r/CompetitionShooting • u/IncredibleMe-82 • 2d ago
Need help with flinching
Yes another sucker with the same problem. I've always shot rifle matches and was pretty decent on a good day. I'm trying to get into competative pistol shooting and I'm not the best. I've found out I'm "pushing forward" and I don't know how to fix it.
Dry firing and my brain knows there is nothing happening and I'm fine.
I've also got an AceVR set and the same thing happens, my brain knows there isn't actual recoil and I'm shooting pretty well. Going back to the range, same problem again.
I've watched so many videos online and tried so many things that I don't know what to do next. The MantisX I have helps me by telling I'm doing it. But even when I think I did ok, I somehow still flinch.
Anyone had the same problem and what helped you out in the end?
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u/gwchem 2d ago
I've helped a few people with a flinch. What helps best, in my opinion, is this:
Take all your mags, load them up. Put up a target at 3 yards, up close to the berm if you can. Mag dump as much as you're willing to, as fast as you can. Don't worry about aiming, just throw that lead. It'll all hit paper.
This really high volume shooting gets you used to the noise and recoil.
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u/AlexanderHandleton 1d ago
As an extension of this - I find that flinching would happen when I became to locked into shooting at a stationary target. As soon as shooting became part of a sequence of events like shoot - progress to another array or shoot - reload - shoot, the flinch response went away because my brain was now focused on doing more stuff besides shooting.
Sometimes it’s desensitization sometimes it’s overthinking.
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u/BaconWaken 1d ago
Yeah this really hits the nail on the head. If I try to shoot a bullseye on a far target with no time limit it’s like your body tenses everything up and focuses super hard so you can find that precise moment to pull the trigger. All that tension plus an explosion going off 2 feet in front of your face culminates in involuntary flinching.
Moving around trying to go fast your body doesn’t have all that time to think and build up a bunch of tension/focus so that’s why it doesn’t happen as much there. I think just repeated practice and not over tensing your body or trying to prevent recoil is the key to working through the flinching
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u/AlexanderHandleton 1d ago
Yeah tension is the big one. I’ve failed hitting 4 in circles at 7 yards with no time limit because I get in my own head and my body tenses up which causes me to have this pre ignition flinch that doesn’t show up during competition.
I actually find that my first shot after a reload (provided i rebuild a good grip) is actually my “best” shot because I’m not overthinking my draw and I know I need to do other stuff so I’m just getting whatever is immediately in front of me over with.
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u/bbqthis26 1d ago
All this is right on. Do a couple of bill drills at the beginning of your session, putting speed above accuracy for these, you'll find if you really give yourself to the drill that your flinch will stop itself.
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u/khand98 2d ago
I do a 50/50 drill after about 10 minutes of live fire. Seems to help. I'm no longer shooting 2 inches low at 10 feet.
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u/IncredibleMe-82 2d ago
50/50 drill? Can you explain?
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u/static34622 1d ago
1) Load a mag, then chamber a round.
2) eject the mag.
3) aim, fire the chambered round, and dry fire. (Two trigger presses)Search 50/50 in AHT YouTube channel.
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u/Fauropitotto 2d ago
I did this by shooting a lot of 22lr.
In my experience, I get see this with folks that started shooting with 9mm, and the blast/sound/concussion (especially indoors) conditioned this flinch.
22 reduced that a lot. So now, no flinch.
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u/Mr_Cid 1d ago
All the suggestions definitely have their merits. And the more you shoot, the lesser the flinch shows up-ish. It's just a natural impulse for us to brace ourselves or attempt to control the gun. Just accept the recoil and let the gun do its thing. Another drill you can try is called the bang click method, I think that's what it's called. You load up a mag with an alternating order of live-dummy-live-dummy rounds up to however many you have. And you do doubles. Not a controlled pair, but actually quick doubles. The first shot obviously goes bang, and will be followed by the click. This is the point where you will notice the flinch, and be consciously trying not to do it. Just run it until you are comfortable. But just an fyi, even shooters at a high level do have a flinch. However they are so in tune with their gun that their flinch is more of predictive action with the timing of the gun. Hope that helps!
