[Fly Navy]

Ok, so I didn't shoot my pistols for 3 months (no place to shoot). I went from having absolutely no flinch and shooting pretty decent, to flinching like a little girl and shooting embarrasingly bad. HOW did that happen? Has that happened to anyone else? I need to get my butt dry-firing again.

[geekWithA.45]

Hangun skills degrade over time. Don't sweat it, you'll be back in no time.

The bottom line is that every time I think I've achieved such an exalted state that I no longer need to attend to the fundamentals of stance, grip, sight alignment and trigger control, I discover that I'm wrong :)

[P95Carry]

I would guess that prior to this 3month gap in shooting .... you maybe were not that practiced? I do not mean that to sound derogatory at all ..... so don't read that wrong but ..... I have found and many others too that after many years (about 25 in my case) ..... and much practice and compo along the way - that a gap in shooting has little or no effect.

I'd imagine that plenty of dry fire practice would help .... but ultimately I doubt there is much to replace actual shooting if you can work it in. If you work at smooth everything ... trigger in particular of course ... you should be able to reach and cross a ''threshold'' after which no matter how long the times between shooting .... flinch will not occur.

Every shot that goes with the thought ''oh - it went'' ....... is usually a good one ....... as soon as you make the final trigger release a strong conscious effort then flinch can and probably will creep in. Load a revo with three rounds ... (or three live and three fired cases) and without checking cyl ... fire them off .. and watch what happens when you fire on empty ...... that will usually show you your flinch pattern ... work to further smooth your technique until corrected.

If you are a shooter of long experience ...... sorry if I sound like a tutorial!!:p :)

[Justin]

It seems odd that a lack of shooting would result in a flinch. Usually a flinch shows up as a reaction to shooting heavy-recoiling weapons with improper technique.

Are you sure that your skills just have degraded from lack of practice?

It's been my experience that if you take a long break (2-3 months) from shooting that you won't come back with the same level of skill. The muscles soften, and you may not remember some of the technique that you had developed before. Usually this can be taken care of through practicing proper technique and dry-fire practice.

You might try an exercise where you lay a coin on the top of your pistol and dry fire at a target. Practice this until you can dry fire multiple times without knocking the coin off of the gun.

[Fly Navy]

Thanks for the tips guys. Yes, before that 3-month gap, I only got to practice maybe once a month, but I still never really flinched. I guess my skills just degraded. I found that dry firing a few shots in between every 3-5 rounds, it was going away. ODDLY ENOUGH, when I got frustrated and lit off a couple double-taps....the flinch nearly disappeared LOL. It's not from heavy recoil...I shoot 9mm most of the time, and I just picked up a .40. I can more than handle them. I guess I got lazy and ignored the fundamentals. Oh well, it's an excuse to practice shooting more (NOT LIKE I NEED ONE!)

[alan]

Gentlemen:

If I may, with shooting as is the case with so many other forms of human activity, one forgets or ignores the basics, at their own risk.

[Standing Wolf]

I need to get my butt dry-firing again.

I generally use my hand, but far be it from me to knock another shooter's technique.

[CWL]

Try reviewing your stance in a mirror. This has helped me overcome problems I've had. Sometimes I have unknowingly changed stances, grips (like leaning way forward) until it was pointed out to me. Varying calibers during sessions has affected my shooting as well.

Repetition and regulary training should take care of this.




(Because I respect you all, I will not bother to remind you to use a unloaded weapon during dryfire practice.)

[P95Carry]

Standing Wolf sez ......I generally use my hand, but far be it from me to knock another shooter's technique. http://www.patriotnetwork.net/images/smilies/lol.gif

[4v50 Gary]

Shooting is a perishable skill and the shooter needs to practice constantly. Get yourself an airgun (and backstop) for indoor practice.

[stevelyn]

Concentrate on the basics when you back out on the range keeping in mind grip, sights, trigger SQUEEZE, and follow through. Don't anticipate recoil. Just let the gun do it's thing and you'll be back up to snuff.
Meanwhile, a little dry fire practice wouldn't hurt either.

[10-Ring]

For me, the best way I've found to work out a flinch is dry firing...no short cut around it ;)

[clubsoda22]

I have a 13 yo cousin that can't weigh more than 100 lbs. Needless to say he was flinching like crazy with my 1911 as he isn't a regular shooter (though i'm getting him started). Told him to dry fire it 15 times just like he was going to shoot it while i loaded up a magazine. After 15 dry fires the flinch was gone and he put the first shot through the bullseye and got a pretty nice grouping.