Help dealing with recoil-any exercies

[BCeagle 12]

I am constantly shooting low, I know its because I try and anticipate the recoil and I am pushing forward on the pistol. My shots are perfectly centered just low. It became painfully obviously this weekend when I had a malfunction and caught myself pushing down even when the gun did not go off. I have tried loosening my grip (I hold the pistol too tight at times) but I tend to go back after a few shots. Besides dry firing are their any other exerises to do to break the habit.

[67gtonut 847]

SNAP CAPS.....

 

Bring someone with you..... have them load a few mags, and inserting a snap cap randomly in each one..... this will not only help you with the flinch.... but you can practice malfunction drills...

[Shane45 807]

Well, lets put the weights down for a second and talk about grip. First, what handgun are you shooting?

[BCeagle 12]

Well, lets put the weights down for a second and talk about grip. First, what handgun are you shooting?

 

HK p30L

[67gtonut 847]

Taken from ToddG's pistol-training.com website

 

http://pistol-training.com/

 

 

Ball & Dummy Drill

Range: 3yd

Target: small (3

[Shane45 807]

Now to try and describe a corkscrew without using my hands :shock: . If anything I say is overly basic, I appologise. Since I havent seen you shoot I have no reference point so Im starting at the bottom. Assuming your righty, think of your right hand as the useless hand that does nothing but run the trigger. You left hand is the gripping hand. So when you are holding your pistol, hold your left hand out in front of you, wrist to finger tips parralel to the floor. Thumb straight up. Your left hand should come straight back over your right hand. Your left thumb should be foward up on the frame. Your right thumb should be basically behind your left thumb. Your right hand is somewhat relaxed. You left hand does the squeesing and holding. It feels wierd at first but when you shoot you will see how stable this hold it. You should be leaning foward a bit. I prefer the Iscocles stance. Left foot slightly foward and left elbow over left knee. So back to grip, Your left hand does the squeezing and holding, your right hand just runs the trigger. Try squeezing off a round a slow as you can so that when the trigger breaks, its a suprise to you. Also, I notice some people flinch or antisipate because their hearing protection is ok but not great. Try putting in ear plugs and ear muffs over the top to really seal out the sound. See if that helps too.

 

If anyone finds fault or issue with what Im saying by all means speak up. Theres always room for improvement

 

Shane

[Shane45 807]

"As you start to shoot faster, it

[BCeagle 12]

Sounds like my right hand may be a bit too tight also. Thanks for the advise I am going to go through it and try it out this weekend and see how it goes. I really appreicate it.

 

I'll let you know how it goes.

[bbk 188]

The only thing I have to add is the importance of trigger squeeze. Its a squeeze, not a jerk, or a pull or anything else. Try dry-firing, and slowly squeezing the trigger until it clicks. One thing I was always taught is that when firing, it should actually surprise you. Even if you know how the trigger feels, it should still surprise you-- and maybe stave off that anticipatory feeling.

[JonF 79]

Mixing a dummy or snap cap in a mag of live ammo is good for identifying the issue and works on the principle of reducing the anticipation some but i found a better exercise that i both have personally used and have flinchy new shooters do.

 

"The progressive squeeze"

 

1. With a live loaded gun, you take aim and put your finger on the trigger and prepare to fire. Only now, you don't immediately pull the trigger all the way to fire, rather, you give it a light squeeze but not nearly enough to fire the gun, then let all pressure off the trigger.

2. Begin to squeeze the trigger again, this time with *more* pressure, but still less than whats required to fire the gun.

3. Continue this progression of squeezing the trigger with more and more pressure and letting off until it finally fires.

 

The idea here is to condition the anticipation out of your trigger pulls because you know in the beginning nothing is actually going to happen. With nothing happening, there is no loud bang to anticipate. When the gun does fire, the idea is that it will be a complete surprise to you and if the exercise works, you were not anticipating the fire event and your aim should be true.

 

Give it a try, i think you'll be pleasantly surprised how effective it is.

[BCeagle 12]

I'll try anything, I'm not jerking, like I said, shots are dead on, just low. I have to work on the anticipation, I know exactly when it is going off becuase that was how I was taught. Pull the trigger, hold it, release just far enough to feel the click from the reset, reacquire my target and pull, repeat until nothing is left moving.

 

Why does being suprised when it fires not sound right to me, but agreed it should eliminate my anticipation. I was actually debating getting a trigger job to get rid of some of the slack.

