Flinch!!!!

Listen to Calum
I remember infantry training 40 years ago, standing in a fox hole shooting an M-14 for 10 hours a day--usually around 2000 rds or so. Everyone, and I mean everyone, eventually developed a flinch, just keep on firing you will eventually learn some little trick that will get you thru it. For me I have to concentrate on 'squessing the trigger'. I really want to be a little suprised when the gun goes off.
 
Mine was (sometimes is, but mostly gone) 98% mental/2% jacked on caffeine. Relaxing and getting my shoulders as square as I can, so I know the recoil will go straight into my shoulder, makes it mostly go away. I drink a lotta coffee so sometimes I flinch a bit just 'cause I'm fairly high strung. But mostly it's mental. Dry firing, when you KNOW there's going to be no 'BANG', helps me too. Doesn't take many repeats for me to relax, 3-4 and I'm usually back on form. Repeating myself, getting my shoulders really square (from a bench, or as square as is reasonably possible when offhand) helps me a ton.
 
It sounds like the anticipation of the shot is what is causing the flinch.

This may sound weird, but look through the scope and let the crosshair go slightly fuzzy and focus on the target and only the target.

If the trigger on the rifle has lots of creep, try not to concentrate on the trigger or think about when the gun is going to fire. Think only about the target.

If your mind is focused on the target and not the rifle you will not be able to anticipate the shot.

I used this to help with my target archery and I found it really worked.
Give it a try and let us know if it helps you out at all. :)

Richard
 
I've noticed a recoil anticipation flinch from time to time. I find if I shoot something really big first, I lose the flinch. 338 win mag at max load in a 6lb rifle makes the 308 feel like a pea shooter and the flinch goes away?
 
I would agree with shootin something big first. I had a bit of a flinch with my T3 lite in 300 WSM. It is gone with most every other caliber. Funny the T3 lite is gone too.Hmmmmmm.
 
I sold a really nice custom Enfield to a freind whom told me the rifle must be shot out cause he can't hit squat with it!

I have shot Yotes causually walking across the fields at over 100 yards with it(so I know it's not the rifle)and we meet up at camp.

I throw a yellow crook-neck squash about forty feet out then when it stops rolling nail it,I then take the rifle(while holding down a round with my finger )shove home the bolt and tell him to give it a try.

He shoulders the rifle takes off the safety and proceeds to pull the trigger(he is leaping forward as the trigger just clicks).

Anticipation 100 percent!

I then explaned what he was doing and told him to own the target and gently squeese off the trigger (never really knowing when it will go off)

Needless to say the rifle got better shooting right quick like!

When I shoot through a scope I see the target quite clear ,and I want to see the bullet hit the target(but no matter how large or small the cal)my brain causes my eye to close(reflexis?).

Maybe you can train your eye not to close when something moves towards it,I haven't been able yet!


I would say your flinch is anticipation of perceved recoil!

Bob:)
 
Flinch

sealhunter said:
I don;\'t flinch with a .22 but I was starting to with a 223 wssm.
I line up the target, pull the trigger and the next thing my eyes are closed or I am looking down from the scope at the stock after the shot, instaed of still up at the scope.

Open sights \, My head doesn't move
Click to expand...


You don't flinch with a .22 but do with a .22 centerfire. You are worried about the loud boom and the recoil. Go with recoil reduction ( Simms pad ) and hearing protection. Maybe downsize your main hunting rifle calibre for awhile, say an 8# .243 Win. Shoot alot more with the .22.
 
I think everyone flinches to a degree. Years ago, a friend was watching me empty a magazine full of 30-30 rounds offhand. I pulled the trigger on an empty chamber, but was still expecting it to go boom. You could tell I pulled it a bit at the click. He laughed, but it taught me a lesson about somthing I wasn't aware I was doing. Now if I'm sitting at the bench, I'll load one round in the magazine. I'll work the actio, but not all the way to allow the bolt to pick up the cartridge. Then I'll study the target and try to shoot 'for groups'. I'll do this dry fire run several times until I feel my muscles and eyes almost remember the motions, then I'll chamber the round. I do this to eliminate the chance of flinching when working up a load to test for accuracy. By not having to actually place a new cartridge in the rifle means I'm not breaking the pattern and can maintain the same motions. Try it, it might help you out.
 
