the USPSA rule book, available at uspsa.org explains it. In a nutshell, a stage is scored by hit factors. The actual score on the target is divided by the time it took to do the stage. And that is the hit factor. The winner of the stage, with the highest hit factor, gets all the points as if they had all perfect hits. Every one else is scored as a percentage of that. Like grading on a curve in college or high school. Confusing but amusing. But a lot of fun with a gun, eh? Last edited by g.willikers; July 3, 2010 at 03:12 PM.