Discovered i am blinking.... Explains why i don't see the sights lift... help plz.

[DsWright]

Been following the anderson dryfire method for a while now.  Seen vast improvement in many skills, except it's not translating well to live fire.  Im super slow and finding myself in what i believe is bulleye mode as he calls it.  At matches im shooting tons of A's, but my times are garbage...   have been wondering why i can't ever see my sights lift from target, and it takes a while to get my sight acquisition back for the next shot.  My splits are averaging .75ish, even for closer targets.  Further targets like 15-25 yards are getting close to a second between shots.

 

I don't get a chance to do a ton of live fire practice, but just shot 50 rounds and for the first time i noticed that i am blinking on every shot.  Im at a loss at the best way to correct this.

 

If it matters im shooting single stack major, .45 at about 171PF.

 

I can hit 4.5 second 6 reload 6 drills, and about 4.6 to 4.7 el prez in dryfre, and that s being honest with acceptable sight pictures.  However in live fire im closer to 9-10 seconds on both drills....  I understand that i shouldn't expect to hit those exact par times in live, due to recoil, but it shouldn't be that big of a difference.  It takes me to much time to reacquire my sights after it fires.

 

So what is the best method to stop blinking so i can rack my sights?  I don't believe i am flinching at all because the accuracy is there, even at longer ranges.  So i do think everything up until the point the gun fires is correct.

 

Any ideas would be appreciated...

Edited October 27, 2017 by DsWright

[Hi-Power Jack]

I see better ear muffs in your future.    

 

The blast is coming thru your current muffs, and bothering you - get better muffs.

 

You "just shot 50 rounds" - I shoot 50 rounds before I start shooting - what's holding you

back from firing 150 shots, or even 200?

 

Are you shooting indoors ?   If you are, that .45 going off in a steel barrel, with inadequate

muffs would make me shoot slowly, also - try to get outside, with great muffs and four 

boxes of ammo, and try that 2-3 times.

 

See if that helps     

[DsWright]

22 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

I see better ear muffs in your future.    

 

The blast is coming thru your current muffs, and bothering you - get better muffs.

 

You "just shot 50 rounds" - I shoot 50 rounds before I start shooting - what's holding you

back from firing 150 shots, or even 200?

 

Are you shooting indoors ?   If you are, that .45 going off in a steel barrel, with inadequate

muffs would make me shoot slowly, also - try to get outside, with great muffs and four 

boxes of ammo, and try that 2-3 times.

 

See if that helps     

I was outside.  I can shoot outside my house, i usually shoot more but after discovering my issue i decided to stop and not just waste a ton of ammo until i have a plan to correct it.  Looking back i have probably been doing this for a while now.  I may have to try tomorrow with plugs under my electronic muffs, but i HATE plugs...  but im going to try it and see if it helps.  if it does then it might be time to search for plugs i don't hate.

 

Thanks for the input for sure.

Edited October 27, 2017 by DsWright

[arkadi]

The blinking will go away with practice.

How many rounds you have shot total +- this year?

[DsWright]

15 minutes ago, arkadi said:

The blinking will go away with practice.

How many rounds you have shot total +- this year?

somewhere close to 5k, most of that in the last few months since i came back to uspsa in mid summer.  I started shooting an outlaw match weekly indoors a couple months before i started back in USPSA.  That might be what got this problem started.  It's very quiet for an indoor range, but it's still indoors.

[arkadi]

Ask a shooting buddy what they think you're doing in live fire. Do you feel tense?

Plugs with muffs surely helps.

[DsWright]

4 minutes ago, arkadi said:

Ask a shooting buddy what they think you're doing in live fire. Do you feel tense?

Plugs with muffs surely helps.

Definitely tense, and working to correct that.  But the tension i don't feel is making me flinch, or i would have accuracy issues as well.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Are you classified, yet?

[motosapiens]

better earmuffs will help. so will practice. so will *specific* practice. If you want to practice more cheaplier, use a 9mm (i've even done this with a compact carry gun, so the blast and muzzle-flip is more comparable to a 45).

