Rookie that's still a little gun shy and flinchin a bit.

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Roc_Kor

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Can anyone give me tips to stop flinching a bit when firing a handgun? I fired a Glock 17 yesterday, and, despite my major improvement (Thanks to all the tips you guys gave me! I managed to prove to my father that the sights were not off [we rented this G17] when I scored several hits after he missed.) But still, any tips for me to stop blinking when I fire a gun? Thanks!
 
Roc-

Three words: dry fire practice. That and you might try a .22 at first. The light recoil and low muzzle blast will help tame that early tendency to flinch.
 
Start with a .22. Continue shooting the .22. Keep on shooting the .22. When you're pretty good with it, keep shooting it. When you're really good with it, start alternating ten rounds of .22 with ten of center fire. Go back to the .22. Keep on shooting the .22—and dry-fire at least 50 rounds a night.

You'll see what I mean when you've gone through a few thousand rounds of .22.
 
Simple... Don't switch calibers. Do what is called ball and dummy. Have someone other than the shooter load into the firearm live and dummy ammo randomly. Have the shooter concentrate on a suprise break with the trigger.

When the hammer falls on a dummy round there should be no movement of the hand.. when this happens every time there is a dummy round, switch back to 100% live ammo.

As an instructor, this is what I do with students that develop a flinch and I have never seen it fail.
 
Any time I shoot a lot of centerfire pistol, I find myself starting to flinch. When I notice it, I immediately stop shooting or switch to a .22.

After a few magazines/cylinders of .22, the flinch has stopped for a time.

The point is, don't keep shooting if you are flinching. That just reinforces the flinch.

Dry fire, or use a .22, or use a dummy round, but don't reinforce the flinch. And don't feel bad about it. A flinch just means your brain is working as it should.
 
I prefer to teach the dummy round lesson with a revolver. It's just plain easier.

If you do go for the dummy round bit with an automatic, use a real dummy round. Even if your gun can feed empties out of a mag, chambering an empty at full speed in a 9mm caused a pretty good jam for me. It's just not right when you have to put a rod down the barrel of your finely crafted (oops, sorry - forgot we're talking about a glock here) pistol and whack it with hammer to get it unlocked again.
 
Oh, and dont worry about flinching. It will improve with time. I had a horrible flinch when I first started out, because I started out on a 10mm shooting 170gr @ 1280fps. Something about missing a 3' x 4' paper at 3yds several times...:eek: Hey, I hit the target stand...


Now I put 10 shots in an 8.5"x11" paper at 7yds, most in a decent group for someone who has only shot 250rds.
 
The cure for what ails ya is this: get a Ti/ Scandium snubbie in .44 magnum and find a box of the hottest ammunition like some Garrett or Buffalo Bore. shoot, reload, repeat..............:neener: Just kidding, do like the guys suggested and try some dry fire exercizes and the dummy round thing. It will go away after some practice.
 
Re:

As jimdiver said, the fake out works really good, I was having the same issues after I got my Ruger GP100 357. I would flinch everytime I fired anticipating the recoil, noise and flame. I started shooting every other chamber empty then spinning the chamber until I no longer flinched. Of course you can't do that with a semi auto...but the dummy, live dummy live will work.... so will practice, practice, practice.....good luck..mack
 
Here's what my CHL instructor suggested to help with flinching. Try balancing a nickel on top of the slide and dry fire. Get to where you can dry fire without the coin sliding around at all and keep doing it. You'll end up concentrating on keeping the gun stable rather than anticipating the recoil. Your eyes will be drawn to the coin during practice and during live fire just change your focus to the sights instead. (don't try the coin thing with live rounds unless you want Thomas Jefferson's impression embedded in your forehead :p)
 
Concentrate.

Concentrate on being sure that the only thing on your body that moves is your trigger finger. Move slowly. Don't rush to get the shot off. If you feel your other fingers moving, stop and start all over again. If it takes less than five seconds to get the shot off, you're moving too fast. Speed will come later. Overcome this first.

It won't take long.
 
G17 was my first pistol and I flinched really badly with it. What helped were several expedients: plugs and ear muffs at the same time, learning that recoil won't hurt me, practicing dry firing and slow trigger reset. A .22 upper would be useful, as you can use it even on a rental gun.
 
G17? Dryfire it.

