Flinching with M38 Swede

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mistahmojoryan

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I've been shooting a M38 Swede lately and I'm developing a flinch. For those not familiar with it, the firing pin protrudes out the back of the bolt (~.75") so when the sear releases, this protrusion springs forward and makes me blink.

Now when I go to shoot my other rifles (22's included)...I'm flinching! :mad: Anybody experience the same thing with a Swede (or anything else)? Did you get over it or give it up? I'm hoping it's just going to take practice but i admit I've been going back and forth in regards to selling it.

Hope I'm not the only one who's got this issue....I just don't like seeing things move like that so close to my eye! :eek: ;)
 
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Three Swede mausers and no flinch yet ;) .
Me thinks you saw it (the firing pin) move once or twice while shooting, and now your brain is looking for it.
Do a little more practice before you give up and give me your crappy flinch producing M38 :p :D .

(E) :cool:
 
Never been a problem for me!!

BTW, the firing pin sticks out of the back of most bolt rifles, to a greater or lesser extent as a safty measure, inculding the Lee Enfield!!
 
Hmmm, I don't think I'm consciously looking for it to move. It's just that little bit of movement that my eye catches peripherally. It's definitely going to take some work but I think it will be worth it.

Echo, would you still want it if you knew it was drilled and has a synthetic sporter stock? :eek: :p
 
Gibbs505 said:
Never been a problem for me!!

BTW, the firing pin sticks out of the back of most bolt rifles, to a greater or lesser extent as a safty measure, inculding the Lee Enfield!!
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Well, this is my first milsurp. :) I'm kind of spoiled by my Sako which has quite a different trigger and release than the M38.
 
Mosins, Enfields, Mausers .... all of them have visible firing pin movement. Just one of those things.

You may think you're not looking for it, but one lobe of your brain, with nothing better to do, has said "Hey!! What the f*ck was that?" If you can get that lobe to STFU, then the flinch should go away.
mistahmojoryan said:
Echo, would you still want it if you knew it was drilled and has a synthetic sporter stock?
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If you're giving it to me, it could have a lamp shade on it :p .

(E) :cool:
 
I remember that an M96 I fired used to actually spray tiny droplets of oil in my eye when it fired it without glasses. Taking apart the bolt and cleaining excess oil in the bolt/firing pin solved this for me.
 
I can't say that firing pin movement bothers me at all - I have a TOZ-78 22lr rimfire rifle with the same thing and I've never developed a flinch. If you do have issues with flinching due to the firining pin moving, perhaps purchasing a TOZ-78 could solve this problem due to the fact that is has no recoil.

Anyways, the only time I developed a flinch was after shooting alot of slugs with my shottie.. when I went back to rimfire, I realized I had developed a NASTY flinch. The first step to eliminating the flinch is to understand the flinch.

Flinching is caused by your body anticipating the recoil, the sounds, the sights, all the fantastic magic that happens when you pull the trigger. I find the best way to eliminate a large portion of the flinch is to wear appropriate eye and ear protection. Good muffs will cut out all external noise and put you in that zone where nothing can bother you - save the recoil of the rifle. Good glasses will give you the confidence that no dirt/dust/smoke will get into your eyes. Good protection can convince your body that the 'danger' of shooting (to which it is reacting with a flinch) is not significant.

Now eliminating the flinch due to recoil is another story. The only way to really work this is to start small (ie rimfire) and work your way up. When I developed my slug flinch, I shot nothing but rimfire for an entire month. When I finally moved back up to an intermediate round, I made sure I wore my muffs and glasses, and ensured that I had a good grip on a gun that fit me well (in this case, my SKS-D). To make sure the flinch isn't creeping back, shoot a few rounds of rimfire after shooting your medium caliber weapon. After the medium caliber weapon has been re-mastered, you can move up to the bigger stuff, but once again, make sure you shoot some rimfire after each session to keep the flinch from creeping back.

You have to realize that the flinch is simply a subconscious reaction to a violent experience - your body predicts that there will be a big bang, some smoke and a kick, so it reacts. You have to TRAIN your body to not react this way, train your body such that when you pull that trigger, your body either doesn't expect a violent reaction, or doesn't care.
 
Look at the target in your open sights not the back of the bolt...relax, manage your breathing...it should be a suprise when it goes off. :)

Personaly I find my M38 a dream to shoot...be glad you didn't start out with a Enfield No5 jungle Carbine. :eek:

Hang in there...practice lots, the flinch will go away soon enough.
 
Yeah, practice, practice, practice...back to the drawing board! Last time I had to work through a flinch was when I moved from a 30/06 semi to a 300WM bolt action 10 years ago. I always had a feeling it would come up again but I assumed it would be when I moved UP to a big bore not DOWN to a little 6.5 Swede! :D

Oh well, at least I became aware of it immediately. Thanks for the feedback!
 
Flinch?????????????????

Hi there I would agree with most of the other coments on this one.
Here's the problem as I see it ,you are FOCUSING on the wrong things.
I belive you need to have someone with you to coach you through this, someone who is a target shooter. With a little help you will shed this concern and carry on to become a better shooter. Remember the sport is to enjoy sooooo relax abit. Bill.
 
Calum said:
Look at the target in your open sights not the back of the bolt...relax, manage your breathing...it should be a suprise when it goes off. :)
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Yes, keep looking at the post (or reticle) and keep that on the target.
On my M96, the wing safety moves up and down (a little) when you pull up the slack on the trigger...but I just ignore that.

They are nice shooting rifles and don't recoil very much.
(In other words, you shouldn't be developing a flinch from them.)
 
I went shooting with it again this morning and didn't have any problems at all. Got decent groups at 100yds and look forward to shooting it again. It was a pretty good day! :)

I kind of thought you were all wrong :p but I wasn't concentrating 100% on the sight picture and anticipating the pin movement. Weird that I let that happen.


Claven2 said:
This thread isn't serious, is it?
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: This post wasn't necessary, was it? :rolleyes:

Thanks for the input everyone.
 
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