What Is Hit Factor Scoring?
Hit factor is points per second. USPSA and most multigun formats score every stage with it. The calculator above does the math. This is what the number means and how to move it.
The Formula
Hit Factor = Total Points ÷ Time
Total points are your target hits minus penalties. Time runs from the start beep to your last shot.
- Target hits, minor power factor: A zone 5 points, B and C zone 3 points, D zone 1 point.
- Penalties: miss minus 10, no-shoot hit minus 10, procedural minus 10.
Major power factor scores B and C at 4 and D at 2. This calculator scores minor. If you shoot major, your real hit factor runs a little higher on any stage where you dropped points.
Each stage is ranked by hit factor. The top hit factor gets full stage points and everyone else gets a percentage of it. You aren’t scored against the stage. You’re scored against the best run on it.
A Worked Example
You shoot a 20-round stage in 10.00 seconds with 16 Alphas and 4 Charlies. That’s 80 + 12 = 92 points and a 9.20 hit factor.
Another shooter puts all 20 in the A zone for 100 points but takes 14.00 seconds. Hit factor 7.14. More points, lower score. Your run wins the stage and theirs is worth about 78% of it.
Now take your same run and turn one Alpha into a Mike. You lose the 5 points you didn’t earn and eat a 10-point penalty. 92 becomes 77 and your hit factor drops to 7.70. That one miss cost the same as adding almost two seconds to your time.
That’s the trade-off. Points cost time. Misses cost more.
How I Use It
Plug in a stage from your last match and change one thing at a time. Turn a Charlie into a Delta. Add half a second. Take away a Mike. Every time I do this on my own stages, the leak is a penalty or a Delta, not the half second I thought I needed to find.
Shooting a division scored by power factor? Check your load with the power factor calculator.