Bead Aiming Links-FYI
- Thread starter Bobster
- Start date
But I thought they were worth sharing. I was enlightened, not being a "skeeter" 
In my years of shooting clays I do not recall ever even seeing the bead on end of the barrel. Once you get your form down the gun will move with your eye and you never have to consciously think about it.
I knew many guys that would talk about how much lead for each target etc but I never really thought about that as well. I'm sure my brain knew and told me to fire when it saw the correct sight picture but I do not recall trying to calculate lead distance in my head. Perhaps because I had been a grouse and waterfowl hunter for many years before setting foot on a clays course I already had some of that processing ingrained.
Interesting thing for me, I am (or was, it's been a while now) really good at hitting things that fly across my field of view but not so good at things coming towards or away from me. Skeet and sporting clays used to be my wheelhouse but I did not do as well on the trap course (I will admit I never put the time into it as I did other disciplines either).
Overall I think we do aim a shotgun, just not in a conscious way like we do a rifle. We develop form and technique. I know when I get my head down and look down the rip that my sight is on the target (at lease close enough for my pattern) regardless of whether I can consciously see the bead or not. But when you start getting in to the conscious vs. subconscious you get into a lot of grey area ans there is no definite answer.
That said when I turkey hunt I do focus on a bead or sight on my shotgun. Same when I use slugs. I think this is because I know that being a few inches off on a clay or a small bird will probably still result in a kill because I am working with a large pattern. A couple inches off on a deer or a turkey where I have a much narrower pattern could result in a miss.
I think this could be an interesting topic for discussion. I'm sure everyone has a slightly different take on this.
I knew many guys that would talk about how much lead for each target etc but I never really thought about that as well. I'm sure my brain knew and told me to fire when it saw the correct sight picture but I do not recall trying to calculate lead distance in my head. Perhaps because I had been a grouse and waterfowl hunter for many years before setting foot on a clays course I already had some of that processing ingrained.
Interesting thing for me, I am (or was, it's been a while now) really good at hitting things that fly across my field of view but not so good at things coming towards or away from me. Skeet and sporting clays used to be my wheelhouse but I did not do as well on the trap course (I will admit I never put the time into it as I did other disciplines either).
Overall I think we do aim a shotgun, just not in a conscious way like we do a rifle. We develop form and technique. I know when I get my head down and look down the rip that my sight is on the target (at lease close enough for my pattern) regardless of whether I can consciously see the bead or not. But when you start getting in to the conscious vs. subconscious you get into a lot of grey area ans there is no definite answer.
That said when I turkey hunt I do focus on a bead or sight on my shotgun. Same when I use slugs. I think this is because I know that being a few inches off on a clay or a small bird will probably still result in a kill because I am working with a large pattern. A couple inches off on a deer or a turkey where I have a much narrower pattern could result in a miss.
I think this could be an interesting topic for discussion. I'm sure everyone has a slightly different take on this.