patrickflanagan-
When you lead your bird, are you continuing your swing, or stopping? If you stop, you generally shoot behind the bird. A session on the trap range with a coach can cure bad habits before they become ingrained.

crm3006 has the right idea - hit the skeet range and get some practice breaking clay

Edward J. Palumbo

Major league baseball player?

You remind me of Babe Ruth missed a lot of balls to make those over the wall hits! Don't swing, you will never learn and connect to hit the ball!

Try a swing-through style. Start swinging behind the bird, draw a line through it with the gray blur that should be the muzzle of your gun (don't look at the bead), pull the trigger when you see daylight and follow through.

The English call it butt, belly, beak, bang.

Not to belabor the point, but you say you have "the basic idea." You have to be a total expert on how your shotgun shoots. It has to be like something you were born with. Most people don't know that their shotguns do not necessarily shoot where they aim, or that other corrections need to be made. Some guns absolutely will not hit anything unless and until you ream the forcing cone. If it is too steep (and it usually is) the shot will rattle all the way down the barrel and spray when they come out. I only ever owned one that did not need this, and it was a rather high-grade Browning over/under. SKB's are now being sold with lengthened forcing cones. You may want to consider getting a high-grade shotgun like this. It will actually cost less per bird shot.

Ridiculous.

Anybody who thinks they are going to the field with a cheap shotgun and do any good has everything in front of them.

For example (and this is no cheap shotgun):

My last fowling piece was a Ruger Red Label Stainless Over/Under Trap Gun that cost over $1,500.

I took it to the trap range brand new and hit 2 of 25.

I couldn't believe it.

I bought a forcing cone reamer from Brownell's and did the work myself.

I never missed again.

The only other thing that changed is I got a little older while waiting for the reamer.

When a shotgun is not hitting, the technical reasons must be explored first.

Most people penalize themselves with such a cheap shotgun that they have no hope of ever hitting anything.

These are not expensive modifications.

It costs $40 to get the barrel straightened and $50 to ream the forcing cone.

To continue missing without making these basic corrections is insanity.

Without making these basic corrections, you would be best off to go to a Pizza place instead of going hunting and sit in front of the fire and have a few beers.

I've got 50 years of shotgunning experience, and I didn't invent any of what makes one work well.

You can report to the field prepared, or I guarantee you will get frustrated and quit.

You can modify it or buy a good shotgun.

Which brings up another question:

If this is What You Do, then why buy the cheap gun anyway?

They say that "Citori" means "This gun doesn't miss."

And that's about it.

I learned most of my stuff from a neighbor who is a gunsmith.

Such advice as he passed on is not to be ignored.

He is also quite an impressive shot with a shotgun or rifle.

My last "fowling piece" was a Remington 870 Super Magnum. 400 bucks. The only modification I made was to put a $35 Briley Light Modified extended choke tube in it, and it's lightning on waterfowl. Last goose hunt I was on, we had a flock of 10 fly by at 40 yards, and that gun dropped 3 for 3. I use it for everything: turkey hunting, ducks, geese, squirrels, trap, sporting clays, etc, and it's never screwed up once.

All I'm saying is to make sure that your shooting form isn't the problem before you run out and start modifying your gun. Many guns don't need to have their barrels straightened or their forcing cones reamed. Just because you bought a lemon doesn't mean that every other gun out there is the same.

Patrick, please don't get too discouraged with some of the comments here. As EJP said, we all experience missing when we are new to the sport. Before you panic, I would recommend going to a trap range or buy a cheap plastic trap thrower and have friend launch clay pidgeons for you. I suspect you will get the lead down pretty quick. If possible, I recommend a sporting clays range because they give you rabbit clays that bounce along the ground and you can see your shot hit. Buy 10 boxes of shells and practice. I'll bet that by the time you get through the shells you will have it down. Follow through and squeeze when your bead passes the target. Keep swinging as you squeeze until you feel recoil. The biggest problem I have seen with new shooters is they panic and shoot before they even have the bird in their sights because they fear it will be out of range. Do your best to get the bead over the bird even if you have to follow it to forty yards distant. Good luck and have fun... you will be ON in no time.

Focus on the bird. Do you see the front bead of your shotgun when you are shooting?

If you're closing your left eye, then you are aiming. You need to pick a bird (very important, flock shooting never works), and focus on it with both eyes open while you swing your shotgun. If everything goes right, you should see the bird clearly and be barely conscious of your shotgun barrel. It should be just a gray blur that you drive through the bird and then pull the trigger and smoothly follow through. Does that make sense?

I don't know if you've done much airsoft or paintball shooting, but if you have then you will know what I mean by focusing on the target. Let's say I'm in a pretty intense game, and an opponent breaks off and comes charging at me from my right flank. I turn to the side, see him coming, swing my gun up, and pull the trigger, pointing my gun at him but only being vaguely conscious of the sights. That is how it should be with a shotgun: you are not taking the time to aim along the barrel and carefully shoot 6 inches in front of the bird; instead, you pick your bird, smoothly mount your gun, focus on the bird, swing the gray blur through the bird, and shoot when you see daylight between the bird's beak and your barrel. And make sure you keep swinging as you pull the trigger, never ever stop swinging until you've already been rocked back by the recoil.

