Help with a bad habit

[CoolShi7Designer]

Hello to you all,

I have a shooting mechanics question for the crack pistoleers here.
How do you train out "anticipating the shot"?
From the day I bought my XD and started my "gun guy" life, I've always had a problem pushing my shots low.
It's not my trigger mechanics, it's a full on body "flinch".
I bought a lighter trigger hoping the crisper, earlier break would fix it but I just have a gun with a better trigger that I still push low.
Looking for any suggestions better than "stop it."
Thanks.
Brandon

 

[Sted-E Ed-E]

Get some snap caps and dry fire practice!

 

[rockchalk06]

You may need to seek out some professional training to get hands on. Forget all the trigger add on's and nonsense for now. You have to fix your form and pull before any of that will help. A lot of us cut our teeth on 12-15 pound double action pulls on wheel guns, so it can be done.

Will Andrews has a pistol class at Wilshire Gun that he goes into good detail on trigger pulls and technique. I recommend that. When Micro's auto's came out, I had a similar low left bug that I couldn't fix myself. Will was able to train me out of it within a few minutes.

Dry fire. Dry fire the hell out of that gun. Make sure it's empty of course, and shoot the TV about a half million times. Go slow and focus on your trigger pull. Get familiar with your weapons pull. Pull slow enough, that the break surprises you.

Take Will's class (pretty cheap) and then more dry fire. You will whip that flinch out asap.

BTW, Welcome to OSA.

 

[HiredHand]

In an auto loader you could try randomly inserting dummy rounds into the magazine. Maybe load mags before a range session or load a few and mix them up before shooting. On revolvers you can fire a shot and then rotate the cylinder, fire a shot and rotate the cylinder then fire the rest of the cylinder. Either way it should give you a few surprise “clicks” and you can practice your tap-rack drill, too.

 

[GC7]

Are you afraid of loud noises outside of shooting? Full body flinch seems like fear, rather than "nose diving" which is just recoil anticipation.

 

[HiredHand]

Another thing that Bill Rogers talks about is wearing a full visor during shooting practice, some people that develop a flinch are really reacting to the pressure from the cartridge going off. He’s mentioned that your eyes instinctually close because of the pressure that comes back towards your face.

His book “Be Fast, Be Accurate, Be the Best” is a really good read. If your not into reading, I’d suggest his video of a similar title from Panteo productions covers much of the same information.

 

[CoolShi7Designer]

Thanks for the replies.
I have a mantis laser academy that I use fairly regularly and am accurate with, I got it just for this issue actually and it's how I got rid of the "right" part of being low right. Thing is, I don't push it when I know there's going to be no recoil so the laser trainer isn't helping with the "low" part because it's only a problem I have at the range. (And only with my pistols) I've never had pro training even though I worked in the gun industry for a few years but I'll check out Wilshire, people have recommended that range repeatedly. I've shot a bunch of cool guns that most people don't get to, but I've never even shot a revolver. I've only been a gun owner since 2016 and 90% of my experience with guns has been for the purpose of designing gun stuff. I have a really weird mix of intimate mechanical knowledge of guns (I love working on them), but missing a bunch of basic experiences and common instruction that most shooters get growing up. I just learned how to zero a hunting rifle and haven't ever been hunting besides duck and pheasant with a SG. I definitely blink every shot so that's a useful bit of knowledge, I'll get that book.
Thanks again, hopefully I'll meet you guys at the eat and shoot event this month.

 

[alank2]

I used to have a flinching/jerking the trigger kind of problem many years ago. My go to approach now is to aim, take up any trigger slack, and then just pull the trigger through with increasing pressure not knowing when it is going to break and not expecting to have to do anything when it does. Surely the shot comes and you feel the recoil, but when that happens I am focused on releasing the trigger, taking up the slack, and getting it back on target. I'm not sure how I got from A to B except just lots of shooting.

 

[sherrick13]

Hello to you all,

I have a shooting mechanics question for the crack pistoleers here.
How do you train out "anticipating the shot"?
From the day I bought my XD and started my "gun guy" life, I've always had a problem pushing my shots low.
It's not my trigger mechanics, it's a full on body "flinch".
I bought a lighter trigger hoping the crisper, earlier break would fix it but I just have a gun with a better trigger that I still push low.
Looking for any suggestions better than "stop it."
Thanks.
Brandon

Dry fire

 

[okierider]

Thanks for the replies.
I have a mantis laser academy that I use fairly regularly and am accurate with, I got it just for this issue actually and it's how I got rid of the "right" part of being low right. Thing is, I don't push it when I know there's going to be no recoil so the laser trainer isn't helping with the "low" part because it's only a problem I have at the range. (And only with my pistols) I've never had pro training even though I worked in the gun industry for a few years but I'll check out Wilshire, people have recommended that range repeatedly. I've shot a bunch of cool guns that most people don't get to, but I've never even shot a revolver. I've only been a gun owner since 2016 and 90% of my experience with guns has been for the purpose of designing gun stuff. I have a really weird mix of intimate mechanical knowledge of guns (I love working on them), but missing a bunch of basic experiences and common instruction that most shooters get growing up. I just learned how to zero a hunting rifle and haven't ever been hunting besides duck and pheasant with a SG. I definitely blink every shot so that's a useful bit of knowledge, I'll get that book.
Thanks again, hopefully I'll meet you guys at the eat and shoot event this month.

Will be plenty of revolvers at the ENS so we can fix your having never shot a revolver issue! Just be prepared to start spending more money LOL.
Do you have a .22? and if you do do you flinch with that as well.?