Hi Steve,
It's probably not just your "deadeye" marksmanship; some do seem to be too easy. When I did the Naval Academy weapons exercises, I did have some ships explode and sink with a few well-aimed (or were they "lucky"?) shots. But, I also had some sink only after making many waterline hits.
Can't say there was any consistency either; I did the gunnery and torpedo training exercises several times and the exams twice (with and without using LSH3/SH3 CDR) and got different results every time.
It could be the old hit point system and it might make the shipping too easy to take down, but I think that just gives me more of a reason to use both LSH3 and GWX3. Some days I feel like just blowing things up and some days I don't...
Carry on "old salt"!