What’s the Difference Between a Flinch and Trigger Jerk?
- Thread starter Talyn
- Start date
Thanks for the info, Talyn.
I was brought in once to diagnose shooters who failed to qualify during pistol qualification. I was selected due to my demonstrated proficiency and instructor qualification. My most challenging shooter had both a severe flinch and trigger jerk with both eyes closed. It was so severe that he could not hit a full sized silhouette target at 15 meters with his M9. A lesson learned from this encounter is to shoot with at least one eye open.
I was brought in once to diagnose shooters who failed to qualify during pistol qualification. I was selected due to my demonstrated proficiency and instructor qualification. My most challenging shooter had both a severe flinch and trigger jerk with both eyes closed. It was so severe that he could not hit a full sized silhouette target at 15 meters with his M9. A lesson learned from this encounter is to shoot with at least one eye open.
youngolddude
Professional
At matches at times, I see multiple people jerking the shotgun down before discharging in anticipation of recoil. Worst case, they go through a belt of shotgun before correcting.
conax
Master Class
I always watch movie stars when they are shooting to see if they shut their eyes. Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon was shooting a happy face on a range target set all the way back. If you watch him closely, his eyes were blinking shut at every shot, and there's no way he could have shot very well.
To me, flinching is an involuntary closing of the eyes right when they need to be open and held open through the follow through- and jerking the trigger.
To me, flinching is an involuntary closing of the eyes right when they need to be open and held open through the follow through- and jerking the trigger.
conax
Master Class
Have a buddy load a magazine with one dummy round unbeknownst to you. When it fails to fire you'll see your own muscular contractions and gun movement and that helps you learn to overcome them.
We had a shooting site with no people at all anywhere with high backstops all around. I liked to take new guns there and just shoot at everything until the noise and recoil had no effect and were of no concern. Any flinching was cured (at the cost of a bunch of ammo) but it was a lot of fun, too.
We had a shooting site with no people at all anywhere with high backstops all around. I liked to take new guns there and just shoot at everything until the noise and recoil had no effect and were of no concern. Any flinching was cured (at the cost of a bunch of ammo) but it was a lot of fun, too.
I had similar difficulty transitioning from a 1911 to polymers because it was difficult to time the shot due to spongy triggers. The XD-M Elite META reduced this tendency greatly.
SimonRL
Hellcat
Every now and the when I’m shooting something heavy like my X5 Legion I’ll let the red dot drift because I’m getting tired and I’ll pull up, but my hands will flinch like the gun went off. It makes me laugh when it happens because it feels like I practically jumped out of my shoes.