Shooting flinch and length of trigger finger?

[MasterOfNone]

While dry firing can help identify a flinch, I find that most people behave differently when they know there is not a live round and do not anticipate the recoil. This is why I prefer, as I believe stroo was leaning toward, to have a friend load a random mix of live rounds and snap caps in a magazine so that the shooter does not know whether each shot will be live or dry. This forces the shooter to prepare for the shot as he would in live fire instead of the overly-deliberate practice mentality of dry firing.

[fulano]

I have a terrible time with flinching. Dry firing can help. Have a friend insert a dummy round in your magazine. That can sometimes help. There are a number of other things that might help. Try googling "flinching".

I agree. It is usually a big "ah ha" moment when the snap-cap is 'fired'. Any flinching is sooo noticeable by the observer and the shooter.

This is a great exercise and a buddy loading the magazine is a necessity; I just automatically count as I shoot and would know when the snap-cap round was coming. I think I picked up the habit from watching Count Dracula with my kids.. Counting that is..

[b322da]

I have a terrible time with flinching. Dry firing can help. Have a friend insert a dummy round in your magazine. That can sometimes help. There are a number of other things that might help. Try googling "flinching".

Flinching is largely, if not solely, the result of apprehension of the noise, flash and recoil produced by firing a handgun. It is a natural thing for a human being to do. It is unnatural to not do it. It is like "fight or flight." Apprehension is flight, rather than fight.

Dry firing can help you determine what the sight picture is at the time the hammer falls on an empty chamber, but you can see what the sight picture is at the time the weapon actually fires only if at least your dominant eye is open when it fires. You will then, and only then, see the sight picture outlined in the flash as the round exits the muzzle. If at least that one eye is not open when the weapon fires, long gun or handgun, one cannot have the slightest idea where the gun is truly pointed at the moment it fires.

That is precisely the moment when the natural process of apprehension, and the resulting flinching, occurs, because your body, like it or not, does not want to hear the noise, see the flash, or feel the recoil -- I say again, perfectly natural. You may be a big and tough macho man afraid of nothing, but if your eye closes at the moment your gun fires, your mind thinks differently. It is scared, and you don't even know it. Perfectly natural.

One must train oneself -- very difficult for many people, if not most of us, impossible for some -- to keep the eye open and train your mind that nothing is going to happen to hurt you. I am personally convinced that if one does not keep at least the dominant eye open he or she will likely never become a real marksman. The fundamental secrets of becoming a marksman are basically twofold -- eye(s) open, and trigger control. Of course other things come into play after you master those two, an endless list of things we sometimes think, but if one doesn't master these two first, one will be an exception if he or she becomes a true marksman. Without that eye open one will seldom, if ever, overcome apprehension, then flinching. And this applies to all kinds, and any kind, of shooting.

I am not alone in thinking, or, I will be so bold to say, knowing, this. My first instructor, almost 60 years ago in the military, would actually use duct tape to force a promising shooter to keep his dominant eye open until he either proved to his mind that there was nothing to fear, or he would wash out of the program, possibly missing an eyebrow, and enduring the pain of losing it.

It will be obvious to most of you that I was trained as a competition bullseye shooter. My objective was to keep them all in the X-ring, not just keep them on a B-27 target, and I realize that here we are talking about self-defense shooting -- truly a different ballgame in many respects. I think there is no question but that if one keeps 50 on the paper, he or she will pass the CHL shooting stage. I do not mean to imply that one must be a marksman to pass that shooting stage. Much the contrary is true.

But I will always maintain that the basic elements of marksmanship are the same. For example, if fire your handgun to "eliminate a threat," whatever that means, how do you hope to succeed in doing that if you have your eyes closed, and you can't even see your target?

Most respectfully to all,

Elmo

[gringop]

This is a great exercise and a buddy loading the magazine is a necessity; I just automatically count as I shoot and would know when the snap-cap round was coming. I think I picked up the habit from watching Count Dracula with my kids.. Counting that is..

I shoot the dummy round or "Cap and Ball" drill every time I practice and I do it alone. I just take 4 live rounds and 2 dummy rounds in my hands and shake them up. I then load the mag without looking. I do 3 mags this way, then I mix the 3 mags up. Any idea of where the dummy rounds are is gone when I finally load the gun.

As others have said, your brain knows when the gun has no ammo in it. You can be rock steady in dry fire but still flinch in live fire. The cap and ball drill, along with dry fire, is the best way to understand and get rid of flinch.

I like the dummy rounds at http://www.letargets.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. They are pretty much indestructible and easy to find on the ground at the range.

As far at finger length and trigger position, try different finger placements when you practice. Different guns fit different hands differently.

My normal trigger finger position for speed shooting is biased a bit towards my first joint. If I need to make a slow deliberate 25yd shot, I'll move it out so it's biased towards the tip. When I shoot my J-Frame, my long finger is pressing the trigger between the first and second joint. Big hands, little gun. For my K and N frame revolvers, I press the trigger with the first joint.

Flinching may be your problem and long fingers pressing the gun off target may also be a problem. Try different finger positions at practice and see what happens.

Gringop