[Guest]

Sounds like my right hand may be a bit too tight also. Thanks for the advise I am going to go through it and try it out this weekend and see how it goes. I really appreicate it.

 

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

 

Try 70% power pushing inward with the left hand, and 30% power pushing out with the right hand.

Its hard to say without looking at what you are doing, but if you are flinching, you need to learn to stop that.

 

Just tell yourself...'Nothing bad is going to happen'

 

[Shane45 807]

Megaman, that is how I used to shoot until corrected by Matt Burkett. Push pull ultimately causes instability.

[ben 0]

Now to try and describe a corkscrew without using my hands :shock: . If anything I say is overly basic, I appologise. Since I havent seen you shoot I have no reference point so Im starting at the bottom. Assuming your righty, think of your right hand as the useless hand that does nothing but run the trigger. You left hand is the gripping hand. So when you are holding your pistol, hold your left hand out in front of you, wrist to finger tips parralel to the floor. Thumb straight up. Your left hand should come straight back over your right hand. Your left thumb should be foward up on the frame. Your right thumb should be basically behind your left thumb. Your right hand is somewhat relaxed. You left hand does the squeesing and holding. It feels wierd at first but when you shoot you will see how stable this hold it. You should be leaning foward a bit. I prefer the Iscocles stance. Left foot slightly foward and left elbow over left knee. So back to grip, Your left hand does the squeezing and holding, your right hand just runs the trigger. Try squeezing off a round a slow as you can so that when the trigger breaks, its a suprise to you. Also, I notice some people flinch or antisipate because their hearing protection is ok but not great. Try putting in ear plugs and ear muffs over the top to really seal out the sound. See if that helps too.

 

If anyone finds fault or issue with what Im saying by all means speak up. Theres always room for improvement

 

Shane

 

Grip, stance (especially the isosceles), and trigger squeeze are all fundamental shooting principles and you did a good job giving some great tips.

 

When gripping the pistol, I do this:

 

As a rightie, I make a 45 degree angle with my palm (finger pointing downwards) relative to the slide. My left thumb, on the left side of the slide, lines up with my right fore-finger, on the right side of the slide. I don't apply too much pressure with my left hand when firing 9mm. Adjustment in pressure ismade accoring to caliber. I always fire at 25+ yards.

 

I don't agree with the Weaver stance either, but I know plenty of folks who are dead on with that stance and some weird grip techniques. Squaring up your body with the target (isosceles) is ideal for rapid engagement, follow-ups, and moving.

 

Anybody can be trained to shoot a rifle because it is more technique. However, pistol shooting is more of an art form and much of it comes down to learning the basics and finding out what combinations work for you.

[Cylinder Head 22]

I don't agree with the Weaver stance either, but I know plenty of folks who are dead on with that stance and some weird grip techniques. Squaring up your body with the target (isosceles) is ideal for rapid engagement, follow-ups, and moving.

 

That's why there's vanilla and chocolate. As a life-long martial artist I'm much more comfortable in a bladed stance. However, Isoceles with your arms fully extended (locked out) seems to give a lot of people great accuracy by removing a lot of body movement.

[lunker 274]

Try dry-firing with a penny on the muzzle. If you can pull the trigger, especially in double action mode, and not have the penny fall off the nose of the gun you're doing a good job. I needed to do that on my Ruger Super Blackhawk. I was anticipating the blast from some of my nasty home-brewed 44mag loads.

[BCeagle 12]

I was taught isocoles and the push pull. I was holding so tight the 1st few times, my knuckles turned white. Its not flinching, its me trying to over muscle the recoil and keep the muzzle straight after a shot. Odd knowing the problem and needing to fix it.

 

Never got to the range, The Dept of Labor chose to audit a company that I closed 2 years ago and I am stuck putting the books back in order after 2 moves. I will never open another company in NJ again. I get stuck oiling my gun when I should be shooting it. If its nice out, I will head over to Cherry Ridge this weekend.

[BCeagle 12]

I was taught isocoles and the push pull. I was holding so tight the 1st few times, my knuckles turned white. Its not flinching, its me trying to over muscle the recoil and keep the muzzle straight after a shot. (when I shoot my 308 I flinch) Odd knowing the problem and needing to fix it.

 

Never got to the range, The Dept of Labor chose to audit a company that I closed 2 years ago and I am stuck putting the books back in order after 2 moves. I will never open another company in NJ again. I get stuck oiling my gun when I should be shooting it. If its nice out, I will head over to Cherry Ridge this weekend.