Ok new to guns, been to the range a good bit, but have some questions

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SilentStalker

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Ok I have been to the range more than a few times, know my way around most guns now to the point where I feel comfortable around them. My first few times actually firing a gun made me nervous as hell. Anyways I have shot enough at the range to notice some things I need to work on, the problem is I don't know how. I have got my stance and grip down and even my aim is improving everytime. However, my main problem is anticipation and eye flinching. I have kind of gotten over the anticipation part of shooting but am still working on that. However, eye flinching seems to be my main problem and as anyone on here knows you got to be able to look at your target to shoot it LOL. Does anyone know of any hints/tricks etc. to help me get over this? Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, how did you get over it or did you? My g/f can keep her eyes open during the entire process but as soon as I fire my eyes shut briefly every freaking time, unless I am just unloading a clip really fast, whichi is stupid. Anyways I guess what I am trying to say is that I will never improve my shooting a whole lot if I cannot overcome this problem, so I am looking to some of you for some help. Thanks in advance.
 
try shooting a 22 and just pump rounds out. I am gonna bet you started on some larger round and developed a flinch because of it. You are gonna need trigger time on the smallest gun you can get your hands on to reteach yourself.
 
Cool. I will try that. Oh and you are right, the first handgun I ever shot was a Colt .357 Trooper MKIII. Nice gun but way too big/clunky for me and damn the recoil on that thing is crazy. I started using .38's soon after my first few hundred rounds and the .38's are much calmer/more fun to shoot than the .357's. In any case I am sure you are right. I was planning on borrowing or purchasing a .22 strictly for this purpose. However, I thought I would go ahead and ask for some more advice just in case this doesn't work. Thanks for the help. I will def. try it and let you guys know how it goes. Thanks again.
 
Big round or little

you just need to keep firing the same gun over and over again until it becomes "mundane". This took me about 2000 rounds with my first pistol. Now, with a new pistol, it takes me about 200 rounds to become accustomed to the feel and the particular "Bang" of that pistol. (I overcompensate with smaller calibers, and flinch with the larger ones. Size does matter.) Then I can draw my aim point into a nice group.

To show me how much I was anticipating/flinching my Dad did this little exercise with me:

He had me step away from the firing line, turn around, and plug my ears.

He would either load 1 or 0 rounds into the magazine. (45 ACP)

Then he would insert the magazine and drop the slide forward into battery.

He would place the gun on the table and have me step up and fire that 1 round. I never knew if the gun would actually go off or not.

It was immediately apparent to me how much I was jerking the end of the pistol around just anticipating that BANG.

It showed me how much more I needed to relax when firing the pistol.

People do the same thing nowadays with "snap caps" and such.
 
Use both ear plugs and ear muffs. Several studies have shown people flinch most from anticipating the sound more than the recoil. Minimize the sound to minimize the flinch.

Using a .22 is an excellent idea, but dry firing helps a lot, too. Get a set of snap caps for that Colt and while you're watching TV in the evenings practice aiming and trigger control during the commercials. Use a light switch, AC control or some other point on a wall across the room as your target. Dry firing a few thousand times will really help develop muscle memory and improve your trigger control.
 
Proper Trigger Squeeze plays a large role in shooting a pistol or a rifle. In all accounts you Squeeze the trigger to the point of becoming surprised at when the gun fires. I know that this sounds kinda crazy at first but it helps remove the flinching. This has been sound advice and probably practiced for 100s of years by now. Good firers on the range know that squeezing the trigger works. Dry fire with snap caps until you get a second feel for it and you'll get my drift. I heard of accounts of some of the big african rifles being built with "random timers" because many of the shooters using them to take down big african game couldn't handle the caliber and would develop the flinch reflex. Food for thought, be careful and don't develop the bad habit of lowering your head to the pistol instead of raising the pistol to your line of sight when firing. You can do it to a rifle but not a pistol. Good luck :)
 
In addition to the above, also try to move your focus from the target to the front site and hold it there until you fire. Concentrate on looking for the flash from the muzzle behind the front site. If you'll squeeze the trigger slowly and let the shot come to you as a surprise you'll see the flash which means you're eyes were open when the gun fired. That will eventually convince your subconscious mind that there's nothing to be afraid of and you'll stop closing your eyes. Keep doing that and it will not only increase your accuracy but help you overcome both closing your eyes and flinching.
 
A lot of good suggestions previously posted.

When I need to practice, I have a few things to choose from...

Have both a Ruger MKII auto loader and a Single-Six revolver for when I want to "shoot small". The .22LR's are WAY UP on the "Fun Gun" list anyway.

I have 'snap caps' for when I want to "Dry Fire" my Blackahwk or Vaquero.

Also have a bolt-action Crossman .177 pellet pistol for basement shootin' range.

I ALWAYS double up on my hearing protection...use both the foamy plugs and big muffs. Don't forget the 'eye covers', too.
 
Yup get yourself a set of snap caps and dry fire the piss out of the gun. Two things will happen. One is that you'll learn trigger control and secondly it will help to easy you of your flinch.
 
These are all great suggestions thus far, I can only say practice practice practice, my only suggestion is try and go whenever possible when its just you or a very minimal amount of people. When the firining line is full up its tough because everyone else is popping off rounds and can really be annoying, for me personally first starting out I found that just before I would take a shot the guy next to me would pop off a round and I would see my pistol drop a few inches before I even fired my shot thinking I just did. I found when I could be out there alone and or with very minimal folks it helped me alot. Not only the noise factor but I just get nervous when a bunch of other strange folks are around with loaded guns and Im not too sure everyones playing by the rules. Im paranoid like that. Thats just me though. YMMV. Everyone else has suggested great ideas too. Just mix and match em to find the right combo that will work for you. With time you will overcome it. I did. One time a nice guy at the range did the same thing that gent above did with his son. He loaded a revolver a few times sometimes with, sometimes without, or alternating rounds, or doing like 2 then 4 empty or 5 and the last one empty. Not knowing if it would go off or not really helped. Again, if it didnt go, I saw myself dropping it a bit. Practice has paid off and I dont do that now. Good luck.
 
I've done that with a revolver as well, except I had whoever was loading it only put in one live round and the rest already fired shells. You really see how much you are flinching, and after you have done it awhile, you find that the one live round hits where you wanted it to!
 
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