Everyone knows that PractiScore defaults to all steel hit, so you only have to enter any misses on steel targets, which in most cases is handy because it saves an input touch or multiple touches. Those multiple touches can in turn create errors in scoring. But the same feature can, if not properly attended to, also cause errors without any input on steel.
I hear a lot of range officers saying “all steel down” instead of “4 steel” or “6 steel” or however many pieces of steel, poppers or plates, there are on the stage. This can be problematic at times due to the automatic “all steel down” that PractiScore does and the problem increases when tablets follow squads and aren’t locked to a stage.
What’s the problem? Scoring competitors on the wrong stage
It’s important to call how many steel targets were knocked down, at least on the first few competitors on a stage so that the scorekeeper can confirm that the numbers match. On any stage that has the same number of cardboard targets, but not the same number of steel targets, you can score the competitor on the wrong stage. This can give the stats guy fits, and has caused some serious consternation at times. When tablets follow a squad, best practice is to call the number of steel every time, because when you swap stages, that number may change, even if the number of cardboard targets doesn’t.
While it’s less prevalent at larger matches where the tablet is locked to a stage, it’s still important to call the total number of steel targets down, because your tablet may be on a stage with equivalent cardboard targets and the same error can occur.
Bottom line: call the number of steel every time, and make it a habit. And never just add or ignore targets that aren’t on the tablet–that’s a major issue and should let you know that something isn’t right.