I've Developed A Flinch, Now What?

[missjordan]

I was definitely in your shoes being a female shooter at one time! Although mine was more of a fear from the noise, The way i was able to work through it was being around guns in general at the range and at home. If your nervous because of recoil just start with a smaller caliber gun and start shooting. Start small and don’t over do it either and when you do feel comfortable graduating back to your larger caliber gun start with only shooting it 1-3 times and always end on a positive note. If you get enough positive reinforcement you won’t look at it as being a fear anymore. Also buying or reloading smaller loads is a good idea too. Hope this helps!


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[howl]

Plugs and muffs both, safety glasses, 22lr trainer, dry fire several times between live fire of centerfire. If you can get someone to load your rifle for you, that helps. Your rifle will probably cycle fired cases. You can load with a mix of fired and live to trick yourself. Flinch or not, there are things going on with tripping the trigger that you never see if you don't dry fire. If you do it right in dry fire, recoil is just a circumstance.

We should all be watching game through the scope in recoil to get an indication of what we will find when we are recovering the animal.

I'd rather have the 6.5 CTR for a deer and pig and target rifle, but not everything else.

 

[howl]

Oh and I always wear a PAST recoil shield on the bench, even with light kickers like .223. It isn't because any of my guns really hurt. It's that the pad takes any thought that I could possibly get hurt out of mind. This is a mind game after all. The rifle isn't really hurting more than you can bear. It just messes with your concentration.

 

[ianpadron]

Slap a limbsaver on it, lighten the trigger to 2# and practice dry firing ALL THE TIME.

I had the same exact issue with my T3 .30-06 and the above sugggestion fixed it.

Even put a brake on it for a while to mske sure my flinch was 100% gone.

Last trip to the range had 3 rounds touching at 100.

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[264win]

A very light 3006 has a pretty stout felt recoil. A muzzle break will make the felt recoil far less. But I never suggest a break on a hunting rifle. Even one shot without hearing protection can do significant damage to your hearing.
if legal, a suppressor is a good choice for hunting.
A good recoil pad will help a bit as well.

The 6.5 CM is a great hunting round imho. And would be a great choice in a light weight rifle

 

[Prairiekid]

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.

This is what I would do. You have developed a bad habit, that's all. Now it's time to develop some good ones. If hunting season is done where you are you may want to take a break. Let the holiday season pass and then get back to the range, but with a .22lr, if it's a T1X even better, if not I think that's fine.

I have put over a hundred thousand rds down range with a Anschutz in .22lr, it's where I developed all of my good habits. And they are cheap to shoot. When things are going well again, move back to the 30.06 for a couple shots. If you were shooting prone with the 30.06 I feel like that can be worse.

And like many others said, dry fire!

 

[Low_Sky]

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.

Lots of dry fire practice. Lots of practice with smaller calibers. Use good, full coverage eye protection and double hearing protection (plugs and muffs).
40 rounds of .30-06 shouldn't be that painful on your shoulder. You might need to look into a better quality butt pad, or change your hold on the rifle.

 

[JG358]

Everyone is different. I've seen little women that are fine shooting medium bores off the bench or prone with out a break and big burly men that cant handle 5 rounds of 30-06 or 300win with a break with out getting twitchy and every thing in between.

Screw what anyone thinks about what you shoot, Shoot whats comfortable to you. All the dryfire practice in the world wont make a hill of beans difference if your scared of your rifle when its loaded. Not to say dry fire sessions arent important, they are.

 

[Sled]

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.

i've become sensitive to the noise, even though my hearing is getting worse. shooting without hearing protection when hunting is a tough on me. what has started to bother me even more is being too close to explosives. after 15 years using high explosives at distances less than osha standards i'm feeling the hurt. it makes the rifle report uncomfortable over the last few years. as a result i've started the wair for my stamp this month. well, that and all the other reasons to go suppressed.

 

[Sled]

I was definitely in your shoes being a female shooter at one time!

that begs the question, if you were a female shooter at one time, what are you now?

 

[AKDoc]

Stick with the 30-06...you can do this. I shoot a 375H&H from the bench every year in preparation for fall, and I have to intentionally work at it every year when at the bench to not start flinching.

I always go back to my Marine Corps training...BRASS (Breathe, relax, aim, slack, squeeze) and ALOT of dry firing between each and every shot at the bench. I also proudly use a sissy-pad at the bench with that thumper. I never, ever notice the recoil in the field with animals...and I've been fortunate to take many.

