The Dreaded Flinch

[jslaker]

We don't have a thread for this yet, and it's plaguing me, lately so let's do it.

In the last couple of months, I've developed a flinch I'm having a hard time working around. I have clear sight picture, trigger press feels good, I can dryfire fine all day, I'm not blinking, I can track my sight fine after discharge, bu as the gun goes off with live fire, I can visibly see the gun dive, resulting in hits seriously low and left.

This has been going on for about a month, and I'm really at a loss on what to do about it, as I've gone through several hundred rounds aware of the issue and the problem seems to be getting worse, if anything. It's particularly perplexing given it's the same gun I've been shooting for three years now, and haven't had this this problem up until now.

Any pointers for drills or exercises that might help would be hugely appreciated. And maybe will be helpful for others with a similar predicament.

[MTechnik]

Try with a 22?

[jslaker]

Try with a 22?

I've thought about this, but I'm not sure how much good it'll do when my dry fire is clean. Worth a shot though.

[BWT]

Try with a 22?

This and buy some snap caps, load them at random intervals into your magazines swap around your magazines in such a way that you're not certain of which magazines have snap caps and where they're located.

I think it's one of those things you just have to practice. I start flinching if I haven't shot in awhile (month or more), it takes me a few magazines usually to get it under control.

[jslaker]

I have tried snap caps. I'm really not sure if they're doing much good given that I *know* it's an issue on pushing the gun. Like I said, I can literally see the gun dive when it happens.

[ToddG]

Do some ball & dummy practice at slow pace. Until you can consistently shoot tight groups and not have any muzzle dips during B&D, trying to shoot faster is just a waste of time and ammo.

If you're not already, double up on your hearing protection. Some people experience noise as "recoil" and it can quickly induce a bad flinch.

You say you're seeing the front sight dip as you press the trigger. That is great (that you see it, not that it's happening, of course). Take away the target and just fire slowly at the berm, watching your sight. Does the dip/flinch go away?

Another thing you can try -- odd as it sounds -- is to aim the gun then close your eyes and keep them closed until after you break the shot. This gets you used to the gun going off, moving around, etc. without any visual anticipation. A big part of flinching is simply an unconscious reaction to the big boom and pressure wave. As you get more accustomed to that, a flinch may sort itself out with just a little effort.

[jslaker]

Do some ball & dummy practice at slow pace. Until you can consistently shoot tight groups and not have any muzzle dips during B&D, trying to shoot faster is just a waste of time and ammo.

If you're not already, double up on your hearing protection. Some people experience noise as "recoil" and it can quickly induce a bad flinch.

You say you're seeing the front sight dip as you press the trigger. That is great (that you see it, not that it's happening, of course). Take away the target and just fire slowly at the berm, watching your sight. Does the dip/flinch go away?

Another thing you can try -- odd as it sounds -- is to aim the gun then close your eyes and keep them closed until after you break the shot. This gets you used to the gun going off, moving around, etc. without any visual anticipation. A big part of flinching is simply an unconscious reaction to the big boom and pressure wave. As you get more accustomed to that, a flinch may sort itself out with just a little effort.

Thanks for the suggestions, Todd. I'll give these a try next time I hit the range.

Like I said in the OP, I'm trying quite hard not to simply get frustrated with this given this is a problem I haven't had in the past. I think this gives me a place to start working on it, which is better than what I had before, since the more general fix a flinch guidelines didn't seem to be working.

[Ed L]

*For me,* the ball and dummy drill seems to make me tense up and if anything it increases any chance of a flinch. It makes me feel like I am disarming a bomb and not knowing what is going to happen when I pull the trigger.

It is different when I am simply shooting live ammo and getting inot a cyle of pulling the trigger, having the gun go boom and recoil, then settle back into place for me to fire the next shot.

[peterb]

Noise can certainly affect perceived recoil.

A note on hearing protection: Most folks I've seen with foam plugs don't use them correctly, and loose a lot of protection. here's the right way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPNPZJingZA

Here's a good source for foam plugs. http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/difoearpl.html
I like the assortment pack for finding one that works for you. The 200-pair boxes bring the price to where there's no excuse not to use them.

[part-time shooter]

Have you been practicing with a backup gun or mouse gun lately? those beat the snot out of your hands, especially Kel-Tec's and LCPs and so on, and can induce a flinch from anticipation of pain...and rightly so.

Oddly enough it didn't bother me when I had a full sized pistol in my hands using a normal grip, only something smaller. The moment I noticed it the gun ran dry and I dry fired the BuG. I'm surprised I wasn't shooting the floor the front site dropped so far. This was only after 50 or so rounds so it can happen quickly. Takes longer to fix one than to pick one up.