Anticipating recoil - Advice? - Page 2

dyl · December 24, 2011, 08:28 PM

Everyone loves sharing their favorite tips. So I'll join on!

Just 2 things. I read somewhere that an un natural but key challenge to shooting is to make your trigger finger an independent entity. Everything stays still - the muscles is the other fingers, how hard you're squeezing both sideways and front-to-back, your level of push-pull from the arms and shoulders, the height of the gun, your head neck and even tour breathing. The only thing that moves is your finger And relatively slowly at that. The rest of you is like a machine, a clamp, whose only job is to present a stable platform. It's un-natural. To me at least and I believe there are many concepts that make it UNLIKE martial arts. The danger of associating shooting to other martial arts too closely is that our job is NOT to anticipate anything as far as the actual firing sequence goes. And unlike other sports where trying "harder" usually means more speed more power more effort we are trying to hold steady, consistent in the firing sequence at least. Letting the usual ways of trying "harder" creep into your firing sequence and it will move your shots around. It's not natural to hold steady in the face of an explosion, to suppress flinches and reactions.

The other thing is a tidbit I learned from a beginner's NRA class. I thought it wouldn't have anything to offer but one among a few tips was novel to me. That is: after a shot is made, do not relax or reset the trigger until you reacquire a sight picture on the target again. Then reset the trigger and relax or shoot again. This encourages follow through but also is good training for getting that "ultimate controlled pair" everyone wants so bad.

Merry Christmas, God bless.

insomni · December 25, 2011, 03:27 AM

when I switched from 9 to .40 I developed a nasty anticipation habit.
5 round rhythm drills where I would fire as soon as I reaquired the target helped.

I also had great success with the dummy/live drill. (which is far more cost effective)
At the range, have your buddy (with his/her back to you) load one round into a mag. This 'round' is at their discression either going to be live, ornothing at all. They ride the slide foreward, and hand you,the pistol to fire. If it is empty and you flinch, conduct 5 GOOD dry fires. Moveonto the next round. Do this for 50iterations, but use only 10-15 actual live rounds.

I've wanted to do this without a buddy by myself. Loading a random assortment of spent casings mixed with 10 live rounds. I have enough mags toaccomodate this. Will loading and dry firing spent casings cause problems, ie failures to extract, or damage to my chamber, etc?

2damnold4this · December 25, 2011, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Also, while practice in very important, remember that practice doesn’t make perfect. It’s “PERFECT practice makes perfect.” More frequent practice shooting fewer rounds, but concentrating hard on what you’re doing, will be more productive than less frequent, higher round count practice.

Very important advice there.

If you start flinching, stop and take a break. Shoot a rimfire, dry fire, do a few push ups or take a nap. Don't practice a flinch.

8MM Mauser · December 30, 2011, 06:40 PM

"To me at least and I believe there are many concepts that make it UNLIKE martial arts. The danger of associating shooting to other martial arts too closely is that our job is NOT to anticipate anything as far as the actual firing sequence goes. And unlike other sports where trying "harder" usually means more speed more power more effort we are trying to hold steady, consistent in the firing sequence at least. Letting the usual ways of trying "harder" creep into your firing sequence and it will move your shots around. It's not natural to hold steady in the face of an explosion, to suppress flinches and reactions. "

Agreed, I think that that is a large part of my problem with rifle shooting. Today my dad and I were dusting clays all afternoon, because it's more of an "action" type of shooting, I don't anticipate the trigger break, even though the 12 gauge recoil is worse than that on my Mauser. I also shot up some cans with the Ruger Mark II I mentioned earlier, and noticed that at the beginning I still exhibited a slight flinch. A couple mags in and that was gone. I was still hitting the cans mind you... just to the left and slightly low.

Rifle shooting is a mental game and requires precision control of every muscle in the body. I like it because it has a sort of calming "zen" feel to it, in that I am able to focus on just this one thing, and in fact I have to if I want to shoot well. I will most definitely acquire a .22 bolt rifle this next year when I can afford it.

