getting over the flinch

[wulf]

You will solve your flinch when you realize that
the gun will Flash and recoil just as much if \
you hit or miss...so you may as well hit and save
some bucks....

 

[David W.]

No dis-respect,
sounds like how the 'ol man taught me to swim, get out to the deep area of the lake and pitch em' in you'll get used to it or drown.
:redface:

As a matter of fact, my dad threw me in the lake too! I'm still here. :rotf:

 

[Celt5494]

That's very good advice about having your body and muscles relaxed. Tension in the muscles is a fear based response thus makes a person come off target caused by flinching, jerking the trigger, holding breath,eyes closing etc. It all happens in an instant and thrown together puts you way off target. When things are fluid accuracy will come.

 

[Ken Cormier]

Once I got my triggers set so that when it fires it is a surprize to me . And concentrate on sight pic. The flinching slowed down quite alot. Try using a page out of Playboy for a target you wont be looking at the lock any more,
:2
Then you can tell the wife your buying Playboy for the targets instiad of the artciles lol.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Walk then run. Tape a penny to the wall and shoot at it with a wooden flint. Then move to a pan full and then some light loads.

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Walk then run. Tape a penny to the wall and shoot at it with a wooden flint. Then move to a pan full and then some light loads.

:hatsoff:

 

[vietnam71]

rawhide,

The one piece of advice I found most helpful was concentrate on the front sight and sight picture. I've only been shooting a Flintlock a couple months now and no flinch at all.

All I do is concentrate on my sight picture and no worries about the flash. Give it a little time it will work for you. In the mean time have fun shooting black powder.

Charlie

 

[Grandpa Ron]

My technique is the same for all my rifles.

I concentrate on the target. Basically I am watching the barrel wobble around.

I squeeze the trigger very slowly so I do not know exactly when it is going to trip.

I try to tell exactly where my shot is going to hit on the target, based on where my barrel wobbled at the moment the gun fired.

This causes you to concentrate on the target so you can predict exactly where the ball will strike.

It is fun and you can get rather good at it after a while.

PS. I alway wear glasses when shooting. I have caught cap fragments and other junk a few times over the years.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Prime the pan, no load, balance a penny out on the barrel, aim at a target concentrating fully and ONLY on the front sight, and practice pulling the trigger all the way AND through the 'shot', or

BEST WAY ... enlist a friend's help and have him load it while you are not looking. Some with your standard loads, some with no load, and some with 10grs of powdah under an over-powdah wad. My friends and I used to do this for offhand practice with any type of firearm, i.e., maybe she's loaded or maybe she ain't! Sure tells you if/when flinching!

 

[paulvallandigham]

Do 50 repetitions a day, in 10 "shot" series, resting in between, and 500 reps a week minimum. You will find your improve your follow through, and lose that " Flinch" if you do this exercise at home religiously for a month. However, along with the "dry-firing" using that wooden flint, you also will need to occasional take the gun out of doors, with a real flint, and simply fire off Priming powder, to get use to the ignition, and "flash" so close to your face. 5 such shots a week should help you learn to ignore the flash, and concentrate ONLY on that front sight.

When my brother, Peter, finally crossed over from Percussion rifle and pistol shooting, to his first flintlock, it took him about a year- shooting every week, to finally get over that flash, and see his groups shrink down to the same size that he was, and still gets shooting percussion.

He was VERY FRUSTRATED, as he knew then, and has known for a long time all the various exercises one needs to do when working OUT a "Flinch". And, HE KNEW he was flinching. For awhile, he alternating shooting his flintlock with his cap locks, simply because he had both guns at the range, and could switch. He thinks that also helped him work through the flinch with his flintlock. He called me from the range Each day, and I was his " Morale" coach through this process, as he has much less patience with this kind of problem than I do.

I also have had two different "slumps" in my shooting performances over the years, and worked through them with the aid of some friends. I did the dry-fire exercises at home, and other techniques at the range until I simply overcame the problems.

All the advice given on this post have been excellent suggestions. Without actually seeing someone shoot, its difficult to know for sure what might be the cause.

