"The Dip"

**Guns-up.50** · 07-27-11, 15:44

Went to the range today put about 200 through my g17 and 200 though my carbine. I was a little tired when i finished (heat) but when i was done with live ammo i did some dry fires to finish the day. I noticed my front sight was dipping during this drill. The flinch as i believe its called. I dry fire pretty regularly at home and shoot live ammo pretty regularly is there anything i can do to help diminish this error. Thanks in advance

**TriumphRat675** · 07-27-11, 16:01

My first question is did you notice this dip when dry firing your pistol, carbine, or both?

My second question is, assuming you saw it when dry firing your pistol only, were you on target when you were actually shooting, as opposed to dry firing, or were you shooting low?

The reason for the second question is that the "dip" you are seeing may not actually be a "flinch," by which I think we mean in this context a pre-ignition flinch or trigger snatch that pulls your sights off-target before the hammer/striker ignites the primer and sends the bullet off on its merry way. Instead it could be you subconsciously anticipating the recoil of your pistol - that is, in the milliseconds after breaking the shot, while the bullet is on its way to the point of aim, your hands are correcting for the recoil of the handgun upwards by trying to drag it back down to its starting point to line up the next shot. This is not really an error. In fact, when shooting for speed it can be a good thing.

Dry firing is a good exercise to maintain your trigger press skills. When dry firing, you really want to focus on your trigger finger and the trigger, which should be the only things that are moving. Dry firing will not help you with recoil control.

If you are hitting POA/POI, I would not worry about this type of "flinch" immediately after a shooting session. Dry fire on the days you aren't going to the range, focus on the trigger press alone, and see if that gets you where you need to go.

**Guns-up.50** · 07-27-11, 16:37

Thanks the dip doesnt happen during normal dry fires, for the most part aside from a few errors i was poa/poi.

**TriumphRat675** · 07-27-11, 18:44

In that case I don't think you have a problem.

**BTS** · 07-27-11, 19:59

When I used to shoot a high volume of magnum revolver, I made sure I also brought a .22 pistol to the range. I would switch from the centerfire to the rimfire whenever I felt I was flinching or my groups were loosening up.

Plus, the lowly .22 is just fun to shoot.

**Axcelea** · 07-27-11, 21:48

I am pretty guilty of all the above.

I've flinched in anticipation to fighting recoil where it sometimes went off a little premature and threw some shots a good deal and even done nose dives when a person near me fired (dip down response on the bang). Also pulled some shots down not having a firm enough grip, may be some degree of trigger snatching or could be recoil anticipation.

I say focus on firm grip (for me its working more on the support hand being firm) and good straight trigger pull.

**huntsimp** · 07-27-11, 22:16

At what distance should you be POA/POI?

**Axcelea** · 07-27-11, 23:36

Originally Posted by huntsimp

At what distance should you be POA/POI?

Depends on the gun, what it was sighted for, sight picture, stuff like that. In general for combat pistols 25 yards seems fairly common as some sort of POA/POI.