overcomming the "flinch factor!"

[AJ]

Yep, its a common ailment when shooters try to run before they can walk. Starting with the big bores is not macho, cool, or anything like that. Usually it makes the shooter a bad shooter due to flinching. Start with smaller guns and learn proper form and gradually advance up in power. You will find you are a better shot in the end. Even with experienced shooters heavy recoil can mess you up. I have a buddy that was on the USMC pistol team and he is a great shot with a 9mm or 45 ACP. Give him a 44 Mag loaded with hunting loads and he can't hit the target let alone get a group.

[WNY_Whitetailer]

Yup...I concur...I started off shooting my 9mm as a first handgun and even then I had a flinch. I worked on it and now I don't flinch. I shoot my 44 more accurately than my 9mm now. Now to get to the range with that 22lr Buckmark.

[AJ]

[ QUOTE ]
It’s a mind set. It’s concentration. I doesn’t matter what you are shooting, big or small. Practice dry firing your gun more often, it helped you at the range.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its definately a mind set. Not knowing when the gun will go off helped at the range. If it goes boom when you think it will go click, it will be lined up just fine. Flinching is caused by the mind not enjoying what is happening or is about to happen. This very loud blast and stout recoil is about to punish you and your mind says grip harder to protect you, slap the trigger, get it over and done with. This is not only with handguns but with rifles and shotguns too. Learn good shooting form and how to control the recoil. You can dry fire the gun till the springs wear out but when you put ammo in the chamber, its a different game.

[10acboy]

I don't shoot handguns too often, but what has helped me and my son at the range is wearing those protective head phones. I know they are bid and bulky, but hey, whatever helps. I found out that I most flinch more at the upcoming sound. Hearing protection has worked wonders for me.



100 yards with Rem Corelocs shooting 8mm Mauser

[Tominator]

Yep, we used to play "ball and dummy" with our .45's in the service. There was this one guy who was doing the opposite of flinching, he was anticipating the recoil and "pushing" the muzzle down. It was kind of funny to watch him shoot because his bullets were literally digging trenches in the ground.

The rangemaster cured him by loading either a live round or empty casing one at a time until he stopped flinching.

[hangunnr]

Tominator hits the problem right on the button.

Your problem isn't flinching from the shot it's anticipation of the recoil causing you to pull your shots wildly.

The recoil isn't something you can control so why try. Let the gun do it's thing, it's not gonna hurt you so let it roll as needed.

Proper grip is paramount to being able to shoot a handgun accurately. Your strong hand or trigger finger hand should only exert 40% of the total grip on the gun. Your weak hand will provide the rest. You want the trigger finger hand relatively relaxed so there isn't any stress on the trigger finger at all. This will help prevent pushing the shot to one side and allow you to pull the trigger straight back without any side movement.

There are only two things required to shoot accurately.

1. Align the sights properly on the intended target.

2. Move the trigger to the rear without disrupting the sight picture.

That's it............no secrets whatsoever.

Dry fire practice will help train your mind on how the sight picture should look when breaking the shot. The consious mind can only do one thing at a time. That one thing has to be concentrating on the sights. Your sub-consious mind takes care of pulling the trigger. If you have consious thought of pulling the trigger you're no longer paying attension to where the gun is pointing. Couple this with recoil anticipation and god only knows where your shot will go. You should have a surprise break on the shot.

Once you can get past the improper mindset of feeling you have to man handle the gun, you'll be surprised how much your groups will shrink.

It dosen't matter if you're shooting a .22 or a .500 Smith the way you shoot stays the same.

Concentrate on keeping the sights on target and forget about what the gun is going to do and the small groups will follow.

hangunnr