mpmilo
Well-known member
Diver682, Just put in "Peter Blakeley shooting " on You tube, I found a couple on there.
Lead is all relative to the speed of the gun. Everyone sees lead differently. When I walk out of a stand and am asked' How much lead did you see?' My response is always, 'I don't see lead'.And now a question to all coaches: How many units of lead are shown in this picture?
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That's the most accurate and sensible reply i have seen on this whole farce or should say topic... Gizmos could help if your new to the Sport and need a basic understanding of "Lead"... but most good shooters have a certain amount of natural talent and a huge amount of experience ( Cartridges shot at a particular discipline). Which then adds up to the bottom line... Consistency of high scores with a Gun that shoots where you point it.Lead is all relative to the speed of the gun. Everyone sees lead differently. When I walk out of a stand and am asked' How much lead did you see?' My response is always, 'I don't see lead'.
You mis-understand my statement. Of course I 'see' lead but what I see as lead may not be the same as the next shooter. I may use a different method or my gun speed could be different, my hold point might be in a different place.Cuffers. My turn now if you don't mind? From what I understand, seeing the correct amount of lead is what motivates any of us to pull the trigger. If as you say, you "don't see lead", exactly HOW do you know when to pull the trigger? Thank you.
Not sure I actually asked a question but ok then!Cuffers. I now have time to answer your question. Of course, what you say is 100% correct. I AGREE ENTIRELY. Variation of the method used will influence the lead requirement because of variables of gun speed. In an effort to explain this, I wrote an article that appeared in Sporting Clay magazine in May 2001. The article is called "No Magic Method" and you will find it here:- www.peteblakeley.com on the lessons drop down section. The article explains why sustained lead is the chosen method by most for competitive shotgunning because the "window of opportinity" is far greater with a SL shot than with any other method. The reason for this is because at the moment of pulling the trigger, the gun and target are syncronized ie. doing more or less the same speed.
If you try to teach someone to shoot with other methods, ie swing through or pull-away, two things will vary that the shooter has absolutely no control over. These are 1. gunspeed 2. shooter reaction time. Shooter reaction time varies from shooter to shooter. If either of these things vary from shot to shot, his consistency will suffer. In other words, the shooter is learning NOTHING, apart from the fact that he can hit some of the targets, some of the time, but not ALL the time because of this gunspeed variation.
If you teach someone to shoot with a sustained method and you show him the exact lead requirement, they will very quickly adapt to ALL the other methods because the lead requirement is imprinted in their onboard computer. But if they have a coach that can't explain the correct lead in a logical way, it will take years. In other words, lets say you have a 20 yard crossing shot. A 4 unit lead, shot with a sustained lead method absolutely will consistently break that target. But if your coach tells you "mount on the front edge of the target and pull away," but doesn't explain to you how much to pull away, ie 2 feet, 3 feet....more? You will have problems. If you shoot a dropping springing teal and your coach tells you "Shoot under it, its dropping". "OK How far under it coach? "Ahah!! it's the magic of your subconsious. Keep taking more lessons. You'll get it. Eventually."
If this doesn't answer your question please let me know, tell me why and I will attempt to explain things in more detail. Thank you.
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