Use whatever trick sounds good or is handy. Balance a coin. Aim at a spot on the wall and try to keep your sights from wiggling as the striker falls.

Look for a .22 kit for the G17. They exist, and will let you practice (a lot) without as much stress or fatigue. Once you have the skills down on the .22 kit, put the normal upper back on and see how well you do.

Sure, you can get better with nothing but trigger time and full power rounds. People usually do better when they can work on one thing at a time. Instead of learning everything at once, go step by step. Dryfire to learn how to work the trigger without moving the gun. Low caliber/power shooting to add the noise & pressure of "real bullets," not to mention the happiness of making lots of little holes right where you want them. Move up to standard rounds, and now the only thing you have to work on is not caring about the recoil. You'll already have sight alignment and trigger control down.

Don't try to 'ignore' the recoil. Ignoring it means you're focusing on ignoring it. 'Not Caring' is a better approach. Accept that it's going to rock in your hand and there's nothing you can do about it. What you can do is shoot just like you are still using the .22 kit. Squeeze the trigger and wait for it to come back. When it's back on target, lather, rinse, repeat.
 
DO NOT dry-fire a rimfire pistol. It WILL ruin it if you dont have snap caps for it.
Click to expand...

That's a rather strong statement. The manual for the wife's Ruger Mark II calls for pulling the trigger on an empty chamber during the disassembly and assembly procedures, and before storage, as needed, so that the gun is not stored cocked. You aren't suggesting they are advocating behavior which will "RUIN" the pistol?

Do you believe that EXCESSIVE dry-firing will damage a rim-fire pistol? If so, what's your basis?

Not trying to pick a fight, but I've been told not to dry-fire by many well-meaning idividuals, but the manuals for all of our handguns call for dry-firing for one reason or another as part of caretaking procedures.

There's never any warning to not dry-fire, or even to not do it too much.

I'm sure there are some weapons which can be damaged by dry-firing, but that's not enough to hang a blanket statement on.

-twency

____________________
"The parent who complained, Karen Young, doesn't want fish-shaped toy guns in her house because she accidentally shot an ex-boyfriend one time when the gun she was beating him with went off."
 
Dry firing a centerfire, the end of the firing pin hits nothing. It's in the center of the empty chamber. The only thing you have to worry about is a delicate mechanism or tender parts. (original CZ52 firing pins are known for being too brittle for dry-firing)

Dry firing a .22, the firing pin extends on the edge of the chamber, not in the center. It's not uncommon for the firing pin to hit the edge of an empty chamber in a .22lr. This impact might not cause much of a problem when done rarely. If done often, this impact can deform the edge of the chamber and/or damage the firing pin itself.

Oh, while you're at it, don't whiz on electric fences (into the wind) and don't tug on Superman's cape. :cool:
 
turn your brain off. dont think about the recoil. dont think about what the gun will do when you pull the trigger. dont think about anything but keeping your sites lined up perfectly with the target. then when that is the only thing on your mind, squeeze the trigger.
 
Ok, well I'll try that. I can't try it for a while because we only go shooting about once a month. (WHICH SUCKS!!! I WANNA GO MORE OFTEN!) And the Glock 17 was only a rental. Oh, and my father keeps the guns locked up, so I can't dry fire or anything. When I get a SAR-1/WASR-10 and any handguns of my own, I do plan to buy dummy rounds anyway, so I can have fun in my own backyard (or garage)!

If I could go to the range (which is indoor) more often, I'd get to practice more. My Dad has a membership so GOING to the range is free. We only need to pay for ammo. I wish I could go more often, as this is really my only hobby outside the house. (And my parents would used to BEG me to leave the house, and now they'd rather me sit in the house than go shooting.)

Anywhoo, keep those tips coming, and thanks!
 
Dry firing a .22, the firing pin extends on the edge of the chamber, not in the center. It's not uncommon for the firing pin to hit the edge of an empty chamber in a .22lr. This impact might not cause much of a problem when done rarely. If done often, this impact can deform the edge of the chamber and/or damage the firing pin itself.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Thanks for the clarification. Seems odd that the manual doesn't warn against it (excessive dry-firing) though. Am I expecting too much of a manufacturer's documentation?

-twency
_________
"The parent who complained, Karen Young, doesn't want fish-shaped toy guns in her house because she accidentally shot an ex-boyfriend one time when the gun she was beating him with went off."
 
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