I'm so frustrated. Please help.

[Robert McMahan]

To everyone,

Thank you for the warm welcome and all the great advice. When I got in from work I read all the super tips and went straight out to the country and shot into a sand bank I use to practice at. I couldn't wait to try all this advice. I am more than pleased to say I am showing lots of improvement already. Here are some of the things I did that you all recommended that I think really helped.

1. I double plugged with ear plugs and ear muffs.

2. I closed my eyes and fired about 5 rounds as fast as I could into the bank.

3. I really, really concentrated on the front sight and tried to watch it lift.

4. I tried to call my shots.

5. I squezzed much harder with my weak hand and almost none with my strong hand. This is the tip that I think helped me the most. I think it helped control my flinch, for now and the other 4 are going to eventually help me defeat it.

I cant tell you all how much I appreciate your help. It is great to have knowledgeable people to bounce problems off of and you have given me hope and confidence. I was all smiles driveing home tonight.

Robert

[EricW]

2. I closed my eyes and fired about 5 rounds as fast as I could into the bank.

4. I tried to call my shots.

5. I squezzed much harder with my weak hand and almost none with my strong hand. This is the tip that I think helped me the most. I think it helped control my flinch, for now and the other 4 are going to eventually help me defeat it.

I'm glad things feel better. A couple comments:

The point isn't to shoot as fast as you can pull the trigger. The point is to shoot as fast AS YOU CAN SEE THE SIGHTS. There is a universe of difference between the two.

Stop trying. Trying is your enemy. Do.

Don't strangle the gun. Differential pressure between your strong and weak hands is bad bad bad. Your front sight will fish around uncontrollably. Brian's book treats the subject perfectly, so I won't repeat it here.

Keep at it! You're in the right place.

[DogmaDog]

Glad to hear the tips are helping.

I'll add one caveat to Eric's list:

beware the "trick of the day"

This is the phenomenon that whenever you change something, you may see an instant improvement in performance, not because the new thing is really "better", but because it's new and requires you to pay attention in a way that you weren't before.

Thus, learning to shoot is a never ending process. What was old will be new again. What works for you today may not work forever.

What we all are trying to learn is to be able to analyze our own shooting. To be aware of what we really are and aren't doing, and make conscious decisions about what we really should and shouldn't do, and then change our shooting process.

All of these experiments (shooting into the berm, for e.g.) are about developing awareness of what you and the gun are doing.

Anyway, I'm glad you're improving! Good ideas spill from this forum in torrents (Flex, that "ring around the A zone" shot-calling drill sounds really cool!).

DogmaDog

[Rush]

Also if you have access to Matt Burkett's DVD on how to shoot faster he has a section on curing flinch. I believe one way he suggests is to close your eyes and fire a few shots so you can become aware that the gun is not going to hurt you. The other thing Matt suggests is to shoot several magazines as fast as you can because Matt says that you cannot flinch as fast as you shoot......

agree with this... the flinch is just something you need to notice. Often enough, if i've not been able to do live fire for a week or so, I'll find its somehow worked its way back in.. so its no big thing and you just need to "know" you're flinching and "force" yourself to keep you eyes open and nopt blink..

I've varied matt's exercise a bit, I take aim at what i want to hit, close my eyes, concentrate on the trigger pull, break the shot... 99% of the time, you'll hit what you were aimed at... do a few rounds like that.. I also use the same exercise to demonstrate to new shooters how to call shots because they normally work to hard at it... if you know what i mean... just gets them to the important fundamental of sight picture, alignment and trigger control...

my .02cents... good luck on your shooting...

Regards

[iweiny]

I have 2 words for you "Snap caps" or maybe that is 1 word?

I am not a world class shooter, in fact I kinda suck. So read what you want into this.

However, I just shot 2 of my worst scores in PPC and was devastated that IPSC had "ruined" my acuracy. I finaly got a day to go to the range and practice and with the snap caps the flinch was VERY apparent.

I think the one difference with me and you is that when I dry fire, I am fine. I could say perfect but... It was not until I got a live round in the gun that I would do it. So I REALLY needed help when on the range.

I went back and shot my best ever PPC score the next week. Now I am just worried that my upcomming IPSC match will cause me to start again. I will have to see how it pans out.

I shoot with my wife so here is what we did. She loaded up a mag with a variable number of snap caps and live ammo. You can actually do this yourself if you just "don't pay attention" to the feel of the rounds going in the mag. Now with each shot concentrate HARD on just pulling the trigger. when you can get to the point the snap caps don't flinch, the hard part has just begun... (where I am at now.)

I have been lurking for over a month now thanks to all the help on all the advice.

Ira

PS. Make sure the snap caps work in your gun. I had a friend who's brand of caps got stuck in his Glock.

[Thomas Moore]

i haven't read the entire post but have you tried double plugging?

[Sam]

Ira, it looks like post number 1 for you. Welcome to the forum!

[Supermoto]

I have found Snap-caps to be very helpfull. When I started shooting about 3 yrs ago, I had an aweful flinch. I could shoot a tight groups, but they would either be on target or low, left. I purchased some snap caps, doubled up on ears and practiced alot.

my flinching, was not from the noise but the anticipation of having to control the gun. I fix it. I held on only enough to keep the gun from falling out of my hands and let the gun rise as much as it wants. didn't try to keep it on target after the shot. Then slowly adding more control. This taught me that I don't need to man handly the gun

I would stop shooting for the day when I was shooting well, whether I still had time or ammo left. If I was shooting poorly, and I didn't see any improvement. I would either take a break or work on something else. I believe in quality practice not quantity.

This is what has worked for me, I am still very much a noob, so YMMV

[iweiny]

Thanks Sam.

I just wanted to try and help. My buddie went with me to practice. He has actually been shooting better than me and even he was able to detect a very slight flinch with the snap caps.

Actually I think my problem is not a flinch but "slaping" the trigger. Because I lift the muzzle very slightly. I liken it to playing cops and robbers when I was a kid and with a toy gun I would simulate the recoil. I think I might, when shooting fast, be going back to this "early training". Who knows for sure. What I do know is that it was so slight that without the snap caps I could not understand why I was doing so bad.

Like I said above, Saturday will be my test. To see if I can keep things under control and shoot well without falling back into my bad habit.

As an aside, for all you city dwellers who can't just go shoot on the back 40. I found that while using my hand drill on the Jeep tonight I practiced "squeezing" the trigger while holding it out like a gun; I don't know, always looking for more practice... I might be over anylizing this whole thing but I think that controlling my trigger finger while not moving the rest of my hand is something I should work on.

<end_ramble>

Ira

[Flexmoney]

I always miss the reloads on my DeWalt...I think it's the grip angle.

[Sam]

The grip angle on the Dewalt is fine Flex. It's just that you've been practicing on a Glock for too long.

[Azone41]

Hey Robert

This is Don. Haven't seen you at the range in quite a while. If you are still having problems lets get together for some practice. Please try to come to the match next weekend maybe we can all help you figure out what you are doing wrong.

[Mike Z]

Robert,

My .02.

First, a good point wasa made above about switching to a 9mm. I would take it one step farther. Start with a heavy .38/.357 revolver with target loads, then work up to full loads. Convert to 9mm, then the .40. Stay with each level until you have resolved the flinch.

A second trick is to start with magazines loaded with dummy rounds. Have a partner load a mag with one live round and the rest dummies. Slowly work you way up from 1 round to a full mag. All the time working on controlled firing. A sidebar, this is great practice for learning to quickly clear malfunctions.