I've Developed A Flinch, Now What?

[carsonkeys]

A few months ago I bought my first rifle, a LH Tikka t3x in 30-06. I immediately took it to the range and, in my excitement and through the pain, put about 40 rounds through it. I woke up the next morning feeling like someone beat my shoulder with a phone book. Ever since that day I've missed shots I shouldn't have, and could never place what was happening. This weekend I had some does step out and I decided I'd practice some dry fire. My first 'shot' I jerked the trigger, closed by eyes, and flinched. Seeing as this is my do-it-all hunting rifle, I'm considering replacing it with a 6.5 creedmoor stainless CTR in the same platform for some added weight and lighter recoiling round, but would love to hear from guys who have been in my shoes.

 

[mt100gr.]

Buy a .223 in the same platform and burn powder. Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire.

 

[carsonkeys]

Buy a .223 in the same platform and burn powder. Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire.

Edited post, meant to say replacing the 30-06 with the 6.5 creedmoor, does that change anything?

 

[skywalkr]

Limb savers are supposed to help a lot, I’d try one of those

 

[mt100gr.]

That's up to you. .223 would just be more economical to shoot and shoot a lot. 6.5 creed in a CTR is a very comfortable rifle to shoot though.

Also, I'd suggest you develop a routine to make your trigger finger and brain communicate.

In archery, target panic or punching the trigger can be absolutely debilitating. I've battled it some and found that shooting into a blank bale over and over helps a ton. Train your body and your brain to feel that clean trigger break. This could be applied to rifle shooting by dry firing at a blank wall. Just get reps in feeling clean breaks.

I've also found that having multiple aim points on a target helps. Settle your sight picture on one and move to another, settle, move, etc. Shoot or dry fire sometimes and pass on the shot sometimes. Your brain needs also to see what a calm and deliberate sight picture looks like without the impending/imminent punch coming.

 

[Scoony]

I have a 338WM with a not so soft pad that I was shooting for the first time this past weekend. I have to admit that I was starting to anticipate shots at the bench after firing a few rounds. The stiff trigger it has does not help. After a few rounds, I put it aside and shot a 223 to relax a little. Trigger control is something that I have to constantly focus on or I will start getting sloppy with the pulls.

 

[5MilesBack]

I've Developed A Flinch, Now What?

Here you go..........

 

[JohnJohnson]

It depends on what's causing your flinch. Sounds like it's just recoil, though for me it was the concussion of the muzzle blast which bothered me most. I'll start off by saying that as for your proposed solution, my experiences with the 6.5CM CTR that Tikka makes (I've shot a few of them and own one) have been fantastic across the board.

If you plan to keep the rifle you have then there's a few things you can do about your flinch. First of all, I'd get a Tikka T1X in .22lr since it'll closely mirror the ergonomics of your centerfire rifle but you'll be able to shoot .22lr all day to get settled back in whenever you need to. Second, I would either get a muzzle brake or (preferably) a suppressor for your rifle. I would actually do that either way, regardless of whether you choose to keep this rifle or move on to a CTR. Depending on the contour of your current barrel and whether it is thick enough to be threaded for a suppressor/brake appropriate thread pitch. The CTR has 5/8-24 threading on it and you'd be able to throw whatever you want on the muzzle. Then also get a limbsaver/pacmeyer recoil pad if you need to.

I now own 4 centerfire suppressors and 1 rimfire suppressor. Acquiring them has been the best decision I've made in regards to firearms spending. For me personally the concussion of the blast was what bothered me and the suppressor not only eliminates that, it also reduces recoil substantially and changes the recoil impulse to more of a shove than a kick.

 

[KoolBreeze]

I do it also due to putting way too many 300 WSM rounds down range in single sittings. It's a hard habit to break. I even catch myself doing it sometimes with 22 LR. But if I'm at a bench with a light caliber I can concentrate and avoid it usually, especially after my shoulder tells my brain it's fine. But the instant I get behind a heavy hitter, it's hard to not flinch. Trying not to think about helps in a heat of the moment hunting situation, but at the bench I just have to quit after 2 or 3 rounds.

 

[lyle_destroys]

Limbsaver helped a ton on my t3x lite 300wsm. Start there. Dry fire. I have to concentrate on my trigger squeeze with that rifle or I'll flinch.

 

[Wapiti1]

A PAST recoil pad will help, and you are going to have to practice your way out. Lots of dry fire practice, reduced power loads, and limit your range sessions to a few actual shots for a while. Sometimes is helps to video yourself as you shoot and play it back in slow motion. If you see what you are doing, it can help you correct it.

"You must unlearn what you have learned." Yoda 1980

Jeremy

 

[Researcher]

Adding a muzzle brake will help a lot as well With recoil. After that its just mental. Whats worse the pain or missing game? I had a 30-06 that hurt a lot to shoot but I always told myself if you’re gonna pull the trigger its gonna hurt and dont make it worse by missing otherwise that pain was for nothing.

 

[RCB]

Dry fire the rifle at home as often as you can. I set up a small dot on the far wall of our longest room (actually a few, sized to represent kill zone sizes at 100, 200, and 300 yds), and practice dry firing at those. I do this on a weekly basis, give or take, practicing different unsupported shooting positions (standing, sitting, prone). It might feel silly, but you should treat this as serious training, just as serious as going to the range. (Gun safety!!!) Note where your crosshairs are relative to the target when you pull the trigger, on every shot; if you can’t do this, you’re flinching or too unsteady. Given that your job ends when you pull the trigger, this is arguably just as good of practice as shooting at the range. Hopefully it can break the association between “pulling trigger on this rifle = loud bang and shoulder punch”.

