# How to solve flinching?



## 22skill (Jul 15, 2009)

Thank you all as always for your great responses.

I have been shooting a lot over the past few weeks. Generally live fire but in between Ill shoot anywhere between 20-50 dead rounds, with a bullet case in the chamber and just dry fire practicing.

ive noticed that dry firing I have no flinch, but when I shoot live fire I sometimes anticipate the shot and even close my eyes before shooting it. This isn´t all the time but it happens.

What can I do to solve this? A regular solution would be dry firing, but the thing is I dry fire all the time between rounds. And I dont have dry fire rounds to be able to put them between real bullets to prevent this.

Thanks for your help 

PS. This is shooting a .22 beretta bobcat, so if I am flinching with this how will I ever shoot a 45?


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

I don't think that you're flinching.
I believe that you are just jerking, or yanking, the trigger.

What you are looking for is a smooth, continuous _press_, not a "pull."
The pistol should fire without you knowing it, somewhere during your smooth press.
If you think "pull," you will jerk or yank. If you think "smooth press," you'll hit where you're aiming.

Success with guns is always based upon _smoothness_, not quickness: smooth presentation, smooth trigger press, smooth reload, and so on. (Quickness comes with lots of slow, smooth practice.)


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## SMann (Dec 11, 2008)

I don't know if this is considered an accepted method, but for a while I just told myself that I was dry firing when I was shooting live rounds. I would literally say in my head "it's just gonna go click, the chambers empty". By the time I reacted to the recoil it was too late to affect the shot. After a while I just naturally quit anticipating the shot. That combined with being surprised like Steve M1911A1 said tightened up my pistol and rifle shooting groups.


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## 22skill (Jul 15, 2009)

thanks,

I should have mentioned, this doesn´t happen when i take my time and fire. When I do that I have no problems. This only happens when I try for speed taking the pistol from the holster to the target and shooting. I do it all so fast I think that when I am ready to shoot I still dont feel ready, because I am used to taking 3 or 4 seconds to carefully aim.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

22skill said:


> thanks,
> 
> I should have mentioned, this doesn´t happen when i take my time and fire. When I do that I have no problems. This only happens when I try for speed taking the pistol from the holster to the target and shooting. I do it all so fast I think that when I am ready to shoot I still dont feel ready, because I am used to taking 3 or 4 seconds to carefully aim.


Yup, you're jerking the trigger.
Stop trying for speed, and _concentrate on smoothness_.
Speed with accuracy comes only through long hours of slow, smooth practice.
Go slowly, concentrate on being smooth, and speed will surely be your reward...if you're patient.


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## fiasconva (Jun 14, 2009)

Good post Steve! What he said is just the ticket. Practice is the key. Pardon the tired old saying but "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."


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## tekhead1219 (May 16, 2008)

If you think you might have a flinching problem, buy some snap caps. Have a fellow shooter , or your preferred other, load you up and mix a snap cap in the loading. You'll go "BANG, BANG, BANG, Click". That'll tell you if you have a flinching problem.


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## falchunt (May 8, 2009)

Steve hit the nail right on the head here. The only good piece of advice my father ever gave me was "Practice makes perfect". It is true regardless of what you are doing. Practice your shooting, and just as Steve mentioned earlier, don't try to be fast, try to be smooth and accurate. Before long, you will be shooting fast, smooth, and accurate, without attempting to add speed to the mix. Good luck to you!


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

22skill said:


> thanks,
> 
> I should have mentioned, this doesn´t happen when i take my time and fire. When I do that I have no problems. This only happens when I try for speed taking the pistol from the holster to the target and shooting. I do it all so fast I think that when I am ready to shoot I still dont feel ready, because I am used to taking 3 or 4 seconds to carefully aim.


Well, then...take your time, but do it faster. :mrgreen: 
Smooth is fast, and it doesn't matter how slow it seems, or what it looks like, as long as you are the first one to put a round on target.

I don't place a lot of emphasis on drawing fast, although it is fun to play with, and I wouldn't discourage it. But, most people dress for the seasons, and as a result, they tend to vary their mode of carry quite a bit. I, myself, carry 4 or 5 different handguns, using 4 or 5 different carry methods, so developing muscle memory to the point of having blazing speed is very unlikely for me. I only carry IWB or OWB for about half the year, and 'quick-draw' from most any other position is unlikely. So while I practice it some, I don't see it as something that's likely to save my life.

Stealth and surprise is my game.


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## clanger (Jan 27, 2009)

This is flinching.



> but when I shoot live fire I sometimes anticipate the shot and even close my eyes before shooting it.


Eye's open. Can't hit what you can't see. _Look for the muzzle flash_. Focus on seeing it and that will help with the flinch as you'll be tuned into that, not the bang and recoil. Antcipating recoil = a flinch and a miss. See the flash? See the hit.



> This only happens when I try for speed taking the pistol from the holster to the target and shooting. I do it all so fast I think that when I am ready to shoot I still dont feel ready, because I am used to taking 3 or 4 seconds to carefully aim.


*SLOW DOWN. *

Slower hits are better than faster misses. (combat and bulls-eye) Master *the basics* first before incorperating the draw. *Baby steps*.



> I should have mentioned, this doesn´t happen when i take my time and fire. When I do that I have no problems.


This means............yer doing it right! :smt023:smt023 Take notes on what you are doing right and, keep practicing it!

Try shooting 3 to 5 rounds, per mag x2 per round, to reduce fatigue. It may help with results and extend your sessions and accuracy threshold as you'll be fresher as well as ingraining good marksmanship. It will also help with muscle memory and reloading. Move up to full mag's and faster shooting later as you gain skill.

Take a break! Don't be in such a hurry to light off all your rounds. Shoot some, rest some. Take mental notes. If you are tired and missing etc you are wasting ammo and not getting the Basics ingrained. Endruance comes with epxerience.

Grip, sight pic, trigger control.

Practice Practice Practice (I need a macro key for this one:mrgreen


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## Lscha (Jul 19, 2009)

I shoot a 44 magnum and when I first got it, 37 years ago, I did the same thing. The only thing that stopped me was leaving one chamber empty.I didn't want anyone to see me flinch. I never knew when that empty chamber would come up and concentrated on not flinching with each shot. To this day, whether it is a rifle, shotgun or handgun, I pretend the trigger will be fully pressed without anything happening and I don't jerk or flinch. Hope this helps. Of course, I only shoot revolvers right now so that was easy. Would you use empty shells with caps for autos? Don't know.


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## kaloybugoy (Jun 30, 2009)

22skill said:


> This is shooting a .22 beretta bobcat, so if I am flinching with this how will I ever shoot a 45?


hi, hope your shooting is all better now. 
flinching is quite common. 
unfortunately, there is no "sure-fire" way of addressing it. 
an instructor might tell you to focus process of the shooting rather than the outcome. 
but i know that won't make sense to the person facing the flinching problem. 
so, i say just go to the range with the most number of rounds you can carry and blast it all away until the sensation of shooting your gun grows old on you. 
pretty soon, you'll just realize that the problem has fixed itself.


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## oldphart (Oct 20, 2007)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> Yup, you're jerking the trigger.
> Stop trying for speed, and _concentrate on smoothness_.
> Speed with accuracy comes only through long hours of slow, smooth practice.
> Go slowly, concentrate on being smooth, and speed will surely be your reward...if you're patient.


Agreed. Try loading one round at a time and treating each shot individually. It's too tempting to just keep spending rounds and you develop bad habits.

RE flinching, if that's what it is: have someone load a mag for you without you watching and include one snap cap. It's a good way to find out whether or not you're flinching


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