I am still struggling with my shots when using a pistol that has recoil. Just before pulling the trigger I tend to point my gun low and to the left. As a result, my shots go low and to the left of the target. This has been a problem since I started shooting. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Overcoming recoil flinch
- Thread starter MrGreen
- Start date
Aim a little high and to the right 
Actually I had the same problem when I was new to shooting. My father told me a trick that I've used ever since. Instead of squeezing the grigger, squeeze your whole hand, gradually, until the gun fires. You will be surprised when the gun actually fires (a good thing), and you will be surprised at the increase in accuracy. I was.
Actually I had the same problem when I was new to shooting. My father told me a trick that I've used ever since. Instead of squeezing the grigger, squeeze your whole hand, gradually, until the gun fires. You will be surprised when the gun actually fires (a good thing), and you will be surprised at the increase in accuracy. I was.
Crazy88Fingers
New member
Dry firing helped me a lot. That and some good ol' fashioned practice at the range. You just have to learn to focus on the trigger pull and ignore the recoil/blast. .22s are good guns for this.
Anticipating recoil is a common thing even among the great shooters. Learning to overcome the anxiety at the trigger begins with releasing the shot. NOT Making The Gun Go Off. It takes patience to release a clean shot. Dry firing and learning the trigger is one way to be successful.
Dry firing was great advice also training with a smaller caliber is often useful although I dont see your caliber mentioned here.
One really good method is to dry fire with a dime or a nickel balanced toward the end of the barrel, if it falls off when practicing the shot you jerked the gun.
One really good method is to dry fire with a dime or a nickel balanced toward the end of the barrel, if it falls off when practicing the shot you jerked the gun.
Try some ball and dummy drills - http://pistol-training.com/drills/ball-dummy-drill
Standing Wolf
Member in memoriam
Dry firing is good, and so is switching calibers every few shots. No matter what we do, flinch sneaks back.
FrankenMauser
New member
An alternative that makes your problem child seem 'tame' in comparison...
1. Find the biggest, nastiest thing you can. Depending on who you are, and where you are; that could be anything from .300 Win Mag, to .416 Weatherby Mag, to .50 BMG (or, for handguns: .445 Super Mag, .460 S&W, .500 S&W, etc).
2. Shoot it until you can't take any more (minimum 10 rounds for the rifles, 25 for the handguns).
3. Go back to the little guy you're having a problem with. It will feel like a toy, in comparison.
1. Find the biggest, nastiest thing you can. Depending on who you are, and where you are; that could be anything from .300 Win Mag, to .416 Weatherby Mag, to .50 BMG (or, for handguns: .445 Super Mag, .460 S&W, .500 S&W, etc).
2. Shoot it until you can't take any more (minimum 10 rounds for the rifles, 25 for the handguns).
3. Go back to the little guy you're having a problem with. It will feel like a toy, in comparison.
A little less drastic than FM's suggestion, but along the same lines: Sometimes shoot light target loads, and sometimes shoot full-power service loads. If you only shoot target loads, your (my) flinch threshold gets lower and lower until I start flinching with the target loads. Even subsonic .22's. Last week I shot a practice bullseye relay using .38 Special +P's, then when I shot wadcutters the next time around, my hand was a lot steadier. (using .357 Magnums might have worked too, or it might have made me so jumpy shooting them indoors it could have made the flinch worse)
Also, dry firing helps.
And if you're shooting a revolver, try practicing just double-action.
Have someone else load your magazines and slip one or two snap caps in.
Also, dry firing helps.
And if you're shooting a revolver, try practicing just double-action.
Have someone else load your magazines and slip one or two snap caps in.
Flinch remover drill
Get a plain sheet of typing or copy paper and in the very center of the paper use a fine point pen with black ink and make a little cross with 2.5 cm horizontal and vertical lines. No larger. Fasten that paper on a horizontal surface at shoulder height in a location with good light.
Pick up your chosen handgun with the off hand and place it in your shooting hand and get a good grip. Grip it firmly like you would a handshake, not to loose, not so tight that you shake. Extend your arm so the muzzle of your gun is no more than a cm away from the paper. Focus on that front sight with both eyes. You will see that the vertical line goes straight up the middle of the sight and the horizontal line sits squarely on the top of your front sight. Your front sight should now be centered in the notch of your rear sight and level.
Now with the gun cocked, your focus entirely on the front sight you play a little mind game. Imagine the sight is one solid piece attached to the trigger. When you pull the trigger back you are trying to pull the front sight back through the center of your rear sight. If you pull, yank, anticipate, jerk, grab anything but a perfect trigger pull those lines will move away from the front sight like a seismometer detecting an earthquake.
The objective of this exercise is to get 10 perfect shots and what you will discover is that when your focus is on the sight/trigger you will have no idea when the gun goes off. That will be your good shot.
Now the fun begins, switch the gun to your left hand and start over again. You will be sweating and hurting and mad at me but I will guarantee you that the top shooters do this and this is why they are top shooters.
Now the easy part, get your two handed grip and take 10 more shots but this part is pretty redundant. The whole point of the exercise is to get your focus on the front sight while your trigger finger squeezes the trigger without disturbing your sight alignment no matter which hand or hands you are using. If you can do that you can do it standing on one leg leaning over a table shooting through a door at an oblique angle or hanging by your knees from a trapeze bar. You will not know what position you will be in when you have to shoot but sight picture and consistent trigger pull will increase your chances of hitting what you want shot. Using both eyes will aid in your sight picture.
