Fixing Sporadic Flinching?

[boy&hisdogs]

Yesterday I was out with my 1911 shooting soda cans at 40 yards. Half of my shots were dead on sending the can flying, and half my shots were low and left. I believe that this is due to a recoil anticipation flinch.

Here's the thing though, the shots were a total mix bag. It wasn't like the 1st half were flinches until I got comfortable and the 2nd were good. I'd get a string of 3-4 hits, then a few misses, another few hits, etc.

How the heck do I fix this? Obviously I need (and would greatly enjoy) more trigger time but what kinds of things can I do to maximize my progress and ditch this flinch ASAP?

[thegamettt]

dry fire at home with a laser attached if you have one. Work on pulling the trigger and keeping the sights on target through out the whole process. after a while you'll figure out what you are doing wrong. First time shooting a 1911? or is this issue with all guns?

[BigL]

When you are at the range look to correct certian things. Like flenching, grip, pushing or slamming the trigger. Don't just waste a bunch of ammo and come away with nothing.

Also when holding your pistol use a firm grip not a death grip.

[k1dude]

Shoot more often and cut the time shooting.

We all fight the flinch. The more often you shoot the better control over the flinch you'll have. But if a shooting session lasts too long the greater the chances you'll start to flinch again.

The more often you shoot the less and less it will be a problem. That's one reason why it's said that shooting is a perishable skill.

Having someone else put random snap caps in your mag will also help you control the flinch. Dry practice and dry practice some more.

[boy&hisdogs]

dry fire at home with a laser attached if you have one. Work on pulling the trigger and keeping the sights on target through out the whole process. after a while you'll figure out what you are doing wrong. First time shooting a 1911? or is this issue with all guns?

Just my 1911 and other big semis. I only have about 300 rounds through the 1911 but I've shot my dad's Glock 35 and Beretta 96 many times and have experienced the same flinch. I've tried dry firing but I don't get the flinch when I do that, nor do I get it shooting pellet pistols, .22s or even my dad's 686. I could shoot the wings off a fly with my pellet pistol, and even won a few medals with it when I was a kid in 4H matches.

I know how to pull a trigger, I just don't know how to stop myself from over-correcting the recoil. I think I'm pushing the muzzle down but it's hard to tell since I don't do it on a dry fire and don't really know what to do about it anyway.

I've watched a ton of YouTube videos and I think I'm holding it right. I'm doing what this one suggests: (skip to 1 minute mark)

[RR.44]

As said before, we all fight the recoil flinch, dry firing my 1911 at home help me overcome this, YMMV

[Bansh88]

Dry fire at home. Practice loading, reloading, holstering, etc... while you're at it.

When live firing, do some dry fire in between mags. Have a friend watch you and let you know what you're doing.

[dskit]

This is also known as the "Trigger Mash"

[thenodnarb]

You might be experiencing flinching, or you might be experiencing something called "target panic." Target panic is something that I learned about in archery. basically, the same thing happens in archery, but there is no recoil to blame it on.
When you are intensely aiming, your brain is focused on the task of aiming. At some point, you decide to pull the trigger to break the shot.At that moment, your brain momentarily stops thinking about aiming, and sends the signals to your hand to pull the trigger. The sights will go haywire and you will drop that shot if you happen to break the shot in that moment. I've had this happen to me during dry fire practice as well, so I know its not anticipation of recoil.
you overcome this by applying steady and increasing pressure to the trigger, while focusing on sight alignment. When you do this, the brain can remain focused on aiming while you are pulling the trigger as a background operation.
Once mastered, you can do this quickly, while overcoming the "flinch" or target panic.
"Follow through" is another technique that helps overcome this same phenomenon. If you commit to yourself that you are going to break the shot but keep the trigger pulled back and sights aligned even after you break the shot, it seems to accomplish the same thing in the brain. Obviously you practice this with dry fire. When you go to the range, the recoil prevents you from keeping the sights aligned, but if you have enough practice with dry fire, your brain will still be doing the same thing, which is the important thing.

[pipboy]

Ball and Dummy drill.

[9mmepiphany]

I believe that this is due to a recoil anticipation flinch.

I think your belief might be a bit off.

Obviously it is hard to tell without having seen you shoot, but from your description, an educated guess would be that your anticipation or the recoil, but of the sights moving off target.

You're pulling the trigger as the sights are perfectly aligned, trying to make the shot go off before the sights drift off target.

... but what kinds of things can I do to maximize my progress and ditch this flinch ASAP?

It won't occur in Dry Fire because you're concentrating on holding the sights still during the trigger press and not trying to hit anything.

What you need to do is stay in the process of seeing the aligned sights and letting the shot break as you continue pressing the trigger. You have to remove your desire to hit the target

[bsim]

^^ +1 9mm...

Dry fire won't help flinching IMO, who flinches dry fire? I can do that all day, and still know when bullets are loaded, the bang will make me do it.

Mixing a snap-cap in a mag doesn't help fix the problem, it just shows me I flinch.

Number of rounds down the pipe helps, as you become accustomed, which trains your brain it's no big deal. It can (and should) lessen after 1000's of rounds.

[thenodnarb]

^^ +1 9mm...

Dry fire won't help flinching IMO, who flinches dry fire? I can do that all day, and still know when bullets are loaded, the bang will make me do it.

Mixing a snap-cap in a mag doesn't help fix the problem, it just shows me I flinch.

Number of rounds down the pipe helps, as you become accustomed, which trains your brain it's no big deal. It can (and should) lessen after 1000's of rounds.

Do you dry fire while aiming at a target? If not, you are just playing with your gun.

I have flinched while practicing dry fire. It is not recoil related.My target is a black dot on a white piece of paper, sized so that the dot is slightly smaller then the width of my front sight from whatever distance I am practicing. It takes careful aiming to hold the correct sight picture on that dot while breaking the shot cleanly. Sometimes I will flinch. It has nothing to do with recoil.
I'm not saying that anticipating recoil doesn't happen to some people, but I think a lot of people falsely attribute recoil anticipation to their flinch.

[Mute]

Part of it is anticipating the shot going off. You are, to some extent, conditioned to want the shot to go off so you tighten up. One suggestion I give to shooters is to mentally say to yourself, "press, press, press" and keep doing so through the entire trigger pull. This works for some in that it keeps their focus on continuing what they're doing and avoiding that anticipation.

[j15w]

You should apply gradual trigger pressure so that you are almost surprised when the round fires.