ORIGINAL: dkhamner
if the recoil is so bad that your flinching before you pull the trigger, then you need a different gun. to be satisfied with just hitting paper at 100 yards with no consistency.... well maybe you need to think on about fishing or horse shoes.
Lots of people have a flinch i see it at the range all the time, most of them are in anticipation from the shot , not really from the recoil...even with alot of practice some people can't get rid of the flinch , mainly due to the fact that they "PULL" the trigger. if you pull the trigger you know exactly when the shot is coming and that will cause a flinch.
If you ever went thru military shooting and went further then just teh basic weapons training and tried sniper then you know that the first thing they teach you is breathing the next is the mechanics...
i had an older gentleman on teh range the other day , me and him where the only 2 on the range , i often go to the range just to practice as i believe that if you shoot a gun every week you will get better and stay ahead of the game. he couldn't get his muzzle loader sighted in , he was high and to the left everytime he shot it... so he asked me to shoot with it once to see if it was "dead on" at 50 yards , and i hit it straight thru the bullseye...so he told me ..."yeah i think i have a flinch" so i started observing him and i saw that he was pulling the trigger...i stopped for a minut and explained to him that that was prolyl the reason for his flinch , and he's been shotting rifle's for a long time he told me , but never really got rid of the flinch. after we talked for a while i explained to him he should try to ratehr "Squeeze" the trigger , that way you don't exactly know when the shot is coming... and the flinch will disspear and even if you flinch you will be too late as the bullet already hit the target before the flinch can throw you off.
after a few shot he was beginning to understand what i was telling him...and his shots where getting better and better.
he thanked me many time afterwards and offered me to get a beer later , i gracefully declined the invitation , and told him "your never too old to learn"
now i'm NOT an expierenced hunter , matter effect this is my first year on deer , i do however still proudly own my military (green baret) sniper cerificates and the badge that comes along with it.so i do know a bit how to shoot...heh