"What is Sight Picture?" Pat's is different too!
It means different things to different people. To some, it means how the gun looks to you when the gun is mounted. For others it means how the relationship of the sights/beads/barrel or whatever method of seeing that relationship develop in breaking a moving clay or shooting a game bird.
otnot, Jim's idea is the quickest way to learn to see how that bird/bead/barrel relationship develops. Using both eyes is a learned method of properly using your peripheral vision and some aren't even aware of whats going on! A lot say they NEVER see the bead/barrel/bird at the same time! They may not be aware of it but they are using their peripheral vision to make that connection if they break good scores!
I've posed this test in prior posts concerning this topic and will again. Stand in total darkness behind the trap while only the front of the trap is lit up to see only the clay. Remember, you can't see your barrel/bead or any other reference to make the connection to that angling clay! How many targets will you break then? How close to your singles or handicap average do you think you'd break? I'd venture a guess, not very many at all or even come close to what you break when you can see, using that unknown peripheral vision skill! If that's true, why? Because there's no way to make a proper bird/bead relationship between the two moving objects thats why!! I wish the late and great Frank Little would have explained his method further than just telling us to make a "proper bird/bead relationship" with some of the complexities involved!
Learning to use your peripheral vision to break moving birds isn't a gimme either or even easy to learn how to do! When done properly though, you know in less than a nano second your bead/barrel is on the money side of that angle!
Bead checking is an entirely different matter, thats looking back at the bead to measure the distance between the bead and bird. Thats a real no-no, it will lead to stopping the swing while all that measuring is going on! Bead checkers have to take their eyes off the target to do that, another no-no with a shotgun!
I'm probably the last guy here to try explaining such a complex topic with my written words but thats the way I see it.
Hap