Airsoft to cure a flinch.

[ElectronWrangler]

This has probably been posted before. After getting a 1911 I developed a pretty good flinch, up and to the left. A buddy told me he had something similar happen and he bought an airsoft pistol and practiced his trigger pull. So off I went to the local "peoples oppressor" (walmart) anfd bought a clear sig 226 with a gel target and a jug of "match grade" airsoft BB's. Then over a week I fired an uncountable number of rounds at that gel target and voila the flinch is gone. Drove the wife nuts but well worth it. She told me in no uncertain terms I was nuts when I told her what I was doing.

Has anyone else done this to practice your trigger pull?
EW



PS. The wife has decided she wants an XD after our latest trip to the range, and when I got home from work the gel target was on the kitchen counter and the clear 226 was on the kitchen table.

[robcoe]

I just used a .22, though I could see an airsoft working. I just shoot my airsoft in my apartment for fun, not practice.

[stphnman20]

Never heard that before. But IMO, the only to get rid of the flinch is to have someone (someone you trust of course) load your mags without you looking is place a dummy round in somewhere in there. So while your shooting, you don't know when that dummy round is going to come. And when it does, you'll know exactly what you did.

[Black Majik]

Nice job getting trigger time on the airsoft pistol. That is good practice right there ranking with dryfiring and shooting .22s. Shooting a lot of airsoft with minimal recoil helps with producing muscle memory reinforcing proper fundamentals and helping to get rid of the flinch.

Keep going, you're on the right track.

[9mmepiphany]

You have the added advantage that you now have a replica of your gun to practice presentations (draws), press outs and mag changes with.

I usually recommend the metal versions for the added weight (feel)

good job on taking the time and practice to make it work

[kozumasbullitt]

a cheap 22 like the walther p22 would be perfect.

[fullrearview]

Never heard that before. But IMO, the only to get rid of the flinch is to have someone (someone you trust of course) load your mags without you looking is place a dummy round in somewhere in there. So while your shooting, you don't know when that dummy round is going to come. And when it does, you'll know exactly what you did.

This. You are anticipating the recoil....Airsoft doesn't provide that. Snap caps/"dummy" rounds are great for training.

[AfisBoy]

Airsoft is fine for getting rid of your flinch. I worked with a friends son for about 10 minutes with an airsoft. Had the kid cured of it costing maybe a whole 5 cents in supplies.

[iareConfusE]

Airsoft is fine for getting rid of your flinch. I worked with a friends son for about 10 minutes with an airsoft. Had the kid cured of it costing maybe a whole 5 cents in supplies.

You sure about that? The only way to tell if his flinch is actually cured is to give him a gun that has a magazine loaded with a couple live rounds and a couple snap caps. Start with a few live rounds, then surprise him with a snap cap. I'm willing to bet $20 that he still flinches.

I don't think it'll be a good way to cure the flinch. Everytime I dry fire my pistol at home, I never flinch because I know it won't bang. The only way to cure the flinch is to do so at the range with snap caps mixed into some live rounds. Dry firing at home really only serves to practice your trigger pull, ensuring a straight rearward pull that doesn't induce any lateral movement. You can't really trick yourself into thinking there's going to be a live round in the chamber while practicing at home, unless you're stupid enough to actually load the gun with live rounds and snap caps at home and play Russian Roulette with it.

Similarly, airsoft, with it's lack of recoil won't help to cure your flinch. The only cure is practice and conditioning. You just need to keep shooting until you can convince your mind and your body that recoil is a natural part of life, and is an acceptable, unharmful event that occurs everytime you pull the trigger.

[LB21]

I don't think practicing with airsoft will help you either. When I was new to 1911s, dry firing and range time helped me over it. I was also learning to reload at the time so a bunch of bad rounds helped out too.

While dry firing won't help with anticipation of the bang and recoil, it will let you practice and improve your trigger technique which can reduce unwanted movement not caused by flinching.

[J-cat]

Flinching is caused by noise and recoil. You can only get over it by embracing noise and recoil... kinda like you embrace pain when your instructor beats the crap out of you during class.

[jackandblood]

Im practicing with the Daisy 15XT BB airgun. its got a pretty agonizingly long trigger pull, which i hope will help. Also its damn fun as steel BBs @ ~450 fps you can do stuff like put an entry and exit hole through soda cans without the can even wobbling. At about 10 feet I shot an upright .22 LR casing. Impressive power and quality for the price, made in Japan and the first 15 shots off a 12 gram powerlet will embed the steel bb into a wooden fence. I use the starter kit's safety glasses as my regular range glasses. startup kits from daisy can be had ~$50.

[tbhracing]

Speaking of airsoft, I had to buy the cousin of my Sig P228. I rather not buy the clear version, but glad it worked for you.

[shy 7th]

I think you guys are talking about two different things with regards to trigger pull.

1. Flinch from anticipating recoil
2. "Clench" or Jerking the trigger

I had both of these problems when starting out with my first hadgun.

1. The flinch was caused because I was anticipating the recoil and the gun was heavy (I have puny arms and strength). As I would fire I would relax my muscles in anticipation of the recoil and the gun would droop slightly and I would flinch. I corrected this problem with the snap cap method (I had a revolver so I would use spent casings instead of snap caps).

2. The "clench" was caused by insufficient muscle strength and therefore lack of muscle control. I found that when I was squeezing the trigger with my index finger, I was also squeezing the grip with all of my other fingers. This was causing the gun to pull to the left, right, up, and down. I was also not pulling the trigger straight back causing more unwanted yaw and turn to my aim. The solution to this problem was simply trigger practice (for which the OP's airsoft gun would be perfect). I had to learn to only use the muscles for the index finger and not squeeze extra hard on the grip. I also had to learn a slower, smoother trigger pull rather than a quick jerk (Similar to engaging the clutch on a manual transmission car). Other tequniques involve balancing a spent case on the barrel of your gun and dry firing without letting the casing fall.

[redcliff]

Overcoming flinch is simply a mental exercise. If shooting bb guns, airsoft or dry-firing works for you thats fine. You simply have to learn to mentally ignore muzzleblast and noise much like a major league pitcher ignores crowd noises at a game. As J-cat said learn to embrace the noise and recoil and pay it no mind whatsoever.

When I shoot I double up on ear protection to cut down the noise, and put my vision focus on the front sight and concentrate on sight alignment and trigger squeeze while exhaling very, very softly and try to maintain follow through after the trigger break. I really don't even notice the noise or muzzleblast anymore as my mind is focused elsewhere.

The empty chamber in a revolver or snap cap in a magazine is a good trick for showing someone that they are flinching, but an experienced shooter should be able to tell merely by looking at his target.