Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Flinch Drills

I was shooting with a new shooter today. She had a revolver and after watching her for a little while I noticed that she had a flinch. She was anticipating the recoil, pushing the firearm down in anticipation of the upward movement of the recoil.

We did some flinch drills. They're simple with a revolver, a little more complicated with t a semiauto.

What we want is a good trigger squeeze all the way through the long double-action trigger pull. Showing the shooter that she's flinching is fairly easy. With the shooter's back turned, load two rounds at random in the cylinder. Spin the cylinder and shut it. Give the revolver to the shooter and have her execute a trigger squeeze. If a round is under the hammer, she'll get recoil. If a round isn't under the hammer, she'll get nothing but a click. If she flinches, she'll know it immediately.

We conducted this drill until she recognized the flinch and was able to conduct a proper trigger squeeze every time. Her scores dramatically improved.

This is a drill I've done with dozens of new shooters and it seems to work every time. It's also a drill that a shooter can conduct alone. Simply close your eyes as you spin the cylinder, then close it. You won't know where the rounds are and you can focus on the front sight all the way through the firing sequence.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I was about 9, my crazy uncle, a recently retired USMC Gunnery Sergeant, began teaching me to shoot a centerfire rifle, a M94 Winchester. We went through the flinch drills each Saturday afternoon at the range. If you can find an old Marine DI to teach you to shoot, you're in good hands. Especially if he's your favorite uncle.

He also taught me that in recreational shooting, to shoot a rifle I enjoyed shooting. I don't enjoy magnum recoil, so I shoot mostly Military Main Battle calibers. Plenty of power for the hunting I do and fun to shoot at pop cans. Heavy on the "fun".

Same philosophy obtains with sidearms. .44 mag=no fun. .45ACP, 9mm Para, .455 Webley, .38 Spec.= fun. .22 LR= HUGE FUN.

Your mileage may vary.

Gerry N.

Pawpaw said...

Gerry, I agree, although I find the recoil from a .44 magnum interesting. For the first dozen rounds. I own a .44 mag Ruger Super Blackhawk, but my favorite load in that pistol is an old .44 special load. Any brass, a 240 grain cast bullet and 7.5 grains of Unique. Mild recoil, accurate, a lot of fun.

Rich Jordan said...

The only problem I have with flinch drills with my revolvers is that the recoil shield doesn't cover the outer edge of the cylinder; I can see the backs of the cases. I always load two cartridges and put empty cases in the other chambers.

Rivrdog said...

Yep, that's called a "ball & dummy" drill in these parts, Pawpaw.

Gerry, I take exception to your ".44 mag = no fun" classification.

Fun is exactly what you get when you're ringing clangers at 200 and 300 yards with an open sight revolver.