What does your muzzle-flip say about your shooting?

P

Pond James Pond

New member
If anything...

I ask as I went to the range the other day and shot my handguns for the first time in I don't know how long.

I decided it was high time I put some rounds through my snub carry gun which, to my shame, doesn't get out as much as it should. I also fired my .44, naturally (:cool:) and my SP-01.

All in all it was great fun. I most shot at about 2-3m with some shots out to 6-9m. It is not a big range. Besides I just wanted to work on basics and adding the additional challenge of longer distances didn't seem helpful at this time.

I did some SA, DA, point shooting and one-handed shooting (both sides). My SA and DA groups were ragged holes up close and about the same size which was nice. My point shooting were 80% on paper (8" by 8" white paper with a black mark for focus). I shot from around hip height.

When shooting one-handed I found that muzzle-flip was of course more pronounced but also found that the muzzle went up and left when shooting right handed.

It didn't go straight up and I wondered if this might say something about my grip or trigger work or is it normal?
 
I have noticed the same thing especially with powerful loads (.454 Casull!! :eek:) and while it could be my less than ideal technique, I believe I have read that it is torque due to the twist of the rifling that causes the gun to torque left when shooting one handed with your right hand. More pronounced, of course with heavier recoiling loads.
 
Having the muzzle flip anywhere but straight up and down is why the two handed technique evolved.
It's pretty hard to avoid shooting one handed.
If you can get the muzzle to come back on target anyway, then that's about the best than can be expected for most of us.
It does help, however, to use the aggressive straight arm, strong foot forward, one handed stance.
There should be an example on youtube.
Here's one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QXnyZN60Pk
 
You want to know why a one-handed grip flips off-centered instead of straight up? Try this experiment. Hold your fist out extended (nothing in it). Use your muscles to try and angle the fist straight up. Now, use your muscles and raise your fist at a 45 degree angle to your arm (towards the elbow side). Notice anything? It is significantly easier to raise your fist at an angle than it is straight up. Just the nature of your anatomy.

That same principle applies to muzzle flip. Since the angle is the path of least resistance, that is what will happen when you shoot.
 
One factor not yet mentioned is torque.

Not all that noticeable with many guns, but very noticeable with some, especially short barrel light gun in heavy calibers.

One friend of mine had a 2.5" round butt .44 Mag, and with full house loads, that gun would literally lay over on its side when fired.

The bullet being forced through the rifling creates the torque (sideways force). The rifling wants to spin the bullet, and the bullet wants to spin the gun around it. The bullet always "loses" the fight, but in some guns, you can feel it trying to spin the gun (torque) more than others.

I don't pay a great deal of attention to muzzle flip, personally, but I'm not much of a rapid fire shooter. I shoot SA mostly, and shoot SA revolvers often, where controlling the muzzle flip is a waste of effort.

When your need is speed, muzzle flip matters a lot for following shots. For me, personally, not so much.
 
This was, I think, a Ruger Bisley with a heavy .45 Colt load (taken many years back):



And a heavy load in a Super Blackhawk:



And two hands, Super Blackhawk:



Bob Wright
 
Har,
The good old days.
When the accepted six gun technique was to let the gun recoil, putting the hammer up where it could be easily re-cocked and then level it back down on target.
There were well practiced folks who could get an accurate shot off every couple of seconds.
Man, were they fast. :)
 
Muzzle flip to the left from the right hand and to the right from the left hand is normal. If you want your sights to come back on target, tilt your gun to the left (or right, for lefties). Try different angles until it works. Many people do this in USPSA and IDPA when shooting one handed.
 
Torque plays a very big part in muzzle flip, one handed shots (right hand) with my SBH ,44 mag, causes the flip to go up and to the left, but shooting the same way with my 30.30 win. Thompson center contender causes the flip to go straight up due to the left hand twist in the rifling.
 
Absolutely normal. Has to do with the grip angles and how hands work. There's an entire industry built around aftermarket stuff designed to reduce it.
 
Guns will recoil to the path of least resistance. Fire a handgun one handed, for a righty, and it will recoil up and to the left, that's because that whole left side of the frame is left unsupported. Fill that void with your support hand, and the gun will recoil, for the most part, straight up. You often see people use a revolver grip on a semi auto, this leaves a large void unsupported on that left side of the frame, so the gun recoiling to the path of least resistance will want to recoil up and to the left. Use a thumbs forward grip, and cover that left portion of the gun as much as possible, and the gun will recoil strait up, and not up and to the left. Even though a thumbs forward grip is not advocated with revolvers, with .38 loads it's fine, and is why you will often see competition revolver shooters with light .38 loads using a thumbs forward grip.
 
I could never figure it out, but the S&W Model 624 with a 6 1/2" barrel that I had a long time ago had more muzzle flip than anything else I ever shot. Now the funny thing was, the Model 624 with a 4" barrel that I had at the same time did not have anywhere near as much muzzle flip. But maybe I'm not remembering right. Neither were particularly unpleasant to shoot, though.

But I had this other gun, too. It was a Colt Lightweight Officer's ACP. It was a real handful to shoot. Not painful but not exactly pleasant, either. You really had to hang on to it. But the curious thing was that the lightweight Colt Commander that I also had was nothing like it. It may have been the easiest shooting automatic I ever owned, except for the Colt .380 Government Model. That was about like shooting a .22 rimfire.

The revolvers I mentioned, as well as just about all the others I ever had, did not exhibit much twist when fired. However, for the ones that were the most powerful, meaning a .41 and a .44 magnum, I might have been distracted by the blast. It's easy to confuse blast and recoil. But the Officer's ACP certainly twisted or tried to. No question about that.
 
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