JavaScript is disabled
Our website requires JavaScript to function properly. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings before proceeding.

I think this should also work with rifles. I caught myself flinching several times just as the trigger was reaching the wall

You can also get dummy rounds and mix them intermittently within your magazine. Not only would this help you practice immediate action drills, it'll tell you what you are doing when you pull the trigger. If using a revolver, just leave one or two of the cylinders empty.
 
You can also get dummy rounds and mix them intermittently within your magazine. Not only would this help you practice immediate action drills, it'll tell you what you are doing when you pull the trigger. If using a revolver, just leave one or two of the cylinders empty.

I like doing that for new shooters with a S&W 686. A random mix of spent brass, .38 and .357 mag tends to tell the story in a hurry. Helps shooters develop good habits in double action too, smoothing out "grip flex" tendencies (for lack of a better term) with the longer, harder trigger pull.
 
My take on this...a flinch is not caused by the trigger finger, its caused by the hands/arms moving before or as the shot goes off.

One can slap the trigger all they want as long as its straight back, and you'll get hits every time. I demonstrate this in my pistol classes. I stage my finger on the forward area of the trigger guard and take the shot from that position. Rob Leatham admits he slaps the trigger all the time when doing multiple rounds fast, its that one has to be able to do it quietly.
Also, trigger finger placement takes backseat to proper grip. Never sacrifice your grip for a so called proper finger placement on the trigger. Wherever your finger lands on the trigger, go with it and practice with it...you can be as smooth as anyone else.

I don't agree with the drill used in the video, as people will out think the drill...meaning, if the person knows there's not going to be a shot going off, more than likely the flinch won't happen. Use the old ball and dummy drill...mixing live and dummy rounds in the magazine or cylinder. Better yet, have a friend load them, that way you won't know when the shot goes off or its a dummy.
 
Last Edited:
I think the best explanation is with Rob. If you can't press the trigger quietly, all the basic fundamentals...sight alignment, sight picture etc is for naught. Work on a quiet trigger press, once you have that, add in the rest of the fundamentals.

 
Flinching can be overcome with retraining the brain a bit, but one needs to go painfully slow to do it.

When we are faced with something new to learn, that's the conscious part of the brain working. When we get the hang of it and start moving faster because we've grasped the concepts etc., that's the sub-conscious taking over...or what a lot of people call "muscle memory".

Am not saying that flinching is "muscle memory", but in a way it can be ingrained in the brain the same way, which is difficult to change. Kinda like a bad habit.

Start painfully slow, press the trigger without aiming as Leatham mentioned. Forget about sights etc. Problem is, one has to stay in the painfully slow mode for awhile until the brain trains itself out of the flinch mode. Go from that to live fire ball and dummy drills, and keep it slow. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is pressing the trigger. Even when using sights, if you're concentrating on the sights, you're applying wasted effort.

I know this sounds odd...so do this. Find an object and point at it with your trigger finger. Two things are happening. You pointed at the center of it, and I didn't ask you to. The body will always find symmetry, balance etc if allowed. The second thing you'll notice, you can keep your finger pointed on the spot and you don't have to think about keeping it there, and its not moving off that spot. Sights act the same way...set them and forget them, they are not going to move off the spot...you just proved it. The only effort you need to concern yourself with is when to press the trigger.

You're not going to be able to keep the gun rock solid, impossible. There's two things that need to be overcome, but we are unable to do it. First, heart beat. The body pulsates with every beat. Second, respirations...aka breathing, can't stop that either, so learn to work with them.

Get the sights as best as possible and press the shot.

Take to heart the above, then try the Dot Torture Drill. You'll be surprised at the immediate results.
 
Last Edited:
That's what I meant in regards to flinching. It wasn't my trigger finger, I was catching myself jerking the gun down
You're right 6Corsa6. Exactly what many shooters do, especially with heavier recoil pistols. That's why Stick655's empty chamber drill works so well to quickly reveal a pronounced anticipatory flinch. I do something similar to Stick, but with used brass in the dud chamber(s) - so the hammer falls on something, and the shooter doesn't see random empties coming around in the cylinder.
- Gun goes "Click"
- Barrel jerks down
- That's usually a flinch.
(Some shooters with weaker hands also wave a pistol around if the DA trigger pull is heavy.)

In either case/both cases, I incorporate some other drills until any shooter (including me) can pull the trigger every time without jerking the barrel down to compensate for the expectation of recoil and noise - which may or may not even happen with empties in the mix. Suddenly those little holes in the target start making smaller and smaller groups, and gravitate toward the bullseye.

brass showing.jpg
 
Last Edited:
Lots of time practicing helps too!

Or a bag rest. So as to eliminate the second hand on the gun, practice with just the gripping hand.

Slowing down and breathing helps a lot too.
 

Upcoming Events

Tillamook Gun & Knife Show
Tillamook, OR
"The Original" Kalispell Gun Show
Kalispell, MT
Teen Rifle 1 Class
Springfield, OR
Kids Firearm Safety 2 Class
Springfield, OR

New Resource Reviews

New Classified Ads

Back Top