Help Needed to address a flinching issue

[rebelxd1224]

I work as a Firearms Instructor for a Federal Agency. I am having an issue with one of my Agents "flinching" or pre-ignition movement of the weapon in anticipation of felt recoil. We have had him shooting twice on the range this past week, two qualification attempts each time and remedial training sessions in between. He has failed to pass either time. This is largely due to his "flinching". He may have other issues regarding sight alignment, sight picture, etc., but until we can get this "flinching" under control, it's hard to say what other issues he may have. In working with him, we identified this issue early on, both through observation of him shooting and impacts on target. We confirmed this through the use of ball and dummy drills which also acted to clearly identify this issue to him. I have had plenty of cases like this in the past. Routinely, a few magazines of ball and dummy drills and persistent verbal re-enforcement to manipulate the trigger without disrupting point of aim is sufficient to "cure" this to the point that the Agents can pass the qualification course. At times, I have had to work through several magazines loaded with nothing but dummy rounds, but the Agent usually can self-teach themselves enough to be able to pass in a relatively short amount of time.

Now, Let me be clear. I know that consistent dry fire practice over the course of time, weeks and months, not hours, is the only true way to correct this "flinching". And that's on the Agent to do this to advance his skill sets as a shooter. This isn't the hand that I have been dealt, however. I have a limited amount of time, a limited amount of resources with which to work through this issue and get this Agent back working on the line. Due to lack of manpower currently, being able to pull this agent for extended remedial training isn't really an option.

So, my question is, does anyone have a technique to apply that can provide immediate help with this flinching? We have tried everything we know of. We've done ball and dummy drills, we've done full magazines of dummy rounds, we've had him say phrases while pressing the trigger, we've had him do multiplication tables. It will work for a few rounds and then almost inevitably, he starts to "flinch" again. I don't need to turn him into Wyatt Earp, I just need to be able to get him up to minimal standards that have been defined by my Agency. Any techniques is appreciative, except aiming high and right. That's a cover-up to the problem. I'm looking more for a tourniquet to apply until surgery can be performed.

[dgg9]

Have him do nothing but Dot Torture for several sessions (no more than 50 rounds per session). Works for me. Having a Advantage Arms .22 slide is helpful, if available for this type gun.

[Peally]

Indeed a .22 may help, but considering every normal option has failed all I can say is good luck, I hope you have success. Looking forward to any tips people drop in here (my answer would be dry fire like a mofo but as you say that takes time).

[dgg9]

The .22 is to try to condition your subconscious not to expect recoil. Sometimes that fails as soon as you revert to service caliber, sometimes not.

The root problem, as I understand it, is that your brain has free time to work mischief while you're pulling the trigger. So there are drills that use up all that spare bandwidth. Some work better than others. The dot torture is pretty effective at using 100% of your conscious brain on "front sight front sight front sight bang"

[JustOneGun]

Ultimately it's the grip changing tension. There is no magic formula. They must be asked to feel their grip and learn to keep it consistent throughout the trigger press. You might try to have them tighten their grip and then loosen it so they can feel it change. I would have them fire at an empty berm while just learning to feel the grip. All their concentration can then be on the tension in their grip. Having them concentration on the tension in the hands will allow them to feel it when it changes.

Every once in a while it is outside the hands. I have seen people sway forwards and backwards in a calibrated way making the rounds go down with each shot. I also had someone flinch because they didn't have their hearing protection in properly. It was the sound and not the kick causing it. Don't forget to stand back and look for weird things.

[TGS]

Have you had the agent try shooting while using as light, relaxed grip as possible? When I first started shooting a handgun I had a massive flinch....I'm talking miss a B27 at 7 yards sort of flinch.

By relaxing my grip as much as possible, my recoil control was non-existant but the flinch disappeared and I scored expert, shooting a 363/400 on the old USMC pistol qual, taking the third highest score in my company. Ball'n'dummy on my own time got me shooting fast without a flinch.

If you're shooting the Border Patrol qual, given the generous times on the qual, the lack of recoil control should be the lesser of two evils and he'll at least qual even if he kittens up the faster strings.

[vcdgrips]

I have had some success with making sure that the shooter was using both ear plugs and ear muffs to isolate them from the report of the weapon.

[SecondsCount]

Try having the student shoot faster and stop concentrating so much on the sound of the gun going off.

They need to learn to switch that part of the brain off that is telling them that there is going to be an explosion a couple feet in front of their face.

Encourage them to concentrate on something else...trigger pull, the front sights and target.

[OnionsAndDragons]

When I took a class with Ernest Langdon, I asked about this. My lady was still having flinching issues, even though her form was otherwise very good for a novice.

He walked us through a mental exercise where he kept talking about "feeling" the trigger, and trying to press just up til the point of the break and stop a hair before we thought we'd fire. Then pushed us to keep feeling for it, you aren't quite there, there's more slack than you think. Guns went bang most of the time.

Then he told us to look at the targets. Most were consistent A's. A few of us had caught onto it by then, one had seen the trick before. It was all about distracting the brain from anticipating the bang, and switch that anticipation or focus on the feel of the trigger only.

I'm not sure it would be as effective without the constant push, verbal feedback from the instructor. But I managed to approximate the tone and urging with her and a friend, to good results.

It can't hurt to try. Get him to play this game. And while he is trying to focus on finding the break, distract his mind with your voice commands and encouragement. It wouldn't take too much time to try, and it might help get his mind over that hump to see a consistent string where he was successful in subverting that urge.

Edit: I also like the idea of doubling up the ear pro and trying to run some strings at a high rate, where he may just have too many other things to worry about than the bang.

[GRV]

Try this thread: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....Dreaded-Flinch

Specifically: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ull=1#post7923