Advanced Marksmanship Blinking

CrazyHorse_mk14

Native Injunuity
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Minuteman
Mar 11, 2018
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East Texas
Took some slo mo video of myself shooting and noticed I’m blinking ! Comes as a surprise because I though I wasn’t . I can see the blast and call the shot but it seems the millisecond after I have to put a quick blink in. I practiced my way out of it with a handgun and can’t quite seem to dail it out with the rifle .

Checked it out with the 22 and also my old iron sight rifles and I’m not having the same issue. It’s a blink after not before so it’s not anticipating, I ran a search and found some old threads with interesting ideas. Ear protection for one cause I’m the worst about not wearing any.... (will someone answer that phone btw).. any other suggestions for controlling the after blink? Can’t be looking like a pussy in my slo mo’s :rolleyes:
 
1) get fucking ear pro........humans are designed to flinch at loud noises.......also youre fucking your ears up.......muffle the sounds and youll lessen the flinch.

2) youve learned to flinch....you need to unlearn it.

the best way ive found to do this is get yourself a CO2 or compressed air pellet rifle...not a springer.....smaller caliber the better....ide recommend a .177

mount a scope on the rifle, and practice shooting at targets at relatively close range....like 10 yards or less......and your goal is to watch the paper get punched with a hole.

the air rifle will not have much if any recoil, this will help you see your shot through the sights....and it will help prevent inducing a flinch.


shoot the air rifle until you can see the pellet punch a hole through paper.........then bump it up to a .22.......then to a .223.......then .308....ect.
 
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I make no excuses for not investing in some of these new fangled electronic noise dampening devices. I’m sure I would be more apt to wear them when hunting.

I try to wear foamies when shooting the range and perhaps they’re not dampening enough sound ?! However I think it’s more the scope rebounding during recoil type of blink. That sudden jolt towards my eye is what’s doing it if I had to guess...

I can shoot my enfield all day and not blink during recoil. It’s loud enough to need protection but also has iron sights. :unsure:

Appreciate the insights :D
 
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Seriously tho , even considered taking up boxing .. maybe a couple good punches to the face will help. How does one work on their psychoness!?
This?
My 18 yr old not the 6’4” guy..

He still needs to mix it up..

As a catcher most of his life.. fear is not an issue. But he still blinks

Posted in another thread.. just this made more sense
 
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I keep telling myself that, it’s ok everyone does it, it’s “natural”.. but then I seen maybe the one video of Galli ever without his cool ass aviators on and yep... no blink! Dudes like the iceman or some shit. It scared me a little

Seriously tho, in my observations the military guys are the most likely to not blink. I’m thinking this has something to do with shooting free ammo and doing it for years! Or maybe through deployments they already had all the shit scared out of them and a little scope jumping in the face don’t bother em none .

With a handgun I overcame the blink with rate a fire. I literally couldn’t blink fast enough to keep up. Hard to do with the bolt gun :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
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Blinking is such a consistent response that I used to watch the learner's aiming eye to identify the flinch.

Blinking can occur from recoil/noise, and it can also identify when the shooter is anticipating the recoil and yanking the trigger. When that's happening, it's because the shooter knows when the rifle is about to fire. That's because they can't stand the suspense and are deliberately trying to to make it happen now. They begin the flinch/buck before the sear actually releases.

The blink occurs before the rifle fires when the flinch is present. The shooter will never believe you until you prove it by slipping in a dummy round. The flinch will be undeniable.

Better hearing protection, along with teaching the shooter how to bring the butt firmly into contact with the shoulder pocket so it can't take a run at the shooter and pound them, are aids to reducing/eliminating flinch. It's a learning process and can take some time to get it done completely. The steady squeeze is what the shooter needs to be doing.

The flinch can come back at any time, even years later. When it does, the same methods will still work.

If anyone tells you they have become so accustomed to their trigger that they can 'feel' in advance when it's going to break, watch their aiming eye. They may be right, but it's far more likely that they have an incipient flinch.

...And then again, there's Frank... He knows when it's going to break...; he just don't care. Honey Badger as f*ck.

Greg
 
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...And then again, there's Frank... He knows when it's going to break...; he just don't care. Honey Badger as f*ck.

Perhaps I set my standards too high! After all, Frank don’t push himself off the ground when doing push ups, he pushes the earth away from him. I’m mostly ceartain it’s not a anticipation flinch, I check my self occasionally by forgetting to turn the safety off and haven’t jumped it yet. Never thought of it being me ambushing the crosshairs and ripping the trigger .. that’s possible and I would probably still hit ok, I’ve got a good fast trigger pull from double action revolvers .

I will make offerings to the honey badger , and do a rain dance on it.

