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Hi Charlotte - I sometimes suffer from a really annoying downward flinch when shooting standing with all calibers (.22, .357 and .303) - You know you're doing it as you do it, but can't stop yourself!

It's mainly down to anticipating the shot, as has been said; and you do just have to practice not to do it, as has also been said...

Btw: I took GazMorris's advice to do dry-firing practice for TR between live shoots last year, and it really made a difference

I would flinch after a while when dry firing, I think it was anticipation of the 'ting' as the firing pin went forward so I stuck a pair of ear defenders on and all was good, it also removed any external noises that might be a distraction.

Charlotte the flyer wrote:Does anybody know the best approach for overcoming the above? I was firing my M4 today in the standing position and found myself occasionally pulling down and to the right, I think the rifle went forward a bit to. It was very windy and trying to get the sights to line up on the target was very difficult, when I did get them to line up I'd flinch about 10% of the time. I never do it prone and usually don't do it kneeling but standing seems to be a bogey position for me. My stance is side on, hips forward with my elbow tucked into my ribs.

When you go shooting there is normally a loud bang from the muzzle end, if this causes you alarm I recommend a hobby called archery, this involves bows and arrows and is without nasty recoil. There is however a satisfying 'thunk' noise when your arrow hits the target. Hope this helps.

DL. wrote:When you go shooting there is normally a loud bang from the muzzle end, if this causes you alarm I recommend a hobby called archery, this involves bows and arrows and is without nasty recoil. There is however a satisfying 'thunk' noise when your arrow hits the target. Hope this helps.

Ha ha very funny! When standing I manage to get the sights lined up so infrequently that it's a rare event and I snatch in a vain attempt to somehow hit the target!

Practise, practise, practise I think.

Charlotte the flyer wrote:

DL. wrote:When you go shooting there is normally a loud bang from the muzzle end, if this causes you alarm I recommend a hobby called archery, this involves bows and arrows and is without nasty recoil. There is however a satisfying 'thunk' noise when your arrow hits the target. Hope this helps.

Ha ha very funny! When standing I manage to get the sights lined up so infrequently that it's a rare event and I snatch in a vain attempt to somehow hit the target!

Practise, practise, practise I think.

Fair play to you for parrying my slightly tongue in cheek post.

The serious answer - in my experience, I did quite a bit of shooting free hand/standing as a teenager in an air rifle club, and more recently with the military, what I have found being the thorn in the side of this position is firstly you get to a 'now or never' point where you just want to let the shot go when the position and poise are not adequate, but also the sights aren't even on the target properly. Secondly if you over think the shot, you can go into what was known as a 'zanussi' by holding your last half a breath for too long.
In these instances - stop and set up for a shot again once you've had a moment to compose yourself.

I never shoot prone---always standing. WHen afflicted by the flitch bug, the technique I use is to concentrate on front sight focus and to imagine that what I am trying to do is to use the trigger to pull the front sight through the rear sight aperture / gap. The gun is not going nto go bang, I am simply trying to pull the front sight through. Wolks for me.
Fred

Am I right in thinking that it's not a good idea to dry fire a rimfire without some sort of snap cap ?

zzr1100 wrote:Am I right in thinking that it's not a good idea to dry fire a rimfire without some sort of snap cap ?

Yeah - you knock seven grades out of the firing pin.

Just ordered some .22 snap caps ! I guess using a fired case would also work ...