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The 20 ga smoothbore I have has a rear sight. So far it has only been loaded with ball for deer and the load is very accurate and effective. With shot loads the center of the pattern is about an inch below the poi of ball at 25 yds. I can aim using rear & front sights and be fine with both ball and shot at that distance..
 
Very interesting subject .I always wanted to be a good wing shot , just point and shoot but just not near enough practice. Strange ...I just love the smoothbore trade gun for its versatility in getting so many different types of game and its history but I still pause and shoot it like a rifle ...I either have a rear sight on it , like the one now , or line the front sight with tang center before I pull ye ole trigger ...just habit . :)
 
Very interesting subject .I always wanted to be a good wing shot , just point and shoot but just not near enough practice. Strange ...I just love the smoothbore trade gun for its versatility in getting so many different types of game and its history but I still pause and shoot it like a rifle ...I either have a rear sight on it , like the one now , or line the front sight with tang center before I pull ye ole trigger ...just habit . :)
Your on the aiming in front.. you might need more of a lead if you do the swing stop when you pull.. you wouldn't notice either...

with the swing threw... you pull after you pass the bird but your still swinging. you have pattern. Throw it in front.. birds flying into a 3 4 foot pattern round..

Tuff to explain...

I like to start on a bird a little low and behind... then swing it threw and pull.. it's aiming with the whole truck hood not just the bead. Pass the birds with the whole thing.. then your good is in front pull..
 
If you should high.. you have to dip down to the birds..

If you shoulder in front.. you lose references sight of target and you have to let the birds pass in order to swing back in front..

Woodcock.. i don't know.. shoulder in front pull fast.
 
The Clays I had to work at just to start getting a few around the clock..

I dunno 60 65% was my best I think.. but a few guys then were 💯. But they lived there. They were always there. I went twice a month

The first time clay.. I got the first one and though i was good right away.. that was it.. I missed everything after that.
 
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Some say that they don't use the bead on a shotgun and can do without it - I say BS -. Your mind subconsciously does look for some front sight reference whether it be the barrel or a bead. Once that front reference is located then your eyes focus on the target. This happens so fast that you don't even know it is happening.
My own experience says it's not absolutely necessary. Once at a hunt club I was in with abunch of friends and family we were standing around In a dove field after the birds had quit flying. Someone noticed that my grandfather's gun had no bead sight on it. It was just an old single shot breakaction beater with about a 32" or maybe a a ittle longer full choked barrel that he carried around behind the seat of his pickup. He did pretty well with it and when questioned how, he said "It's not hard at all, here try it."
Well someone had most of a box of clay birds in the back of their truck so we ended up spending about an hour with everyone shooting a few times. Everyone agreed that when you got used to it it was no problem at all. We alll still talk about that from time to time. Good memories of some who are gone now shared with those who were there and others who would have liked to be.
 
Once on a bird hunt it was getting late in the day and we were done for the day and standing around just talking and this bat was flying all around so I put one 20 gage shell in my SKB side by side with 26" barrels and shot that bat out of the sky at 40 + yards - I used the front bead to do it;):ThankYou:
 
When 5 yr. old , dear old Dad put the latest tube fed BB rifle in my hands. This was a Daisy lever cocking rifle that the end of the muzzle unscrewed , the BB's were loaded in a tubular magazine attached to the side of the gun barrel , and BB's were fed one at a time , when the cocking lever was activated. Neighbor kid and I shot so much , this mechanism lasted through half of a summer. Dad was working three jobs then to save our house , and I was on my own to fix the BB gun. I couldn't make it feed , but figured out , that by loading the rifle at the muzzle w/one BB , and cocking the lever , the gun would work very well. Problem solved , and I unknowingly had my first muzzle loader. Back to the forum entry.........We shot so much , thousands of rounds , the natural progression of learning to aim , was to sight down the side of the barrel. We never did "sight our guns in" from a bench. Dad's NRA Magazine , had an article about the Army training troopers the art of "point and shoot". Read the article , and told myself , we were doing that all along , with our air rifles, just not with a high powered rifle.
We were taught point & shoot at Advanced Infantry Training (USMC 1970) using BB guns and clays the size of poker chips! This was more of a “shoot from the hip” training.
 
The Army/Daisy training program was called "Quick Skill" in the civilian world at it really, really works. The BB guns had adult-size stocks and no sights. Targets were thrown from the side a short distance away after instruction on "leading" moving targets and concentrating on the target. Within a very short time, students were hitting ASPIRIN tablets. We had one of those kits at the Sheriff's Office.

Once you learn the concept, it makes no difference what firearm you use. Follow through is crucial. It was not "spot shooting".
 
I do better when I dont have time to think about it. Even with a rifle. I hope to be hunting this fall with a smoothie. We’ll see how it goes ;-) but your explanation of how you shoot resonates with how I shoot a sling shot or traditional bow…
 
It was flying away from him in the video. A common shot Pheasant give on a flush.

Flyn directly away.. bead the bird..

I go past the head a little... swing threw.. you pull right when you pass the head so you pulling while swinging.

I started drawing now 😆..

I put the bead higher.. it shows I still got it.. I passed threw the bird...
 

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The bead there works. I used to try for that. Aimed swinging.. it's harder. It's hard. You stop your swing when you shoot your aiming to much.

swing threw shoot when passed the head..

Bead a little high or low.. no matter. You have pattern.
 

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My buddy. Still use 20ga 28ga wippy light youth guns..

Pop shoots.. misses Pheasant like crazy. Easy shots and all..

Woodcock I don't understand how he gets them.. he's always hitting them.

He says you have to fire real fast like that because they change direction...

He Can't hit a Pheasant though.
 
As a kid I used to throw cans in the air and shoot them with a BB gun. I also did good on pheasants with a shotgun but occasionally shot them so close there wasn’t much left. Today, it isn’t much of a problem and hits are fewer as my reflexes aren’t what they used to be.
 
My buddy. Still use 20ga 28ga wippy light youth guns..

Pop shoots.. misses Pheasant like crazy. Easy shots and all..

Woodcock I don't understand how he gets them.. he's always hitting them.

He says you have to fire real fast like that because they change direction...

He Can't hit a Pheasant though.
Woodcock and grouse are a challenge for sure especially in thick woods. I think I shot more trees than either type of birds:dunno:
 
I shoot a lot of shotgun sporting clays ~200 shots a week, every week at minimum

If you slow your swing to focus on a front bead you will most likely miss.

Both eyes should be tracking your target and you "sling" lead across the target in its flight path. You can't make that delivery watching a bead.
 

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