What is an Archery Round?
Most club sessions and competitions are based on shooting one or more rounds and each round is defined by distance, target face and the number of arrows. As you shoot more you can see how your scores for any given round improve.
Imperial rounds are measured in yards, use 5 zone scoring (9,7,5,3,1) and are often named for the place in which that round became standardised. Metric rounds are measured in metres, use 10 zone scoring (10-1) and have the score or distance in the name.
Target Rounds
Typically 36, 72 or 144 arrows shot in 6 arrow ends. The bigger (longer!) rounds tend to change distance. Distances can vary by age & gender – and you can almost always choose to shoot a shorter distance if that’s what suits you.
The 252 Scheme is a great introduction to scoring rounds. Warwicks, Westerns and WA900 are a good progression. For open competitions WA720, WA1440, York & Hereford rounds are the most common.
See 252, Metric & Imperial rounds below.
Clout
An ancient and simple form of archery – everyone shoots the flag at the far end of the field!
A target face is ‘painted’ on the ground around the flag for scoring. The Imperial clout (100-180yds) is known as the Circle of Doom (24ft), the metric clout (90-165m) is the Circle of Joy (15m or 45ft).
The Tynedale Clout is 135yds (limited by the field length)
Indoor Rounds
Typically 60 arrows shot in 3 arrow ends at a variety of faces, all ages / genders shoot the same distance. The Portsmouth round is the most common; WA18 is almost the same distance but the face is smaller. Worcester and Vegas both make interesting rounds as the faces are significantly different.
Not all halls can stretch to 25m but there’s room at QEHS!
See Indoor Rounds below.
36 arrows (3 dozen / 6 ends) ranging from 20 yards right out to the maximum 100 yards. Qualifying scores are dependent on bow style and offer a great way to measure progression.
| Bowstyle | 20yds | 30yds | 40yds | 50yds | 60yds | 80yds | 100yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barebow | 189 | 164 | 139 | ||||
| Longbow | 164 | 126 | 101 | ||||
| Recurve | 252 | ||||||
Distances measured in metres, 10 zone scoring plus X’s
| Round | Max | Arrows | 90m | 70m | 60m | 50m | 40m | 30m | 20m | 50m | 40m | 30m | 20m | 15m | 10m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 122cm | 80cm | ||||||||||||||
| WA1440 | 1440 | 144 arrows (12 doz) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| WA1440 (70m) / Metric I | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Metric II | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Metric III | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Metric IV | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Metric V | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||
| WA900 | 900 | 90 arrows (7.5 doz) |
2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||||||||||
| WA70 | 720 | 72 arrows (6 doz) |
6 | ||||||||||||
| WA60 | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| WA50 (Barebow) | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| WA50 (Compound) | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| Long Metric | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Metric I | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Metric II | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Metric III | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Metric IV | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Metric V | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Short Metric (I) | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Short Metric II | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Short Metric III | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Short Metric IV | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Short Metric V | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| 122cm | 80cm | ||||||||||||||
| 90m | 70m | 60m | 50m | 40m | 30m | 20m | 50m | 40m | 30m | 20m | 15m | 10m | |||
Distances measured in yards, 5 zone scoring (9,7,5,3,1).
| Round | Max | Arrows | 100yd | 80yd | 60yd | 50yd | 40yd | 30yd | 20yd | 10yd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| York | 1296 | 144 arrows (12 doz) | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||
| Hereford (Bristol I) | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| Bristol II | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| Bristol II1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| Bristol IV | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| Bristol V | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| St George | 972 | 108 arrows (9 doz) | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||
| Albion | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Windsor | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Windsor 50 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Windsor 40 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Windsor 30 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| New Western | 864 | 96 arrows (8 doz) | 4 | 4 | ||||||
| Long Western | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| Western | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| Western 50 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| Western 40 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| Western 30 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| American | 810 | 90 (7.5 doz) | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | |||||
| St Nicholas | 756 | 84 (7 doz) | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||
| New National | 648 | 72 arrows (6 doz) | 4 | 2 | ||||||
| Long National | 4 | 2 | ||||||||
| National | 4 | 2 | ||||||||
| National 50 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||
| National 40 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||
| National 30 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||
| New Warwick | 756 | 72 arrows (6 doz) | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| Long Warwick | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Warwick | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Warwick 50 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Warwick 40 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Warwick 30 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Round | Arrows | 18m | 20yd | 25yd | 25m | 30m | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40cm | 16in | 60cm | 80cm | ||||||
| Bray I | 30 | 2.5 | Double Bray | ||||||
| Bray II | 2.5 | ||||||||
| Vegas 300 | 2.5 | ||||||||
| Portsmouth | 60 | 5 | |||||||
| Worcester | 5 | ||||||||
| Vegas (triple) | 5 | ||||||||
| WA18 | 5 | Combined | |||||||
| WA25 | 5 | ||||||||
| Stafford | 72 | 6 | |||||||