Chuck Pressburg of
Presscheck Training and Consulting discusses flinch response that many shooters experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eETQjJQT68w
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Chuck Pressburg of
Presscheck Training and Consulting discusses flinch response that many shooters experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eETQjJQT68w
I have not the verbal repertoire of Chuck, and I like Chuck; but my observations slightly diverge albeit from a different path through life.
BLUF: I believe that the flinch is a very reasonable response to a specific portion of receiving a recoil impulse, made habit through consistent repetitions with a consistent expectation of more in the future; and that the mechanism to do away with it is to tile the whole schema with repetitions executed without those elements.
As relates to pistols, every round fired that significantly articulates the wrist under recoil conditions one form of the flinch. With that form, the wrist articulates in the opposite direction then it would under recoil and with about the same overall travel. Were it not generally occuring prior to ignition, life wouldn't be bad; but taking place beforehand, impacts are often deviated directly lower. With single-hand only shooting, the flinch is seemingly magnified, given the absence of an additional hand to moderate that downward movement.
Outside of the firearms context, people being wristlocked with an adductive method whom do not wish to be wristlocked, generally begin their defense with an opposing movement of their hand in order to straighten their wrist prior to reaching the full limit of ulnar deviation. Firing a disproportionately sized or recoiling firearm may not reach the full limit of such, but may move through enough of the range of radial deviation that discomfort occurs - with even subtle discomfort creating the unconscious pretext for flinching to develop as a counter-point.
The remedy is in the shooter firing rounds with minimized or absent articulation of the wrist from that point forward; first with strictly proctored rounds, then through slightly less-guided instruction, until continued self-guided practice is possible and occuring. A more muscular shooting method and an integrated stance+grip are key enablers for this.
As relates to stocked long-arms, every round fired that significantly turns the shoulders around the spine OR shifts the shoulders past the hips conditions another form of the flinch. With that form, the shooting-side shoulder drives into the stock of the weapon with about the same amount of travel forward as would be seeing rearwards under recoil. This generally deviates impacts directly lower, though sometimes slightly diagonally towards the off-side, in reflection of the deeper foot placement associated with firing longarms.
Shoulders turning under recoil adds a tremendous amount of time to any follow-up shots, with the muzzle-line returning to center through uneven usage of the back musculature. If prior to firing the shoulders are bladed sufficient that the stock of the weapon is overly past the chest or past vertical alignment with the corresponding hip, then the weapon much more readily turns the collective upper body, until returned through reactive muscular movement. Feet that are relatively close together may exacerbate this concern as well.
Shoulders being pushed past the hips induces a more pronounced concave curvature to the lumbar spine, reducing the muscular leverage of those same lumbar muscles that would correct the imbalance; and also adds a tremendous amount of time to any follow-up shots. If prior to firing the shoulders are already past the hips, then it can only get worse and require an excessive movement to remain upright. If prior to firing the shoulders are above the hips, then they can only be pushed past them and the shooter driven out of posture however minor the degree. If prior to firing the shoulders are forward of the hips, then at worst they move into vertical alignment. This is directly in-line with desirable posture as relates to grappling, giving\receiving a grash, and football per viam ECQC.
A common remedy addresses both causes: the shooter's stance must be improved well in advance of recoil, such that the shoulders neither significantly turn nor be deviated to the rear. The stance needs to be sufficiently wide and deep with the feet, that the shooter can preload their weight onto the leading foot and remain stable through recoil through the trailing foot. There needs be sufficient and appropriate body tension to effect that preceding goal. If the shooter is unable to effect sufficient isometric stability while shooting a succession of rounds solely through the shoulders being forward of the hips, then bending the lead knee effectively deepens their stance without requiring movement of the feet. A muscular grip upon the weapon helps all of this, but is not nearly so important for this specific problem set. My preferred tools to teach good posture are the mountaingoat drill and attempting to push over a structural wall with the shooter (or keep a door pushed shut).
I don't look at the flinch as being madness, unknowable, or unassailable; like people robbing banks, it's understandable, just not generally helpful.
(ETA: I haven't found dummy rounds to be supremely helpful in killing the flinch. There's no stimulus\response pairing, so it doesn't seem to map over the habit. I also don't think of this as a solely gun-centric problem, so take that FWIW.)
(ETA2: Dang, that's a great demonstration of flagging the thumb upwards and into the frame for single-hand only shooting...)
Great videos.Quote:
Originally Posted by David S.
It also goes to show that good shooting is good shooting.
That video could easily have been made by a top level gamer with regard to shot calling and his concept of “wobble.”