 

[missjordan]

that begs the question, if you were a female shooter at one time, what are you now?

A female shooter whose not afraid of recoil


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[mcseal2]

I had a flinch from shooting a 300 win mag loaded pretty hot with 180's at everything for a while. I shot the barrel out on that 300 burning powder, I shot rocks, crows, coyotes, everything with that rifle. When I started having issues my smith confirmed that the barrel was gone, but I had also developed a problem. We re-barreled it to 264 win mag and it helped me stop being scared of the gun. It still killed deer and antelope just as fast too.

I also started shooting smaller guns a lot. I shot bricks of 22LR, and I shot a lot of 223 also. I quit using the magnum for everything and just used it for big game and some practicing. It took time but I ended up better than I was before. As others said, good triggers, brakes, dry firing, and recoil pads help. I also have a pad I buckle on over my shoulder before every range session, or every time I shoot trap. If I limit the punishment my body takes my mind quits anticipating it and making me flinch.

Now I have another 300 win mag but I don't shoot it like I did the old one. This barrel should last a while. I put a couple hundred rounds through it before hunting season but not to many at one time. It's a light rifle and I shoot others while the barrel cools. It has a brake, 2lb trigger, and a good pad also.

 

[carsonkeys]

Thanks for all the help, everyone. I appreciate it very much.

 

[16Bore]

Shooting isn’t as complicated as people think.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Thanks for all the help, everyone. I appreciate it very much.

Hope it works out. At least you admit you have a flinch. Too many people in the hunting community tie their manhood to how much abuse they can take from their rifles. Coincidentally, those people don't tend to actually shoot that much either and many do have a flinch and just don't shoot enough to realize it.

 

[30338]

I went through 300 Win, 300 Roy, 338 Win, 340 Roy, 375 Weatherby, 7mm Stw, a few 7mm Mags, 458 win, and now shoot and kill everything with 6.5x47 and 140s. I am experimenting with a 6.5-284 and my old 30-06 is suppressed shooting 155s. Got a 22 LR trainer that is exact format as my centerfires as well. Overall accuracy is way up and shooting enjoyment is off the charts.

I'd grab a 6.5 Creedmoor and get a suppressor or two ordered.

 

[JeffRaines]

Couple things -

I had a flinch early on in my hunter career. Being a adult onset hunter means that outside of rarely plinking with a 22 as an adolescent I didn’t have much in the way of shooting experience. My journey echoes yours somewhat - bought a 30-06 as my first hunting rifle and couldn’t shoot it.

To fix my flinch took thousands of rounds of 22 and countless hours of dry fire practice. You need to first retrain your brain when it comes to the shot. There needs to be a process that you can repeat over and over again, to do so will require a gun that is cheap to shoot and has zero recoil and next to no muzzle blast - some people are more sensitive to one over the other so it’s best to eliminate both until you figure out which category you fall into.

Even when you get this ironed out, you’ll notice on shooting days you’ll shoot some and feel great, but then you can start to feel “jumpy”. I have a feeling this is something that happens to nearly everyone - at that point you either stop shooting for the day or you bust out your 22 you should have with you and bang out 20-40 rounds. I find this reduces my jumpiness and makes me much more comfortable for my next shots.

Next thing, if I were you(and you fall into the category of people who, like me, are more rattled by the recoil than muzzle blast) I’d seriously consider a muzzle brake. People are pretty divided on them - they do increase muzzle blast exponentially but they will greatly reduce recoil. Hearing protection is 100% required - people against muzzle brakes will argue that the need for hearing protection and the chance for hearing damage isn’t worth it, but most don’t realize that shooting any rifle without hearing protection irreversibly damages your hearing. Cool part is recoil is low to nonexistent so you can shoot the rifle you want to use for hunting over and over and over again without worrying about developing another flinch.

I would go into basic marksmanship stuff, but there are a ton of websites on the subject written by people who are much better shots than I.

Good luck!

 

[16Bore]

You gotta learn to shoot through the shot, in the present tense, and that recoil is a part of the equation.

 

[dkynoch]

I developed a flinch shooting a bunch of heavy 45-70 loads out of a Marlin lever action. A guy at the range had a 600 nitro. I shot it once and then went back to shooting the 45-70 and it felt like it hardly recoiled and my flinch went away. If I shot the 600 nitro a second time I am sure I would have flinched.

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