SVG Targets

This site is a free resource for SVG images of bullseye shooting targets.

These are vector graphics which can be rendered at any resolution without pixelation.

The files can be printed, used as a reference, or incorporated into shooting-related software or graphic designs. Use them for any purpose you see fit.

I do not make or sell printed targets. National Target Company, American Target Company, and Kruger Targets (the best for airguns) are all good target suppliers. I am not affiliated with any of them.

I referenced the following rulebooks to obtain the target dimensions.

• NRA Pistol Rules (targets starting on p.12)
• NRA High Power Rifle Rules (targets starting on p.13)
• NRA Smallbore Rifle Rules (targets starting on p.10)
• ISSF General Technical Rules (targets starting on p.17)

It's possible that I made a transcription error copying the ring sizes into my program. I'm pretty confident the pistol targets are right, but the two dozen rifle targets give me a lot more places to make mistakes.

If you find a problem in any of my targets, or have other comments, let me know at peelewoodworking@gmail.com.

Targets

The following targets are currently available.

*Note: target names ending in "/1" are specified by competition rules to use multiple bulls printed on a single sheet, but are provided here as single-bull graphics.

Printing

Most of the targets, other than airgun and smallbore rifle, are too large for printing at home unless you reduce them to very close range (see next section).

Printer paper also tears, especially with airgun pellets, and doesn't score as cleanly the tagboard paper real targets are printed on.

However, if you do choose to print these targets, they should come out at exactly the right size.

Just check the printing options in your browser and make sure that scaling is set to "100%". The default setting will likely be "fit to page" or something like that, which you don't want. That will give you incorrectly sized scoring rings.

At the lower left corner of each target is a circle marked "O.D. = 10¢". A US dime should precisely cover this circle.

If the outer diameter of the circle is NOT the same as a dime, it probably means that your printing options are scaling the target to some size other than 100%.

Adjusting Targets for Alternative Distances

The target files are generated on-demand. You can change how the targets are rendered by altering parameters in the website address (URL).

One handy option is to adjust the target for shooting at a different distance than it was intended for.

Perhaps you'd like to simulate shooting the B-6 50-yard slow fire bullseye target, but you're shooting an air pistol on your 10m home range.

To do this, add "?scaleDistance=10m" to the URL.

Example: /NRA/B-6.svg?scaleDistance=10m

However, the default scaling assumes that the target was supposed to be shot with a .22 caliber firearm at the original 50-yard distance, and will still be shot with a .22 at the new distance.

If your air pistol is .177, but you want to simulate the scoring difficulty of shooting a .45 at 50 yards, use the "scaleOldCaliber" and "scaleNewCaliber" parameters. This produces a slightly easier target.

Example: /NRA/B-6.svg?scaleDistance=10m&scaleOldCaliber=0.45&scaleNewCaliber=0.177

The targets can also be scaled up for greater distance. I don't think there is a practical purpose for this, but it can be used to answer idle questions such as:

Q: What would the ridiculously tiny 10-meter air rifle target look like if it was made for shooting with a .22 at 50 yards?

A: Still a VERY tough target to shoot from the standing position!

Finer points of scaling targets

Why does the scaling depend on the caliber? Why don't the rings just get, say, half as big when we shoot at half the distance? Because the scoring rings on a target can be hit by the edge of a bullet, not just its center.

Imagine a .45-caliber hole in a B-6 shot at 50 yards. The center of the shot hole is 2" away from the center of the target.

When we score this, we look at the edge of the shot hole, not the center. Because of the .225" radius of the hole, the edge of the hole is 2 - 0.225=1.775" from the center of the target. This means it does not touch the 10-ring, which has a radius of 1.68". The shot scores a 9.

Now imagine the target was at half the distance, 25 yards. Assuming a linear cone of dispersion, the shooter's error would be halved, so the center of our shot hole would now be 1" away from the center of the target, instead of 2".

But the bullet is still .45 caliber, so the edge of the hole is now 1 - 0.225=0.775" from the center.

Conclusion: If we had scaled our target by merely halving the diameter of each ring, the 10-ring would now have a radius of 0.84" and this shot would score a 10 instead of a 9.

This error becomes especially dramatic if you scale the target to very close range and shoot it with a large caliber bullet.

Compare a B-6 scaled to 10 yards by simply dividing all ring diameters by 5, with the same target scaled for shooting with a .45.

