When is a target scored as lost, and when is it thrown again?

A lost target, in either shotgun event:

• it is not hit in flight, or is hit outside the shooting boundaries;
• it is only dusted;
• the athlete does not fire at a regular target they called for, with no mechanical or outside reason;
• the athlete cannot fire because the safety catch was on or the gun was not loaded;
• after a malfunction the athlete opens the gun or touches the safety before the referee has examined it;
• it is the third or later malfunction in the same round.

A no target is declared, even if the athlete fired, when:

• a broken target emerges;
• a target of a distinctly different colour is thrown;
• two targets are thrown in singles, or the target comes from the wrong house;
• in a double, either target is irregular or the targets collide;
• in a double, pieces of the first target break the second or the first shot breaks both;
• the referee is satisfied the athlete was visibly disturbed by an outside cause after calling;
• the referee cannot decide whether the target was hit.

A no target is declared, provided the athlete did not fire, when:

• a target is thrown before the call;
• a target is thrown more than three seconds after the call;
• the target's path is irregular;
• there is an allowable malfunction of the gun or cartridge.

The referee should call "NO TARGET" before the athlete fires if possible. If the call comes as the athlete fires or immediately after, it still stands.

An athlete should be scored only on fair targets. The split between the two lists matters: for a late or crooked target the athlete must hold fire to get a new one, since shooting at it means accepting it. That stops athletes taking a free look and claiming a fault only after missing.