I flinch when I pull the trigger. Not all the time, but often enough. Is there a breathing technique or anything to help control this?

I don't flinch much any more, because I practice a lot, but I used to find myself doing it sometimes when I hadn't shot in a long time. I don't know whether my method will work for you, but it did for me. It is almost entirely mental. Flinching is anticipation of and reasonable preparation for something unpleasant. The something unpleasant is often the recoil, but it may also be muzzle blast (indoors) or noise. The noise is often (usually?) bad for your ears, so you should wear good ear protection. Muzzle blast (fairly rare as a problem) will bother you less if you keep your mouth closed. If you still don't like it, shoot outdoors.

The main cause of flinch is (negative) anticipation of recoil. Now, is recoil really unpleasant? Hold the gun normally, or loosely, whatever your experience tells you you can get away with. Fire it. Did it hurt? If it actually hurt, the gun recoils too much, and you need to change grips, wear gloves, go for reduced loads or stop shooting that gun. Far more often, it didn't hurt. So what are you worrying about? You now know that it doesn't hurt. Dry fire some, concentrating on the front sight. Get used to no recoil at all. Practice holding the gun firmly even while using the trigger finger. Get out of the habit (if you are even in it) of flinching by firing the gun a lot with no recoil. If firing the gun with ammo after that still doesn't hurt, you will be unlikely to go back to flinching.

For most people, the biggest problem is noticing that they flinch. You already did that. For me, simply setting it clearly in my mind that firing the gun is not going to hurt solved the rest of the problem.

Hand exercises may help, also, but the main thing, aside from grips that fit, is getting in the habit of knowing that firing a gun doesn't hurt.

P.S. A really bad trigger pull can sometimes cause flinching. I normally wouldn't even bother mentioning it, but then I noticed that I was on the bottom-feeder forum, not the S&W revolver forum.

Have somebody throw a bucket of water on you every time you flinch.

Seriously, there are several techniques, but unless you find a feedback and motivation system (positive and negative) that gets to you, you will keep doing it.

I notice some people who start IDPA get really serious about controlling flinch after doing it at a match and porking their score.

I tell my students to get a roll of quarters and balance them on the empty gun, and pull the trigger. If the quater falls off, I get the quarter. I put a dummy cartridge in the magazine with live cartridges, and charge them a quarter if the gun moves when the gun clicks on the dummy.

Thats good advice by Model520. You did not mention what or how much shooting you do, but lots of practice as mentioned get you used to the effects of recoil. You will then treat it as common as lacing your shoe without even looking at your foot. I would add: remember to take a firm grip on the weapon and not a death grip on it. Now practice as much as you can afford.

practice, practice, practice........

Plenty of dry firing...

AND relax, the recoil is'nt gonna hurt.....

I find when the shooting season starts in spring (its too cold to shoot here in winter), it takes a couple of range trips before I'm comfortable, and relaxed when shooting. Thats when the flinching and "pulling" stops, and my scores begin to climb.

if your front sight is flat, put a dime on top or penny, nickle etc

now with an empty gun dry fire, keep the coin on the front sight
shoot double action and single, over time do all double action

now if the dime stays there after the shot your doing it right. if you jerk the gun the dime falls off, work hard grasshopper,

its a fun one, and cheep, and works very well, and you can work on it outside the range at home.

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sal1911a1

Oh yeah,
And focus on squeezing the trigger till the gun goes off, not trying to make it go off when you want it too. Thus, the gun goes off, but you did'nt know when, you'll wind up flinching before it fires. Slowly your flinching will go away.

Thanks for all the advice. This is a great forum.

Is it O.K. to dry-fire a S&W 6906? That means no rounds in the chamber or in the clip, correct?

(I know that is a dumb question, but I am sort of a novice and thought there were more details to the term "dry-fire". I was told never to dry-fire my 22A? You never dry-fire a rimfire, correct?)

Dry fire is OK,

Try the dime test and let us know how it's working for you

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sal1911a1

Dry fire is absolutly with an empty and unloaded firearm. Although some folks will use snap caps to cusion the firing pin. A well maintained modern firearm (center fire) can be dry fired without damage, but if you're concerned, use the snap caps.
Rimfire dryfiring is a bad thing since the firing pin is going to hit metal, not air.

Here's my take on flinching. Perhaps something in it will help.

First, flinching is entirely a mental issue. Your mind is anticipating something happening and your muscle memory is acting as it has been previously trained. Therein lies the problem.

