Magnum flintch

[allranch2025]

I have a 22 Voodoo I set in a bag and try to hit the same hole with successive shots. I also have some targets, designed primarily for pistols, but the quadrants around the bullseye are marked to tell you what you are doing wrong.

When I switch to my big bores, I fire a couple rounds through my 458 Lott - after that, everything else is child's play.

I have found, shooting at paper or steel gives you a lot of time to think - sometimes, too much time. When that cape buffalo or elephant is your target - you don't worry much about recoil.

I also shoot pop up and charging targets, gets your brain to focus on the shot and not the hurt.

458 Lott? aren't those supposed to have wheels on them?

 

[Axle2010]

Anybody else think it should be called "scope flinch" instead of "magnum flinch"? I don't flinch with anything with iron sights not even my 460 WBY. I did get hit by, not cut by, a scope a long time ago and I still catch myself sometimes making sure I'm as far back from the glass as I can and still see properly in it. Seems like recoil don't bother my shoulder much s long as it don't hit me in the face. The dummy round idea works great though, I do similar with my revolvers. I load a couple of empty round with live ones then spin the cylinder so I can't tell which is which once it's closed. It'll certainly show you a flinch when it goes click instead of boom.

 

[Franco]

458 Lott? aren't those supposed to have wheels on them?

Yes, and mounted to a chassis.

 

[375Fox]

Anybody else think it should be called "scope flinch" instead of "magnum flinch"? I don't flinch with anything with iron sights not even my 460 WBY. I did get hit by, not cut by, a scope a long time ago and I still catch myself sometimes making sure I'm as far back from the glass as I can and still see properly in it. Seems like recoil don't bother my shoulder much s long as it don't hit me in the face. The dummy round idea works great though, I do similar with my revolvers. I load a couple of empty round with live ones then spin the cylinder so I can't tell which is which once it's closed. It'll certainly show you a flinch when it goes click instead of boom.

I think everyone is different. I find myself wanting to flinch in anticipation of the blast not so much the recoil. My 223 was one of rifles I had worst time fighting urge to flinch with until I put a suppressor on it.

 

[Flipper Dude]

If I’m trying to shoot the center of a 10 ring off a bench, I’ll let the shot surprise me on a gentle squeeze. If I’m shooting my Lott or 404 Jeffery, the last damn thing I want is to be surprised. I put the crosshairs where I want and pull the trigger. Hard. I don’t jerk it, but I damn well know it’s going off when it does. Don’t sacrifice any accuracy in Minute of Buffalo. Works for me.

 

[Old3Toe]

When someone advises: "Squeeze the trigger until the gun goes off. The shot should surprise you."

Oh hell, NO!!!

My experience is that a surprise shot makes for surprise recoil and a very unwelcome shock to the senses! No matter the caliber or weapon (gun or bow, suppressor or no) surprise shots are subconsciously anxiety producing and contrary to the task at hand.

THEREFORE I fully eliminate the surprise of it... this I SEND MY SHOTS! I consciously and deliberately break the trigger and send them: Each-and-every-damn-one whether it's a BB gun or a blaster.

Marksmanship matters. Build the skill before the rifle. Be fully in control of your shot and I submit that you'll not suffer from flinches, target panic, yips or other unpredictable self-inflicted mental hiccups.

 

[SStomcat]

For me the best method is to shoot the hardest kicking guns I have and them go back to the other one. It makes my brain go “this isn’t bad at all” I have found most people think this method is that of a crazy man so your mileage may vary

Probably true, I went against the advice of many and started with a 470 ne, then a 9.3, and recently a 30-06. But it's just the crazy me, the above statement is correct, start small

 

[allranch2025]

If you are looking at something through your rifle sites that could stomp or eat you, I'm guessing the last thing you would be thinking is hows my breathing and am I squeezing the trigger. I found this guys drills interesting with good application to a variety of hunting situations

 

[Garciamarquez1918]

I find shooting fewer total rounds helps, and spacing those shots out. I'm not sure if it's because there's a cumulative effect which contributes to flinch later in the session. Or if I lose concentration later in the session and get sloppy.

 

[MS 9x56]

In my experience with friends, and observations at the range, more owners of magnum rifles have a flinch than not. I have observed many who have no idea how to properly mount and hold their rifles. I really don’t understand hunters in my part of the country(northeast USA) wanting a magnum when 90% of shots are under 100 yards. But to each their own.