 

Spend some time and ammo (50-100 rounds at a time) just shooting into the berm, looking *only* at the sights, without the distraction of a target or trying to shoot accurately. You may find that shooting a few fast-ish bill-drills (3 seconds or less?) may help you get tuned in. Go fast enough that you can't keep blinking, and you'll start to see the whole cycle of the sights lifting and returning. Become interested in it. Realize that seeing what the sights are doing is by *far* the most important skill you can develop. You can even do some work on this with a .22 if you have access to a compact 22 (i have a little bersa thunder subcompact).

 

Once you start seeing the whole cycle of the sight lifting and returning, start gripping the living f&$# out of your gun to get it to lift less, and return sooner, and keep watching it the whole time. Practice shooting again as soon as it returns.  And don't be afraid to experiment. One problem with shooting 45 is that normal people who aren't rich want to conserve ammo, but the problem you are facing is imho only solved by flagrantly wasting ammo..... which is why doing some of the donkey work with 22 or 9mm may be attractive.

 

edit: if you know anyone with an open or CO gun, it might be worth it to try the same berm drill with a red dot. 

Edited October 27, 2017 by motosapiens

[arkadi]

BTW, there are moldable silicone? earplugs that are comfortable and reusable, also used by swimmers. Mine came in a small box as a single chunk good for making about 10 pieces. I just pull a piece and use it for several months. Alone, they're good enough to shoot Open Major indoors.I put them on at start of the match, and muffs only for the stage.

[DsWright]

1 hour ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

Are you classified, yet?

yes.  just classified as D, but nearly C, 39%  I have 2 old scores from my first 2 matches in 2012 that haven't fallen off yet at like 12 and 15%.  Most recent scores have been in the 50-55% range.  I didn't shoot matches since 2012 until this year, work schedule made it impossible.

[DsWright]

1 hour ago, motosapiens said:

better earmuffs will help. so will practice. so will *specific* practice. If you want to practice more cheaplier, use a 9mm (i've even done this with a compact carry gun, so the blast and muzzle-flip is more comparable to a 45).

 

Spend some time and ammo (50-100 rounds at a time) just shooting into the berm, looking *only* at the sights, without the distraction of a target or trying to shoot accurately. You may find that shooting a few fast-ish bill-drills (3 seconds or less?) may help you get tuned in. Go fast enough that you can't keep blinking, and you'll start to see the whole cycle of the sights lifting and returning. Become interested in it. Realize that seeing what the sights are doing is by *far* the most important skill you can develop. You can even do some work on this with a .22 if you have access to a compact 22 (i have a little bersa thunder subcompact).

 

Once you start seeing the whole cycle of the sight lifting and returning, start gripping the living f&$# out of your gun to get it to lift less, and return sooner, and keep watching it the whole time. Practice shooting again as soon as it returns.  And don't be afraid to experiment. One problem with shooting 45 is that normal people who aren't rich want to conserve ammo, but the problem you are facing is imho only solved by flagrantly wasting ammo..... which is why doing some of the donkey work with 22 or 9mm may be attractive.

 

edit: if you know anyone with an open or CO gun, it might be worth it to try the same berm drill with a red dot. 

Good advice.  I have both a 9 and .22 that i will go burn a bunch on.  I cast/powdercoat so my ammo is stupid cheap, but does require time.

 

I have also been eyeballing a 320-x5 and making it a CO gun, would be probably spring before that would happen though.  I wish CO was more popular around here...  I figure worst case i end up with a rad production gun and sell the RMR.

[Hammer]

Search for "how to stop blinking " on these forums.  There is a good thread from 2013.

[Hi-Power Jack]

11 hours ago, motosapiens said:

 start gripping the living f&$# out of your gun to get it to lift less, and return sooner 

 

Really tight with weak hand -not so tight with strong hand.     

[MemphisMechanic]

Or a crushing grip with the weak hand, and medium-firm handshake with your strong hand.  

 

The decibullz brand DIY custom molded earplugs are terrific, although the Radians brand ones are equally cheap and more comfortable.

 

Custom molded plugs underneath muffs are a great combination: I’m A class and have been doing this for years - you will shoot more accurately without the distraction regardless of your skill level.