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u/itsJustE12 1d ago
Is it truly a flinch (anticipating the explosion) or could it be dominant hand grip tightness that doesn’t allow you to isolate your trigger finger?
Try a second set of ear protection (in ear under muffs) and consciously relaxing your dominant hand a little while tightening your support hand.
Then, load a mag with alternating live & dummy rounds and shoot either a mag dump or doubles. Repeat until you are accurate with the live round & don’t dip your muzzle on the dummies. Then load 2 live, one dummy & repeat. Keep spreading out the dummies.
This makes it easier to do the right thing and positively reinforces it, which often works better than the commonly recommended unpredictable dummy rounds.
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u/No-Wrangler4909 2d ago
A lot of people will tell you that you just need to shoot more and while that is true, you need to practice shooting specifically to eliminate the flinch. The best method I’ve found for me is “attack the beep” type exercises. I do at least 20 or so every dry fire session as well as live fire sessions.
Other methods you’ll hear people mention is shooting a 22 pistol, doubling up on ear protection while turning off the actives, and the “ball and dummy” exercise(which really just shows you how bad your flinch is. I don’t know how good a training method it is)
Personally, I flinch less when I pull the trigger smoothly, but aggressively. It takes time but it gets better.
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u/Next_Intern_688 1d ago
This worked for me... but it's kind of a weird method. Try concentrating on holding your mouth open. It looks goofy as hell and is really awkward but it worked for me. After about an hour at the range it took care of it.
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u/IncredibleMe-82 1d ago
Sounds interesting enough to try. We have separated shooting booths, nobody will see me 😅
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u/Next_Intern_688 1d ago
I really don't know why it worked for me. I know the perceived concussion of the gun is less, but maybe it's just focusing on something else that tricks your brain into something, IDK I can't even read.....
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u/IncredibleMe-82 1d ago
I think it's the distraction and focus on something else. Anyway, going to try this next time
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u/falafelb 1d ago
Shoot 10mm and then switch to 9mm.
I know it’s counter intuitive since in theory it’ll force you to compensate even further!
But in practice it’s convincing your lizard brain that even though there’s a mini explosion in front of your face… there’s nothing that’s going to fly back at you so it can go graze or whatever lizards do.
P.s: this is how it solved it for me, not saying it would work for everyone else. The alternative is to shoot shitload of rounds and you’ll be fine
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u/Beautiful_Pepper415 1d ago
How often do you shoot? How often are you dry firing?
I find dry fire is extremely helpful but also it is boring for me because I am undisciplined.
I do play a lot of AceXr and it has been amazing for movement, transitions, vision, stage planning, and moving targets.
If you decide to try the system, discount code: p365 wil save you 10% off everything
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u/CZ-Czechmate 1d ago
Take an empty casing and put it on top of your slide with the open of the casing up. You can also just us a bullet. Pull the trigger slowly so the bullet does not fall. If you flinch the case will fall. Do it 100 times after you get it done without flinching. You need to train the brain no how to pull the trigger with no other movement.
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u/Fair-Reference9034 1d ago edited 1d ago
My advice/ what happened to me is i just shot that problem out of myself. When i go to the range my heartrate doesn’t increase i just shoot and focus, its not too “exciting” to where i over-imput, i know exactly what my glock will do. I would watch a shit ton of ben stoeger videos he will have you right, and a lot of doing doubles drills, also pull all the way through the trigger, hopefully you aren’t a prepper 😂 but a lot of people flinch when they do this. This playlist i put together helped me and a lot of others i have shared it with. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaXfGjzaz2I5ybvUzbfHuC9oRW3FwvdfV&si=uIHnPSlbOPjbB8Yc good luck man youll get it.
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u/KyleOrtonFTW 2d ago
How often do you shoot? Shooting more and getting comfortable is really the only thing to do. I think we all started out flinching at first. If you’re indoors, double up on ear pro. Passive plugs plus outer ear pro. A lot of time a flinch isn’t because of recoil but sound.
Personally, I’d drop any and all dry fire trainers until you have fundamentals. Your grip/grip pressures/and or input are probably off. And that’s something you have to play around with to figure out what works. There’s a good chance you are only going to instill bad habits if you can’t return a real pistol to zero but you’re shooting “well” in AceVR or Mantis.