Just curious if you shoot better on birds flying right to left or left to right, or are you equally accurate either way. I am better at acquiring my target on birds passing right to left.

Another option equally inaccurate!

Right handed, left to right

Its an interesting question, never thought about it, really do not know. I shoot right handed, swinging right to left feels more natural.

Generally speaking most right hand shooters shoot better on birds left to right bc they do not have to look across the barrel. Most left hand shooters shoot more accurately right to left for the same reason.

Looking across thr barrel normally causes some obstruction that decreases accuracy.

I feel I shoot better left to right. I have more peripheral vision and not looking across the gun.

1 eye is looking across the barrel, 1 eye looking down the barrel. Important concept. You want your dominant eye looking down the barrel, non-dominant eye across. If you are strong right or left eye dominant, in your peripheral vision you will see one barrel based on dominate eye. If both eyes are equally dominate, which is my situation, you see 2 barrels, and you need to know which barrel to put on bird. If you are left eye dominate and right handed shooter, you will never hit a bird unless you close your left eye.

I only have peripheral vision in my left after cancer at 3 years old. I shoot lefty and it really doesn't matter. I miss both ways equally.

Left to right is my favorite

I meant in my right eye I have peripheral vision only.

I think you got that backwards. A right handed shooter, a left to right shot, target is on right side of barrel, so left eye is looking across the barrel, and you swing right through the target. Right to left shot, target is on left side of barrel, left eye is not looking accross the barrel. The right (dominant) eye is over the barrel, so it is never looking accross the barrel.

To your point about obstruction, I like to keep my gun down and let my eyes lock on target before I mount my gun (clay or birds), mount and swing is all one motion and ideally I pull the trigger when the gun hits my face.

I think right handed shooters feel more natural swinging shotgun right to left because that is how you swing a baseball bat, or swing anything. Ping pong or tennis, right handed, right to left is an over hand swing normally a stronger swing, left to right is a back handed swing.

And you also have the obstruction thing going on as 2fly mentions.

I fall somewhere in between these

I shoot right-handed, but for some reason, my swing through is smoother right to left. I'm not truly ambidextrous, but throw a ball with my left and shoot right-handed. When fishing, I primarily cast right-handed. That's probably the reason that even though I am shooting right-handed, my shot is a little better right to left rather than left to right which seems to be the norm for right-handed shooters.

Guy, that is only the case if you’re swinging or mounting the gun with the barrel starting behind the target.

That's how most people shoot, swinging thru the target. The other method is called "sustained lead", that is a more challenging method. I really try not to think too much about all this, when I do I normally miss. As I said above, I do best with my gun down until my eyes are locked and focused on target, then mount and shoot, do this a lot and it becomes instinctive...

Well, it’s been proven many times that sustained lead is the most consistent and accurate method in shotgunning so that is what I go by.

As far as right to left shots, it’s more a question of stance to me. Imagine you are facing 12:00 (right handed shooter), getting your gun on a target coming from 3:00 is much more difficult than from 9:00.

Left to right, but if the angle is not there I can also shoot right to left, just not as accurate.

If you been shooting a long time and shoot a lot, you probably do a combination of both and do not think about it. As I said above, when the gun hits my face, proper lead is establish instinctively, and I pull the trigger. So not sure what method you call this.

About the same either way. I’m a lefty and hunt with right handers. They most always want me on the right side to clean up the left to right crossers. There are three common methods. Sustained lead and swing through have already been mentioned. Pull away is a third style. My shooting is a combination of the three dictated by situations. I’m with 102’s belief that sustained lead is the most consistent. I normally see the bird and the sight picture simultaneously. Moving with the bird, I mount to the sight picture and shoot when my mount hooks up. When shooting multiples, the second and third birds are usually shot with either swing through or pull away, depending on whether I am going back to the bird or going after it. Lead just happens without thought and I rarely notice bead or barrel.

I like to use the “shoot-the-F’n-duck” method. JP actually taught me that method years ago, he might remember that story.

My follow through is a lot better right to left. Right handed.

Right to left. I'm right eye dominant, but with extremely poor vision in it, due to an injury. I suck at pass shooting, but do better on straight away birds like quail or pheasant.

Provided I have proper foot placement, correct mounting of the shotgun, and proper form for the follow though, I don't think it matters for me. When I worked at a skeet range I spent hours every night after work shooting for fun. If I had a station I did not do well I would spend hours improving that shot. That was a long time ago, but I am pretty sure I never found myself working on a right vs left shot from station 4. To the best of my memory I think I was always pretty equal on accuracy with both birds at that dead center station. Now in a hunting situation where one of those three are impossible because I am fixed sitting in a kayak and can't turn at the waste or change my angle to the bird, standing in a cramped blind and can't change my stance, the bird is climbing at a high angle and I can't get an ideal mount, or I'm just tired with poor muscle memory, etc. Then in those less than ideal shooting positions, poor form, and a bad mount, I'm thinking as a right handed shooter I probably shoot better with a right to left bird as it gives me a longer follow though to work with. Honestly I have never noticed. Now birds coming straight at me. That was one I have had to go back and work on more than once in my life.

All I know is the more you think about your shooting and the more you try to force it the worse you'll shoot