Gun Cycling

[rhgunguy]

When I shoot my CZ-75B I notice that the recoil impulse is kind of weird. When my shot breaks, my wrists break upwards and then I break again at the elbows only slightly. Then my wrists and the gun come back down with the gun again paralel to the ground, but higher up by an inch or two. Anyone else notice this? Or is it something wrong with my technique?

[John Dunn]

Something is very wrong with your technique if the whole gun is shifting up an inch or two on firing. What happens after several rounds?

I'd do some reading here on grip and stance, get Brian's book, watch Burkett's videos, get a local shooter to critique you, post a video of yourself for forum feedback.

[Ron Ankeny]

I had a 75B in 9mm and I thought it was about the softest shooting production gun available. I have heard some horror stories about the 75B in .40 with some of the snappier factory rounds being a handful for some shooters.

As John suggested, there is plenty of help available but it's kind of hard to critique technique over the Web.

[Sam]

+2 on both of those posts. Yes, you need to further develop your technique.

I have a CZ-75B as well. And I don't really classify what happens when it fires as recoil. It's more of a muted mousefartofa twitch.

Do you have access to a shooting buddy that can really rock & roll on the "A" zone? If so, have them teach you how to "set" the tendons in your wrists so that your fingers are flexible, but your wrists don't flex. And make sure there is no gap between the bases of your thumbs where they meet at the back of the grip. A gap here is big trouble, the gun can torque up and away. The grip has to be fully encompassing to allow the gun to return on target each time.

You are paying good attention to what happens when the gun fires. That's the biggest thing right now. Try some stuff and let us know how it's going. There is nothing but improvement ahead!

[Flexmoney]

I see people ...in slow fire...leave the gun high after recoil.

The gun recoils back a lot harder than it goes forward when the slide closes. We have to help it out some.

[rhgunguy]

I noticed it in slow fire while I was shooting groups. When I am at IPSC or at the range practicing rapid fire, I bring the gun back down. I was just trying to feel and see what the gun did when it fired.

[Sam]

Now I get it gunguy! I didn't realize we were talking slow fire. Since you normally don't have the problem in rapid fire, it's an easy solution. Shoot the gun the same way everytime. The best example I can think of is that we sometimes hear people complain that they caught themselves "flinching" when they press the trigger on a dud round or empty chamber. With experiened rapid fire shooters, this usually isn't a flinch at all. What we are doing is simply responding to the recoil that always follows immediately after a trigger press. It's kinda like living in Wyoming. Every day you fight your way out the door against the wind. One day there is no wind, and you nearly fall face first off the porch.

Thinking about the mechanics of shooting on the forum is good. Thinking about the mechanincs of shooting while shooting is bad.

Edited April 29, 2006 by Sam

[eric nielsen]

What Sam & Flex said. You may be fine if you're getting good groups.

When I shoot groups I usually just let the gun go where it wants to go, then I put it back into the the line-of-sight later. Like within one second, no rush.

For me this seems to contribute to a much better "surprise break" or "looking the shot off" and it's the only way I can put 5 shots into one inch at 25 yards. Combination of not anticipating recoil and also putting a very good aiming point on the target - like red stickers for ironsite shooting or a big cross of masking tape clear across the target & top-to-bottom, for Open.

If you carry a gun in the military or police, and you have to do Time-Limit type qualifications, you may find that this method gives you the most points on the target. For 5 shots in 6 seconds, no draw, this works plenty fast enough. Either way, slowfire or ipsc, I'll have the wrists set the same every time, my off-hand index finger jammed into the bottom of the trigger guard the same, usually the same finger pressure with the off-hand.

I'll try to shoot 2 or 3 good groups [good being less than 2"] per practice which also shows me where i'm sighted in. Only after that will I shoot some medium-pace Bill Drills, like .40 splits, to see if I'm hitting the same point of aim while anticipating, ipsc style. I don't want to adjust the sights to compensate for yanking the gun around, that's the goal anyway.

I realize this may sound like Greek to some people & it's frequently the same people who haven't yet put up a good group at 25yds. I see them yanking on the gun. My $02