Get a plain sheet of typing or copy paper and in the very center of the paper use a fine point pen with black ink and make a little cross with 2.5 cm horizontal and vertical lines. No larger. Fasten that paper on a horizontal surface at shoulder height in a location with good light.
Pick up your chosen handgun with the off hand and place it in your shooting hand and get a good grip. Grip it firmly like you would a handshake, not to loose, not so tight that you shake. Extend your arm so the muzzle of your gun is no more than a cm away from the paper. Focus on that front sight with both eyes. You will see that the vertical line goes straight up the middle of the sight and the horizontal line sits squarely on the top of your front sight. Your front sight should now be centered in the notch of your rear sight and level.
Now with the gun cocked, your focus entirely on the front sight you play a little mind game. Imagine the sight is one solid piece attached to the trigger. When you pull the trigger back you are trying to pull the front sight back through the center of your rear sight. If you pull, yank, anticipate, jerk, grab anything but a perfect trigger pull those lines will move away from the front sight like a seismometer detecting an earthquake.
The objective of this exercise is to get 10 perfect shots and what you will discover is that when your focus is on the sight/trigger you will have no idea when the gun goes off. That will be your good shot.
Now the fun begins, switch the gun to your left hand and start over again. You will be sweating and hurting and mad at me but I will guarantee you that the top shooters do this and this is why they are top shooters.
Now the easy part, get your two handed grip and take 10 more shots but this part is pretty redundant. The whole point of the exercise is to get your focus on the front sight while your trigger finger squeezes the trigger without disturbing your sight alignment no matter which hand or hands you are using. If you can do that you can do it standing on one leg leaning over a table shooting through a door at an oblique angle or hanging by your knees from a trapeze bar. You will not know what position you will be in when you have to shoot but sight picture and consistent trigger pull will increase your chances of hitting what you want shot. Using both eyes will aid in your sight picture.
speedfreeq
New member
I struggle with the same problem, generally starting off with hitting POA, then drifting low and left as I anticipate recoil. I only have this issue with my auto, though. With either my .22 or .357 wheel guns, I consistently hit nice groups close to POA.
If I then switch back to the auto and take my time, I can make 2" groups out to 10 yards or so.
So I think in my case, its a purely mental hurdle. I end up rushing the shots, and because I have so many more shots in the magazine, I end up throwing a lot of them away. And subconsciously, I believe the auto shoots differently than the revolver, and I end up trying to "manage" the recoil before the trigger is pulled, to get the followthrough done and back on the front sight too quickly.
So my solution is to take your time, acquire sight picture, and squeeze deliberately.
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
If I then switch back to the auto and take my time, I can make 2" groups out to 10 yards or so.
So I think in my case, its a purely mental hurdle. I end up rushing the shots, and because I have so many more shots in the magazine, I end up throwing a lot of them away. And subconsciously, I believe the auto shoots differently than the revolver, and I end up trying to "manage" the recoil before the trigger is pulled, to get the followthrough done and back on the front sight too quickly.
So my solution is to take your time, acquire sight picture, and squeeze deliberately.
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
HuntAndFish
New member
4EVERM-14 said:
Dry firing is very important, but learning how to dry fire ( run the trigger ) correctly is important before it will help your flinch. David is giving you good advice in the above quote, but he hasn't quite lead you to the promised land.
Listen to Jeff Cooper describe the surprise break and then practice that during your dry fire exercises.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKgAkwB8WRo
Once you understand this technique and can apply it, you won't flinch because you don't know when it's going to go. Actually, at first, it's also partly that you are concentrating on your technique when you are shooting and not paying attention to the blast/recoil.
Last edited:
Also keep in mind that, at some point, everyone develops a flinch. So you're not unique. The best shooters in the world all develop flinches. A flinch is just an involuntary reaction to the recoil. Shotgun shooters (trap, skeet, sporting clays) all develop a flinch, especially after practicing five-hundred, or so rounds.
There are two types of flinches; recoil anticipation and visual. They're separate from each other and require separate treatment.
The others here have given you a world of hints for recoil anticipation, and you'll need to find out for yourself how best to apply them.
The visual flinch is one in which you actually lose the target in your vision for a period of time, usually measured in hundreths or tenths of a second. The best way is to insure that your breathing is done the same way every time.
Take two or three deep breaths while you have the gun pointed to the target. On the third breath, let it out about half way, then hold and squeeze the trigger. One of the things the deep breathing does is aerate the blood going to your eyes' blood vessels. You'll have a much better sight picture.
There are two types of flinches; recoil anticipation and visual. They're separate from each other and require separate treatment.
The others here have given you a world of hints for recoil anticipation, and you'll need to find out for yourself how best to apply them.
The visual flinch is one in which you actually lose the target in your vision for a period of time, usually measured in hundreths or tenths of a second. The best way is to insure that your breathing is done the same way every time.
Take two or three deep breaths while you have the gun pointed to the target. On the third breath, let it out about half way, then hold and squeeze the trigger. One of the things the deep breathing does is aerate the blood going to your eyes' blood vessels. You'll have a much better sight picture.
Anticipating recoil is something I had trouble with. At the time I was good enough to be on my base rifle/pistol team but still had trouble with occassionally dropping a shot low. I solved it using two techniques: (1) spending lots of time using a .22, in fact I didn't become a good shot until I did this. After a few hundred rounds I was using it squirrel hunt with and brought home meat every trip. (2) Dry fire practice, lots of dry fire practice. What these methods allowed me to do was to thorougly ingrain good technique.