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Thread: Tips for curing a flinch

  1. #1
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    Tips for curing a flinch

    This is slightly embarrassing but I want to get better and I need some help regarding flinching. Its not a problem for me when I slow fire but when I shoot rapidly or consecutive shots, I find myself tensing up and it is taking me off target. What are some things I could do to overcome this? Is this something that disappears over time?

    I wouldn't say I'm a novice pistol shooter but I'm not really at the intermediate stage either.

    Thanks

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    A ball and dummy drill is a great way to help overcome flinch.

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    SAFE dry-fire practice (like a ball and dummy drill) worked pretty well for me though you don't necessarily need a spent round if you watch your sights closely.

    Every day fire about 100 trigger pulls (using proper focus, technique and presentation) Focus on smooth trigger pull, you'll gradually de-condition the response, artificially fooling your brain not to expect the shot and therefore not flinch.

    Live rounds at this point seem to be reinforcing your flinch instead of getting you over it.
    Last edited by Gutshot John; 09-17-09 at 14:37.
    It is bad policy to fear the resentment of an enemy. -Ethan Allen

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    Quote Originally Posted by The_Katar View Post
    A ball and dummy drill is a great way to help overcome flinch.
    Yep, grab a handfull of snapcaps and mix them up in your ammo pile, then have a buddy load your mags for you. concentrate on smooth, consistent trigger pull, and sight picture.

    This, combined with lots of dry fire as GSJ describes has worked wonders for me so far.

  5. #5
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    You will never get rig of the flinch, it is natural to do it. You can only mininize it by practicing the tichniques above.

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    Quote Originally Posted by The_Katar View Post
    A ball and dummy drill is a great way to help overcome flinch.
    Being prone to a massive finch myself, I'll disagree.

    Ball and dummy is great for diagnosing a flinch, or to get someone to understand that they are flinching, but does little to cure it.

    Dryfire works much better in my experience.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jman4427 View Post
    This is slightly embarrassing but I want to get better and I need some help regarding flinching. Its not a problem for me when I slow fire but when I shoot rapidly or consecutive shots, I find myself tensing up and it is taking me off target. What are some things I could do to overcome this? Is this something that disappears over time?

    I wouldn't say I'm a novice pistol shooter but I'm not really at the intermediate stage either.

    Thanks
    Are you sure it's a flinch and not a trigger control issue? Flinching is anticipating recoil and tensing or pushing the gun. Is your POI relative to your POA?

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    Quote Originally Posted by rob_s View Post
    Are you sure it's a flinch and not a trigger control issue? Flinching is anticipating recoil and tensing or pushing the gun. Is your POI relative to your POA?
    I mean I'm pretty sure its a flinch. When shooting rapidly I'll lean slightly forward as I tense and I'll shoot low.

  9. #9
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    Don't put too much stock in these types of targets, but


  10. #10
    ToddG Guest
    Building Block Drills to Proper Handgun Shooting:

    • Start with the Wall Drill or similar dry fire drill that will provide obvious & immediate feedback with regard to your sight alignment throughout the trigger stroke. When you can break the trigger without disturbing the alignment of your front sight, move on to the next drill.
    • Shoot a Ball & Dummy Drill to assess whether you are anticipating recoil. Work on this (or go back to the Wall Drill) until you can break your shots without anticipation. Then move on to the next drill.
    • Use a 3x5 Card Drill or similar walkback-type drill to refine your marksmanship at slow speed. Until you can get 100% hits on demand on a 3x5 at 7yd, you shouldn't focus on going faster. Once you can hit the card at 7yd every time, move on to the next drill.
    • The Circle Drill or another adjusting speed drill will begin to show you how time compression affects your shooting. You want to get a tight little group when you're taking your time and you want to be in control of the gun when you're going fast.


    In my experience, most of the problems we attribute to poor trigger control are actually caused by improper grip or recoil management. When trigger manipulation is the problem at speed, it's usually the result of a shooter changing how he presses the trigger when he goes fast, rather than just compressing the timeframe in which he does it the right way ... the way he already knows how.

    It's also important to define what you're trying to accomplish. If you can hit a 4" circle at 25yd slow fire and now want to hit that same circle at that same distance with 0.10 splits, you're smoking crack. If you're doing things properly, the time you're "saving" when shooting fast is the refinement time you would use on your sight picture and trigger control when going slower. Shooting fast is about learning what is and isn't an acceptable amount of refinement under a given circumstance.

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