Flinching

[yankeedoodlepigeon]

Hi all.

 

I have noticed latley that when I forget and leave the safty on or worse forget to load one, I flinch. A Pigeon will go past close the gun get it on traget and pull the trigger and at the same time seem to pull the barrel down as if to counter the recoil. Talking to a friend (not about this)and I said I am using clear pigeon cartridges he said he dosn't use them as he finds them too punchy.

 

I said to him I had started flinching, he said no wonder. They are 30g number 6. I thought a cartridge was a cartridge as long as they are the same load or can there be a difference between the brands?

 

Thanks Ydp

[stokie]

There is lots of difference in muzzle velocity . The higher fps the faster it leaves the barrel hence more recoil . Many years ago I used some carts called white gold . I think they were Hulls . They had so much recoil I could feel myself flinch before pulling the trigger .

Change your carts and bang a few off, problem solved

[12borejimbo]

Man up.......??

[coyotemaster]

Flinching is a bugaboo everyone faces at one time or another and it is an unconcious reaction to getting nailed when you pull the trigger. I do first of all always wear hearing protection, really important to avoid flinching. I like a heavy gun and have been known to add weight to a field gun to lower the recoil. Shooting a gas operated autoloader helps big time in recoil reduction. As stokie said lower the velocity AND charge weight of the shell.I shoot 24 gram loads at 1250 and kill birds out to 50 yds. through a 1/2 choke. These loads don't kick much and kill real well. Avoiding high recoil in high volume shooting is the smart move if you want to become deadly.

Something you may want to try beside securing some milder loads is shooting up a tin of pellets through an air rifle to deprogram your brain. No noise, little to no recoil and focus on the target. It helps a lot to get over punching the trigger and jerking the gun. I shoot as often as possible in the backyard to stay sharp. I am told our Navy seals do also.

CM

[kent]

Drop to a less punchy cartdridge and put some time in dry firing, like mentioned it deprograms the brain from flinching. thinking "follow through" rather than "shoot now" helps taking the brain to the next step

[chrispti]

Hi all.

 

I have noticed latley that when I forget and leave the safty on or worse forget to load one, I flinch. A Pigeon will go past close the gun get it on traget and pull the trigger and at the same time seem to pull the barrel down as if to counter the recoil. Talking to a friend (not about this)and I said I am using clear pigeon cartridges he said he dosn't use them as he finds them too punchy.

 

I said to him I had started flinching, he said no wonder. They are 30g number 6. I thought a cartridge was a cartridge as long as they are the same load or can there be a difference between the brands?

 

Thanks Ydp

 

Are they plastic or fiber wad? The fiber wad are more punchy

 

If you do not already, try a semi auto, much softer shooting

Edited September 11, 2011 by chrispti

[Tis1979]

Drop to a less punchy cartdridge and put some time in dry firing, like mentioned it deprograms the brain from flinching. thinking "follow through" rather than "shoot now" helps taking the brain to the next step

I would make sure you use snap caps if your gonna dry fire even then I wouldn't do it too Much.

[Cranfield]

Flinching is a bugaboo everyone faces at one time or another and it is an unconcious reaction to getting nailed when you pull the trigger. I do first of all always wear hearing protection, really important to avoid flinching. I like a heavy gun and have been known to add weight to a field gun to lower the recoil. Shooting a gas operated autoloader helps big time in recoil reduction. As stokie said lower the velocity AND charge weight of the shell.I shoot 24 gram loads at 1250 and kill birds out to 50 yds. through a 1/2 choke. These loads don't kick much and kill real well. Avoiding high recoil in high volume shooting is the smart move if you want to become deadly.

Something you may want to try beside securing some milder loads is shooting up a tin of pellets through an air rifle to deprogram your brain. No noise, little to no recoil and focus on the target. It helps a lot to get over punching the trigger and jerking the gun. I shoot as often as possible in the backyard to stay sharp. I am told our Navy seals do also.

CM

 

Sound advice.

I believe that noise can cause flinching as much as recoil, ear protection is a must.

[yankeedoodlepigeon]

Hi.

 

Thanks for all the good advice. I turned my ear defenders off today and thought about following through with the shot more and it seemed to work. Still missing more than hitting. Will put some time in on a air gun too. might put the snap caps in from time to time to see if I can catch myself out again to see if I still do it.