You don't need practice. You need perfect practice. In other words, since you're shooting and flinching, you're practicing and cementing inappropriate actions into your mind and ultimately into your muscle memory.

Instead, you need to fire the weapon and not flinch, repeatedly. You need to do that over and over and over again, until it's cemented in your mind and into your muscle memory. However, how do you do that? The answer is by dry firing. Dry fire, dry fire and dry fire. Do it over and over and over again, while paying attention to proper techniques like squeezing instead of jerking the trigger, letting the hammer fall be a surprise, no flinching, obtaining a proper site picture, etc.

Practice dry firing repeatedly until it becomes second nature and you don't have to focus so hard on each individual aspect (i.e., squeeze, no flinch, sight picture, etc.). Once it become second nature and you're not flinching, then go out to the range and fire the weapon. You will see a big difference.

If you go tothe range and start firing the weapon before you've cemented the skills into your mind and muscle memory through perfect practice, it's likely that you will still flinch. At that point you're practicing, but you're again practicing the habits that you want to eliminate.

Now don't dry fire for hours on end. There's no need to work so long in each session that your arms are so tired that they hurt and your eyes are so aching that they can't focus. It will make your perfect practice an unpleasant expereince and the pain will be associated with shooting the gun. You don't want that.

Instead, practice in short sessions. I can't tell you how short they need to be. That's up to you and your strength, but it might be as short as a few minutes. Just do it repeatedly throughout the day, every day, until you're confident that you're not flinching or jerking the trigger.

Again, once you get back to the range, I know you'll see a big difference. Your mind and muscles will be trained to expect a different result when you pull the trigger on the pistol. Then, when a cartridge actually goes off, it will be a subconscious surprise and you'll find that it wasn't as bad as you were previously expecting. Just keep concentrating on the perfect practice you had been doing while dry firing.

As for using a snap cap, I don't think it's necessary with a lot of pistols made today. However, when you're going to be doing the type of dry fire training I've described, the use of one becomes more necessary.

Good luck on your practice.

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~No signature line

Every word and technique mentioned already are sound and work. The variable in the equation is the individual them self. Everyones reaction to stimuli is different. There's even a famous shooter Doug Keonig who shoots the rifle stage of events wearing a full face motorcycle helmet. The most important aspect is your being aware of it! 90+% never are, and because of it never improve. You ARE NOT one of these!
Find the system that works best for you. Then once mastered, begin to teach others how to overcome it as well. You just never know when it might become really important for someone you know to be a REALLY good shooter!

Shooting a good air pistol - IZH 46 type - may help to practice - then some .22 LR - possibly a Marvel or Kart on a 45 frame (with a good trigger) - then back to center fire.
Most of us will flinch if we pick up a 357 or 44Mag after not shooting for a month or so - practice and conditioning.

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TOMBECK

Yes, there is a breathing technique. Your body is steadiest with your lungs half full. Take a normal breath. Let out half, squeeze the trigger.

Use the coin on the barrel technique when dry firing.

One of the instructors I teach with told me about a technique that he saw on a Sig website that helps with trigger control . When dry firing place the muzzle about one inch from the wall and focus exclusively on the front sight. This eliminates everything but the front sight as a focus of attention and allows the student to perfect a trigger press free from flinching . Our students say it works.

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I like Ike.

1. Say slowly to yourself throughout the slow trigger pull: Frontsight...frontsight...frontsight... Concentrait on the front sight.

2. Maintain the fundamentals even after the shot breaks, ie followthrough. keep the trigger to the rear, put the sights back on the target, then breath and reset for the next shot.

3. Wear foam or rubber ear plugs and ear muffs, double protection.

4. Shoot a 22lr auto or revolver. Concentrait on the front sight. You will be able to see it dance when the shot breaks. If its not on target or the muzzle drops you'll see it.

5. Nothing says you have to take the shot. What I mean is if you hold a position/breathing trying to get it perfect for too long your body will crave oxygen, you will start to shake, and you will jerk the poop out of the trigger. If you start to shake release the pressure on the trigger, breath several times, then start your sequence to take the shot.

2 cents.

The only gun that makes me flinch is the Charter Arms 44 Bull Dog. It's the pain in the hand more than the flash and concussion from the short barrel.