 

[Choupique]

really don’t understand hunters in my part of the country(northeast USA) wanting a magnum when 90% of shots are under 100 yards.

Well, at least its easier to make hits at 100 yards.

A good way to embarrass yourself is to handload some identical rounds (in appearance) with some being full house and some being the lightest loads you can safely fire, mixing them all up, and using those for practice occasionally.

The first time one of those light ones goes off can be a real eye opener. Recommend doing it without any audience.

 

[steve white]

If you are looking at something through your rifle sites that could stomp or eat you, I'm guessing the last thing you would be thinking is hows my breathing and am I squeezing the trigger. I found this guys drills interesting with good application to a variety of hunting situations

You could have blown me over when he said the 6.5 Creedmore was a great black bear gun! Good close quarter drills, though.

 

[Mountainshadows]

This guy has studied the human flinch response. It's inherit in every human being.

"The flinch can range from a micro flinch to a full on face covering with the hands. If a stimulus is experienced too quickly we will get a flinch. Our goal is to train and get a mental blueprint to help convert a flinch more effectively."

Tony Blauer on Flinch Training - Next Level Training

I grabbed Tony Blauer at ILEETA for a 5 minute interview that went for 45 minutes. Tony is passionate about training and this first video (of four) has some fantastic content related to getting higher pistol volume training from an ambush. Blauer introduces the concept flinch which is our...

nextleveltraining.com

We used to teach an introduction to the S.P.E.A.R. System developed by Tony Blauer, in a military course I was an instructor at. We would start this class asking who in the class room does not flinch. I remember only one time we had a student raise their hand to this question. As the instructor was asking this female student why she thinks she doesn't flinch, I slipped up behind her and clapped my hands real loud behind her head. She flinched. Lesson learned. We all flinch. It's why the bigger gun makes you jump more. It's not the recoil (hahaha for the most part). Even that louder bang can be heard through ear pro and felt more. You can train yourself how to react to it, just as the above system trains you to react to a physical attack.

Some where I have the slide show showing pictures and videos of all the different ways humans flinch. It's an interesting study.

 

[wvhunt]

When I was growing up, my father would load the gun for me as well as others. You never knew if you had a loaded round or not so if you got a click and flinched he'd know for sure. I've found sometimes people don't even realize their flinching. Knowing you're doing it seems to be the first step in eliminating it.

 

[Choupique]

Knowing you're doing it seems to be the first step in eliminating it.

You definitely must be conscious of it to deal with it.
It takes a concerted effort to try to hold the reticle on target through the recoil. I know when the last thing I remember seeing is the muzzle flash in the scope reticle, I made a good shot.

 

[MS 9x56]

Well, at least its easier to make hits at 100 yards.

A good way to embarrass yourself is to handload some identical rounds (in appearance) with some being full house and some being the lightest loads you can safely fire, mixing them all up, and using those for practice occasionally.

The first time one of those light ones goes off can be a real eye opener. Recommend doing it without any audience.

Not if you are flinching.

 

[coreydb]

Everyone has their method, I just pointed my 300 win mag at my 50 yd target and fired and fired and fired until I knew what to expect. I did allow time for the barrel to cool. That's the only way I could overcome the magnum flinch.

 

[Sabre]

Something I, and I'm sure most of you, have seen a thousand times is: Someone going to pull the trigger on a gun they think will fire and it does't (for whatever reason). I don't recall a time where the person stayed perfectly still. I do remember seeing a lot of flinches.

I imagine we all flinch to some degree even If we don't notice. I also think we all flinch for various reasons. Some fear the recoil, some fear the scope catching them, some the percussion. One thing I haven't seen people mention is a "flinch" can also be excitement.

Like some others, I have found the 22LR to be a useful tool in mitigating flinch. I also have found that if you practice a lot with a system or series of steps in your head it helps. Like a mantra you say as you are preparing the shot. Obviously in split second encounters this doesn't fully happen.

I also think some people's accuracy suffers from focusing too much on "slowly squeeze the trigger". Sometimes people can get so focused on slowly squeezing the trigger that they let their crosshairs or iron sight wander a bit off target.

 

[steve white]

In a perfect world, I would want to know EXACTLY when the trigger would break.

 

[375Fox]

I’d really like to load the rifle for anyone who says they shot more or shot bigger cartridges to overcome flinch. I have a strong suspicion what I’d see when they pull trigger on an empty.