Its all about the Lead

Posted On: 06-26-2023

I have spent considerable time with youth and adult shooters and if there is one consistent flaw in shooting it is their inability to actually lead a target.  I believe this trait starts very early in their shooting careers as they are taught to “see” the target and then shoot ahead of the target.  The problem is once they “see” the target they never get to the lead.  Their eyes are fixated on the orange clay target and as a result they tend to be always behind the bird.

Let me reinforce this slightly as I use for support the Garmin Xero S1.  Over the time, I have used this device I have acquired a pretty good data set of shooting that is accurate enough to make a few assumptions.  This past month at my annual shooting academy I spent a great deal of time trying to infuse into shooters the idea of a lead.  While this is relatively simple to understand it is a very difficult skill to implement.  Across 60 shooters shooting over 1,000 targets very few, and I mean very few, broke targets by being ahead of them and implementing a lead.

So how do they break targets one might ask without a lead?  The explanation goes back to the shot pattern and shot string.  Instead of putting the very first pellet out of the barrel ahead of the target, instead by looking at the target, they put the first pellet behind the target.  As the pattern swells to full size, let’s say 30” the following pellets strike the target from behind.  When watching professional shooters one sees targets getting fluffed to powder because they put the first pellet ahead of the target and build to a full pattern where the target flies right through it and thus pulverizing the clay.  I get it, a break is a break, but sooner or later that miss occurs and likely because no pellets were available for the break.

Follow through is great but it can be a cloak for what is really happening if the barrel never gets ahead of the target.  Follow through ahead or behind a broken target all looks the same.  So how do we get ahead of the target?

I suggest you take your shooter to station III on the skeet field and have them begin to understand how in order to break the target they have to start looking ahead for the lead.  In fact, so far ahead of the target they may barely be able to see the target when they pull the trigger.  Also, maybe find a sporting clay set that requires a long lead.  Sooner or later they will realize what a lead really is and how disconnected it may be from the target.  Their eyes have to see the lead not the target.

The idea of leading a target is difficult but can be mastered.  Once that happens the resulting hits will improve and the opportunity to make a hit on what might otherwise have been a poor lead improves.  Pellets ahead of the target are always better than pellets behind the target. 

David R. Vaught, Ph.D.

Executive Director