The last time I watched the original trilogy, I noticed that, in the firefights, Leia will often shoot maybe 20% what Luke and Han shoot, but will almost invariably hit whomever she is shooting at. Mind, I'm just going by observation here, but it got me thinking.
So: is Leia canonically a better shot than Han and Luke? Or am I just seeing Girl Power thanks to my own biases?
If she is a better shot, what is the explanation for this? (That is, did Senator Organa take her skeet shooting in the summertime? Did she practice in the in-between times of the films? Or, do her Force capabilities manifest as sharpshooting?) I am wholly unfamiliar with the Expanded Universe, so pardon gaps in my knowledge.
Answer
In real-world combat, most fire is used to suppress the enemy, not kill them. Luke and Han also tend to take time to shoot 'on the move', firing blaster rifles (typically one-handed) or pistols while evading or running.
Leia is typically seen firing from cover, cooly and calmly, and taking the time to assume a proper stance and aim.
I found some stats from West End Games old D6 Star Wars game - this was officially licensed, so I believe the stats fall somewhere low in SW canon.
As of the end of the battle of Yavin, Luke Skywalker's 'Blaster' skill was 6D. Leia's 'Blaster' skill was 5D. Han's 'Blaster' skill was 9D+1.
Under the D6 system, you rolled x D6 (six-sided dice) for a skill check, and added up to 2 'pips' (the +1 in Han's skill) to get your total number. Higher was better.
Han, as you can see, was a considerably better shot than either of the others, and Luke was slightly better than Leia. Most of the time, though, Luke and Han were doing a LOT of things in a single combat round (under the WEG rules) which imposes 1D penalties per action (after the first). If Luke was doing a lot in a round, such as shooting 3 times and running for cover, while Leia simply shot once, she would, indeed, be shooting better than Luke for that round.
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