Classic Flinch Test

[Shawnee]

Since it is at least possible that some newer shooters have not heard of the Classic Flinch Test - and since it is a valuable tool for shooters of any degree of experience, I'll outline it here.

Take your hunting rifle, a pal and some 6" paper plates for targets to a safe shooting area. Put the targets up at 50yds.

Turn your back while your buddy loads (or doesn't load) one cartridge in the rifle and closes it. This is so you don't know if there is really a cartridge in there or not.

Turn around, take the rifle from your friend and stand unsupported in any way (not even a sling) and aim/fire at the target.
Repeat this blind loading and "firing" 9 more times.

Make sure your buddy knows to mix it up" so you get plenty of "duds", and make sure he knows to watch you to see if he can spot a flinch.

If you have developed a flinch you will feel it when there is no cartridge in the chamber and you'll see it on the target when a cartridge actually fires. A shot lower on the target than expected is a good sign of a flinch. And of course your pal will be able to tconfirm it for you too.

This is a great exercise to do after you've spent some time shooting any of the heavier-kicking calibers because it tells you in no uncertain terms that you've given yourself :banghead: a problem that needs to be fixed.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Yep, BTDT. My buddy handed me a .357 mag Marlin levergun (a pussycat, cripessake), and when I dropped the hammer on a safety-blocked pin, my flinch was large; much larger than I thought. I'm always fighting flinch, but I flinch much more if I have never shot a gun before, and/or if I've had a bunch of caffiene, and/or just got through shooting muzzleloader or 12 ga or .30-06 plus.

krochus, although a lot of Shawnee's threads are indeed somewhat redundant and dogmatic, I don't see this as directly related to ".243 is king" - it's a very legitimate topic in its own right.

 

[scythefwd]

The army used dummy rounds for this. That way you could check for flinch or practice immediate fault clearing proceedures. I learned I had a major flinch when I started shooting my shotgun. I racked the slide, ejected the shell, and then thought I had fed a new one (I was out). I jumped a couple of inches when I pulled the trigger.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Of course, while doing this, treat every gun as if it were loaded.

 

[For Freedom]

When I'm shooting my .300 Win Mag at the range I try to dry fire a lot in between real shots. It seems to help.

 

[gvnwst]

i will try this. Thanks. wow, looks like krochus's posts were deleted. ouch

 

[TauZero]

When i was in the Air Force, range instructors would sometimes balance a dime on the front sight. If the dime fell off before the gun went off, you were flinching.

This turned out to be a good exercise with an unloaded gun for first time shooters. It gt them to hold the gun steady and level while pulling the trigger.

 

[jad0110]

My dad and I do this technique a lot together. It can be very humbling . But even the best shooters fight flinching from time to time.

Should have done this test with my wife imediately after firing her first shot from my S&W 642 at an indoor range. She flinched so badly on the next round that she put the bullet into the ceiling.

 

[MIL-DOT]

Good post. It does take persistent efforts to keep from flinching,I like to think I'm pretty fair, but once in a while, I'll pull a trigger on a still safe gun and realize I woulda screwed the pooch on THAT shot !!

 

[Deer Hunter]

I did that with my girlfriend when she was learning how to shoot my .22 pistol.

It works!