So how? Well, I have training coming up in December. I can probably dry fire a LOT more. What else?
The flinch is worse at the beginning when I am starting out an unaccustomed to the bang, at the end, after 100 rounds, when I am fatigued a bit from all the bang.
I’ll do a cursory Google search now…
Cornered Cat has some tips, recommending putting random snap caps in the magazine for practice. You'll really notice the flinch when the gun doesn't go bang. Also, dry firing at home to accustom myself to goo trigger work and no movement. Dry fire is always good advice for me at this stage. MORE than I am doing.
Mark Burkett has different advice. Be sure the gun fits and it's causing pain when you shoot. A pointy bit might make you shy a bit when shooting. I think I am ok with the gun fitting my hand and not causeing a pinch induced flinch. But if I was getting hammer bite, I bet I’d have a worse one!
Next range trip I’m leaving the .45 ammo at home and running the 1911 with the conversion kit. .22 is practically dry fire.
In that vein, Sniper Country suggests maybe try something BIG to prep for regular calibers. Get used to a .50 and the .357 feels like nothing. That sort of thing
The High Road, again, recommends LOTS and LOTS of dry fire called for.
Chuck Hawks has a column on flinching. Lot of info
Royal Gorge Gun club has some stuff. Including better definitions:
“Flinching” is anticipating recoil by an abrupt backward motion of your shoulder to get ‘away’ from it. “Bucking” is anticipating recoil by shoving your shoulder forward to ‘make up’ for or ‘resist’ the impact. “Jerking” is snapping the trigger quickly to get the disagreeable experience over with as soon as possible.
I am more Bucking and Jerking, I guess. More Bucking, lately.
What else can I do? Dry fire, dowel dry fire (stick a dowel down your empty barrel when dry firing only to check how much you are moving the tip of the gun around on trigger release), wall dry fire (similar to the dowel but you are pointing at a blank wall from only an inch away), snap caps, try higher caliber, try lower caliber, more dry fire, trigger squeeeeeeeeeeeeeze. Anything else?
10 comments:
Do you use ear plugs AND muffs? It may help to double up on hearing protection, in combination with getting to the range and practicing.
The double hearing protection is a good tip...especially in an indoor range.
You've got most of the ideas listed. I will say that the one that I've found to be most effective is the snap cap trick. It's best if you have someone else load your mags (or cylinder) and mix in a snap cap...or don't. That way, you'll never know if one is coming or not.
This is not something you're going to fix overnight or in one shooting session (I catch myself doing it occasionally...usually toward the end of a long shooting session) so be patient and keep working on it.
when you catch yourself in a flinch - stop, take your finger off the trigger, and start over. And to be able to catch yourself, SLOW DOWN.
A couple of thoughts...
1) The double-up on plugs and muffs I've heard highly recommended.
2) Do you have a laser for training dryfire? Might want to invest in one.
I double up the hearing protection. And I do notice jumps while loading mags at the beginning of a session from guns in neighboring lanes.
Hmmm. Maybe I'll hit some outdoor lanes for fun...
Lay your gun down between each shot. It will break your habitual rhythm.
Do you often have a really good first shot and following shots go bad.
Flinching can be part of a habit pattern.
BTW, Every now and then you should shoot a magazine WITHOUT hearing protection.
You need to know how loud it really is. How you react.
I have to recommend very strenuously against JB Miller's last idea.
Tinnitus is no fun. Trust me on this one. And once you've damaged your hearing, there's no getting it back.
From most of the accounts I've read about actual shooting situations, the adrenaline is running so high you often don't even hear the gun going off.
I'm guessing that in a real situation, a flinch from not being used to the noise of shooting with no hearing protection will be the least of your worries.
In my humble opinion, don't take the chance on permanently harming something that is as important as your hearing.
T-bolt,
One thing I've done that helps with the flinch (and I hear you, brother, I'm the king of the flinch) is to put down whatever centerfire handgun I'm shooting and grab a .22. I'll shoot that until the flinch subsides and then go back to centerfire.
It's good for nipping a flinch in the bud, and carries the extra bonus of being cheaper on the ammo budget...
Now I just need a .22 conversion for my Sig 226 and my 1911...
HTH
Snap caps work. Have someone else insert them at random into mags. That ID's the problem, then stop, go to the .22 and figure out what is causing it. Most of the time I see low right, it's anticipation.
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