Shouldn't it be the cueball isn't as consistent as a bullet coming out of a rifle? The similarity would be the pool stroke can be good or bad the same as an incorrect trigger pull or correct one by the index finger. Both can cause their projectiles to go straight or be pushed/pulled. In the case of a firearm, it can also go high or low in addition to left or right. In pool it would be a high miscue or low jumped ball.
Herein lies a major difference that causes all of the problems on pool forums. With a rifle or a pistol, you have a front sight and a rear sight that need to be linked correctly to the TARGET. That's IT unless it's a fairly long distance and wind needs to be taken in account along with gravity.
In pool, there are between 75-100 ways to SIGHT a cueball to the OB to the pocket. They're called AIMING SYSTEMS. Some are definitely better than others. But one or two get VILIFIED as being totally erroneous and harmful to the game if used by about 8 individuals for over two decades.
The barrel of a rifle and top sight does have to be absolutely in line with the target. But a pool cue can in fact BE ANGLED while striking the CB as well as the head position. The rear sight (CB) and front sight (OB) can also be viewed from various perspectives that aren't necessarily straight on in a "conventional way."
This seems to be the major cause of dissent from those who know how to do this and those who don't and need and preach straight lines and angles as dogma. It isn't necessary because both work.
It's like a pitcher in baseball. There have been some great ones that threw mostly straight fastballs that were so fast and accurate they were hard to hit. And there have been others that come at the batter from all different sidearm angles and head positions to make the balls still go across the plate. Both work. Just like in pool.
The cb direction and the bullet direction are the results of alignment and shot execution. What causes poor or inconsistent results? Poor alignment, poor or inconsistent cue delivery or trigger pull, moving or losing focus on the target, etc...
As with aiming a rifle, when aiming to stroke a pool cue directly through ccb to a distant point or target, there is a front (tip end of the cue) and a rear (grip end of the cue) sight/alignment points. The front is visual while the rear is matter of proprioception.
Even with CTE, regardless of the fact that you aren't looking straight down the cue, you are using front and rear alignment points to align the cue. The position of the front point (tip/ferrule) is visual, while the rear (grip/butt) is feel/proprioception. If the cue is on the correct line it will send the cb where it's supposed to go, just like if a the barrel of a gun is on the correct line it will send the bullet where it's supposed to go.
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