How paper shooting targets are scored: the ISSF gauge rule
Electronic targets measure decimals. Paper works differently — and knowing the actual rule changes how you read your cards.
Paper scores are integers
On paper, every shot is worth a whole number: the value of the ring zone it lands in, from 1 on the outside to 10 in the middle. There are no 10.4s or 9.8s — decimal scoring exists only on electronic ranges, where a microphone or optical sensor measures the exact impact point. A paper jury works with a printed card, a hole, and a gauge.
The rings, in millimetres
Every discipline prints its rings to a fixed geometry. The 10 m Air Rifle target is the extreme case — its 10 ring is a 0.5 mm dot, smaller than the pellet itself, and each ring line sits exactly 2.5 mm further out:
| Ring | Zone diameter | Ring-line radius |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 0.5 mm (inner dot) | 0.25 mm |
| 9 | 5.5 mm | 2.75 mm |
| 8 | 10.5 mm | 5.25 mm |
| 7 | 15.5 mm | 7.75 mm |
| 6 | 20.5 mm | 10.25 mm |
| 5 | 25.5 mm | 12.75 mm |
| 4 | 30.5 mm | 15.25 mm |
| 3 | 35.5 mm | 17.75 mm |
| 2 | 40.5 mm | 20.25 mm |
| 1 | 45.5 mm | 22.75 mm |
Regulation 10 m Air Rifle dimensions (ISSF General Technical Rules 6.3.4.6). The black aiming mark covers rings 4–10.
The gauge rule: touching counts
Here is the part most shooters get wrong: a shot is not scored by where the hole sits. It is scored with a plug gauge — a precision insert whose flange is the pellet's nominal calibre, 4.5 mm. The jury seats the gauge in the hole and awards the value of the highest ring whose line the gauge touches.
In geometric terms: a shot scores value s whenever the distance from the hole's centre to the target centre is at most the s-ring's radius plus 2.25 mm (half the gauge). That is why a hole that looks like a clean 8 can be a 9 — the hole's near edge only has to touch the 9 ring line:
A hole sitting in the 8 zone whose 4.5 mm gauge (dashed) still touches the 9 ring line — this shot scores 9.
Inner tens (X)
Ties are broken by counting inner tens: shots whose hole completely obliterates the 0.5 mm central dot. With a 4.5 mm gauge that is a pure geometry test too — the hole centre must sit within 2.0 mm of the target centre. Every inner ten is by construction a 10, and on score sheets it is written as an X.
Club prints and imperfect cards
Not every practice card is printed to regulation. Club prints often use a slightly smaller black or draw their ring lines on a slightly different spacing. The honest way to score such a card is to measure the rings as actually printed and gauge against those — which is also what a careful human with a gauge would do at the bench.
Scoring in practice
Almost nobody gauges every practice shot by hand — which is how training scores drift optimistic. If you want honest numbers without the tedium, score your cards from a photo instead.
TargetIQ applies exactly this rule to a photo of your card — measured ring geometry, gauge-rule scores, inner tens and grouping stats, free in your browser.