So, looking at my scores from this weekend, I’ve tried to make heads & tails of the scoring system. Not an easy task, I can assure you.
Easier to read than the USPSA Rule book!
Now, I *may* be wrong here, so if anyone is more enlightened than I am, please correct me, but here’s how I figured out my score
First off, you need to figure out the total points available for a stage. The total points available for a stage is equal to the minimum number of rounds required to complete the stage times 5. 10 points per paper target, 5 points for steel, so for example if you have 6 paper targets and 2 steel, the total would be (6 * 10) + (5 * 2) {2 x A hits on 6 paper targets, 2 x 5pt hits on steel} for a total of 70 points available for the stage.
From there, you total the number of points you get on target during your stage. Depending on your power factor, there are different scores on paper. In Comstock scoring, you can fill the target full of more holes than the plot in Star Wars: A Phantom Menace and you will get scored on the two best hits. In Virginia count, each hit over 2 is marked as a penalty.
Major
Minor
Penalties come in the form of hits on No-Shoots, Misses, & Procedurals, each worth –10 points. Each hole you punch through a white target is a No Shoot, each hole you DON’T put in a target you should is a Miss, and a procedural is of course doing something against the rules, stepping out of bounds, calling the RO a Near Sighted Idiot Who Wouldn’t Know a Hole in the Target From the One in His Ass, etc.
Your Hit Factor is your total points minus penalties, divided by your time. For example, using our 6 paper / 2 steel course, let’s say you shot the following in Major
Target 1 – Alpha, Charlie Target 2 – Alpha, Alpha Target 3 – Charlie, Mike (miss) Target 4 – Alpha, Alpha Target 5 – Alpha, Alpha Target 6 – Charlie, Delta, 1 No Shoot Both Steel
Total Time 24.87 seconds
This would be (5 + 4 + 5 + 5 + 4 -10 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 4 + 2 - 10 + 5 + 5) / 24.87 for a hit factor of 1.5681.
Now comes the fun part. When all is said and done, per stage the person with the highest hit factor wins. For that stage, they will get 100% of the available points. Each person down the line gets a percentage of the stage points based on their percentage of the top score.
For example, Johnny McHotshot shoots the same stage with with his 70 round Blast-O-Matic perfectly in 7.234 seconds. His hit factor would be 9.6765 and that takes 1st Place in the stage. Your hit factor is 15.17% of McHotshot’s so you would get 23.51% of the stage points, or 10.619 points.
When all is said and done, total all your points from all stages. The person with the highest score wins!
Hopefully, this clears things up a bit for people. Lord knows I was scratching my head trying to make heads or tails of the official document. If I’m messed up anything here or you can think of an easier way to put it, please let me know.