Does anyone use a dummy round in their mag during live fire practice to help with "flinch"?

[NOSHMJ]

So I have noticed a little flinch every now and then.  To solve this, I have been putting a dummy round in my mag during live fire practice to help with this.  I blindly load the mag, so I dont know when the dummy round is coming.  Does anyone else do something similar?

[louu]

How's your accuracy? Are you actually flinching low left/right? 

JJ explains it best

 

[NOSHMJ]

My accuracy is good.  I am doing the low left stuff when I do flinch.  Its not an all the time thing, its just something Ive noticed, and found the dummy round helps identify it. 

[Intheshaw1]

I load my mags randomly at home, shuffle them around so when I get to the range I don't know where the dummy rounds are. 

 

I started doing this for flinching but now it's mostly for malfunction drills.

[NOSHMJ]

Yes, I found it helps a lot for both. I do it for PCC also. 

[CClassForLife]

I chamber a round, release the mag, then shoot a double. I keep doing it until I don't flinch on the second shot.

[NOSHMJ]

Its odd, I rarely flinch on the 2nd round, its more when I get going faster, and then it just appears.  

[Racinready300ex]

I've never done it, I don't know just didn't make sense to me.

[NOSHMJ]

I notice it whike watching other shooters too, they run dry, or have a malfunction, and then you see that gun go forward.  Thats where I got the idea to toss a dummy round in and see if I do it. 

[Styro]

well they don't allow them when you make ready or on the safe table so if you're using dummy rounds they better be used somewhere off the range or at home or you will likely be DQ'd

[Racinready300ex]

1 hour ago, NOSHMJ said:

I notice it whike watching other shooters too, they run dry, or have a malfunction, and then you see that gun go forward.  Thats where I got the idea to toss a dummy round in and see if I do it. 

 

But when the gun goes forward is it right before the hammer falls or right after? That fraction of a second is pretty important. 

[arkadi]

Even if that's after, is it optimal for a farther follow-up shot?

Edited May 22, 2020 by arkadi

[NOSHMJ]

The gun goes forward pretty much right when the hammer drops from what I have seen

[SGT_Schultz]

16 hours ago, Styro said:

well they don't allow them when you make ready or on the safe table so if you're using dummy rounds they better be used somewhere off the range or at home or you will likely be DQ'd

 

You must have missed the part where he said he does this during practice.

[SGT_Schultz]

17 hours ago, Racinready300ex said:

I've never done it, I don't know just didn't make sense to me.

Pre ignition push also doesn't make sense.

[shred]

Looking at the pattern of holes on target is where it's at for this.  Many great shooters pistols will 'dip' on a bad round or empty chamber if they don't expect it.

 

It's not something you specifically train for, it happens with the drive to get good hits as fast as possible.

 

If your hits aren't good , especially as you go faster, put a lot of attention on what your hands are doing and feeling as you shoot drills that show the problem.

 

 

[GrumpyOne]

Doing the math, for example, a 45ACP round, at 950 fps, will spend about 0.0005 seconds in a 1911 with a 5 inch barrel...that is 5/10,000 of a second. Pushing the gun down AFTER the shot is not an issue, as I seriously doubt anyone has a reaction time that fast, the issue is anticipating the recoil and pushing down BEFORE the bullet starts moving. 

 

The dummy round practice you are referring to is called "Ball and Dummy". It does work on helping with a flinch....but all it really does is show you (or someone watching you) that you are pushing the gun down before (or after) the shot breaks. 

 

Dry fire is a key to not flinching. And learn to ignore the reaction of the gun and the sound of the bang when it is being fired. Your focus should be on the front site and nothing else.

 

Another trick you can try...take a #2 pencil with an eraser,  sharpen it down to where the the tip of the pencil will just stick out of the end of your barrel (unloaded, of course), then blunt the tip of the pencil, tape a piece of paper on a wall, back off the wall about 1/2" with the pencil in the barrel, and pull the trigger while aiming at the paper.  If the pencil leaves a dot, cool...if it leaves a short line, you are moving the gun while pulling the trigger (not cool). Practice that until you get nothing but dots on the paper.

[Racinready300ex]

On 5/23/2020 at 6:43 AM, SGT_Schultz said:

Pre ignition push also doesn't make sense.

 

Pre ignition push does make sense, it's the part where you have to tell the difference between pre and post when a tiny fraction of a second makes the difference.  I just look at the hits of the target instead.

[Farmer]

On 5/23/2020 at 6:59 AM, shred said:

Looking at the pattern of holes on target is where it's at for this.  Many great shooters pistols will 'dip' on a bad round or empty chamber if they don't expect it.

 

It's not something you specifically train for, it happens with the drive to get good hits as fast as possible.

 

If your hits aren't good , especially as you go faster, put a lot of attention on what your hands are doing and feeling as you shoot drills that show the problem.

 

You should see the big Dip/twist when my brother forgets to take the safety off on his Witness.   

Edited June 2, 2020 by Farmer

[Kokeman]

When I coached a SASP pistol team we would load a dummy round in the kids mags all the time. They could really see how much they were jerking the trigger. I would load up 9mm dummy rounds no powder and a spent primer. We would sneak one into one of their mags while they were shooting. It really helped a lot of them stop jerking the triggers.

[faster]

if you dont have a compensator, you'll either have slow repeat hits or youll have to incorporate some sort of motion into your hand that forces the muzzle back down, if you're firing major caliber loads. There's a reason why guys favor minor calibers and it's not all just mag capacity. Cooper used to say (about observed flinches when a rd didn't fire) that "what matters is where the bullet goes". If you can average doing Bill drils, all A zone hits in 2.0 seconds or less, with a major caliber, concealable rig, hands at sides start, on an actual electronic timer, you have good control of the gun. If you can do so at 15 yds and only slow down to 2.5 seconds, you have very superior control of the pistol.

[Joe4d]

I dont see that dummy round thing being that useful.  Just dry fire and follow through. When you get to live fire you will just know if you are calling shots. I mean I am not perfect but it is still part of being able to call every shot. I mean I know when shanked the heck out of one.