[COACH]

One of the best ways to get rid of flinching is start with your finger on the trigger. Far too many shooters start there mount with their finger either on the trigger guard or the wood above the trigger. Start with your finger on the edge of the trigger but only squeeze the trigger with your first pad of the finger. Do not put the trigger into the joint of the finger, its wrong. Place the end finger pad, that's the one with your nail on, on the trigger exactly half way across it. This will ensure you merely squeeze the trigger rather than pulling it wildly which will cause flinching when under pressure/stress. Which of course is exactly what you are under when shooting and wishing not to miss.

Use the first pad only. Some really top quality guns will often have a right or left handed wide trigger. The grip knurling/engraving on the trigger will only be on one side of the trigger. This is because it's designed to be used with just the centre of the first pad of the finger sitting on it. Triggers such as the modern narrow gold trigger on Beretta's are notorious for causing flinching because of the awful shape making people wrap the finger around the trigger. Watch out for that.

Also, why people think they need cartridges that kick like hell to kill a pigeon is beyond me. There's masses of cartridges out there with less recoil that will kill a pigeon stone dead at 50 yds with number 5 shot. Makes no sense at all.

[motty]

One of the best ways to get rid of flinching is start with your finger on the trigger. Far too many shooters start there mount with their finger either on the trigger guard or the wood above the trigger. Start with your finger on the edge of the trigger but only squeeze the trigger with your first pad of the finger. Do not put the trigger into the joint of the finger, its wrong. Place the end finger pad, that's the one with your nail on, on the trigger exactly half way across it. This will ensure you merely squeeze the trigger rather than pulling it wildly which will cause flinching when under pressure/stress. Which of course is exactly what you are under when shooting and wishing not to miss.

Use the first pad only. Some really top quality guns will often have a right or left handed wide trigger. The grip knurling/engraving on the trigger will only be on one side of the trigger. This is because it's designed to be used with just the centre of the first pad of the finger sitting on it. Triggers such as the modern narrow gold trigger on Beretta's are notorious for causing flinching because of the awful shape making people wrap the finger around the trigger. Watch out for that.

Also, why people think they need cartridges that kick like hell to kill a pigeon is beyond me. There's masses of cartridges out there with less recoil that will kill a pigeon stone dead at 50 yds with number 5 shot. Makes no sense at all.

My dad only uses the pad of his finger to pull the trigger where as i have the trigger in the joint. I don't think it has hindered me, though.

That's the first time i've ever heard someone mention which part of the finger should pull the trigger. I'll try it next time out.

[COACH]

It's not just a way of curing flinching by around 95%, it's the proper way to squeeze the trigger.

If you have the trigger in the joint there is far to much movement in the finger causing inconsistencies in trigger pulling. This results in missing behind normally but often underneath when flinching as you pull the muzzles downwards when doing so.

Edited September 14, 2011 by COACH

[webber]

Mike

 

If you want to try a few different cartridges?

I'll swap you some, I have a few differnt pigeon cartridges.

 

webber

[Salopian]

Yankeedoodle,

May I ask how old you are? This is relevant.

Flinching can be caused by the cumulative effect of shooting lots of cartridges especially loads heavier than 1oz.

Subconsciously the body has been subjected to abuse (unknowingly) of the effects of recoil. The Brain kicks in (triggered) to anticipate you taking the shot. It tells the body this is going to hurt and so the body shies away from the gun. Dry firing and abstaining from shooting for a while helps tremendously, obviously upon resumption try using light loads and some form of recoil absorption (Semi -Auto).

[Paul T]

It's not just a way of curing flinching by around 95%, it's the proper way to squeeze the trigger.

If you have the trigger in the joint there is far to much movement in the finger causing inconsistencies in trigger pulling. This results in missing behind normally but often underneath when flinching as you pull the muzzles downwards when doing so.

Sound advice as far as I'm concerned.

 

I went through a real bad patch shortly after a coaching lesson, where I was concentrating so much on leading up to the shot I made a right hash of the end by tugging at the trigger (in finger joint ) . I discovered it myself by the end of the day, but I'd shot appallingly. Yup, I was really flinching and missing as you describe . I had some wild muzzle movements by creating tension in my hand, also managed to keep edging the butt out of my shoulder and hitting my cheek with it. It wasn't a good day .

 

My Rotty is almost exactly the same as a silver pig, so thanks Coach, I already watch my trigger hand position but I didn't know about the narrow trigger .

 

Edited to add: Oh, and on carts I always shoot the lightest I can get away with that do the job properly: 21g No7.5 on clays and 30g No6 on pigeons.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Paul T