Here, because of the flint ignition, the "flinch" is commonly seen, and the "cure" well-known. Its only the willingness of the shooter to do the work that becomes the factor in how long it takes to overcome the problem. Thankfully, Peter has my same stubborn streak, and took my advice, and that of other shooters he sees on the club range! After all the work he put into learning to shoot his flintlock, he found his follow through with his Percussion guns, and modern rifles had also greatly IMPROVED! :shocked2: How about that! A Flintlock as a "Training aid". :hmm: :wink:

 

[msuspartan]

This is what I learned in the Army (they have trained a 'few' people over the years :wink: )

B.R.A.S. Either brass or bra's (like the second meself :hmm: )

B. Breathe. Take a deeper than normal breath, then let half out and hold.
R. RELAX. Hold what you need to and relax all other muscles. I usually use the breat to accomplish this.
A. Aim. You know what to do here.
S. Squeeze the trigger with the TIP of you finger. If your trigger is resting past the first crease of your trigger finger, you WILL flinch. The rifle going off should 'surprise' you.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Don

 

[Burningprince]

Lol, i think the playboy comment would work.It's a very good idea

 

[paulvallandigham]

The most common form of a "Flinch" is lifting your head before the shot fires- milliseconds, but enough that you typically throw a shot high.

I tell students that if You are not seeing FLAME in front of that front sight when the gun fires, you are lifting your head, or closing your eyes, destroying your follow through. Even in Mlers, that flame will appear before recoil twists the gun up away from your line of sight. You should see both flame and smoke before that sight rises up in relation to your eye and the target, and the target becomes obscured by the smoke, and your gun barrel.


"Follow-through" involves keeping your cheek against the comb of the stock through RECOIL, so that you bring the gun back down to the same position when the gun fired.

IF the guns does NOT return to your aiming point on the target, there is something wrong with how you hold the gun to your shoulder's pocket, or upper arm, or in how you are standing. Adjust your rear foot, when off-hand shooting, or square your shoulders to the target when shooting from a sitting position at a bench rest, so that the gun DOES RETURN to your POA when the gun fired.

Its when a shooter is concentrating on these additional "After-the-shot-is-fired" issues, and using the correct techniques, that he won't have time to be worrying( and flinching) because of that flash in the pan in front of his face.

Follow through is one of the most difficult shooting techniques to teach new shooters, and probably involves more hours of practice time- both dry and live fire exercises-- than any other part of the skills needed to fire a gun accurately. PATIENCE is truly GOLDEN, here. When presented with a shooter who has developed poor skills over years of shooting, and is frustrated because he isn't doing better, it takes even MORE work to undo what he is doing, and correct him.
While its true that the exact measurements of rifle stocks are NOT as critical as they are when shooting shotguns, as the very act of aiming overcomes many of the minor differences in Drop at Comb, and Heel, LOP, and Pitch, I have seen shooters doing all the wrong things simply because the Drop at Comb is too shallow, or their stock has way too long( or short) a LOP for them to mount and shoot the gun well. As a young man, I had no shooting coach available to teach me, and I too was the victim of stocks that simply didn't fit me. :hmm: :shocked2: :idunno:

 

[Jean-Luc]

It is very surprising how human brains work. Less you have a very slow lock you don’t have time to flinch because of the flash in the pan before the ball has left the barrel. Actually you are ready to flinch when you start squeezing the trigger or even you flinch while squeezing it.
It is anticipation of the flash that makes you flinch because you fear that flash and it is that fear you have to get rid of. One way could be to tell yourself that you are entirely safe behind your glasses what is true and that a flintlock is less dangerous to your eyes than a caplock what is true as well. You can “play” with your primed but unloaded flintlock without shouldering it, looking at the flash from a different point of view, getting used to it.
When you shoulder your flintlock tell yourself you are shouldering your usual caplock and focus on your shooting the same way you do with your caplock. You can convince yourself and if you still flinch, it will after the ball has hit the target because you can’t flinch fast enough to spoil your aim if you don’t anticipate the flash.

