poor gunnery - any tips

[glennco]

Nearly 3 years at this and I realize that my gunnery might actually have gotten worse over time.

- I've had my convergence set at 250 for every plane. (I recently upped it to 325, because of this gunnery issue)
- I leave tracers off.

I find myself in a seafire on someone's six within 400 for what seems like forever, never being able to get my bullets on target.  Sooner or later, I either get jumped by someone because I'm concentrating so hard, or someone else gets my kill because they swoop in kill the opponent straight away.  The seafire isn't the only plane I have this issue in, it's pretty much everything.

Any thoughts, what can I do to get my gunnery better?

thanks in advance

[1895]

First off, fly tracers on for a bit again, get your aiming corrected.
Second, try convergence 225
Third, try aiming lower, or higher on a con at 400, a bit to the left or right, so the 20mm or whatever crosses over and hits.

[DamnedRen]

Your convergence is ok at 250. Mine happens to be set at 200. I normally close to 200 yds then fire.

I'd suggest you spend a few sessions in the Training Arena (TA). You can go in there and turn on lead compute sighting. This shows you where you should be aiming to get the rounds into the target.

You can turn it on by hitting control-tab. Then just use the tab key to cycle through to your selected target. You will then see a couple of +'s. These are the guns aim points to hit the target.

Get up fly around and dogfight until you get used to the picture you see in your sights for a given angle off the target. After a while you will see that some of those shots actually require a little more lead than you think.

The feature is not available in the other online arena's so don't try it in the LW arena.

Hope this helps.

[Murdr]

In addition to what Ren said.....

Fire short bursts.  Do not spray.  One key to gunnery is learning what the correct site picture looks like for a given situation.  When you fire a short burst and get hits on the target,  you *know* what the site picture was when you pulled the trigger.  When you fire long bursts, and get a few hits, you have no idea what the site picture looked like when those particual rounds were fired.

The lead computing site can help you learn what correct site pictures look like under varying situations.

Krypto's suggestion is also a good one for most people.  Alternate flying with tracers off and on occationally.  Use the tracers on flight to see where you need to adjust your lead.  Use the tracers off flights to be "picky" with your shots, and only pull the trigger on 'good looking' shots.  It takes some patience, because you are more focused on getting the kill rather than gunnery, but this type of practice will help your gunnery get better.  

Another tactic that takes patience, but is worth while is to intentionally take sorties in planes will low ammo loads to force you to be extra selective about when you choose to pull the trigger.

Some types of shots will always be difficult.  The key is to learn a collections of shots you can hit consistantly.  Then to do your best to learn to create the angle for those shots during fights.

[glennco]

thanks for the tips guys.

I'm definitely going to stop into the TA to use the lead computed gunsite, and I'm going to turn back on the tracers to see how far off I really am.  My biggest concern with tracers is that I'll start aiming with the tracers, instead of using them to see how far I need to lead. (if that makes any sense at all)

[Warspawn]

Something else you may want to try is to stick with one particular weapon/plane for a few weeks and just get real familiar with where the bullets are going to land with whatever gunsight you've decided to use.

My aim is terrible when I fly a pony or hog for awhile then jump into a LA5 or Ki-84; the rounds have totally different ballistics so my aim's all over the place.  Stick with the same gunsight and weapons for awhile and you'll start getting a better feel of where your rounds are going to land when you squeeze the trigger.

[DustyR]

[/QUOTE] My aim is terrible when I fly a pony or hog for awhile then jump into a LA5 or Ki-84; the rounds have totally different ballistics so my aim's all over the place.
That really makes a lot of sense, I never once thought of the difference of the individual ballastics would make, from plane to plane.  That counts for a lot of my difficulty when switching rides.

[Schatzi]

The .target ### command brings up a floating target (that always stayy N of your plane) at a distance ### yards. To make it disappear, just use .taget 0 command.


While im not one that has good aim at all, this is what helped my gunnery.

* Stick to one gun type at a time for a while. This removes adapting to the "ballistics" part of the equation constantly and helps you get a better feel for the rest (judging speeds, angles, etc)

* dont fire different guns together, ie cannon and MG in Spit for example. Even if you fire at convergence distance - on a stationary target it would mean both cannon and MG would hit the same spot. But, a2a theres also the other planes speed (ie movement) to take into account. Now, MG has a lot faster muzzle speed then the Hispanos, meaning the MG rounds will get to target in less time - time in which the target moves a certain distance. Now, if you fire a Hispano round, due to the lower speed it will take more time to travel to target, read: The target will have more time to move, read: you will have to pull more lead in the same position/speed/angle then youd need with a MG. So, to make a long story short, unless youre VERY close, youll only hit with one of the guns - and - in my experience - thats usually the MG

* get up close and personal for shooting. Make getting on the six of the enemy for a tracking shot your main goal in a fight. Not pulling for a shot. Ive seen this numerous times in TA when people fought me. They kept giving up position and angles, just to pull for that one, low% snapshot theyd miss anyway. When i fought them "cold guns" and goal of the fight was to get 200 off my tail and stay there, theyd suddely have a 200% improvement in their "skill". By that i dont mean "dont take any snapshots" - i just mean that PATIENCE is a huge virtue and sometimes giving up one snapshot in favor of gaining angle/position and a higher% tracking shot gets you further then you may think

* set your convergences to your usual shooting distance. If you have the feeling that you hit a lot, but dont KILL, it might be you need to adjust your convergences. In a turnfighter, my usual conv is between 175 and 250 yards. For a more BnZ type of flying, you might want to have them a little further out. Play around on those and find out whats best for you.

