Learn › Track 06 · Competing

Paper vs electronic targets

An electronic target never sees a hole. There is no card to hold up to the light, no gauge to drop in. Yet it shows you a 9.7 on your monitor straight away. Here is one way it can know.

Think first: An acoustic target has microphones around the target area. The pellet’s shock wave reaches the left microphone a fraction of a millisecond before the right one. Where did the pellet pass?

  • Left of centre
  • Right of centre
  • Dead centre
  • You can’t tell from timing alone

Two kinds of electronic target

Acoustic targets locate the pellet by sound, comparing arrival times at several microphones. Optical targets use frames of light beams: the pellet crosses the beams and the target works out where it cut them. Some systems combine both. Only ISSF-approved models can be used in ISSF matches, and they must be accurate to within half a decimal ring — about 0.4 mm.

Electronic scoring targets (EST for short) are compulsory at the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cups. Every shot appears on a monitor at your firing point as you fire it.

Paper vs electronic

Paper targets are still allowed below the top events, and the two systems run very differently.

  • Paper targets — One shot per competition card · Four sighting cards · Scored afterwards in the results office, with gauges for close shots · A hole touching a ring line scores the higher ring · 90 minutes for the match
  • Electronic (EST) — Every shot on a monitor at the firing point · A paper or rubber witness strip behind the target records each pellet · A backup printout from a separate memory · Accuracy within half a decimal ring · 75 minutes for the match

Think first: On paper targets, how many competition cards does a 60-shot match use?

Whole rings and decimals

The target measures every shot to a tenth of a ring, but qualification doesn't use that. Qualification is scored in whole rings, so a 10.9 and a 10.0 are both 10. Finals and the mixed team final are scored in decimals, where each ring splits into ten bands of 0.8 mm and the best possible shot is 10.9. Mixed team qualification is whole rings again. The decimals still matter in qualification: they are one of the tie-breaks.

Qualification in whole rings; finals in decimals (max 10.9). EST must be approved, accurate to half a decimal ring, show each shot at the firing point, and use a witness strip and a separate backup memory.

Try scoring a paper card yourself, then compare it with what an electronic target would show. For a refresher on rings and the touching-line rule, see how a shot is scored.

When the electronics fail

Paper can't crash. Electronics can, so the rules spell out what happens next. The two records outside the target — the witness strip and the backup memory — are what make a fair decision possible.

Think first: Twenty minutes into the match, the electronic system fails across the whole range. What happens to the shots already fired?

  • They are cancelled and the match restarts
  • They count; everyone gets 5 extra minutes and unlimited sighters before resuming
  • They count; nobody gets extra time
  • Everyone re-fires their last series

If only your target fails for more than 5 minutes, you move to a reserve firing point, with 5 extra minutes and unlimited sighters there. If the witness strip stops advancing, you also move to a reserve point, and the Jury decides which shots to repeat.

Think first: You fire, the shot felt good, but the monitor shows nothing. What happens?

  • It is scored as a miss
  • You fire one extra shot, and the Results Jury works out the scores from the target’s log and the witness strip
  • You re-fire, and the new shot simply replaces the missing one
  • The shot is credited as a 10

Whole range fails: completed shots count, +5 min, unlimited sighters. One target fails for over 5 min: reserve firing point, +5 min, unlimited sighters. Shot not registered: one extra shot, Results Jury decides from log and witness strip. Witness strip not advancing: reserve point, repeat shots as the Jury decides.

  • Acoustic targets time a pellet’s sound at several microphones; optical targets use light beams.
  • EST: approved models, accurate to half a decimal ring, monitor at every firing point, witness strip, backup memory.
  • Paper: one shot per card, four sighting cards, touching line scores higher, 90 minutes.
  • Qualification counts whole rings; finals count decimals up to 10.9.
  • EST failures: completed shots stand, plus extra time and sighters; unregistered shots go to the Results Jury.

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