Don't focus on the gun. Focus on the bird, and the gun will follow automatically.

No problem, anytime. Welcome aboard.

patrickflanagan-
If you are not already confused, bemused, befuddled, and a little constipated, I am amazed! On the crossing shots, try to get your gun muzzle out in front, and don't stop the swing. On the going away shots, try to shoot slightly over the bird. I still think a session on the trap range with a good coach would benefit you greatly.
Good luck, crm

try shhoting skeet and trap,that will help you.

Here is the key IMO and that comes from the experts at a shooting school, Virtually every time you miss you shoot behind.
Assuming the stock fits, and your dominate eye is just above the barrel, the common fault is checking your lead just before you fire by LOOKING DOWN THE BARREL! That is the kiss of death. The barrel will stop, and you shoot behind the bird every time!!! It is quite a discipline to be able to focus 99% of your hard focus on the target, and see the barrel move ahead of the target in but 1-3% let's say in your peripheral vision. The barrel will follow your eye that is following the moving target, and fire while the barrel is moving which is the key, but if your main focus goes to the barrel, you shoot it like a rifle, and shoot way behind even though you thought you shot ahead of the moving target. Here is why it takes lots and lots of practice....you can move your finger as you extend your arm like a shotgun barrel, and follow a bird in flight and move your finger ahead of the bird without hard focusing down your arm as you pretend to shoot, but a barrel that comes up just in front of your eye is a different story...it forces you to look down the barrel. Those high vis front sights are the kiss of death. They just make it harder to not hard focus down the barrel. Anyone that says they saw exactly how much lead they had is a red flag...they probably looked down the barrel. Move your arm and finger on a moving tweety bird, and at any point hard focus on your index finger...your finger stops..Now the time it takes for your mind to say shoot, plus the time it takes for the primer to fire, ignite the powder, and have the shot charge reach a point out front,..the moving target has now moved well in front. Lead is not a definite distance...it is a feel, takes lots of practice, and the shot has to be touched off with a moving barrel..the closer the barrel moves to the speed of the target, the more exact timing of the shot becomes critical. In other words, if you move the barrel very fast, and much faster than the speed of the moving target the time you have to pull the trigger is very short in order to touch off the shot at the exact time...smooth mount with the mount moving in the direction of the flying target is the key.

Sorry to have to make another correction in my first post...the closer to the speed of the target you move the barrel, timing of the shot IS NOT as critical as it is on a faster moving barrel that flies by the target. If you fly by the target there is but a small point in time that you have to pull the trigger.
Another interesting point is the description one has as to the lead picture that one sees. Someone can say I shoot 2" in front of the target, and they were referring to the distance the barrel appears to be AT THE BORE, and someone can say 3 ft in front of the target, and they are guessing the lead distance AT THE TARGET, NOT AT THE GUN. But the essence is YOUR SIGHT PICTURE, and what you see having shot the same target at the same speed, at the same distance, and had success. I just read an article by the same guru I am referring to that said you need to repeat a physical move 3,000 times in order to make it a motor skill!!!

I'm windy today so here's another finding on lead. When you have an angle on a bird you need to lead, you should begin your swing as you mount the gun....not mount it, and then play chase, and catch up to the target with the muzzle. Mounting the gun considerably behind the target is wasted time catching up to the bird. It also greatly increases your chances of looking down the barrel as you have mounted the gun without firing for a longer length of time..mount just behind, and that becomes a follow through technique as you keep your eye on the bird, and move the muzzle forward of the bird, and fire...mount it right at the bird, and pull the muzzle ahead, and it is the pull away technique, and mounting it ahead, and maintaining what you think is the correct lead for a second is maintained lead technique. All have their advantages on different types of shots, the last one being the best for long, crossing shots. I try to deploy pull away most of the time...mount at the target, and pull away slightly letting your subconscious mind making the decision when to fire...lots of practice, and it becomes known as instinctive shooting.

IMO a full choke is only an advantage at 45-60 yds with the appropriate load, and it is iffy at best at those distances. At distances you can expect to consistently hit the target I'd say a modified choke is the best, and at 25-35 yds and improved cylinder is probably the best.
Shooting with the proper lead according to the angle you shoot at can only be accomplished consistently by shooting, shooting, shooting, and shooting using the correct technique from the time you move the gun towards your check deploying a smooth move to hitting your cheek consistently in the same spot so that your back sight, your eye is in the proper place just above the gun barrel to having the gun hit your cheek with the muzzle close to the target when it does hit your cheek to maintaining strong focus on the target without looking down the barrel to letting your subconscious make the decision to pull the trigger, and not consciously make it...the conscious decision causes a delay where the subconscious causes no delay as it is made while the gun barrel is moving. It has to be done the same way time, after time, after time.