* fire short (1/2 second) bursts only. Never "walk" your guns on the target. Shoot and hit, or shoot and miss, adjust aim, shoot again. Try to visually remember the "view" in your gunsights when you hit. Develop your gunner eye

* try turning tracers off for a bit. this will force you to judge your aim BEFORE hitting the fire button, and not depend on shooting first, then see where your tracers go and adjust your aim afterwards. If you turn them back on later or not is personal preference. I left mine off, mainly because when i tried turning them on again, all i did was watch those beautiful light effects in the air and not my aquired target (read: my hit% dropped from a solid 10% to 1-2%)

* shoot drones offline. get unlimited fuel/ammo, set yourself certain "rules". Make a game of it. Heres some suggestions, just be creative, im sure youll find more that suit your personal "problem zones" best - put on some loud, badazz music for the occasion
- tracers off, no LCG
- make fast passes from high 4-8 oclock, no shooting inside d400
- turn icons off
- fly the circle clockwise (opposite drone flying direction) - practice snapshots
- aim for certain parts, take the drones apart piece by piece. wingtip, wing, rudder, stab, tail.... If it blows before youre done, youve lost.

* ask Schatzi for a "date" in the TA and blast her full of bullets for suggesting all that BS

[airspro]

within 400

Quit shooting so far away . That distance is 1200 feet or 4 football fields away , actually when it just turns 400d it's 500 yards

I almost NEVER shoot till it shows 200d , most guys shoot most of their ammo up and then get close enough to kill the guy when they finally get to 200d , see it over and over again in MA and their "hit" percent shows it also .

I tell people , work for the shot , then the gun shooting is fairly simple .


Side note : yep go tell me how u can hit from bah , bah , I can too but to really get good solid kills , you got to be close or closer

[TexMurphy]

My list of tips.

1. Dont shoot six shots, its one of the hardest shots and it does waste alot of ammo. Riding someones six is also the best way to expose your six. Only shoot deflection shots and lead shots.

2. When first shooting deflection and lead shots make sure to DOUBLE your lead. Always DOUBLE your lead. The lead you think is much more likely to be ok.

When taking a 200d lead turn shot in a spit the target should be UNDER YOUR NOSE meaning NOT vissible to you. Most pilots make the misstake that they want to see target. Double your lead and dont be so fixated on seeing the target.

3. Dont use tracers. If you miss a shot with tracers the enemy will panic and you dont get another shot. You get much more time to hit without tracers. Its always nicer to shoot a target thatīs sitting still and not bouncing around like a popteen on redbull and steroids.

4. No shots outside 400d.

5. Fly low ammo  planes. The Yak9U is one of the best planes to learn to aim in. If you spray and pray in a Yak then you wount get any kills. Learn to aim, learn to land 3 kills in a Yak and you will land 6-7 kills in your Spit8.

Tex

[sonicboom970]

one thing i have noticed if you are chasing a spitfire, or any p other than the p38's  it is hard to see your 6  in level flight so if you sneak up on one of those guys, you can get to 200 easy then i always shoot 3 cannons on the wing and it normally falls off. sont try this w/ most japanese planes (LA7 N1k ect.) there seat is very low so you can check your 6 in level flight and if they are good and check thier 6 often you may get caught ( also you may be able to do this w/ bombers but they can go into F4 mode and check thier 6 perfeclty or they can go into f5 and see everything for hundreds of yards around.)

also cannon rounds as you likely know are more powerful unless your in a P40 then the mgs are  more powerful than normal MGs but still not as powerful as most cannons.  if you can take off thier airleons (sorry i cant ever spell them) they cant turn as well if you take off one if you take off both, they cant easily turn side to side unless they use their tail flaps  IF  you knock off a wing leave em and go to the next enemy plane unless thier a bomber, then you should stay to see if any other bombers are in thier formation. if you take off a fighters wing he will fall out of the sky, no questions asked even the best pilots can only keep the plane going dead straight, they cant pull up w/o spinning out, and if they can they are running away, or if they stay there is no way they can fight.

[Patches1]

Once you have outflown your opponnent (by means of good Situational Awareness and good Air Combat Manuvering, both of which are necessary before thinking about shooting)...then shoot. If you miss...then set up for another pass...but again...don't shoot until you've outflown your target.

Convergence is a matter of personal taste. If you fly to your opponents' six and can shoot well at short ranges...and your flying ability supports those shots, then by all means...set convergence low. If, on the other hand, your flying styles supports longer range snap shots....then set convergence out farther.

My convergence is 225 in all of the F4U aircraft I fly. It works for fighters...it works for bombers...it works for straffing! Mostly....it works for me.

Gunnery only settles the issue of who outflew whom. First learn to outfly your opponent....then learn how to shoot. Shooting is easy.

[Lazerr]

If your flying with tracers on, your not aiming.. you wasting ammo trying to get a plane to fly through your bullet stream.

Keep them off, so what.. your aim blows for a week or two.  You won't regret it when you start to come around though.  Nobody can see when you shoot, and your aim will improve leaps and bounds.

[airspro]

Ok Lazerr
   

This gonna hurt for a bit then but u say in time will work out , I believe u so doing it

Wish me luck .

[glennco]

Yesterday I took some advice and turned back on my tracers, and it was amazing how poor of a job I have been doing at leading my opponent.  I'm going to leave them on for a while to get used to leading properly again.

I'll also being paying you folks a visit in the TA.