It ain't natural....so how do you do it?
Lots things a body can train himself/herself to do, aren't natural in the least. In fact, it's so UNnatural to put contact lenses in your eyes, that you'll draw back (when learning) in spite of yourself. And yet, you can learn to do it. I have in fact.
And how on earth can anybody teach his eight fingers and two thumbs to hit the right piano key at the right time? It simply ain't natural.
And finally, just about the most unnatural thing a body can do, is shoot a high powered, hard kicking round from a gun, without flinching. After all, you just naturally recoil or draw back when anticipating a hard kick or painful experience (and some guns recoil hard enough to hurt).
So how do you do it? If indeed, you can do it? I'd like to know, cause right now, anything over .44 Magnum gives me a bad case of flinches, and to be really honest, I'm not sure I'm holding as steady with the .44 Magnum as I should be.
Thanks in advance for your valuable help.
I am and remain sincerely yours,
Shaking Sahagan
And how on earth can anybody teach his eight fingers and two thumbs to hit the right piano key at the right time? It simply ain't natural.
And finally, just about the most unnatural thing a body can do, is shoot a high powered, hard kicking round from a gun, without flinching. After all, you just naturally recoil or draw back when anticipating a hard kick or painful experience (and some guns recoil hard enough to hurt).
So how do you do it? If indeed, you can do it? I'd like to know, cause right now, anything over .44 Magnum gives me a bad case of flinches, and to be really honest, I'm not sure I'm holding as steady with the .44 Magnum as I should be.
Thanks in advance for your valuable help.
I am and remain sincerely yours,
Shaking Sahagan
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get a smaller rifle, control the rifle not the rifle controlling you[;)] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by tomahawk
get a smaller rifle, control the rifle not the rifle controlling you[;)]
+10 -
I cheat - my 44 mag is a Ruger carbine.
However, have you looked into using a shooting glove, maybe some new/different grips, etc?0 -
Go back to the basics - focus on breathing and sight picture, squeeze trigger with hammer drop coming as a surprise. Assuming it's a pistol, don't lock your elbows.
Wear excellent hearing protection.
Dry fire a lot.
Try balancing a quarter on the barrel and keep trying until it doesn't fall when the hammer drops.
Have a shooting partner load it with only two or three chambers filled, and watch yourself react when you squeeze it off.
Practice, practice, practice.
Convince yourself that recoil and muzzle blast will not injure you, 'cause it won't.
The same general approach also applies to long guns.
You CAN do it !!
Good luck.
Doug0 -
Short answer: TAKE THE PAIN!!
One of Cooper's daughter's, when asked about how she dealt with the bounce and blast, said she knew she was going to get bumped anyway, so she figured she might as well get bumped and get a hit instead of getting bumped and missing.
It's mostly mental. Doug Wilson has a good plan of attacking it.0 -
You know there is going to be a kick. Just accept it. Its going to push back, andf its going to hurt a little. You just have to accept it. 0 -
Put a decellerator grip on the 44-mag. I do it, and it turned a brutal gun into a pleasure to shoot. 0 -
There are several ways to reduce felt recoil. One is to use a heavier gun. More inertia keeps the gun from accelerating into your shoulder as hard/fast.
Without changing hardware, though, there are two other ways. First, pull the rifle tight into your shoulder. If it's tight, it won't have time to accelerate. it will push, instead of striking. I've seen this demonstrated with machine guns. Someone who leans in and pushes forward on the gun (the proper way) can control it. Someone who is afraid and backs off gets beat up by the gun and has no control or accuracy.
Last is to move to a standing position instead of seated, or seated instead of prone. Your body will act as a shock absorber and cushion the shock as the gun pushes back on you.0 -
You must control those cowardly little brain cells that want you "to close your eyes & pull." Simply mind over matter. Place the revolver solidly on sandbags and place one under the bottom of the grip so that the sights are perfectly aligned without you holding it. Then hold the grip very lightly & squeeze the trigger gently while maintaining the sight picture. When it goes off (and surprises you), you will have hit the target & also discovered that it did not hurt. The revolver will jump upward, but gravity will bring it back down. At least that is what worked for me as I moved up to the bigger ones. The more you try to control the gun and the recoil, the more it hurts. 0 -
Saw this in a Field & Stream, made me laugh, but so true:
The one sure fire way to get used to shooting any firearm that kicks is to shoot the firearm.
