Hit Factor Scoring as an Evaluation of Skill

[GJM]

Hey man, I can see how @Peally ‘s post might seem dickish, but I think he was trying to be genuinely helpful. PF is first and foremost about being the best you can be with a pistol. I recommend a growth mindset instead of butthurt.

For what it’s worth, he’s right. You’ll make C in no time with some focused practice, and that will make a massive difference in your overall skill.

I don’t know. With the new hit factors as of July, “D” may be the equivalent to what C was before. Seeems like most every classifier is quite a bit harder, and that statistically works against lower ranked shooters much more, since so few scores are excluded.

[Clusterfrack]

I don’t know. With the new hit factors as of July, “D” may be the equivalent to what C was before. Seeems like most every classifier is quite a bit harder, and that statistically works against lower ranked shooters much more, since so few scores are excluded.

Some HHFs went up, others went down, but I do agree that it’s a bit harder to move up. Still, C class is a great goal for every serious pistol shooter.

If you want a G card, shoot PCC [emoji1]

[JHC]

I think I see the problem. In this case, four seconds was not sufficient time for you to make your hits. Hit factor scoring wouldn’t encourage you to go faster, in the situation you describe, it would cause you to shoot at the speed that you can make those hits, which in this case would be slower. A disciplined hit factor shooter knows how much to align the sights and how much to work the trigger to get a hit on the desired target area. Time is irrelevant, except as a way to measure your progress in getting better at aligning sights and pressing the trigger, and comparing your results to those of other shooters. That was the whole point of the Stoeger drill I recently started a thread on, where you learn to shoot two shots that absolutely hit the desired target, and practice that with different target sizes at different distances.

Cool. So if I slowed down to confirm where I could make the shots (which I already knew from other time based precision shooting). Then slowly accelerated, concentrating on grip and press etc to improve the speed until under standard (over reps), and shooting other precision drills under time contraints; without calculating a hit factor, but counting C's and D's as fails, am I a hit factor shooter without the formula?

It seems like the improvement process is the same minus the math. You learn where you can make the hits and push and practice other fundamentals to learn to make them faster. Hit factor seems more directly applicable to how to maximize USPSA score. Period. As Leatham explained.

Hence not wasting time in a match to improve long range C's into all A's because the time factor is so important in that competition. I recall you explaining how Leatham said it was worth taking the extra tenth to sink the close Alphas you HAD to have and not waste the full time it would take to insure all the long Alphas. Which I thought was a lightning bolt of wow for USPSA when you said Leatham made that point.

[Peally]

Probably overly dickish but my heart is in the right place.

Everyone on this forum is capable of some really crazy shit with the right practice to get them there, Rich included.

[JHC]

Probably overly dickish but my heart is in the right place.

Everyone on this forum is capable of some really crazy shit with the right practice to get them there, Rich included.

Well after years of ad hoc make do targets, hunting for IDPA silo's here and there, I finally just bought a case of USPSA cardboard off Amazon. Smart move. I don't know what I'd been thinking. LOL

[JHC]

It's pretty nice to be banging on a thread about pure shooting and not hardware.

[MGW]

It's pretty nice to be banging on a thread about pure shooting and not hardware.

I get way to wrapped up in hardware.

[MGW]

Can someone provide me some examples? What would drills that are traditionally scored by time or score only look like with limited minor scoring? Also, is there a quick calculator or app for hit factor? Or maybe just a quick way to keep track of the info I need to make the calculations later? I downloaded Practiscore but haven’t messed with it yet. I need something that’s quick and easy in the range.

I don’t completely understand the scoring system yet so that’s not helping. I need to suck it up and go shoot some USPSA matches and learn how it works. There are a few personalities locally that are not overly fun to shoot with. Think open class, out of shape, and big ego and you’ll begin to picture the people I’m talking about.

[Mr_White]

I think a key thing is to think and work in amount of care in the aiming and triggering and trying to get better at those. Thinking of slowing down to be more accurate may describe a likely outcome, but not a path of improvement in raw skill.

[Peally]

I think a key thing is to think and work in amount of care in the aiming and triggering and trying to get better at those. Thinking of slowing down to be more accurate may describe a likely outcome, but not a path of improvement in raw skill.

Wrong, as always. I don't know why you even bother with this stuff anymore.

The key is white tiger stripe pants and oreos for every breakfast.