 

Its also normal to blink: it took all of us a long time to get used to shooting without doing so. I personally didn’t follow a training regimen to stop blinking. Good ear protection along with 20,000 rounds sent downrange caused it to simply happen on it’s own.

[Pasley]

Push your tongue hard against the roof of your mouth.  I read it here, sounds stupid, helped me a lot.

[Miranda]

this is a case of try everything.

 

what helped me the most was dryfiring.  if you don't blink then... practice pulling the trigger

you will begin a pattern of not automatically blinking as your trigger gets to the bang part.

 

if you are like me, you will see the sight lift for the first few rounds.

just watch the front sight and nothing else.  

 

I did the shoot at the berm for a few dozen magazines.

it helped, and I slip back to blinking more than I care to admit.

 

miranda

[Edge40]

So I always shot with just good muffs. I usually shoot pretty accurate and felt I saw my sights most of the time.  At area 8 this year I had a set of custom plugs made at lunch time.  I waited an hour or so and ran over and picked them up.  I decided to try them under my muffs.  I shot the stage and couldn't believe what I had saw.  Not trying to sound dramatic but damn.  The first array of targets was close and I was actually seeing the holes punch in the target.  Insane.  Made a huge difference for me.  Get good ear protection.  The custom plugs and muffs is overkill but its great when your shooting.  I never realized I blinked to hard and it definitely helped my splits a lot.

[MemphisMechanic]

I also took a tip from watching Ben Stoeger during his class, and I’ve stopped running electronic muffs when I am shooting.

 

Without being able to reliably hear the steel, you’ll focus on clean sight pictures. And chit chat (“oh he plugged a noshoot...”) will hopefully be blocked out. Of course it quiets the gun down too, so it’s just your eyes and the sights for the entire run.

 

Edited October 31, 2017 by MemphisMechanic

[reverse_edge]

51 minutes ago, MemphisMechanic said:

I also took a tip from watching Ben Stoeger during his class, and I’ve stopped running electronic muffs when I am shooting.

 

Without being able to reliably hear the steel, you’ll focus on clean sight pictures. And chit chat (“oh he plugged a noshoot...”) will hopefully be blocked out. Of course it quiets the gun down too, so it’s just your eyes and the sights for the entire run.

 

 

I've always managed to zone out while I'm actually shooting, but once I heard some squad buddies cracking jokes while right before the "standby" - Bad time to laugh when you're trying to focus. 

 

Now I try to remember to turn the ears off before stepping to the line.

 

[RaylanGivens]

Double plug for sure...

 

I don't ever turn my electronic muffs on anymore...  If I RO or want to talk to someone, I just put my muffs on top of my head and keep my ear plugs in.

[Descartian]

Just curious do you shoot one eye open or two? 

 

Ive heard that you are more susceptible to blinking while shooting with only one eye open. 

[DsWright]

On 11/1/2017 at 1:42 AM, Descartian said:

Just curious do you shoot one eye open or two? 

 

Ive heard that you are more susceptible to blinking while shooting with only one eye open. 

both.  been doing that for years.

 

 

So after trying some things, plugs under the muffs help a ton.  I wear the muffs only till im in the hole, then add the plugs before i shoot.  Im not seeing the site lift yet, but i have stopped blinking and find it faster.  So hopefully just keeping at it i will start to see it lift.  

[sfinney]

As mentioned above....go shoot a dirt berm. Fast. Empty the mag. don't look at the berm, or target, just watch your sights moving around. Do that as a warm up for your regular practice.  Might help. 

 

[swordfish]

Dry fire. Muffs plus plugs. Dry fire some more. It's a mental thing. Once you can burn into your brain that pulling the trigger isn't going to hurt you, and you can muffle the trauma to your ears, you'll be doing good. Also, ear protection isn't really rated for gunfire, at least not the stuff I use (not sure there is stuff out there that is). It's designed for constant noise, and you can still easily develop hearing loss and hurt your ears when wearing ear pro. Doubling up has helped me a lot, and gives me a little bit more protection. Not really sure it helps with my 3gun rifle though, as that thing is obnoxious.