Just Let Recoil Happen.

K

k4swb

New member
Burn this into your brain. Most of what people think of as recoil is actually muzzle blast. With proper eye and ear protection, muzzle blast will not hurt you. Think of checking your car’s oil and someone slips up and blows the horn. You most likely will jump. Now have someone blow the horn a few times before you start and the whole time you are checking the oil. You won’t jump. It may be irritating but put on ear muffs and you will hardly notice it at all.

Guns do recoil but the physical force is way less than most realize. The recoil of a firearm should not hurt you. When firing a gun, if the recoil actually causes you pain you need to either change your hold or get a different gun.
There is no reason to ever shoot a gun that causes you pain. If the thump from the gun hurts because of an injury or something else and you insist on shooting take precautions to minimize this before you go shooting.
I have a hand that I broke once and also suffer from arthritis. Sometimes this causes some discomfort but it is the price I pay to enjoy shooting. It also bothers me at other times and is something I have factored out.

Since you cannot stop recoil you need to just let it happen. Don’t try to control it at all before it happens. This anticipation of the recoil/muzzle blast that is not going to actually hurt you is what causes problems. You do not need to hold the gun any tighter than what it takes to hold the gun. A firm but relaxed hold that keeps the gun steady before the shot is all it takes. This will most likely be firm enough to keep you from dropping the gun after the shot.
Do not try to stop recoil before it occurs. Let it happen. Then and only then is it time to think of doing anything other than keeping the sights on the target and pulling the trigger nice and smooth.

Go to the range and try firing one shot at a time. Load one cartridge only and think, “I’m only going to shoot once. Steady hold. Smooth trigger pull. Recoil will not hurt me. I’m going to let the gun do whatever it wants to after I pull the trigger but before that I’m only concerned with my hold and trigger pull.” Don’t worry about bringing the gun back on target. Don’t think about stopping the gun and your hands from rising.
Do not anticipate the gun’s response to the trigger pull at all. Just like dry firing. If you ever realize that recoil/muzzle blast will not hurt you, you will become a much better shot. Since you cannot stop recoil from happening except by not pulling the trigger, and we just gotta pull the trigger, wait until it is all over with before you react to it. The sooner you realize this the sooner you can start thinking about shot number two.
Shooting fast may be fun but shooting well is more fun.

Recoil is just a little noise in the face and a thump in the hand. I wouldn’t enjoy shooting without these things. When I want quiet and serene I take a nap or read a book. I love recoil!!! You should learn to at least like it or take up another hobby.

Sorry for the long post. This turned out to be longer than I meant for it to but there were just too many things to convey. I know I missed something but I hope I mentioned that with proper hearing and eye protection, recoil/muzzle blast will not hurt you. If you flinch, jerk or push into the shot, something inside you is still convinced it will.
 
I pretty much have to agree. As a former NRA instructor I have watched different people deal with recoil/blast the first time they fired a handgun. On the first shot, they were totally stunned and then once they understood it's just a loud noise they ignored it concentrated on watching their sights. I think the few people that simply could not physically/mentally deal with recoil/blast would probably never go to a range or pick up a firearm.
 
You sir have never fired full power 44 magnum ammunition out of a Thompson Contender.

It DOES hurt.
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I have fired much more powerful handguns than that and have also seen children shoot such guns. With the proper hold/stance, hearing/eye protection and attitude it does not hurt most people. If it does actually cause one physical discomfort then it is just too much gun and as I stated, if you fire a gun that hurts then get a different gun.
.44 magnum out of a TC Contender is a pussycat.;)

I taught my 8 year old son to shoot with a .22lr handgun. After a year or so of this I made a mistake and let him see me shoot my Dan Wesson .44 mag. He just had to try it. He could not hold the thing up very steady so he figured that if he held the gun down then started upward to eye level slowly and just as the gun passed the target pull the trigger he could do quite well.

I had explained that recoil and especially muzzle blast would not hurt him and he had no trouble with flinching or shot anticipation.
 
This was the single, best piece of advance I ever got in my early years as a shooter. When I was just a young boot Marine, I barely qualified as a "marksman" and "sharpshooter". It wasn't until a very astute shooting coach told me to simply let the gun surprise you, focus on front sight alignment and trigger control. Just let it recoil.

By the time I left the Corps, I was a 3x "Expert" with the rifle and a 4x "Expert" with the pistol.
 
I think you're mostly right, k4swb, although I also think you need to leave a bit of room for people's varying sensitivity.

Most recoil qua recoil is not physically painful for most people. Muzzle blast and flash do tend to be perceived as pain by new shooters, and it's entirely possible for people to separate out those components. The process happens more slowly and with more effort than most of us believe.

Is a .44 magnum physically painful to me? No, but 50 rounds of full house .44 magnum on a bad arthritis day can leave souvenir aches and wreak havoc with my accuracy.
 
simply let the gun surprise you, focus on front sight alignment and trigger control. Just let it recoil.
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Completely disagree.

Fine for slow fire target shooting, really bad for competition IDPA/IPSC rapid fire drills. Not to mention "letting it recoil" could cause semiauto malfunctions with limp wristing.
 
Completely disagree.

Fine for slow fire target shooting, really bad for competition IDPA/IPSC rapid fire drills. Not to mention "letting it recoil" could cause semiauto malfunctions with limp wristing.
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And you're completely missing what I'm saying. Never said you don't maintain a firm grip on the gun nor do you hold it with your pinkie so you can limp wrist it. What I meant was that the gun is going to recoil no matter what so you should not anticipate it (nor fear it), which is a the leading cause of jerking the trigger prematurely.
 
