Note to self...

[Moparmike]

{sigh} When people tell you that a gun is a friggin' hand-cannon, listen to them.

Today, I went out and shot my 10mm that I bought a month ago. Well, I paid $10 (range fee) to shoot 9rds. {sigh} I was flinching like I was in the path of an oncoming dump truck. The thing is, that it doesnt recoil that darned much, at least it doesnt seem like it. I feel like such a wuss. I cant tell if it is the recoil or the "boom" inside the range that is intimidating me.

Its definitely time for that .22lr upper from EAA. Only $230 away...

Pros:

• pressed range guy (who showed me the ropes as a newbie) with my ability to not sweep anyone when I moved or he did around me.
• Generally impressed others with my safety.
• Range guy's say my gun is absolutely sweet, and one said "the trigger is better than my Sig!" (ie "like buttah" {think Mike Myers on SNL})
• Before I started flinching like I was being assaulted, I got a 1" group. @ 3 yds.
• Learned better technique.

{sigh} Now I am fighting off that little voice that says "Sell it."

[/whining]

 

[iamkris]

If it's a full size, Wonder finish Witness...how much you want?

If it's one of those and you don't want to sell it, consider putting a 40 S&W -- or 10 mm Short -- barrel (and new mag) in it. I believe they are completely interchangeable on the Witness's.

 

[Parker Dean]

Who's cartridges were you using?

See, depending on brand the thing might not have been any more powerful than a .40 S&W. OTOH if you were using Doubletap's stuff...

A thought occurs that if you think of the gun as a "cannon" you may be tricking yourself into anticipating much more recoil than there is. I would suggest not listening to anyone that offers such descriptions of firearms.

 

[P95Carry]

Mike - just two things!

Plenty more dry fire .......

And ..... go burn more ammo - but ..... make sure you have a guy at your shoulder who will watch, criticize and teach you .. the way to overcome this (temporary) problem. I'll all but guarantee, you will not be far away from .............

''Oh my ..... it's that easy''!!

 

[Moparmike]

10mm Witness Full size, black finish. At the moment, I am not interested in selling it. I will try to tough it out.

I was using PMC 175gr(?) HP. I dont have the box with me, and I will update at home.

Well, it was easy, but I only had someone over my shoulder for 3 rounds. I was just overcome with this feeling of fear, or something. Some aversion to shooting anymore that night. It just wasnt natural.

The little bit of dry-fire I have done probably helped me. I have probably done about 30 shots dry.

Anyone know where I can get caps for this?

 

[Dave R]

If its the boom--go to double hearing protection. Plugs & muffs. See if that helps.

WhenEVER I find myself flinching with a handgun, I drop back to a .22 for a few groups. If you flich for long, you train yourself to flinch.

 

[Bob F.]

Like Dave said: double on the ears-plugs & muffs! Shoot in bright light to make muzzle flash less noticable!

 

[WhoKnowsWho]

I never really thought about the need for double hearing protection until my wife's Desert Eagle in .41 Mag, the recoil was quite light, but the noise!!! Wowzah! A lady was in there with her husband, every shot, she jumped, and then she left after about 5 of them.

 

[swingset]

Practice, practice, practice.

Flinching is something you overcome by shooting and practicing.

At first, you have to be very deliberate - concentrate hard on keeping the front sight ON THAT TARGET while you're squeezing the trigger. Once you do this a few times and get the hang of it, your body and mind relaxes a bit and you will shoot much better.

Trust me (and ex-flincher).

 

[Jack19]

Shoot faster, you're giving yourself too much time to think about it.

Draw, sights align, and shoot. At least, that was the technique I used when I owned a Glock 29. Worked for me. 10mm isn't all that bad really but like anything, it requires practice. I think a short barrel .357 with full power loads is worse.

 

[outfieldjack]

I agree....

I think a short barrel .357 with full power loads is worse.

I agree. I shot my new S&W 340 on Monday for the first time.... It has quite the recoil and goes BOOM. I may have flinched some.... shot about 10 rounds of .357.... I need to get back out there this weekend and shoot that thing some more.

Jack

 

[Country Boy]

Dry fire. Repeat as necessary.

 

[robear]

Went through the same thing recently..

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45379

Dry firing helps, of course, but I found that dry firing RIGHT BEFORE live firing gave me the most benefit... I do about 20 seconds or so of dry firing before each magazine (or every few mags) and it has really helped with my flinch..

I found a lot of good stuff here also: http://www.kuci.uci.edu/~dany/firearms/all_drills.html#drills

Shooting the .22 helps also.. I have a MKII, which I love, but I think I am going to get the Marvel conversion for my Kimber, so I can have the same trigger..

Work through it Mike..

Keep us informed..

R

 

[techmike]

Here's a phrase you don't hear everyday

wife's Desert Eagle in .41

Don't be discouraged with the 10mm...I had the same problem when I got my .454, I just worked through it. How do you get to carnegie hall? Practice Practice Practice!

