If you don't have the range and relative motion right then a real good look through the sight won't do you much good, and full zoom makes knowing those more difficult.
Then there's slip which is super-easy to get into even if just because you used rudder to move the sight sideways just before you shoot. The bullets will not go where the pipper is when you have slip but with luck the target will be moving to match or you be good enough to account for slip or the slip will be so slight and range so close it hardly matters.
Aerial gunnery is a problem is 3D and time. Poor shooters go for close in at the tail of a plane moving directly away to get hits that don't rely on luck. If the target doesn't cooperate then the fight becomes an energy dance and if the target has a rear gunner just see how well sitting off the tail at 200m or less works out for you.
See how steady the pipper and plane are when you try adjusting aim and speed quickly for a shot. Compare that to how it is when you are flying without horsing the nose around. I get better luck when flying the pipper out ahead of a target whose relative motion (to my pipper) is taking it towards the pipper. Knowing about how long my shots will take to reach the point that the target will be, I trigger just before then and give it a burst. Usually I get hits. Usually they're from one side into the target and because of that they are usually more effective than hits the tail. I go for the engine and pilot, IL2 tail wheel assemblies soak up loads of hits.
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