How a Shoot is Scored in Cowboy Action Shooting
Scoring in Cowboy Action Shooting is determined by the speed and accuracy of the cowboy shooter in comparison to other shooters shooting the same stage or scenario. How you "ranked" in relation to other shooters on each stage determines the final finish. All classes are ranked as one group.
Each shooter is timed from the initial beep to the last shot with an electronic timer, which records the time of each shot. This time is recorded on the score sheet after any appropriate bonuses or penalties are subtracted or added as the case may be. The number of misses is also recorded. At the Shortgrass Rangers' matches, bonuses are subtracted and penalties added to the time on the timer prior to recording on the score sheet.
When the stage is scored, the stage time and the number of misses are entered for each shooter. . Therefore there are only two pieces of data to be entered on each shooter for each stage, the time and the number of misses.
Taking the time recorded and adding 5 seconds for every miss determine the total time on each stage for each shooter. The shooters are then "ranked" by total time. The lowest time receives 1 rank point, the second lowest 2 and so on.
Example:
NameTime + MissesX 5 sec. = Total Time Rank Points
Shooter A34.56 0 x 5= 0 34.561
Shooter B29.44 3x 5= 15 44.443
Shooter C34.98 1x 5 = 5 39.982
In this example: Shooter A has the lowest time and receives 1 rank point, Shooter C receives 2 rank points and Shooter B with the highest time receives 3 rank points for this stage. This "Total Time" for the stage and is used for "ranking". Rank on the score sheet is the same as "rank points" for that stage. This is repeated for each and every stage.
A shooter's number of rank points on each stage is added up and the one with the lowest number is the "winner". Shooters are sorted by the number of rank points, with the lowest number of rank points being the highest finish. Ties are broken by the lowest "Total Time".
Most cowboy shoots are scored on the basis of "rank points", rather than "total time". "Total time" is used to break ties in the number of "rank points".
Generally they correlate, but not always.
A shooters score on an "individual" stage determines "Rank points". His score is "ranked" against all the other scores for that stage and he is given a ranking for that stage. The best total time for a stage is given 1 rank point, the second best time is given 2 rank points and so on.
All the rank points for each individual stage are then totaled and the lowest number of rank points "Wins" the shoot. Total time is used to break ties.
This method equalizes differences between stages so that a short fast stage has the same value as a long complicated stage.
The Scoring for the Shortgrass Rangers is done using an Excel Spreadsheet developed by Doc Red of the Territorial Marshals. Thanks to Doc Red and to Prospector for allowing us to use it.
Goose Terwilligher