 

[TallPine]

My $0.02 ...

Try to get out somewhere where you can shoot some 3-dimensional targets, such as the Cylindricus Metallicus Ubiquitous

Shoot the Target, not the Gun - at least that works for me.

Front sight - press ... repeat as necessary until the little bugger completely bleeds out (that is, your bullets go right through the middle without touching any metal )

 

[bogie]

Dude, sounds like you've got crappy hearing protection. Buy new plugs, and muffs, and wear both indoors.

And safety glasses.

 

[Sean Smith]

First off, get a bunch of ECONOMICAL 10mm ammo and go shooting. I'd suggest Georgia Arms stuff for bulk practice ammo.

http://www.georgia-arms.com/pistol.htm#ee

Sometimes you can find Federal American Eagle ammo for dirt cheap online, too. I just got a case of the stuff from Ammoman.com and it was quite accurate.

Otherwise, lots of good advice here.

Get good hearing & eye protection. This is especially important when shooting indoors.
Dry fire ALOT (just make sure it is empty!)

 

[Black Snowman]

I've noticed PMC ammo seems more vigorus than other brands. Don't know if they load hot or if it's in the choice of powders but they're real crowd pleasers.

I had lots of flinching issues until I got my Desert Eagle .50 AE. It took a while for me to get used to it but once I was everything else was a cakewalk for flash and noise. Recoil is still worse on magnum revolvers in general for me. I have this problem with letting them roll properly or something but they beat me up. It's a lot more distributed on the Desert Eagle.

Dry fire practice is a big help. Get a snap cap or a few. Good for practicing saferty procedures, mag changes, and other procedures more safely as well. What I do when I start flinching again (it's an ongoing battle for most of us I think) is I drop the magazine and dry fire a few.

Sometimes it takes me 3 or 10 tries before I keep my eyes open and stop anticipating recoil but I don't continue shooting until I'm "cured". Sometimes I'll even shoot better if I'm going for speed rather than accuracy because I'm concentrating so much on getting back my sight picture I ignore the other factors and things just fall into place.

Don't get discouraged, you're just on the steep part of the learning curve

 

[CZ52GUY]

Flinching...

...can be caused by a few different factors.
1) NAD = Newbie Anxiety Disorder
2) BBR = Big Boom Reaction
3) Other

If you are experiencing NAD, you have every right to be on that firing line as someone that's been shooting for years. Seems like you have the safety part down which is most important. Let yourself enjoy the experience. Part of learning is allowing yourself to miss a few bulls-eyes...I still do that routinely beyond 10 yards .

If you are experiencing BBR, the double hearing protection is a great idea.

I got back into shooting about 18 months ago after a long absence. I also got into collecting. Every new piece has been a new challenge. I think my Mossy 500 is the loudest and most recoil proficient of my collection. I made up my mind not to let it give me any grief, and I've been able to do better since taming that one. I'm not an expert with it, but I'm not afraid of it (although I respect it).

The other thing I do with my autoloaders, is spend a good amount of time after cleaning cycling the action with Snap Caps, doing some dry fire. Safety on, safety off...cock it, de-cock it, aim with finger on slide, draw to finger on slide ready position.

Bottom line, if you follow the rules of safety religiously, and do consider the double-hearing protection, practice...especially compressed over a short period (try to get to the range 2 or 3 times in close succession), I think you'll make out just fine.

Hang in there,

CZ52'

 

[Matt G]

Agree with suggestions to double up on ear protection. Also would suggest shooting at an outdoor range, if you can possibly swing it.

Practice good hold and technique dry-firing, whenever possible.

When you begin to think that you've got the hang of it, have someone else load your pistol with either a dud round, snap cap, or empty case (if it will feed them) at a random spot in the magazine. You'll find out if you have a flinch, pretty quickly! Also just have someone else load it, sometimes chambering a round, sometimes not.

TallPine's advice is good: shoot the target, not the gun. Keep your sight picture all the way through the shot. Using that mental device will often completely distract you from recoil.

 

[Moparmike]

So where do I get these snap caps? How much are they usually? Does it hurt the gun to do it repeatedly w/o anything in the chamber?

Like I said, I REALLY need to get that .22lr upper. But then again, I really need the $$$ to do that too.

Thanks for all the advice and sympathetic ears. Or is it eyes...

 

[BamBam]

Mike,
If shooting seems unpleasant, as Tallpine first mentioned: go and shoot SOMETHING. Bounce cans, break bottles, destroy that worthless 286k computer that's been sitting in your garage for ten years.
Get used to the weapon and enjoy it. Go and punch paper when that starts to become appealing.
There's nothing shamefull about enjoying the destructive power of a weapon; in fact you should explore this aspect of it so that you will respect it more.

Don't forget to clean up your mess,
BamBam