E50EB077-5C52-47F5-8823-61242CBA24A4.jpeg

Or I can bounce this at my face till the vagina leaves me :rolleyes:
 
Double bag you ears on the range, fomies work for hunting on single shots not all day blasting.
Go setup next to someone with an sbr with a muzzle brake both sides is better.
By the time you can ignore that crap, nothing your rifle is doing will bother you.

If you take a long time lining up a shot try blinking first on purpose.

It's kind of like the nagging to take out the trash, with practice you can learn to ignore anything!
 
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Double bag you ears on the range, fomies work for hunting on single shots not all day blasting.
Go setup next to someone with an sbr with a muzzle brake both sides is better.
By the time you can ignore that crap, nothing your rifle is doing will bother you.

If you take a long time lining up a shot try blinking first on purpose.

It's kind of like the nagging to take out the trash, with practice you can learn to ignore anything!

You can get more DB reduction for much cheaper with foam plugs vs muffs. Pertinent point thought, Muffs don't work better than foam insert ear plugs. You can get both with the same rating. Or you can by foam plugs with a higher rating than the best muffs.
 
I have some custom made ear plugs, some of the ranges I use still insist on muffs so I just run both.
I have not purchased any of the electronic ear pro yet but may give it a shot.
Best foamies I have used are the old school round yellow plugs sold at industrial supply places.
Those are fairly cheap, and expendable if lost in gear yet once again! Lol
I did not see any earpro in your vidio.
The one shot will mess up the next without earpro, and deteriorate your shooting skills.

You will look smarter if you wear something, anything.

My ears ring loud 24/7/365 some of it from shooting some from work.
Trust an old guy when I tell you you dont need that, completely uncool!
 
1) get fucking ear pro........humans are designed to flinch at loud noises.......also youre fucking your ears up.......muffle the sounds and youll lessen the flinch.

2) youve learned to flinch....you need to unlearn it.

the best way ive found to do this is get yourself a CO2 or compressed air pellet rifle...not a springer.....smaller caliber the better....ide recommend a .177

mount a scope on the rifle, and practice shooting at targets at relatively close range....like 10 yards or less......and your goal is to watch the paper get punched with a hole.

the air rifle will not have much if any recoil, this will help you see your shot through the sights....and it will help prevent inducing a flinch.


shoot the air rifle until you can see the pellet punch a hole through paper.........then bump it up to a .22.......then to a .223.......then .308....ect.
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Post of the year in my book. The air rifle is an awesome tool.
 
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Perhaps I set my standards too high! After all, Frank don’t push himself off the ground when doing push ups, he pushes the earth away from him. I’m mostly ceartain it’s not a anticipation flinch, I check my self occasionally by forgetting to turn the safety off and haven’t jumped it yet. Never thought of it being me ambushing the crosshairs and ripping the trigger .. that’s possible and I would probably still hit ok, I’ve got a good fast trigger pull from double action revolvers .

I will make offerings to the honey badger , and do a rain dance on it.

View attachment 6889964

Or I can bounce this at my face till the vagina leaves me :rolleyes:

???
 
I have to comment about recoil.

While I was taught to "bring enough gun...", in those days the top kicker was usually the .30-'06, with the .300WM being reserved for really big game and the occasional recoil addicts.

Modern chamberings have gone big to the point where I think they could be jumping the shark. Seriously, if a hunter can't get to well within 1200yd of a prize trophy, I'm really hoping that they have some heavy mechanized transport to help get to the kill and carry it out. Not really, but the humor still makes some kind of point, and that point is that while there are undoubtedly highly valid applications for those ultras, there are probably a fair percentage of macho recoil embracers who are puttin' on the Ritz, too. For example, there are at least three owners of 338 Win Mags at our VFW who will never, in their wildest dreams, have an ultimate hunting experience that could not as easily be served with a ubiquitous .270.

IMHO, "enough gun" does not translate to the the biggest available Loudenkerblastinboomer.

IMHO, such overage can contribute to monster flinch, as well as sympathetic shock/flinch on the part of close bystanders/fellow shooters.

Too much is not enough, it's just too much.

Greg
 
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Blinking is involuntary and it occurs well after the bullet has left the barrel. It’s a response to the noise of the shot, and the lag between hearing the shot and the blink is a little under a tenth of a second. The bullet is gone in a few milliseconds. Blink away. It does not matter.

You are correct; I can see the muzzle flash before I blink; It is odd that I pay attention or try not then I blink consistently
I am watching through scope videos over and over again to desentize myself;
I will let you know if it works
 
Now I'm trying not to blink reading this thread, thanks! Lol

Have you tried bliking before trigger press on purpose?

Did you get some earpro yet?