Magnum flintch

[allranch2025]

Years ago I acquired a collection of rifles, among them was a super cheap single shot, lever 22, I thought I'll try it out on some unsuspecting ground squirrels, loaded it, aimed pulled the trigger, click! nothing opened the breech ,gave the cartridge half a turn, aimed and bang. After that session with the rifle, I realized it could never be counted on to fire on the first trigger pull some times twice or even three times in a row, totally un predictable. What I did come to realize was that I had"Magnum Flintch" Further inspection of the rifle, it appeared to have the firing pin filed down intentionally, which produced the light strikes on the cartridge. My suspicion was that the previous owner had done this as a way to cure his own magnum flintch. The next time some bird hunters came up to the ranch, I posed my theory to them, they all thought I was wackey, until they tried shooting it, you would have thought they were shooting a ten gauge goose gun with mag loads

 

[Garciamarquez1918]

I have magnum and non-magnum flinch lol. The first step is admitting you have a problem.

 

[thriller]

For me the best method is to shoot the hardest kicking guns I have and them go back to the other one. It makes my brain go “this isn’t bad at all” I have found most people think this method is that of a crazy man so your mileage may vary

 

[skydiver386]

I shoot Olympic 10 meter air rifles and Benchrest level rimmfires quite often, and the concentration required to shoot these well from hunting positions will break you of any bad habits like recoil induced flinch.

 

[CBH Australia]

I guess I’m theory that may be why it has been done.
I doubt I would have thought of it and I’m not sure I like the idea.
Snap caps, practice and discipline are probably better options than messing with its reliability.

 

[Russ16]

A good bolt 22 is a great cure for any flinch. And I like it to have a slightly heavier trigger pull than my larger hunting rifles. Makes you stay in the shot.

 

[375Fox]

I think many more hunters have a flinch than will admit it. You can shoot a pretty respectable group with a small flinch. I had dummy rounds loaded for my rifles. I mix with the live rounds so I don’t know what is loaded. Recoil covers up a lot in that micro second the trigger breaks. You won’t know what you do unless the rifle goes click and can see it clearly without recoil.
Shooting 22s doesn’t help correct flinch to me. Same with dry fire on a snap cap or empty chamber (although I do it a lot to practice breaking trigger). My brain knows it won’t recoil or have a loud bang. There’s no apprehension. My brain needs to think there’s potential of recoil and loud bang from a centerfire rifle to identify what I need to work on.

 

[baxterb]

When I was a young lad and thought I wanted a 338 (God Bless Robert K. Brown for that idea), I bought a ruger paddle stock version. Yikes. I got over the flinch by removing the scope and just flinging some rounds for fun. When I knew the recoil wouldn’t kill me, I put the scope back on and voila!

 

[Franco]

I have a 22 Voodoo I set in a bag and try to hit the same hole with successive shots. I also have some targets, designed primarily for pistols, but the quadrants around the bullseye are marked to tell you what you are doing wrong.

When I switch to my big bores, I fire a couple rounds through my 458 Lott - after that, everything else is child's play.

I have found, shooting at paper or steel gives you a lot of time to think - sometimes, too much time. When that cape buffalo or elephant is your target - you don't worry much about recoil.

I also shoot pop up and charging targets, gets your brain to focus on the shot and not the hurt.

 

[fourfive8]

The flinch phenomenon is interesting. Blast compression wave can cause flinching- either from one’s own gun or one being shot nearby. It’s one reason I detest brakes and refuse to shoot near anyone using one.

I’ve shot and hunted a lot over the years. I think I’m fairly normal for being vulnerable to flinch. Thinking back and carefully analyzing the cause of my tendency to flinch, when I do flinch, likely has roots in shooting shotguns. Shotguns have probably caused my tendency to flinch as much as any heavy recoiling rifle I may have shot. With rifle, I know I have to squeeze trigger until release for accurate shooting. With shotgun there is no squeeze involved… it is a timed trigger pull (mild yank) hah! .

I know a large caliber rifle is going to recoil a bunch and I know a 22rf is not. I still have to concentrate on not flinching every time I shoot any rifle, no matter the recoil. It is a conscious decision and requires real time concentration for each shot. I have no idea how many rounds I’ve shot over the past 70 years of shooting… 10s of thousands? 100s of thousands?. But it doesn’t matter, BB gun or big 45 cal high power rifles, I still have to concentrate on trigger squeeze until surprise release for each shot to shoot well.

 

[Russ16]

The flinch phenomenon is interesting. Blast compression wave can cause flinching- either from one’s own gun or one being shot nearby. It’s one reason I detest brakes and refuse to shoot near anyone using one.

I’ve shot and hunted a lot over the years. I think I’m fairly normal for being vulnerable to flinch. Thinking back and carefully analyzing the cause of my tendency to flinch, when I do flinch, likely has roots in shooting shotguns. Shotguns have probably caused my tendency to flinch as much as any heavy recoiling rifle I may have shot. With rifle, I know I have to squeeze trigger until release for accurate shooting. With shotgun there is no squeeze involved… it is a timed trigger pull (mild yank) hah! .

I know a large caliber rifle is going to recoil a bunch and I know a 22rf is not. I still have to concentrate on not flinching every time I shoot any rifle, no matter the recoil. It is a conscious decision and requires real time concentration for each shot. I have no idea how many rounds I’ve shot over the past 70 years of shooting… 10s of thousands? 100s of thousands?. But it doesn’t matter, BB gun or big 45 cal high power rifles, I still have to concentrate on trigger squeeze until surprise release for each shot to shoot well.

My flinch is very gun specific. I have one gun that once hurt me shootning form a bad position with a steel buttplate. I have to concentrate very hard with that gun. Every time I put it to my shoulder I know a flinch is possible. Heavier recoiling guns I think nothing about.

Shotguns have actually helped my flinch. Shooting them poorly mounted even from the hip has helped me concentrate on the target and not think about the gun at all.

 

[allranch2025]

The flinch phenomenon is interesting. Blast compression wave can cause flinching- either from one’s own gun or one being shot nearby. It’s one reason I detest brakes and refuse to shoot near anyone using one.

I’ve shot and hunted a lot over the years. I think I’m fairly normal for being vulnerable to flinch. Thinking back and carefully analyzing the cause of my tendency to flinch, when I do flinch, likely has roots in shooting shotguns. Shotguns have probably caused my tendency to flinch as much as any heavy recoiling rifle I may have shot. With rifle, I know I have to squeeze trigger until release for accurate shooting. With shotgun there is no squeeze involved… it is a timed trigger pull (mild yank) hah! .

I know a large caliber rifle is going to recoil a bunch and I know a 22rf is not. I still have to concentrate on not flinching every time I shoot any rifle, no matter the recoil. It is a conscious decision and requires real time concentration for each shot. I have no idea how many rounds I’ve shot over the past 70 years of shooting… 10s of thousands? 100s of thousands?. But it doesn’t matter, BB gun or big 45 cal high power rifles, I still have to concentrate on trigger squeeze until surprise release for each shot to shoot well.

Shot gun shooters would when shooting Quail swing into the shot and slam the trigger, swinging the barrel to spread the shot, no time to breath, squeeze the trigger, etc.