Besides practice,practice,practice, and having someone set up random snap caps in a magazine or cylinder to diagnose the problem I first get my students used to a live firing line by just having them watch and experience the volume,muzzle flash,and general activity before they ever touch a revolver or pistol.Here in the Kingdom of New York you aren't allowed to fire a handgun until after you have a pistol license and this process is taking longer and longer due to the spike in new applications.Usually after people become desensitized to the volume and muzzle flash the typical comment when they do start shooting is "The noise and recoil is nothing compaired to what I thought it was going to be",and if flinching is taking place you can specifically concentrate on correcting the problem.God Bless........Mike

I think the way to stop flinching if you can is to get a 22 pistol and practice with it. I say if you can because it's not easy as it's a semi unconscious reaction. Your can will your mind all you want but you still can flinch and you need to shoot lower recoil weapons and practice where you are not likely to flinch and enough of that will slowly get you back in form. With a 22 the ammo is cheap and there is almost no recoil so you can practice a ton. When you are confident that you are done flinching move up to a 9mm or 38 special rounds in a gun you like.

I would shy away from heavy recoil rounds like full house 44 Magnum and full house 357 Magnum loads after you are cured or you could end up right back in the same place. I have a hunting buddy that is an excellent hunter and he can not handle anymore recoil then that from a 308 rifle. He bought a 30-06 from a friend and it nearly ended his hunting career as he developed a bad case of flinching. He went back to the 308 and after some practice he's OK again.

A different but similar problem is how many Pro Golfers develop the yipps when putting. That is a case of flinching caused by stress and once they get it very few ever fully gets over it.

I endorse all the comments above which specify dry firing, practicing, etc. They are good, time tested techniques. However, there is another technique I have used. It is just the opposite of what has been recommended. If I am concerned with flinching with my 9mm pistol, I start by firing several mags of 45acp. By the time I get done with that exercize.....the 9mm seems like a pea shooter. The flinching is greatly relieved.

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Pete T.

I agree with practice, practice, practice - dry fire until your hand is tired -one of the things that helped my wife was to have her fire from a sitting position with the pistol and her forearms resting on a mat. Once she fired 2 or 3 magazines from the mat, she realized the pistol wouldn't hurt her. She stood and started firing without a flinch. You can't say front sight, front sight, front sight as you are squeezing enough.

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Bob

I know this is the semi auto forum but a buddy had a great anti flinch trick for revolvers. Load three or four rounds with your eyes closed. That way you won't know where they went and when you pull the trigger if it will go bang or not. I've tried it and it works well for wheel guns. If you stop flinching with your revolver (you do have a couple of revolvers, right?), you will probably stop with the auto as well.

Buy a Crimson Trace. Install it. Practice dry firing with it and keeping the red dot on a small object (like 50 cent piece). I absolutely guarantee (barring any physical challenges) that if you breathe properly, sqquueeeze the trigger while working to keep the laser dot still, you WILL vastly improve your shooting.

I use them as training aids and they work.

bj

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NRA Cert Instructor, M&P owner

Anticipation is great if you are waiting for ketchap for a burger but not so good for shooting a firearm. I sold a friend a 303 rifle and he wanted me to buy it back cause he couldn't hit anything with it,I threw a yellow straight neck squase about 75 feet out then shot it.

I then said the rifle will hit where aimed,I then acted like I was chambering another round (but held the round down into the mag) then handed the rifle to him and told him to shoot the squase. He pulled the trigger and jumped around like a june bug on a line!

I told him this was his problem and then loaded a round and told him to hold it in tight ,and sight it in and just lightly squeese off the trigger(never knowing when it will fire) he hit it dead on.

He was happy then because he had overcome a bad flinch habit.

Bad shooting habits are hard to overcome,and if you have a pistol or rifle that you just hate to shoot(get rid of it)shooting is supposed to be fun!

Bob

I can't see dry firing helping too much with flinching other than you getting a feel for when it'll go bang. Knowing for sure when it'll fire may or may not, but you're not going to flinch when dry firing because you know there wont be the bang. JMO

I had a buddy who would flinch horribly shooting his Sigma. One day he put 100 rounds down range without trying to be accurate. Getting a feel for the trigger and when exactly the gun will fire and how it'll sound and feel while not trying to be accurate helped him a lot.

Remember, squeezing is always better than pulling the trigger.

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- The Federalist #46 -

What is the difference between squeezing and pulling the trigger?

Pulling the trigger is like setting the hook on a Bass ,squeesing is like catching a troute(you don't jerk) lighter constant pressure!

