Curing a Flinch

I had the unfortunate discovery this past weekend while shooting that I struggle with flinching when shooting an unfamiliar handgun or larger calibers in general. I regularly shoot .22 and .38 special with no problem but when I have a .44 mag or comparable caliber in my hand I tend to want to flinch to offset the recoil. I really want to get over this frustrating and embarrassing habit so that I can improve accuracy and make my shots count every time.

Anyone else struggle? Any tips or training exercises to help cure a flinch?

Thanks!

Yuppers, the big booming revolvers make we also tend to flinch if I get "lazy".

If you have a six shot revolver, you can load a live round, skip one then load two live rounds. I put empty brass in the skip holes. Spin the cylinder then lower the hammer. The sequence will give you a situation where the gun can go bang or click on the first hammer drop, and go bang or click on the second pull. You will not know which will happen.

This will let you really focus on the trigger pull and what you are doing. I am an older semi-auto shooter, and trying to "learn" to shoot a double action revolver well. I spend more time these days, going click instead of bang.

The other thing that really helps is to make sure your hearing protection is good. Plugs and muffs are best to really help reduce the blast, if the gun is a big boomer. And a 22lr in the same type of action rotated in can also help.

Craig

I CAN have that problem. My first cylinder I am usually flinch-free. But trying to shoot a full box of heavy stuff will cause me to anticipate...ie flinch. I keep telling myself "it is not going to hurt" but I will flinch anyway. Going to a different gun for a few shots will usually cure it. I wish I could be like Whitworth. He could probably shoot a 50 BMG Derringer and not flinch. But, I am me and that is all I can do.

We all do it to some extent. Some days I'm worse that others. It is the High Brain/Low Brain thing. Who is in charge? Many .22's don't like to be dry fired, but I don't know of a large bore wheel gun that can't take it all day long. Many of the pro shooters spend lots of time dry firing.

The acid test is the 'load one, skip one, load two' that bait referred to. I think the dry fire is the practice and training, and the cylinder with empties is the test to prove your work.

My first handgun was a .44mag. It isn't the first thing I've done backwards in my life. I have grandkids, but no kids too.
There was a point where I switched from being afraid of the noise and kick to getting that BWAHHH HAA HAA! joy of shooting the big boomers. It was a great day. That said, it is still work to tell the brain who is in charge. The human animal's eye wants to look at the prey. The human animal's reflexes want to brace for an impact. The animal brain wants to stay in bed and not go to work today. But the high brain calls the shots.

Happy shooting, and welcome to the forum,
Dogsbreath

Better yet, have some one with you and load the cylinder erratically so you don't know when an empty comes up AND concentrate ONLY on the front sight. Wipe all other thoughts out of your mind. Works really good.

I personally find that shooting the heavier recoiling guns, need a lot more consentration. Not just your form, the target, and your grip. But you also have to consider how your going to react to the boom. I find that if I allow the "bang," to surprise me, I seem to have less issue with flinch .

If you handload I'd suggest backing down the horsepower a smidge, or go to a lighter bullet, for a while.

Look into some different grips for your gun if you are feeling pain in the hand.

FIRM grip.

A trigger job may be in order.

Slow down the booger picker. Hover the sights on the target and slooowly press the trigger until you are surprised by the report of the gun. As has already been said, load every other cylinder and play roulette so you don't know when you will feel it.

I like using dummy rounds and dry firing. I use a wall outlet and line my front sight up with the center between the two prong holes. At any time in the firing process if the front sight comes off that center section it's a miss. I do this alot, to the point where when I get to the range the muscle memory takes over. Helps on iron sight accuracy also. Good luck.

stalk,

Hopefully you haven't had to replace any receptacles. ;-)

Doc

Dryfire practice every day.

+ 1 Gary. also dont try to shoot 50-100 rounds a a sitting. try 6 or 12 slow good shots. be happy with that then shoot the 22 or 38.

I'll tell you what's helped me somewhat with flinching while shooting both long guns and handguns: shoot a much bigger gun. I've shot that 460 of mine so much that the 243 Encore (which, while hardly a kicker, is quite jumpy when you touch one off) barely bothers me, and shooting a 357 Magnum for the first time was a walk in the park. I used to flinch when shooting my 270 rifle, but after many, many shotgun shells through my Mossberg 870 12 gauge, including some nasty kicking 3" turkey loads, the 270 barely bothers me. I might flinch the first time if I haven't shot either the 270 or Encore in a while, but after that first round, I'm fine.

As to what the other guys have said, I think Rod had some great ideas:

when shooting new or unfamiliar guns, I don't even care that I flinch. I'm not trying to shoot groups right out of the box, I'm trying to learn (and test) the gun. until I know the gun isn't going to do anything "crazy", that part of my brain just takes over. I know it was test fired at the factory, but I need to see it. lol Other than that, the advise given here is great, practice, practice, practice. After all, you're trying to overcome a natural reaction to something. that's my .02 cents anyway.