There are at least 4 ways to hit a moving target with a shotgun.
1. 'Swing Through'. ATA Trap is a swing through game. Except at distant handicap, there is no perceived lead. The speed of the gun puts the lead on. A high shooting gun is preferred, it builds in vertical lead. The targets are rising.
2. 'Sustained' Preached by many top notch skeet shooters. One paces the target, and is never actually behind it. Lack of follow through is common and results in poor scores using this technique. Some have good success with it.
3. 'Pull away'. Point at the target, accelerate away, shoot, follow through. Sporting clays, ducks. Useful on incoming targets with some angle on them, and for those looong pokes.
4. 'Spot' or collapsing lead. Pick a spot in front of the target, and swing through that spot. Useful for falling targets. Avoid a 'dead gun'. Swing to and through your chosen spot and don't stop the gun.
Most of us use combinations thereof.
How anyone accomplishes any of the above without knowing the 'sight picture' simply amazes me.
The hardest head I ever shot with was a good friend of mine. He always shot skeet with a snap shot technique. I guess he must have read Churchill or something. His whole family shot that way. I shot with this man for the last 7 years of his life and he never once scored a 25. I offered. I told him if he would just adopt a a sensible technique he could shoot a 100 in just a few weeks. No dice.
As far as lead vs barrel length, I never really thought about it before this thread. Guess I'm in the non believer camp.... for now. Thanks for getting that in my head though Stan. There go my scores.