Bob

I used to have a horrible flinch. Every round I fired was 6" below my point of aim.

Here's how I cured it. First, I practiced shooting with a double action revolver. Oddly, repeated shooting with a double action trigger pull eliminated my tendency to flinch and, when I resumed shooting single action, the flinch was gone.

Much of my practice consisted of dry firing. I must have dry fired 10,000 rounds, with revolvers and semi-autos. I used the "coin on the barrel" technique recommended by several and just kept working until I could shoot six rounds, double action, rapid fire, (dry fire of course) with a double action revolver without dropping the coin.

I bought a .22 caliber double action revolver and shot thousands of rounds at the range, working again on eliminating all movement.

I practiced dry firing in front of a mirror, keeping my eyes on the front sight as I did. That made downward movement instantly detectible.

I also fired at a plain white sheet of paper without trying to hold the sights on a single point but just trying to get the feel of not flinching. Eventually, everything was clustering around a single point.

Finally, when shooting revolvers, I'd put 4 or 5 rounds in a 6-round cylinder, and spin the cylinder without looking at it before firing. That way I never new which chambers were empty. When I shot I concentrated on holding the front sight steady. If I saw it dip on an empty chamber then I knew I was still flinching.

Just put 200 rounds through my 6906. Allshots (except for 3 from the first magazine) were on paper. I started at 7 yards to get the sight picture, and then moved to 15 yards and 25 yards. I was great at 15 yards (grouping was decent) but at 25 yards I sucked. I followed advice from you guys. Thanks so much. Here is what helped:
1. Dry firing and concentrating on front sights.
2. I kept saying, "Front sights, front sights, front sights."
3. I now understand squeeze instead of pull. I cannot explain it right now, though. Just a slower trigger pull?
4. Loosen up my trigger finger.
5. Breathing slower, more deeply.
Honestly, I think it was only a matter of getting used to the recoil. I think I am kind of a pussy.

I am so happy with how that used 6906 performed. I thoought something was wrong with it, that it was firing low or whatever. Not a thing wrong. I think Bud's gave me a great deal.

Now I am going to buy a S&W .45 Any recommendations?

Thanks again to EVERYONE for the advice. I am thinking positive thoughts for all of you.

Plunky,
The mastery of any one handgun's sights and trigger stroke/pull/squeeze/press will serve you well no matter what gun's system you go on to. True, there will be certain systems that will work better for you, but if you can shoot one, you can shoot them all. Recoil/blast are mastered by adequate hearing protection and practice. Even a pair of in ear plugs beneath a set of shooting muffs can help. Your on your way, stick with it you'll do fine!

My third generation 4566 has served me well. It's been as reliable as reliable can be.

I wish S&W hadn't turned away from the steel pistols when they jumped on the plastic band wagon. The 3rd generations were pretty decent weapons as far as pistols go.

I also like barrels in the 4" range found on the 4566 rather than the longer 5" bbl's of pistols like the 4506. I find them easier to use as a combat weapon than the longer 5" bbl, but that's me.

However, a 5" bbl pistol like the 4506 will give you a longer site picture (more accuracy) and more weight to control the pistol. You just have to deal with the concealability of the longer slide/barrel if you'd be carrying it.

The bbl length preference applies to my S&W. However, it's an exception in my other pistols that the .45 ACP was named after. In those I prefer the 5" bbl. It just looks and feels right for me and is the pistol that I carry most often.

After all of that, you're going to get a lot of other opinions on what is best. We each have our experiences and prejudices, including those for and against the more recent plastic-framed pistols. For the most part it's going to be hard to go wrong on model that has some time under its belt to prove its dependability.

BTW, be careful of assuming that by referring to a .45 that people will know you mean a .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol). There's another current pistol cartridge in .45 GAP (Glock Auto Pistol). They aren't compatible. Then, there's also the common .45 LC (Long Colt) revolver cartridge that's still popular.

Good luck on your choice of pistols!

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~No signature line

I would really like to find a sweet .45 ACP S&W 3rd Generation.

A local shop had the big brother of my 6906. I took a good look at it because there seems to be plenty of 9mm ammo around and not much .45

I forgot to mention... I started off shooting my 22A. I used Remington Golden Bullets from a bulk pack of 550. Out of 100 rounds, I had 3 failure to fire rounds that looked like they had a good hit from the pin and 2 jams for some reason. My 22A likes Winchester 37 grain high velocity hollow points and CCI 40 grain Mini Mags the best. You cannot beat $15 for 550 rounds, though. The Winchesters are $30 for 500 rounds and the CCI's are $40 for 500 rounds.

