NRA Conventional Pistol, or bullseye pistol as it's commonly called, is the most popular of the pistol shooting sports. It's remained popular for many reasons.  It is the ultimate test of precision shooting ability, beginning equipment can be simple and inexpensive, you get to shoot a lot and it may be shot at almost all ranges that allow pistol shooting.

   Bullseye competitions are shot "one handed". Indoor targets are generally placed 50 feet down range (25 yards timed and rapid fire and 50 yards slow fire for outdoor matches).  The competition or "match" revolves around 3 courses of fire: slow fire (10 shots fired in 10 minutes), timed fire (two 5 shot strings, 20 seconds per string) and rapid fire (two 5 shot strings, 10 seconds per string) for a total of 30 shots.   The first three courses are shot using a rimfire (.22 caliber) gun.  An additional 3 courses of slow, timed and rapid fire are shot using a centerfire gun of the competitors choice.  The most popular center fire gun being the 1911 .45 caliber pistol. Many beginners choose to shoot only the .22 portion of the match until they feel comfortable moving to a center fire gun.

   The idea of bullseye is to shoot the highest score possible for each course of fire (target).  The target is divided up into scoring areas called rings. A target with scoring rings from 4 to 10 is used for slow fire and a target with scoring rings from 6 to 10 is used for timed and rapid fire.  The scoring rings are slightly smaller on the slow fire target. The shots for a particular target are totaled up with misses (shots outside the scoring ring) having no point value.

   Tri-County Pistol matches are shot indoors and a competitor will usually shoot a rim fire (30 rounds) and center fire(30 rounds)  match for a total of 60 rounds shot. Although competitors may choose to shoot only rim fire or only center fire, the majority of people shoot both.  These matches take about 45 minutes to shoot which make them ideal for today's busy schedules.  These matches are won by team effort. The highest four scores are used for each course of fire.  If an individual has a poor match, it will not have an effect on the overall team performance. Beginners are encouraged to start shooting matches right away.  The best way to get better is to dive right in!