A rubber pad from Academy should solve the shoulder problem, my mosin nagant is a kitty cat after I put one on it , before I had the same problem, My wife and I still remember the bruces, she is 110 lbs and was using a shoulder pad to no avail.
check this out, they come I remember in three different sizes
here
About the flinch, Since is an automatic reflex, a fear to the "surprise of the recoil" the only way to get rid of it is o entertain the mind with something else, this has worked for me, or best said for my wife and two daughters:
First, make the shooting a planned step by step process and it is as simple as 1, 2, 3, I read about it a long time ago and I decided to use it to teach my family how to shoot in a friendly and positive way.
Load only three rounds in the mag first, before we start.
I instruct her to load and lock, ask her in loud voice: Are you ready? She says Yes Dad.
I say to her: When I say 1, I want you to take position (we prefer a beaver, but isosceles will do) hold the weapon a few inches from your body ( a good practice to prevent gun grabbing etc), point the gun down in a safe position, finger away from the trigger and inhale.
When I say 2, you raise both hands, present the weapon to the target, and exhale (this relaxes the body,thus making the flinching ever more difficult), sights on target, put the finger on the trigger , and when I say 3, you fire!
I can count with my daughter, in loud voice, (never mind everybody else in the range), and we go about the process several times over, i a deliberate manner, she follow my commands and there i no flinching just a deliberate response to my voice.
We repeat the process a few times only sometimes i only say fire! instead of the word three, to keep her off guard, sometimes I say fire several times until she empties the magazine thus she keeps attention to my voice and that keeps her from becoming too familiar with the process too soon and get the flinching reflex back
She is surprised as to how accurate she's become and gained confidence.
I'm telling you when my daughter started, not only was she flinching but sinking all the rounds in the ground below the target and we are talking 6 yards away, and of course it's a good idea to say something positive ALWAYS, like "you are doing great honey practice makes perfect" or something like that
Another thing is I learned from my experience:
The better the sights on your weapon the less flinching, the sights are a guiding system, a map to the target, if they are dark, unimportant, weak, your mind is in doubt, when your mind is in doubt, target acquisition is weak.
For some people the solution can be a laser, or a red dot
In my case phosphorescent sight did the trick, you know sometimes, we people go to the range in a hurry and try to empty mags in a hurry just like that, without control almost, and then, it happens, the flinching reapers, because we are doing things without discipline again:banghead:
You can try any brand you like, etc. our personal favorite is glow-on.com here a pic, is just like eye candy entertains the mind, and remember the busier the mind with things like following the 1,2,3 steps and watching the sights, the less room there is for fear of a snappy recoil
