IPSC is in English so this page will also be in English.
There are a few different types of targets, the standard target is in cardboard, as below, and has 3 scoring zones: Alpha, Charly and Delta (There is no Beta, as that is used in some other disciplines to represent a human head, which IPSC wants to avoid).
When calling out hits, the RO will repeat what you said to verify they heard correctly. If they misheard you, just yell ”Correction!” followed by the correct score. Please do not patch any holes before their score has been correctly registered.
Normally the 2 best shots per target count, sometimes there are different rules (”one shot only” for example) but it will be clearly stated if that is the case.
When scoring, the Range Officer will point at the people who are patching, one by one. You simply call out the score for each target you are patching, starting with the highest. The best score is ”Double Alpha”, but ”Alpha Charly”, ”Charly Delta”, or even ”Delta Mike” are of course also possible. ”Mike” is used to indicate a miss. A ”double mike” is the worst score as it will often also incur a procedural penalty, but the RO will take care of that.
Sometimes the brown targets are partially hidden behind white targets, white targets are ”no-shoot” targets and when scoring you must report shots through these ”no-shoot” targets. For example: ”No-shoot, Alpha!”. If a shot passes through both a ”no-shoot” and a normal target, the hit on the normal target is only counted if the bullet passed the ”no-shoot” partially outside the Delta area. In this way a score of ”No-shoot, Alpha, Delta” (for example) is possible.
Targets can also be partially painted black, black is considered ”hard cover” and any hits there do not count. Since the best 2 shots count, you can normally ignore shots in the black area. However if there are less than 2 shots in the scoring area, the others will count as a miss (”Mike”). So for example 5 shots in the black and 0 in the scoring area is reported as ”Double Mike!”
If you are unsure, just ask for assistance! 🙂
Other possible targets are steel plates, these come in different forms and sizes and can be either round, square or in the form of a popper. Any plate that is shot at and falls over is counted, so if there are 4 plates in a row and all 4 have been shot and have fallen over, you simply call out ”4 plates” when the RO points at you. Generally competitors will shoot at plates until they fall, but in case a plate is still standing when scoring, you count it as a miss (”Mike”). ”3 plates, 1 mike!”.