December 25, 2011, 03:27 AM	#27
insomni Senior Member Join Date: September 28, 2011 Posts: 342	when I switched from 9 to .40 I developed a nasty anticipation habit. 5 round rhythm drills where I would fire as soon as I reaquired the target helped. I also had great success with the dummy/live drill. (which is far more cost effective) At the range, have your buddy (with his/her back to you) load one round into a mag. This 'round' is at their discression either going to be live, ornothing at all. They ride the slide foreward, and hand you,the pistol to fire. If it is empty and you flinch, conduct 5 GOOD dry fires. Moveonto the next round. Do this for 50iterations, but use only 10-15 actual live rounds. I've wanted to do this without a buddy by myself. Loading a random assortment of spent casings mixed with 10 live rounds. I have enough mags toaccomodate this. Will loading and dry firing spent casings cause problems, ie failures to extract, or damage to my chamber, etc? Last edited by insomni; December 25, 2011 at 03:34 AM.

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December 24, 2011, 08:28 PM	#26
dyl Senior Member Join Date: October 31, 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,310	Everyone loves sharing their favorite tips. So I'll join on! Just 2 things. I read somewhere that an un natural but key challenge to shooting is to make your trigger finger an independent entity. Everything stays still - the muscles is the other fingers, how hard you're squeezing both sideways and front-to-back, your level of push-pull from the arms and shoulders, the height of the gun, your head neck and even tour breathing. The only thing that moves is your finger And relatively slowly at that. The rest of you is like a machine, a clamp, whose only job is to present a stable platform. It's un-natural. To me at least and I believe there are many concepts that make it UNLIKE martial arts. The danger of associating shooting to other martial arts too closely is that our job is NOT to anticipate anything as far as the actual firing sequence goes. And unlike other sports where trying "harder" usually means more speed more power more effort we are trying to hold steady, consistent in the firing sequence at least. Letting the usual ways of trying "harder" creep into your firing sequence and it will move your shots around. It's not natural to hold steady in the face of an explosion, to suppress flinches and reactions. The other thing is a tidbit I learned from a beginner's NRA class. I thought it wouldn't have anything to offer but one among a few tips was novel to me. That is: after a shot is made, do not relax or reset the trigger until you reacquire a sight picture on the target again. Then reset the trigger and relax or shoot again. This encourages follow through but also is good training for getting that "ultimate controlled pair" everyone wants so bad. Merry Christmas, God bless.

December 30, 2011, 06:40 PM	#29
8MM Mauser Senior Member Join Date: October 16, 2011 Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan Posts: 647	"To me at least and I believe there are many concepts that make it UNLIKE martial arts. The danger of associating shooting to other martial arts too closely is that our job is NOT to anticipate anything as far as the actual firing sequence goes. And unlike other sports where trying "harder" usually means more speed more power more effort we are trying to hold steady, consistent in the firing sequence at least. Letting the usual ways of trying "harder" creep into your firing sequence and it will move your shots around. It's not natural to hold steady in the face of an explosion, to suppress flinches and reactions. " Agreed, I think that that is a large part of my problem with rifle shooting. Today my dad and I were dusting clays all afternoon, because it's more of an "action" type of shooting, I don't anticipate the trigger break, even though the 12 gauge recoil is worse than that on my Mauser. I also shot up some cans with the Ruger Mark II I mentioned earlier, and noticed that at the beginning I still exhibited a slight flinch. A couple mags in and that was gone. I was still hitting the cans mind you... just to the left and slightly low. Rifle shooting is a mental game and requires precision control of every muscle in the body. I like it because it has a sort of calming "zen" feel to it, in that I am able to focus on just this one thing, and in fact I have to if I want to shoot well. I will most definitely acquire a .22 bolt rifle this next year when I can afford it.