You’re “anticipating” (flinching / dipping), while at the same time yanking the trigger.
Here’s what you do: get a snap cap (dummy round) for your caliber and have a friend or even a stranger at the range load your mag for you, mixing the snap cap in at a random location. You know it’s there, but you don’t know where. Now, run the mag as usual and when you get to the dummy round it won’t fire, but you’ll see just how crazy your flinch is. It’s that motion – dropping the gun and yanking it laterally – which is ruining your group.
To fix it, first just try doing one perfect shot on target (live round, not dry). SLOWLY pull the trigger. And by slowly, I mean it should take you like 30 seconds between starting to apply pressure and the gun actually going off. You shouldn’t know when it’s going to go off, and if you feel yourself about to jerk or deliberately pull the trigger (you may even feel yourself drop the sight picture a bit as this happens), stop and start over. Do at least one absolutely perfect no-flinch whatsoever pull. Remember what that feels like. Then do it again but a little faster. And again. The goal is to break the association between pulling the trigger and compensating for the recoil.
People say “dry fire more” but, in my experience, that doesn’t really help as much, especially when you’re new; when you dry fire, you already know there’s no round in the chamber. Your monkey-brain isn’t subconsciously flinching for you in anticipation of the recoil because it knows there won’t be any. I can dry fire perfectly all day long, but getting that sort of control on the range is a whole different story. Once you get better, dry fire practice is a good way not to lose the skill, but until you get it with live ammo, it’ll just be two different things to you.
Good luck on your journey!
Written by username Mikebjackson on Reddit.
