it’s actually really interesting to compare bucky, steve, and clint in how their different specialties allow them to do the things they do and all be the best at what they do, even tho they’re all like “expert marksmen” because i think the important difference is in the medium they all choose to use?
like i can’t speak on clint too much, as i am not a clint barton expert, but his marksmanship is mostly shown with a bow and arrow. and idk a ton about bow and arrow physics, but arrows are way slower than bullets and are greatly affected by wind and air conditions, so to fire arrows with any kind of accuracy at the distances clint does... that’s actually really impressive, and either takes an acute sense of math, angles, trajectories, and calculations to do, or so much practice and familiarity to just know it by gut
bucky works more as a sniper, and definitely works with guns, and it’s not that clint can’t, he just prefers not to, and i definitely think there’s a fair amount of crossover between their marksmanship. the difference, i feel, is that clint got to be good mostly through practice and experience, and obviously correct me if i’m wrong, but it feels more like he was self-taught? vs bucky had all his WWII combat training and was taught to snipe without a scope by doing the calculations in his head on the fly. both men are experts and don’t need assistive equipment to hit the target--and both probably can do both the math and the muscle memory way of shooting--but both have strong suits that are more in line with how they learned.
steve’s mode is way different tho, and it’s why actually, physically, wielding the shield is so difficult. it’s light, but it’s big, and it doesn’t lose energy when it hits things like a bullet or an arrow, so you have to always take into account the rebound trajectory. and you have to be prepared to be hit back with the force at which you threw it too, because again--it doesn’t really lose a ton of energy when it hits things. and you also have to be in place to catch it, which means jumping, leaping, and twirling through the air in specific ways to reach the rebound, but still be capable of stopping the trajectory without completely taking yourself out. it’s very different from using guns or arrows--both of which steve can do as well, and certainly hit his mark--but the shield takes a special kind of practice and familiarity that very, very few people would ever be capable of wielding with the same mastery that steve does. and also? steve 100% does the math in his head, he knows the trajectory of his shield before it’s even left his hand, and he knows how he needs to move to get to where he needs to catch it. and this kinda shit is happening mid battle, with all sorts of people flying and running around, meaning he’s not just calculating his movements, but everyone else’s too, to make sure the shield ends up back in his hands.