Bullseye (shooting Competition) - Courses of Fire

Courses of Fire

All courses of fire are fired from a standing position using a one handed grip at 5.5-inch and 8-inch "bullseye" targets placed at 25 and 50 yards downrange. This is a significantly more difficult shooting position than the two handed grips accepted for use in metallic silhouette and action shooting competitions such as IDPA, IPSC, The Bianchi Cup, and PPC 1500 Matches. The "bullseye" targets are significantly smaller and farther away although time restraints are relatively more generous and shooting begins with an outstretched arm already aimed at the target instead of the mandatory holster draw required in most cases with the action shooting sports.

Three courses of fire are followed: Slow Fire, in which ten rounds are fired in ten minutes, Timed Fire, consisting of two five-round strings with twenty seconds for each string, and Rapid Fire, which has a ten second limit for each of the two five-round strings. All shooting is done one-handed, standing, with no support.

Depending on the match format, the competitor may be required to shoot as many as 90 rounds from each of three handguns. Each shot scores a maximum of 10 points. Hence, a one-gun competition is often referred to as a "900" whereas a three-gun competition is a "2700". A shorter form is the National Match Course consisting of a single Slow Fire, a Timed and a Rapid Fire target, 30 shots for a maximum score of 300. Single gun competitions using only the rimfire pistol are common, as they provide an inexpensive entry into the sport.

Outdoor competitions are typically fired at 50 yards for slow fire courses and 25 yards for timed and rapid fire courses. A "short course" shoots only at 25 yards and uses a reduced-size target for the Slow Fire segment. All courses of fire at an indoor competition are typically fired at 50 feet with appropriately scaled targets. A notable exception to this rule of thumb happens at the Oak Harbor (Ohio) Conservation Club at 50/25 yards and Amarillo (TX) Rifle Pistol Club at 25 yards which conducts indoor matches monthly through the Fall, Winter and Spring .