You say you don't flinch with irons?

How much eye relief do you have with this scope of yours? (3.5 " is ok, 4" is close to ideal on a large caliber gun... and 3" is a POS) It could be just a nevous reaction of thinking it may hit you. Are you crouching up on the stock? Is your thumb close to your nose with the scope on? I'd focus on your scope setup.
 
FWIW At the range I put a fairly thick, slip on, recoil pad on my rifles and use good hearing protection.

I can bang away for several hours without discomfort.

When I'm hunting for whatever reason I don't feel or notice recoil at all.
 
In my experience flinching comes from having a bad experience with shooting (whether you are consciously aware of it or not) and then your mind starts to predict whatever unpleasantness that was (scope cut, loud noise, whatever) and you start to flinch as your body tries to protect itself. I once got a scope cut from shooting a moose with my .338 win mag while standing on a snowy hillside on bad footing and got knocked on my ass. After that I flinched until I practiced a bunch and then got over it. Many years later, the local rangers invited me to shoot with them (LE's No4's) and for some damn reason the only way I could see though the sights on those LE's in the prone position was to have my face so pressed into the rifle that every single shot resulted in me being hit in the mouth with the rifle. I shot great at first, but after stubbornly continuing on for thirty rounds (did I mention stubborn?) and getting hit in the mouth and spitting blood every time, I was soon flinching so bad I was hitting other people's targets and so I quit. Then I hit the range the next day and worked out the terrible flinch I had developed. I have found that the most common causes of flinching are (not in order) :recoil, noise, bad eye relief on scopes, or bad rifle ergonomics (uncomfortable stock leads to pain after a few shots, etc), lack of practice, "jumping" the shot to look at your results, and shifting your mental focus away from shooting properly to just "shooting".
 
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I find the best cure for a flinch for me is to shoot my 223 which has a fantastic trigger at 300 metre clays. The clays are far enough away I can see the bullet hit if I really concentrate on my follow through.

REally good triggers and really good ear protection is to me the key to avoiding a flinch.
 
Dude...the best cure for a flinch is - have a steak and eggs for breakfast, four cups of java, grap your gun in a manly sorta matter and repeat " I am the master" Thou shallt not flincheth I" And remember that not matter what your gun can do to you is no worse than an audit from Revenue Canada. So be a man and shoot that F'N thing. :D Geepers.
 
gitrdun said:
Dude...the best cure for a flinch is - have a steak and eggs for breakfast, four cups of java, grap your gun in a manly sorta matter and repeat " I am the master" Thou shallt not flincheth I" And remember that not matter what your gun can do to you is no worse than an audit from Revenue Canada. So be a man and shoot that F'N thing. :D Geepers.
Click to expand...

That could work to, I'll have to try that next time I am afflicted.
 
Flinching often occurs when you hold your breath while pulling the trigger cause you are tenced up waiting the results that are about to happen,you should always exhale while you are pulling the trigger. :)


Definition of wonderfull
A wife that forgives you for all your faults and a girlfriend that don't see any.
 
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I began to flinch last summer. My 30-06 has a metal butplate, and I tried shooting it prone with only a t-shirt on. That same day I'd been trying a new load and therefore shooting from the bench too. I think the beginning of the flinch came from that.

The guys who say to shoot a lot of .22 are right by my books. I worked out of it by making up a practice routine that involved 6 rounds through the 30-06 each day, interspersed with a box or more of 22. It made the practice sessions cheaper and I didn't ever shoot the 30-06 too hot, as I am otherwise inclined.

I understand what you mean, SH, by the flinch not being a reaction to the gun going off. I think mine was similar to what you are trying to describe. I'd tighten up as the gun went off. I don't know that I can really say that I've worked out of it. I still catch myself now and then, probably less than 10% of the time. But I'm sure that the constant practice with the 22 helped a lot.

RG
 
I developed a bit of flinch with my 30-06 when I first got it.

The rifle was so light!

more rounds down range help. concentrate on target more, and don't jerk the trigger.
 
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