Oh the fun times of chasing things around with no ammo. Gets really interesting once they figure it out. I think I chased a 190 A5 for 5 minutes after he figured out I was of ammo in my A20. I didn't dare try to escape or go anywhere except on his 6, or I was dead. Eventually a friendly came down and killed him but it was a lot of fun. Then there was the FSO where I chased around an Ki84 with my LA-5 with no ammo to save a squaddie's B25's, till I finally got a clean escape, and he gave up just before I ran out of gas. Agreed that this will force you to get some good ACM time in but, it's probably easier to spend time with a trainer for a bit 
BigRat
**********DISCLAIMER: I am not an AH Trainer.**************
I will always say spending time with a trainer is a better option.
But I've had several students that absorbed all the avoiding and taking advantage of the HO lessons and flew tremendous in a training setting but couldn't apply it in the arena.
It is an attitude issue. In the training setting the ego component disappears after a while. The student stops worrying about everything except the lesson. Once those very same students got back into a "live" arena they quickly fell back into the old habit of what I call "Kodak Instamatic" flying. They had an ad campaign a long time ago encouraging the buyer to "just point and shoot".
That is the style of flying that most players use. They are flying the guns. The end result is a lot of jousting and a lot of folks flying around in weird airplanes simply for the gun package and the ability to point it.
When you see guys regularly flying around dog fighting in Stukas, Il2, A20, B25 and even the Hurri II, 110 or mossie it isn't from some desire to seek the ultimate challenge. It is because those airplanes offer the opportunity for one shot kills if they can get the victim to pass in front of the guns. I'm not saying every pilot that flies one of these types is doing that but there are always a few guys in games of this type that gravitate to the big guns on slow airplanes because it is easier to sucker a few unsuspecting players into dying in front of the gun package.
If you find yourself pressing for a gun solution at the expense of aircraft performance you are falling victim to this trap of flying the guns. I do it myself more often than I like. It is an issue that requires discipline. It is difficult to restrain oneself from shooting.
How do you know when to shoot and when not to?
If you are involved in a true angles fight that is basically neutral or maybe even you have gained a slight angles advantage taking a front quarter shot is usually a mistake to take the shot.
Here is why. In order to take a shot you have to aim. Aiming means relaxing the pull even for a split second. If you are max performing the airplane in this fight this split second relaxation of max performance is going to give your opponent angles because he will still be max performing his aircraft.
This is how two perfectly matched aircraft with two pilots matched in skill can appear to be a tremendously different skill levels. It is in the attitude. If you stay disciplined in a maximum performance fight and stay out of the bandit cone of fire while constantly working to gain angles you will always win over the guy always pulling for the shot or even over the guy who occasionally tries a shot in the multiple front quarter pass fight. Learning the discipline to do that in an arena is a difficult thing to do and requires some effort.
So if you find yourself flying disciplined with your trainer but reverting to "Kodak Instamatic " mode in the arena, empty those guns or fly something that requires a long burst on target to kill with.
