Monthly Archives: January 2012

An old but good tip on Flinch!

Itʼs not always easy to determine whether or not youʼre having a problem with flinch­ing. Many of my fellow shooters and some of my students were flinching and didnʼt even realize it. This is because the eyes can blink in an incredibly short time — 0.07 to 0.09 of a second.
Have someone check to see if youʼre flinching by loading a magazine randomly with dummy rounds. Then shoot the gun. If you clench or jump the gun it will be totally obvi­ous not only to you but to the observer. Have the observer also watch your eyes for a couple of groups. They will notice if you blink your eyes or tighten your face or shoulder muscles while shooting.
Some suggestions for overcoming flinch:

√ Try to focus more intently on the sights and recondition yourself not to tense up

√ Improve your hearing protection — lower the amount of discharge noise youʼre hear­ing

√ Switch to a .22 for a while and concentrate on the basics; then, switch back and forth from your competition gun and the .22 and see if it helps.

√ Work Burkett Timing Drills to over come it. Remember you can’t flinch as fast as you can shoot!