Flinch anyone??

[Hunter65]

So I realized yesterday that i have a rather disturbing flinch, even with a small caliber firearm.

Yikes. Didn't realize this until now. Seems to be apparent on quick shots, not at the target range when you have time to think, breathe and relax before slowly pulling the trigger, and there's no rush. I'm sure it affects all kinds of things... when one pulls the trigger when you don't have much time.

How and why does this develop? And how the H do I get rid of it?

[catnthehat]

An Olympic coach once told me that everybody flinches , some are better at following through and controlling/covering it up than others!
Cat

[colroggal]

Tie a button on a string to the end of the barrel and practice dry firing. The button shouldn't move.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by colroggal

Tie a button on a string to the end of the barrel and practice dry firing. The button shouldn't move.

We used to balance 22 cases on the sight guards on the Enfield and dry fire
Cat

[700-223]

Dry fire, rimfire practice, mix (or have someone load) dummy rounds in your magazine so you can see how the flinch is improving, practice w a very light recoiling centre fire -223, 243; very short range sessions with your heavier recoiling rifles, stopping st the first sign of your flinch coming back...

[JTRED]

I found taking up trap reduced my flinch. Shooting 100 12g shells in an evening seemed to tone down my flinch. Also just more time at the range with light recoiling rifles.

[^v^Tinda wolf^v^]

I've caught myself doing this only to realize my safety is on
I find this only happens at the range

[Dick284]

Start shooting a flintlock....
The increased lock time will make all your bad habits larger than life.
35 gr. of FF or equivalent and a patched .490" round ball in a .50 caliber flinter is super cheap and super fun to shoot too.

[colroggal]

Actually when I first got back into shooting I quickly realized I had a heck of a flinch. One of the guys at the range told me to find a zen moment before shooting. Almost like forgetting you're about to pull the trigger. Once I 'got' it, my flinch seemed to disappear.

Colin

[Pathfinder76]

Shoot at 400 yds with a 22lr

[DiabeticKripple]

I noticed I had one when I went from shooting my 7mm rem mag to my .22

Been working on it ever since along with trigger control and I seem to be doing better

[MartyT]

Dry fire practice. Go to the range with a friend and dry fire a bit to get in the groove then have your friend place a dummy round or a live round in without you knowing which it is

[fps plus]

One of my favourites I've heard over the years from guys that shoot larger caliber"I don't notice it in the field " . I have gone to a 240 wby to try to control my flinch

[jesse10gun]

i know this is different but an older gentleman at the trap range had a bad flinch with a shotgun. he had to keep his finger off the trigger on the side of the receiver and then put it in and pull the trigger all at once. he got rid of the flinch but it took along time a year and a half. i had given up and told him to get a release trigger but he seems fine now so it can be done

[Coiloil37]

I developed a flinch almost twenty years ago and it took me a few years to figure out what was causing it and come up with a solution to fix it. What I found caused my flinch was;

Muzzle blast
Noise
Fear of getting hit by the scope
Recoil

My solution was to make sure the rifles I own fit me and have great recoil pads along with scopes that have ample/excessive eye relief and I always wear hearing protection when I have the chance. If I'm practicing I usually wear ear plugs and muffs.
I somehow developed a flinch with a .270 and now handle 300 ultra mags, .338's and 450 marlins without a flinch so it can be beat if you figure out what's hanging you up and work around it.

[Kevin242]

Originally Posted by MartyT

Dry fire practice. Go to the range with a friend and dry fire a bit to get in the groove then have your friend place a dummy round or a live round in without you knowing which it is

Great advice having a friend load dummy or live rounds at the range. You keep it up until the muzzle doesn't move when the firearm goes click. Best not to dry-fire a rim fire though...

Also, if you concentrate on all of the first 5 fundamentals of marksmanship (proper shooting position and not death-gripping the stock, sight picture, sight alignment, breathing, trigger pull) you should have enough focus to not be thinking about the recoil. The last marksmanship fundamental may even be the most important when overcoming a flinch - follow through! Concentrate on literally not moving a single muscle for a second or two after the shot is fired and maintaining your sight picture. This will really improve your focus.

Good luck!

[Twisted Canuck]

As an aside, flinch doesn't necessarily have to do with recoil, or muzzle blast/noise (though being over gunned is the most common culprit). You can develop a bad flinch with archery as well (often called 'target panic') that has nothing to do with recoil or noise, right? I found myself having major issues with this one year, when I was shooting competitively. It's a huge mental issue, you are trying to relax while holding on the 'wall', and let your pin drift onto the target and settle, while trying to force it to steady...there is a negative loop that starts playing in your head and the next thing you are just punching that trigger when you think it's on the target. Never works either.

It really takes a lot of mental exercise, breathing, routines, to get over that negative 'SHOOOT!' loop that gets going. If you find you are flinching even with small calibre firearms, that is probably what is happening to you. There have been a few good books written on the topic, none of which helped me .

I just had to reset my mind, not take my shooting so seriously and get back to enjoying the experience, and breathe. Breathe some more. Think about anything but that darn shot sometimes. Seems counter intuitive to not think about an important shot, but stressful overthinking is not a good thing when shooting (at least in my experience).

When I stopped caring about my score like it was life or death, or the other guys who I was trying to beat, and got back to enjoying shooting, things improved a lot. Also, drink de-caf.

I did have a few issues over the years with flinching with a firearm (bench shooting and sighting magnums takes a toll on anyone after a long range session), but taking some shooting courses (with pistol) to teach proper trigger control and breathing, sight picture, etc really helped and carried over to rifle/shotgun. When you can squeeze through a half dozen trigger cycles in double action without making the .45 brass fall off your front sight, you are headed in the right direction. Once you get all zen with the trigger, it seems like all triggers elicit that same positive mental cycle.

[roger]

i had an issue with flinch and this is what felt worked for me. I avoid bench shooting at paper it is so mechanically wrong to sit behind the gun and send rounds downrange towards something that gives nothing back, choose reactive targets, water jugs, balloons etc.
focus on learning to hammer a 24 or 36" gong at 200 yards and shoot faster instead of sitting there mulling over your breath and control trying to shoot dimes groups at 100 when your flinching. again just to focus downrange.
like how a shotgun and clay work, your focus is on the descending clay and less on the recoil/noise

as your confidence refines, slow your sight target acquisition and firing program. if your offhand shooting and the crosshairs are doing a figure 8 around the target..shoot when the widest arc is reached, because by the time your finger gets the bullet out of the barrell its aready on its outside loop of the far side of the figure eight. oh maybe try to squeeze your entire hand instead of just the trigger finger. this will slow the 'finger trigger jerk' effect
who ever remembers recoil when killing a moose or big buck. i sure dont.

[bobinthesky]

I think everyone flinches sooner or later. Some just don't know it, others know they are but don't know what to do about it and others learn to deal with it. It goes against everything your body knows to sit and get hit by recoil and noise without involuntarily tensing up but boxers can be taught to take a punch to the nose without closing their eyes and shooters can be taught not to flinch.
When I get flinchy at the rifle bench, I shoot a .22 rimfire for a while and calm the flinch down while the bigger rifle is cooling off.