Help with shooting accuracy - I flinch

[Pro953]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I understand that dry firing will not resolve the recoil issues but as noted i thought becoming more confident with the rifle and routine would be beneficial vs running ton's of rounds through the rifle. Either way back to the range I go.

 

[hogassin]

I learned to shoot a 22 with open sights.
I switched to a 270 with scope and developed a bad habit of trying to squeeze the trigger only when the crosshairs were dead on...
now I exhale and start squeezing...... avoiding that figure eight move & jerking of trigger....
Just saying maybe your problem might be your technique....
im no expert & ive never hit anything at 500 yrds but I shoot ok

 

[Land Cruiser]

Muzzlebrake

 

[Deleted member 33033]

Appleseed Project...best $75. I ever spent. You won't believe the difference after the 1st day.

 

[flingem71]

Too much "creep" in a trigger can cause this.
If you don't have a custom trigger...get one. Accu makes a good one ect. The amount of time your "pulling" may cause target panic, recoil anticipation and so on. The difference between a 3lb. Trigger with a half mile of creep and a 3oz. Trigger with no creep would improve ray charles! Next...be comfortable in position. Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lay down. Balance a quarter on the end of the barrel, deep breath in, let half out, hold and squeeze. Be sure to not use too much finger tissue contact on the trigger. Its more of a drag the finger than anything. Try not to leave a finger print on the face of the trigger. If the quarter fall off during a freestyle dry fire.... do it again. Hope this helps.
Sent from my Huawei U8800-51 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Bayboy2020]

Practice with a .22 for a little or a gun with less recoil... I use to have a bad flinch after scoping myself. I found that shooting a .22 helped me work on form and losing the flinch. Also I put a slight hair trigger on my rifles

 

[wthrbyman]

I was hit in the eye by my grandfathers .264 win mag when I was 14 or so. I flinched for several years after that. I now shoot a .270 wsm with no flinch and I attribute that to hundreds of rounds shot using a lead sled. Also make sure you are wearing eye and ear protection. It will give you a sense of protection and if the bang of the gun what is causing the flinch that might help as well. I started just by sqeezing the trigger without really caring where I hit on the target. I just focused on squeezing the trigger. at first I found myself closing my eyes right before the shot. Now I can pretty much watch the dirt fly in the scope. The lead sled takes out a huge amount of recoil and I believe over time will help build your confidence. I shot my biggest buck ever 2 years ago at 386 yards, something I wouldn't have attempted with a flinch. good luck and know your limits.

 

[quack_head]

Breath. I'm sure you are wearing ear plugs. Subconsciously listen to your heart beat. Practice firing between beats. Develop a routine and stick to it. Relax your jaw, face and neck. Make consistent stock to shoulder alignment.

Most triggers are adjustable, while at the range make adjustments to the trigger. Draw a line on your finger near the center. With sports tape, tape your finger leaving the line exposed. This will train you to engage the trigger consistently in the same location.

If recoil is to much. Browning makes a muzzle brake that can be installed without machine work. It's adjustable too, like the BOSS. It's licensed under a different name. 40% recoil reduction.

I have a adjustable brake on my .270 wthby. It's felt wrecoil is less than my .257 wthby.

 

[Wino]

I notice I flinch sometimes on the bench with my .308. But when Im hunting and I have an animal in the cross hair, I don't remember ever thinking about the recoil or tense up. Im just thinking about how far and how much to hold over for elevation. I don't even remember the recoil. Im just trying to fiend the animal again in the scope to see if its down or do I need a follow up shot.

 

[BigAssWhiteBoy]

Tons of good advise so far! #1 Trigger!!! If the trigger is crisp with out a lot of creap then go to what Woodgrain said,#2 DRY FIRE DRY FIRE DRY FIRE!!! I use that one with the kids and the wife and it worked like a charm. #3 muzzle break. I shoot a 300WM and as some of you know they kick like a mule and no matter how much you try to not think about it the recoil is a part of the equation. JP Enterprises recoil Eliminator!!! Turned that mule into a Kitty cat!! any way that is waht worked for me hope it helps. Let us know how it goes.

 

[KTKT70]

stick with what the USMC tells you. A lot of the time it has to do with breathing right. the Lt. Col says they when he was in boot camp. If you could not breath right, They would put your head n the head and than teach u to breath by flushing the water down. When the water is gone... u breath... when it fills up u hold your breath and sqeez the trigger. not pull.

i hope thigs get better for you. may just take sum time and a little hard work. If that dose not help. Im sure there are sum Corps guys here that can yell at you. jk lol

 

[Waterguy]

I also had a flinch issue, I have a tikka t3 light in 300wm the factory pad was hard rubber and shooting 180 grain bullets in a bench rest was not fun. I installed a limbsaver and can shoot a box of rounds without being pounded. My group at 100 yds is 1/2". I am now comfortable shooting further because there is not much on felt recoil. I thought about a muzzle break, but wanted to try a cheap solution first.

 

[dirtpoor]

This is going to sound crazy... But... When you are shooting have a buddy stand behind you and just before you pull the trigger have him tap you on the side of your face , then when you are re situated and ready to fire have him do it again, have him repeat this at least 3 times, you will find that you are focused on the tapping instead of recoil and your flinch should diminish and maybe disappear, good luck.

 

[Deleted member 33033]

These help reduce recoil a lot: http://www.bullsbag.com/Multi_Purpose_Bench_Rest_Shooting_Rests_Models_X7_Bulls_Bag_s/6.htm

Great from range practice.

 

[TheGDog]

Work on focusing on the thing you're shooting at, and don't let your eyes off it... and say to yourself "Don't worry... the bang is just going to happen when it happens, and that's Ok." When you're doing it right... the bang almost feels like it surprised you because you were soo focused on the target and focused on smoothly squeezing that trigger you kind of almost forgot about that tension you've become used to feeling upon anticipating the boom. And it's because you intently concentrated on focusing "out there"... on keeping on target... on your breathing. Also... ask yourself WHEN are you flinching? Is it after you've already fired several rounds and may start to feel sore where you shoulder your rifle? I say this because on my shooting side my collarbone is all kindsa crooked from being broken before so when firing from prone the buttplate of any rifle is resting on a very small amount of surface area on my protruding collarbone on that side... so I tend to get some pretty good bruising since all the force is pushing against a small contact area due to my irregular physiology. If this the case for you as well... if you are going to be shooting a lot... perhaps looking into a padding solution would prove very helpful. Personally I just stop shooting once I notice the pain starts to make me anticipate like that.

 

[frankiecruzer]

Let the shot surprise you, use interrupted trigger control that means squeeze and hold squeeze and hold until the shot goes off. I hope that helps and dry fires also helps a lot