03-23-2011, 04:52 PM
The shooter has to realize just how bad their flinch really is. Once they see it on a dummy round or others notice they are 'rope starting a lawn mower" with the trigger, most have no clue how bad it really is.
I used to teach Seal Team Two how to shoot. When I had a student who developed a bad flinch ( we used match grade M-14's ) with no shooting jacket, the flinch was hard to get rid of. Many years ago I read a book about early snipers and what they would do when a flinch was a problem.
The tip is to use your middle finger ( yes that one ) to pull the trigger. It is called the " Assassins trigger finger". The reason being it takes a completely different command from the brain to "pull" that finger while resting on the trigger. Your normal trigger finger is along the receiver pointing at your target.( out of moving parts). When I would see a student get in a flinch slump, I would teach them this trick. It works, and works very well. It is almost impossible to jerk the trigger.
When I was shooting a big match and was doing well,Buck Fever would sometimes set in. The only way to retain any sort of trigger control with the adrenaline pumping was to use this trick. It saved my bacon many times and won a few matches for me. give it a try sometime. Make sure you can put "that" finger into the trigger guard safely when the rifle is loaded.Once you get used to the pull you'll be surprised how well you can shoot.
Remember the old shooters saying...." if you know the exact second the rifle is going to fire you are jerking the trigger....when the rifle fires it should startle you...."
I used to teach Seal Team Two how to shoot. When I had a student who developed a bad flinch ( we used match grade M-14's ) with no shooting jacket, the flinch was hard to get rid of. Many years ago I read a book about early snipers and what they would do when a flinch was a problem.
The tip is to use your middle finger ( yes that one ) to pull the trigger. It is called the " Assassins trigger finger". The reason being it takes a completely different command from the brain to "pull" that finger while resting on the trigger. Your normal trigger finger is along the receiver pointing at your target.( out of moving parts). When I would see a student get in a flinch slump, I would teach them this trick. It works, and works very well. It is almost impossible to jerk the trigger.
When I was shooting a big match and was doing well,Buck Fever would sometimes set in. The only way to retain any sort of trigger control with the adrenaline pumping was to use this trick. It saved my bacon many times and won a few matches for me. give it a try sometime. Make sure you can put "that" finger into the trigger guard safely when the rifle is loaded.Once you get used to the pull you'll be surprised how well you can shoot.
Remember the old shooters saying...." if you know the exact second the rifle is going to fire you are jerking the trigger....when the rifle fires it should startle you...."