Flinching
 

I was at the range toady shooting and one of the guys I was shooting with says I flinch quite a bit when i shoot. i was shooting ok at 50 yards with my 30.06 so he shot a few and they were all about 5 inches low and left, i thought it might just be him so i had some other guys shoot and they all shot low and left too. He told me its because i am consistantly fliching when i shoot and its gotten to the point where i cant shoot past 50 yards. Does anyone have any tips that can help me shoot better.

RE: Flinching
 

I had this same problem and a pal helped my by playing a little game. I would sit on the nench then he would hand the rifle to me with the safety on. I would then aim the rifle and pull the trigger. Sometimes there was a live round in the chamber, and sometimes it was justa snap cap. A snap cap is a device that looks like a round, but only has a spring in it to ease the shock of the firing pin to help reduce damage. You will be amazed at the amount of flinch you have when you fire a dead round. As well, I found that I closed my eye when pulling the trigger. Lots and lots of practice, purposely holding your eye open and gently gradually squeezing the trigger should help. EJ

RE: Flinching
 

Make that both eyes.It does allow you to see things that could affect your shot but that can't be seen through the scope.

RE: Flinching
 

As already said, get yourself some snap caps and dry fire your rifle alot. Also if you have one you should shoot a .22 as much as you can. Flinching is a mental thing that can easily be overcome.

RE: Flinching
 

The live round - snap cap game is a good way to find out how bad a flinch is. The only way to get over it is to mentally make youeself not move.

You just gotta let the gun kick you. It isn't gonna hurt any more than when you are flinching. It's not like the rifle kicks more because you jerk at the shot. Actually the oposite is true. If you allow your shoulder to absorbe the recoil and move with the rifle and don't tense up the felt recoil will be less. Just like someone punching you in the arm. When you tense up it hurts more than when you roll with the punch.

RE: Flinching
 

I agree 1000 percent. Take on the recoil and 'go with the flow'. Holding the 7mm Mag. firmly against my shoulder and'delicately' pulling the trigger, I can usually get her in there, right on target.[/align]
Icame across a post on this board where a member posted his target he shot with a .416 Rigby. (I believe it was a Ruger #1b) and those shots I thought were right on. It would be interesting to get his thoughts on how to handle recoil.

RE: Flinching
 

Practice a constant squeeze on the trigger. Right now you are jerking the trigger and you know when the hammer will drop.

RE: Flinching
 

That or he is anticipating the recoil, which I think is the problem.

RE: Flinching
 

This is they way I solved my flinching problem.......and it works...

Practice shooting with the gun loaded by someone else and you not knowing if it's going to go bang or not.

It takes a long time but worth it. Those that don't overcome this won't even be able to shoot a 22 rimfire until they do.

RE: Flinching
 

in addition to all the above i would also suggest checking the trigger pull, i try to keep all of my hunting rifles between 3-3.5# a stiff trigger will contribute to poor shooting and shooting habits, i like to squeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzeeeee slowly and have a clean break (surprise), some factory trigger jobs are unreal, they are doing it to protect their own rear-ends. i would not go below 3# for a hunting rifle, and if your going to be shooting/hunting with gloves going in and out of the trigger gaurd i'd go with 3.5#;)

RE: Flinching
 

Try to tighten up your girdle!

RE: Flinching
 

Ouch! (-_-)

RE: Flinching
 

I have also noticed that knocking off the caffine helps immensly. But your usually tired when you do that! The girdle didnt help me much, my shooting I mean. EJ

RE: Flinching
 

Roll with the kick..make it part of your follow thru ..and in time ..its second nature ....and the flinch is no more

RE: Flinching
 

Try bringing a pillow in your purse to put on your shoulder...Just kidding.

As a marksmanship instructor in the Marine Corps, I dealt with this problem alot, yes even with an m-16 which has almost no recoil. Our first solution was additional time "snapping in." Dry firing the rifle while concentrating on bone structure (stable stance), squeezing the trigger during your natural breathing pause, andsteady even pressure to the rear, etc...

The latter being the most important in my opinion. A flinch is almost always causedby anticipating the round firing. Forget about the recoil, pain is temporary. Try concentrating on your sight picture and slow, steady, even pressure of the trigger to the rear...theround firing should come as a surprise.
Slow steady even pressure to the rear, don't pull the trigger, squeeze it slowly, don't hold your breath,maintain sight picture,BANG! Nice Shot! This almost always corrected the problem.
-Phil

RE: Flinching
 

Shooting often on a regular basic will also keep the mind in tune knowing the recoil is not as bas as you thought. Some rifle's even in a 30-06 can have tremdous recoil. I usually always get jumpy when i'm shooting a new rifle for the first time. Crazy as it sounds maybe i'm just hoping it don't come apart lmao. Shoot and mentally overcome the problem.

FastShootingCarts, I shoot mainly Ruger No 1's and they have an all together different kind of recoil. Its more of a push back recoil instead of a buck. I shoot a 375h&h and its manageable on the bench. I also take my 300 win mag to the local shoots when they're using 7BR's and 308's. Just have to let the barrel cool more.

RE: Flinching
 

good avice all around. might wanna look into a recoil reducing pad. also concentrate on exhaling before you take the shot, and squeeze the trigger toward the end of the exhalation. alomost impossible to flinch when you're exhaling.

RE: Flinching
 

Part of flinching is that you are anticipating the trigger pull. If you've got a friend at the range with you, hold the gun on target and aim like you are going to shoot, but let them pull the trigger.

RE: Flinching
 

I here ya cherokee.

RE: Flinching
 

I bring a towel to add as padding. Lessens the recoil and that helps. Also, and I can't stress this enough, use good ear protection. I use plugs and muffs and just cutting down on the noise helps. Also good eye protection, preferrably glasses that wrap around your eyes. Sometimes it's the feel of the muzzle blast and noise that will worsen your flinch.

Then, try not to jerk the trigger, just slowly squeeze it as the crosshairs float around the target's center. Like they said, when the gun goes off you want it to be a suprise and that's where a lighter trigger pull and good trigger will help. I want to be suprised every time the trigger breaks and that usually makes me more accurate.

RE: Flinching
 

Shooting from the bench can be brutal sometimes. Especially with heavy kickers. When I shoot my big boys, I usually pad my shoulder with a folded up chamois.
I agree that flinching is all mental and once developed can be tough to cure. The 'other guy' loading idea sounds like it should work.
Pad you shoulder, pull the rifle in tight and squeeze and don't anticipate the gun going off. Don't know what bullets/loads your shooting but using lighter bullets will reduce recoil. And doesn't Federal make a reduced recoil load for the '06?
Practice, practice practice.