How to lead a target when shotgun shooting - YouTube

G’day, I’m Rod Pascoe and welcome again to SSAA TV, coming to you today

from the Cecil Park Clay Target Club.

Today’s topic is all about lead. Now lead is the technique we use to place a string

of shot in front of a moving target so that the shot and the target come together at the

same place at the same time.

I’m joined by Paul Miller, who most of you will know as a shotgun writer

for the Australian Shooter magazine.

G’day, Paul.

G’day, Rod. Good to be here.

Now explain to us, what are the factors that affect lead?

There’s probably three things that influence lead: the speed of the target,

distance of the target, and the speed of the shotgun shell.

And when you’re out in the field hunting you don’t have a lot of time to work out

the lead. But here on the Skeet field we can practice and calculate the lead that’s required.

That’s right, they’re very constant targets, Skeet. You’ve got a high house and the low

house and those targets are thrown the same way every time.

So depending where you’re standing on the Skeet layout, you could be looking at targets

that are crossing you, or coming towards you, or going away from you.

Now if you think of the widest targets you’re looking at about a metre or so of lead.

So calculating the lead is something that you learn by trial and error.

But ultimately it’s a technique you learn and can practice over and over.

But the way you apply the lead, fire the shot and

follow-through is a very much tried and proven technique.

Absolutely it is, and the Skeet layout is the perfect place to practice it.

So of the three methods we’re going to look at today, the first one is swing-through.

The idea here is that you start with the gun behind the target, you sweep through the target,

pull the trigger, follow through and hopefully you break it.

It’s essential that you follow through.

Let’s have a look at that.

Pull.

Now let’s have a look at that again, slowed down.

Pull.

Pull.

The next method to talk about is pull-away. The idea here is we match the gun to the target

and we pull away in front of the target to establish the lead,

fire the shot and follow through.

Let’s have a look at that.

Pull.

Now let’s look at that in slow motion.

Pull.

So the last method we’re going to talk about today is sustained or maintained lead.

The idea here is you bring the gun in front of the target, maintain a lead,

pull the trigger and follow through.

Let’s have a look at that.

Pull.

Now let’s look at that again slowed down.

The other time to use sustained lead is on long crossing shots

at Sporting Clays and 5-Stand.

The difference here is that these targets are thrown in an incredible number of different

ways and angles, so a lot more mental pictures of lead need to be developed,

which won’t happen overnight.

The other advantage of sustained lead is that it’s easy for a beginner to understand when

we say ‘Mount the gun, stay in front of the target, pull the trigger’.

Target shooting is great practice for shooting in the field. In fact, field shooters always

find themselves shooting better when they’re after ducks, foxes or rabbits

after practising on clay targets.

Some crossing targets require really long leads

with any of the three methods we’ve talked about.

One thing is for sure, you must understand and master the concept of lead,

otherwise you’re going to miss.

Wonderful. Thanks very much.

My pleasure.

Thanks, Paul.

Well, I hope that’s given you a bit of an idea of what’s involved with lead.

The SSAA 5-Stand discipline is a really good way of practising your shotgun skills.

We hope to bring you more tips in future episodes.

But for now, from the Cecil Park Clay Target Club,

thanks for watching SSAA TV

and we’ll see you next time.