(These notes are adapted with Ben's kind permission from a post to the Bullseye-L.)
25 yards is the standard distance for timed and rapid fire, which is done on the same target as 50 yard slow fire except the slow-fire target has one extra ring black so the bullseye will look the same size at the longer distance, but each ring and the overall target is the same size.
Usually the shooter uses a B-6 target first, then covers only the center of the target with a B-8C when going to the shorter distance. B-6C centers are also available when shooting more than one set on the same slowfire target. It is not usually necessary to replace the entire target, small stick-on dots are available to patch individual holes out of the center.
There is also a series of scaled targets for use at shorter distances. The most common is the B-16 slowfire target so that the entire set, B-16 slow + B-8 timed + B-8 Rapid, can be shot at the same 25-yard distance.
| 50 yard Slowfire | NRA B-6 | (standard outdoor distance) |
| 25 yard slowfire | NRA B-16 | (standard indoor distance) |
| 25 yard timed/Rapid | NRA B-8 | (standard outdoor & indoor distance) |
| 20 yard Slowfire | NRA B-4 | |
| 20 yard timed/Rapid | NRA B-5 | |
| 50 foot Slowfire | NRA B-2 | ("gallery" target) |
| 50 foot timed/Rapid | NRA B-3 | ("gallery" target) |
| 25 foot Slowfire | NRA TQ-6 | (practice only, not match use) |
BTW, all NRA pistol targets are B-numbers, rifles are A-numbers.
| NRA B-17 | standard precision target for 50 meters |
| NRA B-19 | reduced precision target for 50 yards |
| NRA B-35 | reduced precision target for 25 yards |
| NRA B-11 | reduced precision target for 50 feet |
| NRA B-17 | standard precision target for 25 meters |
| NRA B-19 | reduced precision target for 25 yards |
| NRA B-33 | reduced precision target for 50 feet |
| NRA B-37 | standard Rapidfire target for 25 meters |
| NRA B-38 | reduced Rapidfire target for 25 yards |
| NRA B-39 | reduced Rapidfire target for 50 feet |
| NRA B-40 | 10 meter air pistol, standard size |
| NRA B-40/4 | 10 meter air pistol, 4 bulls on larger paper |
In my opinion all the scaled targets both NRA and international are indeed, as intended, equal in difficulty to the full size targets. Half-distance targets are slightly smaller than half size, because the bullet size does not shrink with shorter distance. Official target dimensions are listed in the rule books.
In addition to most local stores and major mail-order dealers, targets can be obtained in larger quantities and lower prices directly from the printers...
The National Target Co.
4960 Wyaconda Rd
Rockville, MD 20852-2444
Phone: 301/770-7060
Fax: 301/770-7892
American Target Co.
1328 South Jason St
Denver, CO 80223-3408
Phone: 303/733-0433
Fax: 303/777-0311
Neither of these companies has a Web site.
The best air pistol targets are made by Edelmann in Germany, I do not have direct contact information for them. Scott Pilkington usually has them in stock.