Comrades in arms,
I wanted to share the calcs I just did and maybe ask for corrections.The numbers are rounded.
I recently enjoyed re-viewing the '03 tape of our host again,in particular marveling at the shot thru brush at a warthog apparently running full bore... and hitting it in the neck

Assuming the shot is at 150y or so my tables say at 2500fps the bullet is in flight for about 0.2 secs

Assuming the hog is running at a mere 10mph,that would cover: ~ 1200y/60 min = 20 y/60 sec = 0.33 y/sec

bullet flies for 0.2 secs: target moves 0.05y = 2 inch

more resonable ,target moves at 20 mph : target moves 4"

assuming I didnt leave some zeros someplace,it sounds doable

just need "experience" to swing the rifle thru like a shotgun

Please don't think I'm blowing my own horn, but what the heck, I'm a little proud.



Some readers will remember me on Mossy Oak's MegaBucks V video (or on the Outdoor Channel when they do the intro to Mossy Oak Classics). I shot a running buck with my recurve and the videographer was skilled enough to get an over-the-shoulder view recorded for posterity. Lord knows how many times they have shown that on The Nashville Network. A lot of that success was luck and circumstance, yet I practiced shooting moving targets 30 years before I took that shot. I can assure you that I never once thought about distance to the deer, velocity of the arrow or any formula. Nor did I ever consider it when I practiced...



This June I shot a running black wildebeest (at 175 yards) twice with my double rifle. (I also missed an impala standing still at 60 yards! ) Why the success and the failure? I believe it is because I had time to think about the "chip shot" and just let hand-eye cordination and muscle memory work on the running shots.



Again, it is my firm opinion that nothing contributed to my hitting running game except practice. I've been lucky enough to get to shoot hundreds of running jack rabbits with a BLR .243 at a ranch at which I used to guide. I shoot (at) hauling ass marsh rabbits in the sand dunes right by my home for several months a year. That's with both bow and gun, btw. I usually shoot 23 to 25 clays at skeet as long as no one's "coaching" me.



My advice is not to get technical, but to practice with moving targets, be it with a bow, shotgun or rifle... I believe Saeed will agree.. He is one of the best clay target shooters in the world... and that's not a b.s. compliment... he has shot tens of thousands of trap and skeet rounds. That's why he hit the warthog.



Just my (not so) humble view???

I agree with the Honorable, best way to hit moving things is to practice on moving things.

I too have made some exceptional shots at running game (most of them unfortunately with no credible witnesses, or international TV crews around), and managed some spectacular misses at stationary animals, that a kid could�ve hit with a slingshot. Funny how the bad shots always draw the most vocal witnesses.

I can�t give any advise on where to aim, or how much to lead a running animal, because my good shots are always instinctive � I can�t remember where & how I aimed after the shot. The shots that I think thru, plan and calculate are usually miss or in the gut/the foot/the rump/the nose/tip of the tail or the horn.

Practicing shots on moving targets is the only way to improve your hit rate. Here I love hunting springhare, dassies and rabbits with my boys. They get to shoot at the stationary ones, and I shoot at anything that runs.

If you can break at least twenty on skeet you should have little trouble on moving shots. I think practice with a shotgun helps your rifle shooting a lot more than burning ammo up at the range sitting at a bench.

I agree wholeheartedly with you , Judge et al.Doing - actual physical training and experience - is the only way to become close to good in any activity.
Buuuutt .. ,you see ,at least for myself,it helps tremendously knowing what I am supposed to do up front.
Have the theoretical stuff digested in your head.That does not mean I advocate starting to calculate the ballistics before each shot , it means I have a general knowledge to lead the target by 3" or 3 feet.Thats all.

There are bunches of theories out there, but the best shooters I know simply pull through the target and shoot. The speed of the target is the determining factor on the speed of the "pull through". They (and I) don't even think about how far the barrel is ahead of the target, or how far it was led, because if you do that, most likely you will stop the swing when you pull the trigger, instead unconciously pulling the trigger and following through.



