[kotengu]

I'm admittedly a rifle and pistol shooter first, and in learning to shoot the shotgun I keep hearing that a shotgun should be "pointed" and you focus on the target, NOT the front sight. However, in CQB training and the like, ghost rings are all but mandatory, and more "rifle-like" sighting and aiming is taught.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of both? Is the pointing mostly for quicker target acqusition of moving targets, or just "how it's always been done"? Is it possible to "point" with a set of ghost rings on the gun, or do they limit your shooting style?

[Dot_mdb]

Well I am new to shotgunning also, but I come from a handgun background like you.

What I found was that when I got out onto the skeet field pointing became natural. In practice the bead is only used to set the gun in place and align with your eye. Once that happens the gun becomes a part of you and the relationship between your eye and the bead remains fixed. That allows you to focus on the target without even seeing the bead at the time you pull the trigger.

I think you will find that for an airborne target there is no other reliable way to shoot.

Others here with far more experience may offer a better explanation.

Bill

[PJR]

For deer hunting and serious social activities, the shotgun should be treated as a rifle and the front sight should be the focus. Wingshooting or target shooting is difference because the target is moving quickly and keeping a focus on the target allows the shooter's natural computer to take into account target direction, speed and distance. In this case, the eye acts as the rear sight and the barrels are in your peripheral vision. If while wingshooting you look at your barrels, your gun automatically slows down. Our eyes don't cope very well with two planes of focus at the same time.

This explains why a gun that fits and shoots to where you are looking is one of the keys to successful shotgunning.

It also explains why I am a mediocre handgunner. I have to remind myself to focus on the front sight and not the target.

Paul

[Dave McCracken]

The second hurdle rifle and handgun shooters have to cross to be shotgunners is this. The first is dealing with kick.

When shotguns are shot like rifles, sights are needed as much as they are on rifles, for the precise placement of a projectile or projectiles.

When a target is of smaller dimensions and greater speed, the idea is to entrap it in a cloud of much smaller projectiles, knowing that it will take several such projestiles to stop the target.Here pointing is the better technique.

BTW, in times of crisis,including combat,it takes very stringent discipline to focus on a front sight instead of the threat. We evolved focussing on threats and not sights. Peep sights are often used at such times simply because they can be utilized well at close to medium range even if the focus is on the target, not that front sight. So, to some small extent, one may "Point" when they should be aiming. Not good for best results, but sometimes workable.

Handgun and rifle shooters find making that transition is hard. Best to shoot only shotguns until one is acclimated.

HTH...