 

[Problem Child]

I've only been shooting a Flintlock for a couple of weeks so I'm a flincher too.
It's not the flash that gets me,it's the sound of the Flint striking the frizzen.It scares the manure out of me cause I know what's next.

 

[luieb45]

I think the problem for me is following through. I practice with a wooden practice flint in the gun during the week so I hopefully will be able to follow through perfectly eventually.

 

[HOGGHEAD]

No one has mentioned this yet. But personally I think flinching has alot to do with triggers. A good trigger goes a long way to stop flinching.

Flinching is actually anticipating the rifle going bang. And all good shooters know that it is bad to anticipate the shot.

The easiest way to stop flinching is with a 22 rifle. Not exactly a traditional MZ. But the truth is the truth. Put a 1,000 rounds down range with a 22 rifle.

Shoot the rifle single shot only. And never hurry a shot. Concentrate on every single shot. And follow through. Follow through is the most important part of the shot. And follow through is easy to learn with a 22 rifle because there is no recoil. After the rifle has fired you should still be on the target. Concentrate on staying on the target, and forget about anything else.

And concentrate on seeing the target after the shot.

A good second thing to do is to shoot with both eyes open.

Another important part is concentrating on the target. If you are still looking at the target after the shot then there is no way you are flinching.

Concentrate on the target while squeezing the trigger with both eyes on the target. The rifle can't hurt you. And it hurts more if you flinch than if you have proper follow through and handle the rifle properly.

And another good way is to have a friend load your rifle for you. And ocassioanly have him not put a ball in the barrel, or no powder in the pan. Then you will see how bad you are flinching because you are expecting the rifle to go off. Then when your friends stop laughing, you will settle down and concentrate on what you are doing. Tom.

 

[scobrien]

Hello Rawhide

Lots of sound advice here with many time proven methods. A combination of several, or even just one method by itself may work for you. From here, I suggest that you begin by trying any one of the suggestions that appeals to you, and then take it from there.

I do fully agree with Lonesome Rider in that if a flinch is going to occure, it has already taken place in one's mind the split second that the finger firsts contacts the trigger, or during the trigger squeezing process. The mind really has to be your starting focal point regardless of what method you choose as a remedy. Control the mind first, and you will control the trigger squeeze as well as the other shooting fundamentals.

You will know when you have developed the ability to recognize the power of your mental influence regarding the ability to control flinching. Once there, it will not matter what kind of firearm you shoot, what type of ignition system that the firearm has, or if it is a shoulder arm or hand gun. You will just be a good shot with all firearms through mental discipline. It will then just be the case that you can shoot certain types of firearm better than others.

Lastly, as Flint62Smoothie suggests, the penny balanced on the end of the barrel and letting a friend either load or not load are good techniques in that they will very bluntly make you aware of your flinch. You and everyone watching will notice it plain as day! I have used these methods with great success as a firearms instuctor and for enhancing marksmanship skills among tactical team members.

Best of luck to you.

Steve

(edited in)
Hogghead's post hit the forum as I was typing mine. I got a kick out of his statement about all of the buddies laughing! That is the point I was trying to make about the effectiveness of the load/no load or prime/no prime with the assistance of a friend/s It really will be plain as day.

 

[Zonie]

Just because I'm such a nice guy I'll tell the folks the best way to avoid flinching while firing a flintlock.

Keep in mind that everyone knows what a flinch looks like.

Now, with your gun loaded and pointed downrange and primed bring it to full cock.

Now as your taking careful aim tell yourself, "I bet the damn thing isn't going to fire. Yup. It will be another flash in the pan and everyone's watching me. If I pull the trigger and it is just a flash in the pan am I ever going to look dumb for flinching back like the gun actually fired!
Not ME!!! I'll fool them all! I'll keep this thing pointed at the bullseye until long after the flash is gone!"

Be thinking this as you pull the trigger and your flinch will be gone before you know it.

Oh, by the way, because you held thru "long after the flash is gone" your gun fired and you shot better than you ever dreamed you could shoot.

 

[Rusty Spur 82]

Some of us didn't want to admit that but I agree,embarrassment does work.It worked for me.Sort of made me cowboy up.