04-18-2011, 05:46 PM
The dummy round approach doesn’t work well for the practical shooting types. It can show a flinch, but when you’re trying to shoot fast you tend to compensate for recoil and the muzzle will dip with the dummy round. Compensating for recoil isn’t wrong but some folks mistake it for a flinch when there’s a misfire or a dummy round gets mixed in and the muzzle dips.
Even then the dummy round thing with slow fire type shooting might show a flinch, but does not correct it. Correcting a flinch comes through mental conditioning and requires a good amount of work. For me the best mental conditioning comes from shooting a lot with lower power loads then working up to major ones. Shoot a bunch at lower power and get in a rhythm. Once I’m seeing what I want to see I go up in 1 or 2 increments till I get to the desired power level. Each time making sure I’m seeing everything before I move up. It takes a little while but works for me. Then I can shoot the major loads almost as fast as the minor ones and not sacrifice accuracy. I think this only works though if you’re good at calling shots, if you’re not seeing things very well it makes it harder for your subconscious to do the shooting for you.
I’ve found when I flinch it’s because of lack of confidence with a particular platform. I can shoot my pistols great but if I don’t shoot my 12g shotgun for a couple months then pick it up and shoot slugs it’s not unheard of for me to pull shots. Shooting a couple rounds of sporting clays helps me get comfortable with the gun again and the flinching goes away.
As for anticipating the shot, you should be able to anticipate the shot and not allow it to affect your hits. Anticipating a blast or recoil and having it affect your sights is a flinch. I don’t believe making every shot a surprise gets rid of a flinch. IMO it masks a flinch, not eliminates it. Plus, if every shots is a surprise, you’re probably shooting too slow and you won’t be as effective with movers. You should be able to make the gun go off when you want and not have it affect your sights. Once again, mental conditioning is key, conditioning to allow your subconscious to drive the gun for you.
Even then the dummy round thing with slow fire type shooting might show a flinch, but does not correct it. Correcting a flinch comes through mental conditioning and requires a good amount of work. For me the best mental conditioning comes from shooting a lot with lower power loads then working up to major ones. Shoot a bunch at lower power and get in a rhythm. Once I’m seeing what I want to see I go up in 1 or 2 increments till I get to the desired power level. Each time making sure I’m seeing everything before I move up. It takes a little while but works for me. Then I can shoot the major loads almost as fast as the minor ones and not sacrifice accuracy. I think this only works though if you’re good at calling shots, if you’re not seeing things very well it makes it harder for your subconscious to do the shooting for you.
I’ve found when I flinch it’s because of lack of confidence with a particular platform. I can shoot my pistols great but if I don’t shoot my 12g shotgun for a couple months then pick it up and shoot slugs it’s not unheard of for me to pull shots. Shooting a couple rounds of sporting clays helps me get comfortable with the gun again and the flinching goes away.
As for anticipating the shot, you should be able to anticipate the shot and not allow it to affect your hits. Anticipating a blast or recoil and having it affect your sights is a flinch. I don’t believe making every shot a surprise gets rid of a flinch. IMO it masks a flinch, not eliminates it. Plus, if every shots is a surprise, you’re probably shooting too slow and you won’t be as effective with movers. You should be able to make the gun go off when you want and not have it affect your sights. Once again, mental conditioning is key, conditioning to allow your subconscious to drive the gun for you.