Originally Posted by
Les Pepperoni
In Hit Factor scoring (USPSA and IPSC) the answer is: "It depends!"
Rules of thumb:
Stages with < 5 hit factor generally favor accuracy. If you know you binked a Charlie, make that shit up. Eg. in minor a Charlie is -2 points, which, at 5 hit factor equates t0 .4 seconds. If you know you can make up a shot in less than that, you'll be ahead.
Stages with high hit factors, say > 7.5 Hit Factor, generally favor speed. If you know you binked a Charlie or a Delta, don't make it up, because that is just stacking time. Eg. in minor that Charlie, -2 points, works out to the time of a split: ~.25 seconds. Just not worth burning more time to make it up.
Higher hit factor than, say 10: turn on the bullet hose and just be happy to hang charlies and Deltas on paper.
For stages with hit factor 5 < x < 7, this is the sweet spot. Shooting clean with clean movement should help her. Making up a shot if you can, is acceptable.
The problem:
Nobody know the exact High Hit Factor of a stage until someone good actually bothers to shoot it. We can guess, and as we practice, develop some feelings for how long stuff should take, but even then certain tasks can "pollute" this understanding... Does the stage contain a lot of long movement with no shooting time (that'll lower a hit factor)? Does the stage have you doing a bunch of bullshit: carrying stuff? pulling ropes and etc to open ports/props? That may also lower a hit factor?
So... With that in mind, what was your question again?