Every dynamic shooter has an instinct about their right pace, and most of those instincts are wrong in the same direction: too fast, losing more points than the saved seconds are worth. Hit factor settles the argument with arithmetic.
The scoring, precisely
Hit factor is total points divided by stage time in seconds. The app scores hits as A = 5, C = 3, D = 1 and a miss = 0, which is minor power factor scoring, and computes the hit factor for you once you enter the stage time.
| Run | Points | Time | Hit factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 A | 30 | 6.0 s | 5.00 |
| 4 A, 2 C | 26 | 5.0 s | 5.20 |
| 3 A, 3 C | 24 | 4.5 s | 5.33 |
| 2 A, 3 C, 1 M | 19 | 4.0 s | 4.75 |
| 6 A, careful | 30 | 8.0 s | 3.75 |
Read those rows carefully, because they contain the whole lesson. Perfect points shot slowly score worse than slightly imperfect points shot briskly. But one miss destroys a run outright — the misses are what makes the curve fall off a cliff rather than plateau.
What the drill measures
- Your hit factor as a function of pace — the curve, not a single point.
- The pace at which the curve peaks for you, on this stage, today.
- How much your points degrade per second of speed gained.
Setup
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Stage | One simple array, 6–8 rounds, no movement. Repeatable is the requirement |
| Distance | 10–20 m, or whatever your discipline uses |
| Timer | A shot timer. A phone stopwatch is not accurate enough for this |
| Rounds | About 50 — six or seven runs at each of three paces |
| Recording | Zones and time for every run, individually |
The drill
- Establish your baseline paceFive runs at what feels like your normal match speed. Record zones and time for each. Compute the average hit factor.
- Run five deliberately slowerAim for roughly 20 per cent more time. The goal is clean points — see what your accuracy ceiling actually is.
- Run five deliberately fasterRoughly 20 per cent less time than baseline. Accept that points will drop; that is the measurement.
- Compute the average hit factor for each paceThree averages. One of them is highest, and it is frequently not the one you expected.
- Run five more at the winning pace to confirmSmall samples lie. The confirmation set is what turns a result into a decision.
Reading the result
| Pattern | What it means | What to train |
|---|---|---|
| Slow pace wins | You are over-driving. Points loss exceeds time saved | Sight discipline; call every shot |
| Baseline wins | Well calibrated | Push the ceiling with speed work |
| Fast pace wins | You are leaving time on the table | Transitions and trigger speed |
| Fast pace wins but includes a miss | The average is masking a disaster | Look at run-by-run variance, not just the mean |
That last row deserves attention. A pace that averages well but produces the occasional miss is a bad pace in a match, because a miss on a single stage costs more than the seconds it wins across the others. Track the worst run, not only the average.
Pass mark
- You can state your optimum pace as a time for a known array, not as a feeling.
- No misses across the confirmation set at that pace.
- Run-to-run variance under 15 per cent in time — consistency is what makes a pace usable.
Making it harder
- Add a draw or a reload and re-run the three paces. The optimum shifts.
- Add movement between positions. Points typically fall further than the time saved.
- Mix target distances so the optimum pace differs within one run — this is the real match problem.
- Run it cold, as the first thing you do, with no warm-up runs.
Common mistakes
- Averaging away a miss. One zero in a five-run set drags the mean and hides how bad that run was.
- Changing the stage between paces. The array must be identical or the comparison is meaningless.
- Chasing time only. Time is half the fraction; people forget the numerator.
- Not logging per run. The curve is the point, and a single session average does not contain one.
The app's dynamic session mode takes stage time and zone tallies and computes the hit factor and total points per session, which makes it straightforward to compare paces across weeks rather than within one afternoon. See logging a session.
Frequently asked
Does the app use major or minor power factor scoring? +
Minor: A = 5, C = 3, D = 1, miss = 0. It is a consistent internal yardstick for comparing your own sessions, not a substitute for match scoring.
Is hit factor useful for precision rifle shooters? +
The specific score is a dynamic-discipline measure, but the underlying idea — that speed and accuracy trade against each other and the trade has an optimum — applies to any timed stage. Positional PRS stages are scored differently but reward the same calibration.
How often should I re-run this? +
Every few months, and after any equipment change. Your optimum pace moves as your skill moves, and training at last season's pace is training the wrong thing.