The advise given me years ago was to put one 357 in a cylinder full of 38's. The surprise tells you a lot about how you learn to anticipate things.

Personally, I believe that the best way to get around this is shoot a lot, and bring a few different guns to the range. I'll test myself and in fairly short order shoot 22's, 32, 38, 257 and 9mm. Just a cylinder/magazine of each and switch.

I also dry fire my handguns a lot paying attention to how the barrel moves from my unintentional movements.

Still, my Winchester 70 30-06 kicks me in a bad way and I can't stop flinching shooting it.

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Joshua Brown(Town)

It seems to me that there are two totally different problems: trigger control and flinching. I've been doing dry fire with snap caps in my 38 revolver and an upside down hollow point on my 9mm. This is to stop jerking the trigger left or right during the shot. However, when shooting my 357 at the range I load 5 rounds in my 6 shooter. When the gun does not go "bang" there is a noticable drop down of the muzzle. This seems to be my body attempting to counteract the anticipated muzzle rise during recoil. If there is no recoil, my body still wants to push the muzzle down. Maybe I should try "Russian Roulette" with only one live round in the gun to try to stop the muzzle drop.

Smith Pistol has it exactly right in #11 above. It's all mind and training. Concentrate on holding your hands rock solid, like they're concrete. No, I don't mean a death grip, just completely rigid and immoveable. Let the pistol move as it wants in your concrete hands. Focus on trigger pull. Steady pressure, straight back, only the trigger finger - nothing else. Imagine the bore of the gun and pressing the trigger directly parallel with that axis.

Now with that said, I admit I suffer from flinch when I get sloppy. Even with a 22 pistol! Yep, I said it. When it happens, the best thing to do is dry fire as others have said. Do it right there on the range while your head is trying to flinch. Concentrate on the things I mentioned earlier. Strangely, in this situation I can feel myself trying to push the muzzle down on trigger release - even with an empty gun. A few dry fires retrain my muscle memory and I'm back on track. I can feel the urge to flinch go away. Then I'm good to go until the next bout of flinch occurs - the next day or months later. Still, I know I can retrain myself.

It can be a recurring battle. Never give up!

Ahhhh ya the flinch. It can be embarrassing. I had a friend recently who had a real bad flinch and couldn't seem to correct it. The easiest way I've found is the old ball and dummy fix. First you can make your own dummy rounds. All you need is a kinetic bullet puller which you can purchase from your local gun store. Pull the bullets, then take the cases, empty any remaining powder and load them in your gun and point in a safe direction and pop the primers, re-seat the bullets in the cases and then paint the dummy rounds black or orange to designate they are dummies (its really important). When you go to the range randomly mix the dummies with live ammo and shoot away. It will really help. Good luck.
Bob St.George

just stop flinching

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My brother is my Hero

Get some good AZoom snap caps and practice firing at a dime sized spec on your wall. When you think your doing better, lay a nickle on the top of your barrel and practice some more. When you go to the range, shoot at 5 yards, again at a dime sized spec, and concentrate ONLY on the front site. I read about this method in a Clint Smith (Thunder Ranch) article in American Handgunner a few years ago and it transformed my shooting from "******" to "really good". Flinching is no longer even a thought.

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John

There are a variety of techniques, and all work to some extent, and it may help to vary your routine.

Shoot target level loads, especially if you flinch with full or magnum rounds. I load .38 SPL wadcutters for my .357M, and .44 SPL for the .44M. You have much less flexibility with pistols for reliable operation, but pistols have less recoil anyway.

Concentrate on the front sight and sight alignment. Call your shots. (The only way to do that is if you see the sights at the time of discharge, silhouetted in the muzzle flash). That's essential technique for self-defense. You'll shoot like you train.

Practice trigger control. A non-shooting exercise is to move your trigger finger with an empty, relaxed hand. None of the other fingers should move. (I can do that with any finger, on either hand, but I've been a musician for over 50 years.)

Practice a front-to-back grip, with as little side pressure on the grips as possible. That way, small changes in grip pressure (e.g., at the time of discharge) have less effect on the point of impact. That applies to two-handed grips too, but is especially effective on the traditional, one-hand stance.)