I am aware of "spots" where you shoot clay birds at a skeet range. I have always avoided doing that, because no quail or dove is going to fly by a predetermined spot. I also don't like sporting clays much because you generally know where the bird is coming from (and maybe even have seen your predecessor's shot). The clay games I like are the ones that throw birds in random directions (all 360 degrees) at random times. We call one at home "Crazy Quail". I promise you that if you've shot 25 straight at 25 yards, you can shoot any damn thing that's moving. It's the closest thing to live pigeon shooting I've seen.... and I've spent way too much money doing that!



Go out into the high country and shoot some rabbits or something. You'll be surprised how good you get when you forget any formula... Unless, of course, you're an engineer... and schedule bowel movements like Walterhog.

"unless you're an engineer" When I learned to shoot a shotgun I took lessons from a fine englishman. At one point after missing a few he said 'you're missing because you're engineering your shots'. I laughed and said 'of course that's because I'm an engineer !'. Unfortunately there are very few rifle ranges equipped with a moving target so it's left to shooting clays or hunting.

Good one Judge, hard to follow
Even worse,I am not precisely an engineer but my brain thinks so

Put the cross hairs on the shoulder, push it out in front a bit and follow through, works most of the time...I like running shots, one never flinches!

Years ago, Bob Brister wrote that he noticed that a fast moving teal that just "appeared" was easier to hit than a slow moving mallard that he had been watching approach for the last half mile.

In my case, a fast breaking deer or coyote that explodes out of brush is an easier target than the trotting animal I have plenty of time to think about. Actually, I usually keep right on "thinking about it" and let the deer keep going. Coyotes... well I really don't care if I wound one of those furry b******s!

I cut my shooting teeth on quail, and even though I haven't shot a bird in several years, I still have a soft spot in my heart for wingshooting. It taught me so much on how to shoot. Swing, lead, gun handling, and that sometimes in shooting, thinking really is the enemy of perfection!

I'm not very good in calculations with yds, miles, fps etc., but just a couple of inches lead at a running animal at 150 yds can't be correct. Depending on the actual speed of the animal it will be closer to 1 or 2 yards than the couple of inches you calculated.
I suggest you redo your maths especially regarding the number of yds in a mile

There are all kinds of ballistics programs that will do this for you. I only concern myself with time of flight, nothing else. If I know the distance, and the time of flight to that distance, figuring lead is pretty easy -- for me, anyway. Wind, however, always makes things interesting.



Here's something you can do. Hold up your left hand. Hold up your right hand the amount of lead you plan to use for a given time of flight. Moving your right hand to overlap your left at the same speed of a given target... does it take "X" time ("X" equaling time of flight) to line up both hands, one over the other? I don't know what the time is for the proverbial "blink of an eye," but it's pretty darn fast. So is 2/10ths of a second.



It's all academic, though. Wind throws a kink into everything.



Russ

thanks for doubts dutch.I am a metric individual and was "guessing".Just found the correct translation.

1 mile =1760 yard .That proves again how superior the (american) nonmetric system is also messed up a zero someplace.So that would increase the lead by ~ another 500%.Better



@ 10 mph: 17600y /60 min = 300y/ 60sec = 5 y/sec

Your math looks a little better now, so I'll let you in on the secret of applied mathematics in relation to trajectory vs time in flight on a moving target. First, write the formula on a piece of copy paper in large black letters and tape it to the bill of your hat so you can see it the whole time you are hunting. Not trying to be an ass, but that is the same effect as thinking of it when setting up your shot. Even if you have the formula correct, it would only work accurately if the bullet path and the running game were exactly perpendicular to each other, which almost never happens. Usually the critter is running away, spooked, then you must take into account the bounding stride of running game. It is simply a matter of what feels right when the trigger breaks. Here's another hint, if the barrel stops moving with the game before the trigger breaks, you missed.
Good practice for me on running game is to get a clay thrower that will do rabbits, or bouncing clays along the ground. Get about 50 yds back and have at with a 22lr. For those of us used to shooting bigger bore shotguns and centerfires, the 22lr is a most humbling experience, but there is no better tool for learning follow thru. Don't try to shoot the clay out of the box, know its limit and begin your practice near the end of its path, as its a bit slower and more predictable. Like others have said above, wingshooting is excellent practice as well.
Just remember that once you stop to calculate your shot, you have already missed. Hope this helps!