Weird experience at range concentrating vs letting it rip.

[chickenfried]

I was shooting at a NRA 25 yard pistol target at 25 yards with my .22 today. Using a six o'clock hold, taking my time, and concentrating on each shot I was all over the black. Tried speeding up my shots and got much better groups in the 10 and x rings. My highest X count was actually when I was basically doing rapid fire

Any idea why the difference?

[blkA4alb]

You're anticipating the recoil, I have the same problem. When you're rapid firing you're not worrying about actually realigning the sights and are relying on kinesthetics.

Practice practice practice. When you feel yourself jerking or anticipating the recoil stop shooting and do some dry fires.

[Aluisious]

Yeah...your brain is doing too much. The best time I ever fired my old Glock was when I got mad with it and fired a string in haste.

I have the same experience playing golf and drinking beer...more beer = better golf.

[colossians323]

You're anticipating the recoil,

With .22?

[chickenfried]

If it was a larger caliber I'd be more likely to lean towards anticipating recoil. But not only is this a .22, It's a big ruger with a 6 7/8" barrel and I double up on hearing protection. I've also had misfires where a flinch would be pretty noticeable.

[blkA4alb]

Whoops, missed the .22 part .

[Aluisious]

You might be holding it differently or tensing up differently compared to when you shoot fast.

[megavolt121]

I'm going to have to go with anticipating recoil even though you are shooting a .22. The way I see it, if you are doing it with the 22, that means you are probably anticipating recoil from larger calibers also. Its just easier to spot with the .22

During slow fires, it is very noticable because you give yourself time to reset.

During rapid fire, you don't notice it as much because you aren't fully resetting between shots, therefore not really giving yourself time to anticipate the recoil.

[SC-Texas]

You need more practice.

Have you tried dryfire drills.

[chickenfried]

I dry fire a couple of times a week. But like I said when you pull the trigger and a round doesn't fire it's easy to catch yourself flinching. Don't catch myself flinching with the .22.

[blkA4alb]

Interesting, just blame it on the gun!

One thing you may try that I do is mix in already shot casings in your mag. Sometimes they don't feed however (good speed jam clearing practice!) so you could use snap caps instead.

[TMC]

Recoil induced flinching is not just in big caliber guns, all guns move and make noise and even small amounts of recoil throw people off.

I've shot lots of rounds through many differnt guns but before trying to shoot a good group with a gun I just picked up I like to throw one in the bern just so I know what I'm going to get.

[scorpucla]

Instinctive shooting?

You might be like me, a pretty good instinctive shooter, but not real good at bullseye shooting. I'm much better when I have to draw from a holster and engage a target, than if I take my time. It also could be that your mechanics are wrong, and during rapid target acquisition, or rapid fire, you're not noticing that you're either dipping the gun or doing something else.

Another thing could be that you're holding too tight during slow fire, and your muscles are at their breaking point. You might try relaxing a little.

Hope it helps, good luck. Practice, and reassess in a month or two.

[M. Sage]

Before I realized the sights on my CZ52 were off, I experienced something similar to this.

[chickenfried]

I think scorpucla has a point I might be too tense. Another thing, you know how people make fun of Sergio Garcia's fidgeting before a shot? That's me futzing with my grip while I'm shooting slowly. Rapid fire I just accept the way I'm gripping the gun.

Appreciate all the input.