Scoring Postal Match Targets

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Scoring targets for the Surplusrifle.com postal matches is not hard.  Some basic rules need to be put forth.

The Target:

In the basic adapted SR-1 target for the postal matches, the LOWEST score for a single shot that hits the paper is a 7.  That is, the one shot is worth 7 points, shown in red in the image below.

Figure 1.  Any shot in the “7” ring (indicated in red) gets you 7 points.

Each successive ring inward is worth one more point, the 8 ring, the 9 ring and then the 10 ring.

Figure 2.  Any shot in this red area is worth 8 points

Figure 3.  Any shot in this red area is worth 9 points.

Figure 4.  Any shot in this red area is worth 10 pts.

Figure 5.  Finally, any shot in the “X” ring is worth 10 pts also, PLUS an “X” count.

So, for a standard match, we shoot 5 shots per target (again, read the individual match rules, this may change in the future).  If you got 5 shots all in the “10” and/or “X” rings, the MAXIMUM point value that you could obtain is 50 (5 shots x 10 points).  Also, the most perfect score that you can obtain for one target is 50 points, all in the “X” ring, denoted by a 50-5X score.  The “X” ring count is used to break ties.

The Bullet Holes:

That is all fine and dandy when a bullet goes nice and clean through an open part of a scoring ring.  But life is a box of military surplus cartridges…you never know what you are going to get.  What do we mean when we say “ if the bullets cuts the line, it’s the next highest score”?

Figure 6.  This is an obvious shot in the 9 ring.

Figure 7.  What about this shot?  If it “cuts” the 10 ring line, then, even though the majority of the bullet hole is in the 9 ring, the shot is actually scored as a 10.

The issue is how to determine if the bullet cuts the line?  First off, it has to be the BULLET hole that cuts the line, NOT a tear in the paper.  Realize that the quality of the bullet hole is directly dependent on the quality of paper being used for the target.  The thicker, harder papers will give sharper bullet holes and less tears.  HOWEVER, for the purposes of our postal matches, we cannot require that people go out and buy the expensive post card stock paper to print their targets on.  So, therefore, you have to use your judgment and be fair to yourself when you score a shot as cutting the ring.

There are a few accepted and unaccepted ways of helping to determine bullet holes.

Figure 8. Two helpers to figure bullet holes.  The one on the right  is not acceptable at most matches.

First off, you can try to push the paper back together from the back of the target. A lot of times, doing so will yield a “lead” ring mark of where the bullet passed through and you can tell the difference between the actual bullet hole and tearing paper.  This works sometimes, however, is not easy to use if the hole is in the “black” area of the target or if there are multiple touching shots.

Next, you can pickup scoring plugs that are precisely made devices in specific calibers that allow you to “plug” a bullet hole and determine whether a shot breaks a scoring ring.  The problem is that they come only in specific calibers (I have a .17, .22 and .30) and are not cheap.  Therefore, because military surplus rifles come in more than these calibers, I would not recommend going out and spending money for them for OUR matches.

Another way to determine a bullet hole is actually not an acceptable method, but, in a pinch, for OUR purposes, you can try it as a very last resort.  All to do is use an unfired round of the same caliber that you shot.  Slowly insert the bullet into the hole and see if the bullet cuts the line.  However, you should realize that in actually, you are ENLARGING the hole as you push more and more of the bullet into the hole.  Most bullets are a few thousandths of an inch larger UNFIRED in diameter than after they have been fired.  Use this method only as a last resort.

Figure 9.  Although not a very acceptable way of “plugging” a hole, it will work for our matches as a last resort.

Remember, in the Surplusrifle.com postal matches, if you cheat, all you are doing is cheating yourself, you gain nothing.

Scoring examples:

Okay, that’s the basics.  Let’s try some examples of scoring a target.

Take a look at the whole target.  First we make sure that there are 5 shots on the target.  Then we’ll zoom in.

We count 5 shots.  Count up the score. 

1 x 9 points

3 x 10 points

1 x “X” 10 points

Total is 49 points and one “X”, denoted as 49-1x

In the above example, I would look very closely at the shots in the 7  and 11 o’clock positions to determine if they count as an “X”.  For this example, let’s say the 7 o’clock shot did not cut the “X” line.

Scoring gives:

4 x 10 points

1 x “X” 10 points

Total of 50-1x

Special issues:

1.       How do you score complete misses?

First off, make sure that there are no bullets that even grazed the paper way out in the 7 ring area.  If they did, they would count for 7 points.  Every missed shot is essentially a loss of 10 possible points. (ouch)

Let’s say that you only counted 4 shots on the paper and they scored as:

      3 x 9 points

      1 x 8 points

Total is 35 points.

2.      How do you score if there are TOO many holes on the target?

A little differently handled.  Let’s say that you accidentally shot 6 times at a target.  What you would do is DROP the HIGHEST scoring shot that you made.  An example scored as:

1 x “X” 10 points

3 x 9 points

2 x 8 points

Total is 43-0X

This is a costly mistake.  You lost 10 points and an “X” being that they are the highest shot that you made on the target. 

If there were 7 shots on the target…drop the TWO highest, etc.  8 shots on the target….try only loading 5 rounds in the rifle next time!

 3.      What about, “I KNOW I shot 5 times, but I can only count 3 holes!”?

This is one of the most controversial types of scoring for us in postal matches.  First off, we are relying on honesty of the shooter.  Second, how do WE  figure out what happened to the shots?  It is likely that you put a bullet through the same hole.  In a sanctioned NRA match, there are target backers behind each shooter’s target.  Offset in distance behind the target, they are used to determine such things as multi shot holes, but also can be used to determine if someone cross fires onto a neighbors target (this is VERY costly for the shooter making the mistake).

For our postal matches, we rely solely on your own judgment.  Some times, you can push the paper back together from the back side of the target and determine that what looks like only one hole is actually slightly more oblong and is actually two holes.  Again, the higher quality of paper helps in these situations.  It is because of these types of situations that we have gone to having shooters score their own targets.

I am sure that more questions will arise as we progress with our matches.  Realize that we want to make sure that more people WANT to shoot the matches.  The more rules and nit picking we have going on, the fewer and fewer shooters there will be.  We want to keep this to the basics.  If you want to cheat, go and do it somewhere else.  We are running this a pure, clean and friendly fun, a perfect score will get you nothing more than your name higher on the list. 

Please contact me with any specific questions that you may have, or you can use the Surplusrifle.com forum site to post a message in the “Shooting Events” forum that can be answered for all to see.

Questions?  orst86@gmail.com

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