Also, when I want to get lots of rounds in at the range, generally for training in unsupported firing positions, I mostly use a Ruger 10/22. The principles are the same, but it’s *a lot* cheaper and it will train your brain that gun shots aren’t so unpleasant after all. I also suggest that, when at the range with your centerfire, do at least one dry fire between every live round fired. If you notice a flinch, slow down, and keep dry firing until your nerves are calmed. Don't shoot another live round until you can shoot a dry round without flinching.

I bet more people have flinches than care to admit it.

 

[FYT]

The Hunt Backcountry podcast has an outstanding episode called something like “how to hunt like a sniper.” On it, they have a military sniper instructor who is also a hunter. He gives some incredible advice for the average, everyday hunter to use. I think you’ll find some very applicable info. Highly, highly recommend it

 

[Pigdog]

Revolver with a few random dry cylinders really helped me.

 

[JG358]

Get a rifle your comfortable shooting. You can suppress it or get a break or a recoil pad but end of the day you'd most likely be better off just getting something your comfortable shooting. We all have different threshold and sure you can train/teach yourself to deal with it but life is to damn short to shoot shit that hurts you.

 

[Lawnboi]

I see a few ways you could go.

Cheapest being dry firing, lots of it.

Double up your hearing pro at the range, foam and muffs. Your body reacts to the sound as well.

Next would be a brake, this can help reduce recoil but the muzzle blast, noise and concussion can put you right back at square 1.

Add some weight to the rifle. Light rifles kick hard.

A 6.5 creed tikka with a limb saver pad on it is pretty mild. It might help. Heavier rifle.

If you don’t have a limbsaver pad on your 06 I’d get one

A 223 in the same platform to shoot a lot would be good. Cheap practice, this is what I have done, mainly to get more trigger time, not necessarily to fix a flinch.


Don’t allow yourself to take another shot that isn’t perfect at the range. It’s all in your head, like target panic with a bow. You can throw a crap load of money at it, and in the end you still have to conquer it mentally.

 

[elkguide]

When I was 25 years old, I stopped in at a local gunshop and the owner asked me to do him a favor and step outside and shoot a rifle for him. He said that the rifle owner said that he couldn't keep the scope tight and he had just loc-tited the screws and wanted to see if it would hold. I should have thought it through but being young and invincible, I took the rifle that he handed to me, which he said was already loaded with 3 rounds and all that I needed to do was to flip off the safety and shoot it. My shoulder still hurts just thinking about the recoil/abuse that I took from that .378 Weatherby! Yes, I did acquire a bad flinch from just that 1 shot!!!!!

If you don't or haven't shot a lot/regularly, 40 rounds out of a 30-06 would make most any person flinch. The combination of recoil and noise will definitely mess with your system.
Now you have to change your "muscle memory." Along the same lines of "once you get thrown off a horse, the best way to overcome that fear is to get back on," with a rifle it isn't to go back out and shoot 40 more rounds but it would be to grab a rifle with less recoil, and shoot that.

I'm a little guy, 5'8" @ 160#'s. My go to hunting rifle is a .300 Win Mag and yes it does have some good recoil. Here where I live, there are often many times in the winter that it just plain to cold to sit outside at my bench and shoot and often for several weeks at a time. To compensate for that, I go into my basement and shoot an air rifle. That doesn't generate much recoil but just the feel keeps me in the groove. Once I begin shooting at the bench, I try and start out with a lighter caliber, .22-250 - .243 - 25-06 or even just a .22. If I do have the urge to sit behind one of my .30 caliber rifles, it is only for 3 or 4 rounds. Once I get back in to some sort of a regular shooting schedule then I can sit and fire large numbers of rounds from a heavy recoiling rifle. Even then I still refrain from shooting 30 or 40 rounds from one of the big magnums, several days in a row.
A brake will make any rifle more tolerable if you do plan on shooting a lot from a bench but before you go there, you now have to get beyond your flinch.

When I work with people that have developed a flinch I start out by making sure that their hearing protection is functioning properly. Then I get them set up properly in whatever shooting position they are shooting from. Then I have them get comfortable behind their rifle and I close the bolt for them and have them fire, not knowing whether I have put a live round in the chamber or whether the rifle will just go click. By making it a "fun" time, I have found that most people tend to get beyond their painful/flinch memory quicker.

So get a friend and go the range with good hearing protection and a lighter recoiling rifle and have fun. Do it as often as you can and have fun. The real key is to have fun!

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Good advice above. I sometimes alternate between a big gun, and a .22 at the range. the .22 tells no lies when you flinch, and after a few rediculous flinches, your mind gets right.

I'll reinforce an idea above, and recommend foam ear plugs AND good quality ear muffs.

Finally, take a section of foam camp mat and fold it over a few times. My buddy and I affectionately refer to this as a P*ssy (alternate name for cat) pad, but we both use them for extended range sessions like load development. They will screw with your cheek placement and eye relief, but will save your shoulder.

Another way to catch yourself is to have someone else load your ammo into the rifle or magazine, and have them give you some dummy loads mixed with the live rounds. These should be marked in a manner that keeps you from mixing them with your hunting ammo, but you as the shooter on the range won't know if you have a "real" or "fake" round in until after you pull the trigger.

 

[541hunter]

If i feel myself starting to anticipate a shot, i do not let the trigger break. I then reset and dry fire a couple times. After that I’ll set back up and slowly repeat the word “pull” in my head while focusing on pulling through the trigger. You will hear yourself increase the cadence of the word “pull” if you are beginning to anticipate the shot again. If you hear that, reset again. Don’t let the shot break if you feel anticipation.

Also be sure the rifle is firm into the pocket of the shoulder. Shooting the slightest bit loose could cause the rifle to slap your shoulder and be a lot more painful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk