Teaching someone not to "flinch"

[zxcvbob]

I'm working on trigger pull myself. It helps to imagine that the trigger is directly attached to the front sight (or the red dot) and I want to pull that sight straight back towards my eye. That keeps my eye on the sight but my concentration on squeezing the trigger straight back and not jerking.

You need to get a .22 -- something like a Ruger Mk2 or Buckmark or Sig Trailside. A S&W k-frame .22 revolver is likely way out of your price range.

 

[J-Bar]

There is good advice here. Another thing to consider, many folks experience increased stress when someone else is observing them. Trying not to flinch because you know someone is watching you and going to criticize you if they catch you flinching can just add to the problem.

If she is a safe enough shooter to be left on her own, give her the gun of her choice, a bunch of ammo, and let her practice on her own. Allow her to focus on improving her technique without constantly worrying about someone watching over her shoulder who is going to criticize her for doing something wrong.

 

[Driftertank]

No offense is intended to the OP, but honestly if ANYONE is setting out trying to teach someone else to shoot, they NEED a .22, there just is no better, simpler, cheaper way to get into it, and i've never heard anyone say a .22 kicked too hard.

Also, OP, how is she gripping the gun? Does she do the "teacup hold" that most novice shooters, especially those using a gun that is either too small or too heavy for them, tend to lapse into? This grip tends to allow excessive muzzle flip, and I have seen MANY novices develop a tendancy to overcorrect because of it. Make sure she exercises a good isometric "push-pull" grip, with her hands overlapped. THEN tell her to concentrate on the front sight and trigger.

Just my $0.02

 

[Old Dog Man]

Flinching

I had that same problem with a shooter that flinched. Got my 22 rifle and taught them to shoot with both eye's open, letting the dominate eye do the sighting. They were closing the sighting eye everytime before pulling the trigger. Took a while but after they learned to shoot with both eye's open the problem went away. Just a thought, might be the case. Al

 

[heron]

No one has mentioned breathing, and that may help. Take a breath, let out about half, hold, aim, squeeeeeze . . .

 

[340PD]

When I have a student with a issue I start them using a seated benchrest position. It eliminates a lot of other potential errors and increases confidence.

http://tinyurl.com/7ozgfzw

 

[Claude Clay]

lots of good advice here and as to the wooble--


have her think of the target as a clock face and whe should trace the front site from 10 Oclock through the center to 2 oclock.
coordinate breathing such that the muzzle passed through the 'x' at the very top ( or bottom) of her breathe and the hammer falls at the same time.
grip must start strong, stay strong and end strong.
show her how to 'low ready' where the muzzle touches the table top and the muscles relax but the grip positioning is maintained.
--holding a gun at arms length can be fatiguing

and for her finger to maintain the face on the trigger during reset;
this minimizes scatter left and right.

 

[Mikhail Weiss]

Having run into almost the exact same situation with a young lady who'd been taking careful, measured shots that started out okay, then went to crap, here's what I did.

Suggested returning to the .22 revolver. She didn't like that idea because it had no recoil, and recoil was what she wanted to deal with.

So then I suggested ball and dummy drills. She nixed that plan, too, saying that she didn't like the idea of being tricked and surprised.

The last word caught my ear. Surprised. I asked her about it. She said that at first she'd been concentrating on making the shots and paid no attention to recoil. At some point, however, she started paying more attention to recoil than shooting. That's when accuracy went to crap.

So here's what I did. Loaded two magazines. Told her to point the gun downrange and to fire into the backstop at a quick pace. Not an uncontrolled pace, just a quick one so that she would get used to the gun simply doing its very normal thing. Namely, recoiling. Tossing out brass. Reloading. I wanted her to get used to what recoil felt like. I wanted her to get used to the idea that recoil was normal, unremarkable, and that it wouldn't hurt her.

This was my version of Jeff Cooper's admonition regarding recoil, “Get used to it.”

After a putting a magazine through her pistol, she did, apparently, get used to it. And she found it fun. And she discovered that when she returned to shooting her target, shooting too slowly was almost as unproductive as shooting too quickly: the extra time afforded the shot did not appreciably increase accuracy (already okay), while shooting too quickly often degraded it. In short, she learned to take as much time as she needed to make a shot. Not more. Not less. Just enough. (She was shooting a Ruger P89, by the way.)

Will this work for everyone? Beats me. But it will certainly work for some.

 

[P5 Guy]

Flinch

My ex did not like shooting pistols because the slide moving toward her face.
Revolvers were fine semi-autos flinching all over the target.

 

[Inebriated]

Didn't read the thread, but my best advise is "teach fundamentals".

Teach a good trigger squeeze and sight picture in dry fire training, and that will carry over to the range. You have to get it through their head that there WILL be a blast, there WILL be recoil, and there WILL be a lot of noise. But as long as they block that out and focus on a clean break every shot, they'll do well.

 

[bandur60]

Hasn't anyone come up with LB's guideline of "DON'T SAY DON'T"? In essence, by saying, "Don't flinch," the last thing your trainee hears is "flinch." Putting the emphasis on what to DO rather than what NOT to do will be a lot more reinforcing and supportive to a new shooter.

Another approach I've taken (on myself and on others) is using a revolver, 22 is good, and loading only 1 or 2 live rounds with the other chambers holding fired cases. Load so the shooter can't see which is where, give the cylinder a spin, stop it and close it, hand to the shooter and watch what happens. You shouldn't know when the live rounds come up either. This helped me immensely when I started shooting the 44 mag, and it's really instructive for a beginning shooter. Heck, you might do this with NO live rounds just to see if the building anticipation causes a flinch to show itself when that last (if they're counting) chamber comes up. By putting empties in the chambers, they can't tell if it is going to fire or not, they will always see a cartridge rim comng up.

Just my $.02 worth, works for me....

 

[9mmepiphany]

I'll repeat what I posted in post #13.

She isn't flinching due to the recoil

 

[22-rimfire]

MrIvhevsk, I think you should get yourself a 22 or three. No better teaching tool and you might just find that you become a better shooter too.

 

[murf]

use a blank, white piece of 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper as your target. tell her to just shoot at the middle of the paper. may stop her from thinking too much.

murf

 

[230RN]

Don't forget that hair, earrings, glasses, etc will break the seal on women's earmuffs. Goofed on that myself once 'cause I forgot to tell my tutee to put in earplugs as well as using the muffs. On an indoor range. Where blast noises are horrendous.

Dummy.

Me, not the tutee.

Terry, 230RN

 

[Shimitup]

Take a look at what 9mmepiphany's post. I suspect he's on to a problem, be sure she is not focusing so hard on a little bullseye that's too far away for a new pistol shooter that's taking her attention away from controlling the trigger. With some folk's it may mean starting out with a big ol 4" orange dot 3 yards away. start close and as they demonstrate trigger control and gain confidence move the target back a little at a time.