Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Finally a lil progress

Well after getting the flinch from hell, and not being able to hit the ground if i tried after the 2nd shot I got to work.

Rounded up a set of hogue wrap arounds, to replace the ubber skinny grips that were on it. Feels a lil better. Although now they are thick enough that my thumb isnt long enough to hit the slide release without changing my grip. Seems I could hit the release with the old grips. Gotta look into options.


Had some bullseye in the powder measure allready, so
AA#5 will have to wait. Picked up a box of berrys 185's and had some 200gr SWC's on hand loaded them both with 4.5gr. Then took it out. Was exactly the recoil that I need right now.

Ran about 400 rounds of the same through it today. I dont notice a flinch but try an pull the trigger on round #8 that doesnt exist and theres still a faint flinch.

What I did notice though, was that I was sorta leaning forwrd into the gun. And it was working for hitting my spinner target. Put it on paper though and groups were ugly. I tried a more straight upright postion. Felt way awkward. BUT looking at what happened to my groups I think I'll try some more trigger time this way and see just what exactly happens. looks promising.

Its kinda a relief to finally see some progress. With a rifle im confident with. With a shotgun its natural for me and stupid simple. But damn this handgun thing kicks my azz. I catch myself trying to snap off a shot soon as the front sight hits my target. And everytime it doesnt work slowly gettin better thoguh

Those little suckers are pretty unforgiving, keep after it you'll get it. By the way, I like it.

I like that rail.

About that rail, have you thought about sticking something on their to see if a little extra weight would help with recoil reduction?

Maybe take one of THESE and stick a piece of 1" steel round stock in it for some forward weight. The added mass should help reduce recoil and since the weight is out front, should help reduce muzzle flip as well.

It wouldn't be ideal for working on holster draw or such but it should help you get in some basic training trigger time without worrying about fighting the flinch.

Front sight, surprise break....front sight, surprise break...front sight....

Us rifemen tend to focus on our target, which works great with a scoped rifle or a peep sighted rifle. With a handgun and. especially with a short barreled handgun SIGHT PICTURE has to be the FOCUS with its relation to the target very much secondary. Bass Ackwards from what we are accustomed to but if you get this down, and then trigger control, you will be shooting like a champ. Buy some 45ACP dummy or snap cap rounds and use them at home, a lot. These two things will get you where you want and need to be. Nice gun, BTW.

That one is out of stock. You gotta be careful with those short, little rails. Lots of holders won't fit them.

What!!!!???? Maybe you mean us shotgunners? A Rifleman knows to focus on his front sight, or his scope's reticle.

The thickness of the grip shouldn't matter for thumb 'reach' on a 1911 - nothing is added to the back strap. What might be happening is the finger grooves are forcing your hand into the wrong position. That happens to me with all types of finger grooves. Before you wrap your fingers around the grip force the pistol down into the web of your hand to the point of almost uncomfortable. Align the bore axis parallel to your forearm and then tighten your grip. That's the proper hold, so if your fingers don't reach the controls properly you should get an idea of what needs to be adjusted on the pistol. A firm grip will be required.

The reach can be varied using some combination of an arched main spring housing, different trigger lengths, and a thumb safety with the control surface moved forward/rearward. Other factors come into play as well - I'm 6'-4", but I use a short trigger on a carry 1911 to make it more winter glove friendly.

As TAK said, the cure for a flinch is the 'surprise break'. Press the trigger slowly while focusing on the front sight and be surprised when the trigger breaks and the pistol fires. No matter what, small 1911's are tough to shoot well. My own performance drops off so much with a Micro/Officer size 1911 that I don't own one. A Commander-size is as small as I will go (or a CCO with a mag funnel).

Getting ready to go out an shoot again. I will try holding it like you suggested. Lotsa good info pops up in threads like these.


What I was meaning about the grips is that they are thick enough that they hold my thumb outside the line that the slide release is in.

Looks like you have the MI Garand Thumb

I'd suggest not so much shooting for a guy fighting a flinch. That and rest well between sessions. When I get to where my shooting falls off much, I take a five minute break. If it ever doesn't recover to my usual level, I'm done for the day. E

I'd suggest putting down the chopped .45 and picking up a .22lr for a while. A long while.

I remember the day the light bulb finally came on for me as a shooter. I'd already been shooting a fairly long time and was a pretty decent shot. But, when I finally connected all the dots with regard to trigger manipulation, it was a whole new ball game.

Handgunning 101 can be a difficult thing to convey with the written word but it's really pretty simple:

Align the sights: Front sight in the rear notch .... equal height - equal light. The smaller or farther the target is the more focus you gotta have on the front sight.

Learn to embrace your "wobble": It's impossible and totally unnecessary to keep the gun perfectly still.

Press the trigger without messing up the alignment: Don't worry about movement of the gun - just the alignment of the sights. Almost everyone overworks the sights and under works the trigger. Most people can hold a handgun twice as steady as they need to but can�t pull the trigger correctly. It�s all about the trigger.

Let the gun fire - don't make the gun fire: If you know the exact moment the gun is going to fire - you will flinch. Almost everyone flinches. The key is to flinch late - when it has no impact on bullet flight.

Lastly .... try riding the thumb safety with your shooting hand thumb.

Trainer Randy Cain, after he ensures a flinching pupil understands the proper sight picture and front sight focus, will have the student hold his gun, and have another student slowly press the other guys' trigger to the rear. This always results in a vastly improved shot group, and said student doesn't argue anymore that he's flinching.

I don't think this has been mentioned, but if you aren't already you might want to use both good earplugs and muffs. Might help, might not.

This... and focusing on the basic fundamentals again and things will return to normal soon.

Yep, I've been doing that with students for years; works very well. But that "I don't flinch" thing always comes from men (at least I've never heard that from a woman). When you encounter this you have to let them down easy, because they have a fragile ego. So I'll typically inform them that most eveyone, regardless of shooting level battles the "flinch"/trigger control issue with varying degrees. Often I'll shoot a quick group thats' not very impressive, but better than what they were shooting. And THEN do the, they hold and someone else pulls the trigger thing. Then they'll see that group will be MUCH smaller than what they were shooting. Smaller than what I (the supposed "expert") shot. 99% of the time, the light bulb switches on at that point. Now I coach him through each individual shot, very similar to how you described on another thread. Front sight, let your breath out, easy slow squeeze; SURPRISE, it went off.

Oh, and I also learned the hard way ('cause I'm a dork) that you really want to stand on the other side of the ejection port if you're the trigger guy.

Excellent point, especially if you are standing under a covered area like many ranges have.

Espcially true when firing one of Lee24's jet force-operated G20's. A guy could put an eye out.