Originally Posted By: azmastablastaGood points ackleyman, skeet shooting is not only fun but excellent practice. It will also pay dividends to remember that when you pull the trigger on a shotgun load, the pellets do not all arrive at the same time. That pattern you see on the board will never be replicated on a moving target. You may have heard of a shotstring. If you were able to be above the shotstring looking down you would see basically the letter J. The faster your swing, the more elongated the tail of the J. This can account for misses and a lack of DRT shots because your pattern density is not what you saw on the board.
The lateral shot string on a fast 40 mph target at a full 40 yards amounts to a matter of a few lateral inches. Something like 3"-4". The difference in individual shells variance can have a greater effect than that - or less even. As a practical matter it doesn't make much difference in the field. Most misses by shooters are a matter of several feet. The idea that a hunter can swing a shotgun barrel fast enough laterally to spray the shot like a garden hose water stream swept quickly sideways is silly. Misses on a fast moving coyote can't be blamed on the shot string. You would have more luck with "the sun was in my eyes."
