Great assessment of Brister's work Phil. Every 'wing shooter' should read it, including those young 'trappers' you work with.

Sayfu -- I'll bite. yes, the faster you move the barrel, the less the perceived lead. It also means you have less time to trigger the shot at the right instant. I used to shoot skeet swinging fast through targets as you describe and I would agree that I saw very little lead even on station 4. Now I shoot a semi-maintained lead style (called "put the gun in front of the target and shoot"). Now I see lots of lead, but I also break more targets.

Phil...No biting necessary, just an hones discussion requested. And that is what I thought to be true, and did say in an earlier statement that moveing the gun more along the lines of the speed of the target gives you more reaction time to pull the trigger. The faster you move the barrel, the less reaction time, but the less perceived lead needed as well. That being said, my next thought is...if you have a faster load, can that lend itself to less speed of barrel movement needed, and less perceived lead providing a longer reaction time in the kill zone?

Sayfu,

A speeding shotgun swing is not always a good thing. In fact, it's poison.

A time ago a very good competition skeet shooter and friend commented after a round how fast I swing a shotgun on the stations. It was his opinion I'd have better and more consistent scores if I slowed my swing, and held my shotgun at the spot the target to came into focus.

Believe our good friend Phil covered this subject in an earlier blog.

It seems a very fast swing has a shooter so completely committed as to be fooled into out guessing a unpredictable target...and missing.

Mark-1..You are missing my point again...slow down and read. I did not say that a speeding barrel was necessarily a good thing. It limits the time you have to pull the trigger in the kill zone. BUT, and get my point. It does reduce the needed perceived lead on crossing shots! The faster the barrel moves the less lead needed. Now, given that as fact, can it also be true that a faster load can reduce the perceived lead. Could it be that I could slow down my barrel swing on crossing shots, and have more time to pull the trigger in the kill zone IF I used a faster load?...think about it.

Mark, I well could be over analyzing, BUT, speed of barrel movement has a direct relationship with forward lead, and I was then trying to make a correlation with shot speed as well. And speed of barrel movement is an individual thing as well I do believe. I would imagine that those sharp, usually young international trap Oympians move the barrel quite fast to score on fast moving international targets, and to be able to score on doubles. Here's a story as an example. I know a rather young master class sporting clays shooter. The guy's a lefty. I asked him about lead, and the guy says, "I don't have to lead a crossing target an inch! I shoot right at it!" So I watch this guy as he demonstrates practicing on sporting clays crossing shots. He moved that barrel so fast that in his mind he was shooting right at the crossing target. Now I don't know whether he was, or not even standing behind the guy, and I'm not sure the shooter even knows when they describe what they saw after the fact. But no doubt this guy had very fast reaction time, something that an older shooter loses, or a shooter that doesn't shoot a thousand targets a week, or much more just doesn't have. But, I do agree with you on smoothness of swing, and moving at the speed of the target as probably being the best technique. What I try to get at is the physics involved in shooting, and many on this thread just can't follow the physics of shooting at a moving target with a shotgun..me included some of the time, but I do try to learn what's involved. I've known great performers in other sports who are clueless as to the physics of how they perform at such a high level. They don't even want to talk about it, as it clutters up their mind, and screws up their focus on the task at hand. Those folks, I can't much talk to.

Springerman...My approach is to think about it...think about what is the reality regarding a moving barrel, and a moving target. Practice, practice, practice, and then we can commit our mechanics to muscle memory, and not have to think about it. Now your shooting is based on science, and you can make adjustments. But to miss, and have no basis as to what the realties are? IMO it is the difference between a good shooter, and the ave. Joe that says to just go out and have fun. Depends on what you want.