Flinchin' like CRAZY yesterday!!

[robear]

Took my 'FrankenKimber' to the range yesterday.. I just installed a short STI match trigger and EGW angle bored bushing and wanted see how they worked... All safety checks passed..

Loaded my 4 mags with 2 rounds each, just in case she went full-auto on me.. (Never did, BTW)

Anyhoo, I put up the target (B16, 10.5" X 12") and ran it out to just before the 15' mark.. Put in first mag, dropped slide and took aim..
BANG... Took a look.. NADA.. Second round, same deal, no holes.

(repeat for next mag. NO HOLES for 4 rds!!! )

5th round cut the bottom of the target.. HMM.. #6 was just above #5..

I went through all 4 mags once more, again with only 2 rounds each (just being careful) and managed about 6 for 8 on the tagrget, all at the very bottom..

It was at this point I noticed how amped up I was (maybe too much coffee)
so I took a deep breath, stepped back, wiped my hands and relaxed for a second.. Then I picked up the gun and began to dry-fire at the target.. It really is amazing the psychological difference between KNOWING the gun IS going to fire, and KNOWING IT ISN'T.. Did about 10 or 15 dry fires.. Front sight was ROCK solid..

Next set of 4 mags was 3 rnds each.. (again, just to be sure) I moved the target a little closer, to about 8 or 9 feet and tried again..

OK, now I'm feelin' it.. Take up slack, and prrrreeeessss.. LET IT SURPRISE YOU!!! Front sight, press, front sight, press...

Long story short: It took me a good 20 or 30 rounds to begin to control my flinch.. My last 30 rounds, (out of 100 total) were staring to go to regularly to POI, but I was till fighing that @$%^ flinch!!

Lessons: I need to learn to RELAX!! I heard another poster mention how excited they get when shooting, I guess that happens to me also.. Next, I need to SLOW DOWN!! A few times yesterday I intended to dry fire after the current magazine was empty... Twice I had to drop the full mag I had just inserted and eject the live round and MAKE MYSELF dry-fire.. SLOW DOWN Rob, slow down.. Last, more firing, both dry and live.. Practice makes perfect..

I'll get there..

R

 

[rayra]

How odd. This wasn't your first time firing a 1911 / .45 was it?
Or was this some sort of hightened reaction to shooting a pistol you'd assembled yourself? and if so, why - what's the difference between what you've built and any other 1911 after it's been disassembled and put back together?

I'm confused, didn't follow / read the pre-story on this.
:?

 

[10-Ring]

Yeah, take your time, slow down. Also, don't look at your target after every shot, keep looking at your target & look after you've stopped shooting.

 

[kudu]

Had the same problem today on the skeet range, dropped five targets wtih flinches. Wasn't in the mood I guess.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Flinch happens.

Seriously: I've found it helps to alternate between two guns, ideally a .22 and a center fire caliber. That seems to make it easier to spot flinch, then avoid it.

 

[4v50 Gary]

No caffeine helps too.

 

[rayra]

Snap Caps or other inert ammo inserted mid-mag also helps make it very obvious.

 

[Navy joe]

I really think it was the fact you were nervous from having worked on the gun, shown by the fact you took cyclic fire precautions. My first round from any gun is likely to be junk, so I don't even put up a target. Bang is the desired result, so if I get it and still have all my fingers it's a good day. I fired my first ever reload weakhand just so that if I had done something really dumb I wouldn't be out much. Confidence in your weapons is a big part of practical accuracy.

 

[robear]

This wasn't your first time firing a 1911 / .45 was it?

No, I have had this gun for about 2 years, but just recently began to give the 1911 more focus.. (2 Kuhnhausen books and a Brownell's catalog were my undoing here)

Or was this some sort of hightened reaction to shooting a pistol you'd assembled yourself? and if so, why - what's the difference between what you've built and any other 1911 after it's been disassembled and put back together?

I guess the difference is I built it.. I have always known that I'm good with my hands, (I'm a technician) but had never seriously tried anything more involved than field-stripping a firearm.. As of now, however, the only stock parts left on this gun are the frame, slide, barrel/link, thumb & grip safeties and the mag-catch.. (WHY did I do this?? Because it's MY gun and I wanted to see if I could) I guess I was excited (relieved?) that everything was WORKING.. That might have had something to do with it.. (basically what Navy joe just said)

I think my solution is the obvious one, more practice and dry-firing.. I know about the 'ball & dummy' drill, I just need to do it more often.. The gun does its job, now I have to do mine.. Like I said, I'll get there..

Thanks for the responses.. Stay Safe!!

R

 

[280PLUS]

without getting too wordy,,,

you are anticipating the shot (s)

everybody flinches to some extent, the idea is to flinch after the shot breaks

accept and have faith in your inate ability to almost automatically aim the gun correctly and instead concentrate on a nice slow increase in pressure on the trigger so that the break is a "surprise",

you will then flinch after the gun goes off

easier said than done at first but dry fire is the best answer to achieving this.

happy shooting!

 

[C. H. Luke]

"I just installed a short STI match trigger and EGW angle bored bushing and wanted see how they worked... All safety checks passed.."

How do you like the EGW Angle Bushing? Difficult to install?

TIA

CH

 

[robear]

C.H. Luke..

I really like the bushing.. I bought the 'pre-fit' (Brownell's #296-410-010) and it was nearly perfect.. When I test fit it without the barrel, it didn't want to go in all the way, so I did a little (VERY LITTLE) polishing with a dremel & craytex bit on the last 1/8" right behind the flange.. Now it fits perfectly.. The barrel fit was also almost perfect from the get-go, it went into the bushing fine, but had a small 'hang-up' towards the muzzle end.. For this I just mixed up a small batch of J-B bore compound and CLP (thank you 1911Tuner!!) and put some in the bushing and on the barrel, then hand-cycled the gun 100 times or so.. The gun now passes the gravity test like the slide is riding on wet ice! Oh, and NO barrel springing..

The bushing also seems much beefier than the stock one.. Plus the flange is thicker.. With the old bushing, the barrel would stick out of the front about 1mm or so, with the EGW they are nearly flush..

I will say, however, that I now NEED the bushing wrench to turn the thing.. It's quite a bit more pain that it used to be, when the bushing would just rotate easily with the fingers.. I have a Slip2000 'Thumb Buddy' on order, but I am thinking about just ditching the FLGR..

Any thoughts anyone?

I hope this helps...

R

 

[Black Snowman]

Overcoming my fear of my Desert Eagle .50 AE made a huge differance in flinching and anticipating recoil in my other guns. I'll frequently start with it, go straight to my Buckmark and then into my other guns.

 

[C. H. Luke]

"I really like the bushing.. I bought the 'pre-fit' (Brownell's #296-410-010) and it was nearly perfect.."

Robear,

Thanks very much for the detail!
Have a 9mm Colt '70 Series will be installing same on.

CH