Friend is starting to flinch while shooting his rifle

[Bart B.]

Flinching is a semi-subconscious reaction to a concious (fear, resentment or discomfort; pick at least one) of the noise and/or recoil produced by the firearm. Until that's tamed, minimized and brought under control and management, nothing else will help. Some people can do that, others cannot and a few will need professional help to mentally adapt to mastering control over flinching.

 

[bamaranger]

dirty trick practice

For this drill you need two particpants, the shooter and the assistant. The shooter is on the firing line in a firing position. I don't see why this could not be done on a bench, but any reasonable shooting position (that allows the shooter to receive the firearm handed to him....safely) is acceptable. Muzzle integrity is
essential.

The assistant handles the rifle, either loading a live cartridge, or simply cycling the action to cock the weapon on an empty chamber. This is done in such a manner so that the shooter cannot tell if the gun is loaded or not. The firearm is then passed to the shooter, who aims and completes a proper trigger press on a safe target. A flinch, or a good press, will be apparent on every empty chamber.

Triggers are pressed and controlled, not necessarily squeezed, and certainly not jerked. Good, safe dry practice will help, as will shooting a light rifle. I am completely against lightening up on trigger pullweight. to conceal poor trigger management.