Training Rimfire

[Chuck R.]

I've always looked at that as one of its main advantages...

Depends on your task/purpose.

For some endeavors you need the recoil to get the most out of it. For instance working on your split times with a .22LR, can very well give you a false appreciation for your speed when combined with accuracy. I went to a 9mm AR15 for that reason, even though the recoil is more than my 3GUN AR.

The .22LR was great for some drills, lacked for others.

 

[Buzznrose]

The best drill I have found to kill flinch is the ball/dummy drill. It is mostly used with pistols, but there is no reason it can't be done with a rifle. It would take forever to explain it here but I am sure youtube has videos on the process. It requires 2 people to execute the drill- just use good safety procedures, because it requires the coach to stand to the side and slightly behind the shooter, load (or not load) the firearm in a way the shooter can't see, and safely hand it to the shooter on the firing line.

If I feel like I need a tune up on malfunction or flinching drills, I will mix range ammo and dummy rounds in a container or sack, and I’ll take several mags. I load each mag blindly without looking at the rounds. I put the rounds back in the sack.

At the range, load the gun without looking at the magazines. When I get to a click, I try and note if I flinched and then perform a malfunction drill.

 

[FL-NC]

If I feel like I need a tune up on malfunction or flinching drills, I will mix range ammo and dummy rounds in a container or sack, and I’ll take several mags. I load each mag blindly without looking at the rounds. I put the rounds back in the sack.

At the range, load the gun without looking at the magazines. When I get to a click, I try and note if I flinched and then perform a malfunction drill.

That's one way to do it- its better w/ 2 people- the assistant knows if there is 1 in the chamber or not, so he knows to look for the flinch and give the appropriate feedback.

 

[Bfh_auto]

For this exact reason I started all my children with a cork gun bought at Dollywood. I used it to teach them safety(muzzle direction) , but also it was quiet and did not kick, because a “ trigger pull flinch” is very hard to un-learn. I slowly graduated each of them to Daisy Red-Rider BB guns. Then to Marlin 39 a from a bench , so the could work on target acquisition. Plus a subsonic 22lr from that heavier 24 inch barrel is really quiet and still no kick. Eventually as they got bigger and older we moved on to 22mag then our first center fire was 38 from you guessed it a 20 inch barrel Lever gun. Then 357 from that same lever gun.

Now all this was a slow progression, but my kids never developed a “trigger pull flinch” . All of this was important to me , because at 7 years old my dumbass older brother thought that making me shoot 3 inch magnums from a 12 gauge would “ mak-uh man out of yuh” . What it did besides give bruise up side the right side of my head was give me a flinch that took me years to un-learn.

I am currently using the same process with my grandchildren. Your mileage may very , but the 22lr or is still my favorite cartridge

I grew up similar to that. If you can shoot a turkey load you can't Target shoot with me.
Military surplus rifles don't kick that bad. Just hold on to it...