I understand what the OP is saying. My problem (if it even is a problem) is my brain flips a switch when I go "weapons hot". I automatically try to level it out for a follow up shot and I cannot tell if I do this after the bullet is away or if I am anticipating. I have noticed it if I have a failure to fire or I miscount and drop the hammer on a fired shell, I dip the muzzle in expectation of muzzle rise. Like I said, it may not even be a problem but I've never been quite as good a shot with a handgun as I would like so it makes me wonder if this could be the reason.
 
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I understand what the OP is saying. My problem (if it even is a problem) is my brain flips a switch when I go "weapons hot". I automatically try to level it out for a follow up shot and I cannot tell if I do this after the bullet is away or if I am anticipating. I have noticed it if I have a failure to fire or I miscount and drop the hammer on a fired shell, I dip the muzzle in expectation of muzzle rise. Like I said, it may not even be a problem but I've never been quite as good a shot with a handgun as I would like so it makes me wonder if this could be the reason.
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Yes, now this was the problem I was referring too when I said "let the gun surprise you". The trick is, you need to train your mind to focus attention on sight alignment and trigger control while telling yourself that you should not know (or care) when the trigger is going to break. It's psychological and has nothing to do with whatever mechanics you're comfortable with.

I used to train with a 6 shot revolver using only 5 rounds. I didn't know which cylinder was empty. Once I got proficient enough to the point where the gun would not dip or move when the hammer fell on an empty chamber, I knew I had conquered any issues with shot anticipation.
 
You sir have never fired full power 44 magnum ammunition out of a Thompson Contender.

It DOES hurt.
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Lol... Contender's a heavy gun though. Try shooting full .357 magnum out of a 13.3oz Smith Model M&P360 :eek::eek: OUUUCHHHHHHH!!!!!!


Yes, when I shoot I am thinking "squeeze" and "let the recoil happen"... helps with flinching. Its great to throw in some snap caps or leave a cylinder empty on your revolver when practicing so you can catch yourself flinching.
 
I understand what the OP is saying. My problem (if it even is a problem) is my brain flips a switch when I go "weapons hot". I automatically try to level it out for a follow up shot and I cannot tell if I do this after the bullet is away or if I am anticipating. I have noticed it if I have a failure to fire or I miscount and drop the hammer on a fired shell, I dip the muzzle in expectation of muzzle rise. Like I said, it may not even be a problem but I've never been quite as good a shot with a handgun as I would like so it makes me wonder if this could be the reason
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This is a problem for most new shooters and with pepole tha don't shoot much. You know the gun is gong to fire. That is why you're there pulling the trigger. The idea is to get to the point that you realize nothing is going to hurt or startle you because you know it is just a noise and thump so you don't react to it before it happens. If you are pushing forward/down on the gun before the gun fires, and the above poster knows he's doing this, you need to work on the mental part to not do this. Very hard for some people.

My wife is bad to do this. She knows what she's doing but she has still not completely overcome it.

I hate to admit it but I shot years without ear protection. Had no idea I was doing permanent damage. I always had a hard time controlling the push into the shot bare eared. Wonder why? My hearing is badly damaged now but with ear muffs I never have any trouble with the push into stuff. It really does help if you get the noise tamed way down. I don't recommend going deaf to do it tho.

To overcome this just let the gun recoil and don't even think about getting to the next shot. You can worry about bringing the gun back on target for shot number two once you are consistantly on target for shot number one.
Speed will tag along later.

Remember a slow hit is much better than a fast miss.
 
Completely disagree.

Fine for slow fire target shooting, really bad for competition IDPA/IPSC rapid fire drills. Not to mention "letting it recoil" could cause semiauto malfunctions with limp wristing
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I'm glad you dissagree. It would be quite boring here if we all agreed.

When people start shooting and it seems that most posters are fairly new, they need to focus on SLOW, hitting the target with just the one shot, letting everything happen as slow as possible so they can see what is going on.

BANG BANG BANG rapid fire is fun but totally useless to a new shooter.
A new shooter shouldn't even be practicing IDPA/IPSC drills. They should be concentrating on one shot and only one shot at a time.
When starting out, don't ever think about shot number two until you can always place shot number one where you intended for it to go. Each shot should be shot number one.

A firm but relaxed stance/hold will not cause limp wristing.
 
A great oversimplification. People vary in their ability to handle recoil. Most of it is probably a nervous reaction. Some evidently don't experience the pain of others.
People vary in pain tolerance. To say that you should learn to like it or take up another hobby is just nonsense.

Regards,
Jerry
 
One of the top shooters/trainers says something similar.
Even with rapid firing, ignoring recoil and keeping one's focus on the sights coming back to target, will be plenty fast enough.
It matters less how high the muzzle rises, during recoil, than getting the sights back on the target.
With good technique, he says, the amount of time lost with muzzle flip will be more than overcome by having the sights fall back on the target, without a struggle.
He emphasizes ignoring recoil and staying focused mentally on the sight returning to the target.
So, I tried it on a six target stage, two ways.
One was the keep the recoil to a minimum approach.
The second was to ignore the muzzle rise and concentrate on just allowing the sights to fall back on the target effectively.
Running the stage both ways, the time and hit factors were identical.
And with less fatigue the second way, very important over a long day of shooting.
Very Interesting, as the saying goes.
 
People vary in pain tolerance. To say that you should learn to like it or take up another hobby is just nonsense.
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I just loved this one.
I don't see where I said learn to like pain at all. I said to learn to like recoil. If shooting is painful, and there are levels of pain that can't be overcome you need to try a smaller gun or even a BB or pellet gun, if you really want to shoot. No one really likes pain, well some maybe but certain levels can be ignored for at least awhile (I am living proof) just like recoil/muzzle blast can and must be ignored before shooting becomes really enjoyable.
You just will never become a good consistant shooter until you learn to somehow ignore the muzzle blast/recoil.
 
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