That was their short, humourous version I do believe of the knowledge that repetition breeds familiarity. The more you do something the more natural/comfortable it will become.0 -
quote:Originally posted by susie
Saw this in a Field & Stream, made me laugh, but so true:
The one sure fire way to get used to shooting any firearm that kicks is to shoot the firearm.
That was their short, humourous version I do believe of the knowledge that repetition breeds familiarity. The more you do something the more natural/comfortable it will become.
I like that answer and would love to do that but $20 an hour range time and the cost of ammo keeps me from doing it as often as I like. I go out every couple of months now.0 -
Dave - Where the hell do you live ???
You can shoot at my place for free, if you bring me a beer.
Jeez - $20 an hour...insane !!
Doug0 -
same here i just shoot up the back yard for free 0 -
"Simply mind over matter."
Yeah, I expect there's a good deal of that involved.
One thing that helps is a trigger you can't anticipate accurately. I have a Taurus .357 Magnum with what folks used to call a 'hair' trigger. I mean, it's never let off without at least a little finger pressure, but it's so little as to surprise you every time you shoot it. So, I don't flinch with that gun.
My 9mm Hi-Point, which is small enough the recoil doesn't bother so much, is still impossible to shoot without flinching, cause pulling the trigger back is like dragging a log chain across gravel. I can't help but flinch, since the pressure required to pull the trigger is enough to require the use of other arm and wrist muscles. It's a real drag.
I generally use a bipod with my .44 Magnum, but I still find myself flinching, especially if I try to shoot it, and find I haven't cocked the hammer (T/C encore pistol). But I'm not sure if that flinch is a pre-fire motion, or a post-fire remembered response to the gun having been fired.
You folks have helped, for doggoned sure....would have been nice though, to have someone send me an Indian Anti-flinch Amulet, or other somesuch. I'm getting too old to easily learn this stuff nowadays. I have to work hard at everything I accomplish in that regard. I'll do it though....
So, again, THANKS!
Sahagan0 -
quote:Originally posted by Doug Wilson
Go back to the basics - focus on breathing and sight picture, squeeze trigger with hammer drop coming as a surprise. Assuming it's a pistol, don't lock your elbows.
Wear excellent hearing protection.
Dry fire a lot.
Try balancing a quarter on the barrel and keep trying until it doesn't fall when the hammer drops.
Have a shooting partner load it with only two or three chambers filled, and watch yourself react when you squeeze it off.
Practice, practice, practice.
Convince yourself that recoil and muzzle blast will not injure you, 'cause it won't.
The same general approach also applies to long guns.
You CAN do it !!
Good luck.
Doug
Excellent advice.0 -
Thank you.
No charge.
Doug0 -
Do what Doug said, and remember to use just the optimum amount of muscle control during this process at the primary points of contact with the piece. If you are using a rifle this will be at the grip, the cheek-weld and shoulder - no loss of contact should be apparent at these points when the shot breaks. This will allow the remainder of the body to be relaxed and sway with the recoil like a sapling in a gust of wind. If you body muscles are tight and you lean into the piece expecting a kick, you'll surely get it. 0 -
SahaganBeta - just keep working at it. A good trigger is vital to accurate shooting with a handgun, IMHO. I still occasionally wrestle with those few cowardly little brain cells myself. Couple of weeks ago, a friend fron Ohio was out & had with him the first of SSKs 500 BM Alaskan encores. It had a muzzle break that looked like it came from a tank's cannon. After watching him shoot a while, it came my time to shoot it. Those little cells needed a short discussion before I finally allowed the trigger to break on the first round.. Discovered it was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.
My point is that many of us must continue to struggle with ourselves when we expect a lot of recoil. The more you shoot -- the easier it gets to be.0
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