The X-ring becomes nothing more than a dot, and the 10-ring on the properly-scaled target is about the same size as the X-ring was on the simply-scaled target.

The scaling method used by this site

So what exactly is the correct scaling method? Well, that's up for some debate, but here is what my software does:

First, add the "scaleOldCaliber" diameter to each of the target rings. This moves the rings out to where the center of a shot would need to hit to score, rather than the edge. This is where you'd put the rings if you were going to shoot the target with a tiny laser beam instead of a bullet.

Next, multiply those rings by the ratio of newDistance/oldDistance.

Next, subtract the "scaleNewCaliber" diameter from each of the target rings, converting them back to score-on-edge-of-shot-hole rings.

Finally, decide which rings to color in black. This has no impact on scoring, it's just to keep the aiming reference about the same perceived size for the shooter.

Do this by taking the size of the original black, multiplying by ((newDistance+1m)/(oldDistance+1m)), and choosing whichever new scoring ring is nearest to that dimension. The +1m is to account for the shooter's eye being about 1m behind the firing line.

Caveats

I believe this method results in ring sizes that are correct assuming, once again, a linear cone of dispersion. That assumption is not perfectly realistic.

Anybody who has dedicated a lot of time to load development and accuracy testing will tell you that a 1" group at 25 yards ain't necessarily a 2" group at 50 yards. So as far as mechanical accuracy is concerned, shooting closer is easier.

For rifle shooting of course you also have wind and bullet drop to deal with, a much more significant challenge at long range.

On the other hand, I have heard accomplished pistol shooters talk about "parallel errors". This is where your sights are aligned, the gun barrel remains square to the target paper, but your body's sway moves the gun around by a half inch or so.

Invariably, the advice given is to ignore this error and the perceived large movement in your sight picture, and focus entirely on maintaining sight alignment and a clean trigger press.

After all, a half-inch of parallel movement is still just a half-inch at 50 yards, whereas an alignment error is magnified greatly with distance.

If we take this to be true, the conclusion would be that pistol shooting is slightly easier on large targets at longer distances. Ignoring the parallel error works on the B-6 at 50 yards, but a half-inch could be the difference between a 10 and an 8 on the B-40 at 10m.

I have found that spending time thinking about this does not improve one's shooting ability. I've yet to find a scorecard with a multiple-choice quiz or essay section on it.

Other Customizations

Adding "?black=gray" to the URL changes the black areas of the target to a medium gray color; which can save on ink if you are printing targets.

Example: /NRA/B-40.svg?black=gray

You can also disable the info text and dime size reference.

Example: /NRA/B-40.svg?black=gray&dime=0&info=0

Just for fun, you can also use any hex color, like #ff7f00. Replace the "#" with a "%23".

Example: /NRA/B-40.svg?black=%23ff7f00

Furthermore, you can change the white part of the target, too. Add "&white=[color]" to the URL.

Example: /NRA/B-40.svg?black=%23ff7f00&white=blue

For making sight adjustments it may be helpful to see a grid overlaid on the target. You may know that your sight adjusts a half-inch per click at 50 yards, but do you know at a glance how many inches high and right a hit at 2 o'clock in the 9 ring is?

You can overlay a 2 inch grid by adding the parameter "gridX=2".

Example: /NRA/B-6.svg?gridX=2

If you specify "gridY" you can have different spacing on the Y axis (i.e. between horizontal lines).

I measured the click values (average of 10) of the Bo-Mar adjustable sight on my 5" 1911 and found that the elevation clicks moved the rear sight blade by .002", while the windage clicks moved the blade .0016" each.

Over the 6.75" sight radius of that gun, that works out to 0.43" per windage click at 50 yards, and 0.53" per elevation click. If I wanted to generate a click chart for that specific gun I could do so like this:

Example: /NRA/B-6.svg?gridX=0.43&gridY=0.53

Of course, that chart is kind of busy and hard to read, plus I don't have a color printer. So for practical purposes I would draw the grid lines at 4-click intervals in black on a gray target.

Example: /NRA/B-6.svg?gridX=1.72&gridY=2.12&black=lightgray

I'd also like to cut the size down to just the middle and get rid of the dime size reference.

Example: /NRA/B-6.svg?gridX=1.72&gridY=2.12&gridColor=black&black=lightgray&paperWidth=8&paperHeight=10&dime=0

Complete Table of Parameters