Blinking

[mbeavers1]

I have been having issues seeing impacts on steel so had someone video my trigger press process. Found that i blink with the muzzle blast. I had a blank loaded in a mag by someone else and on the blank....no blink...so it does not appear to be an anticipation issue. The reason i have read appears to be a subconscious reaction to the blast.

I found a couple suggestions but wanted to see if anyone else has something.

1. Double ear pro - plugs and muffs
2. Press tongue hard to top of mouth to keep subconsious busy through trigger press process - sounds silly but serveral people said it worked.

Anything else to try?

 

[Mike Casselton]

Eye protection.
Don't shoot under the cover of a roof.
Don't use a brake.

 

[oldiephrt]

^^^^ this is a good start, adjust your position to mitigate recoil. (where is the stock on your shoulder, are you square. when you open your eyes are you on target) If you are old (like me) your body may be too stiff to absorb the recoil and it just hurts.

 

[mbeavers1]

My rifle has virtually no recoil. Its a 20+ lb 6mm BR with a brake. My reticle barely moves. 99% sure its not body position, was even at a training class this weekend and that was complemented. The one thing that did come up was that I had a lot of cheek weld pressure when prone. The instructor that noted the blink wondered if the rifle contact w cheek was causing it and had me lower cheek piece a bit to allow rifle to recoil into my shoulder and prevent contact w cheek bone...if that makes sense.

All that said....brake is a must, dont shoot under cover much, and dont usually use glasses.

 

[oldiephrt]

Well.. cool. Did the change of cheek piece help? I assume you had to use glasses at the training, using glasses will keep muzzle blast off your eyes so training with them will build muscle memory ( I blink, but I know why).

 

[oldiephrt]

I forgot the mantra, DRY FIRE,DRY FIRE, ect......until your are sick of it, repeat

 

[Mike Casselton]

My rifle has virtually no recoil. Its a 20+ lb 6mm BR with a brake. My reticle barely moves. 99% sure its not body position, was even at a training class this weekend and that was complemented. The one thing that did come up was that I had a lot of cheek weld pressure when prone. The instructor that noted the blink wondered if the rifle contact w cheek was causing it and had me lower cheek piece a bit to allow rifle to recoil into my shoulder and prevent contact w cheek bone...if that makes sense.

All that said....brake is a must, dont shoot under cover much, and dont usually use glasses.

A 20lb BR and a brake is a must?

WHY?

Mine is like 13.5 and no brake is needed.

Do you have shoulder problems or something?

 

[mbeavers1]

Without a break off of some of the wobbly barricades makes it awfully hard to watch shots. Now, prone or modified prone of some sort would be more manageable but everything you need to see happens inside the 1st sec after you squeeze it off.

Hunting rifle, no problem. Only takes one shot.

 

[spife7980]

Use a can. I cant handle a brake either.

 

[Mike Casselton]

^^^^^ What @spife7980 said

 

[mbeavers1]

That may be an option but only got a crappy Crux....waiting on my dominus to get out of jail.

 

[Northfl]

Have a buddy that had bad flinhcing issues dut to recoil anticipation.
he was going to africa to hunt cape buffalo and bought a 458 of some kind and ran about 300 rounds down the barrel before the trip. Said that cured him of blinking when running his 308 deer rifle. Worth a shot

 

[Rog2069]

Do you blink when shooting other rifles you own?
I say shoot suppressed but if it only happens with this particular rifle maybe you just need a diff muzzle break

 

[mbeavers1]

Do you blink when shooting other rifles you own?
I say shoot suppressed but if it only happens with this particular rifle maybe you just need a diff muzzle break

Dunno. Gonna find out this weekend. I never knew i did it. Not that important with the other rifles since im not trying to watch the actual bullet strike on plates.

 

[Forrest84]

I know when I re trained myself to shoot both eyes open I stopped blinking for the most part

 

[oldiephrt]

mbeavers1 are you going to video yourself or have a friend to watch? I think it is interesting how having a second set of eyes pin points habits we ourselves are unaware of.

 

[mbeavers1]

mbeavers1 are you going to video yourself or have a friend to watch? I think it is interesting how having a second set of eyes pin points habits we ourselves are unaware of.

Gonna have someone video. They did it last weekend both when I actually shot and when they tricked me and dry fired. It clearly showed the blink w the fired shot only.

 

[Waco Kid]

When my dad taught me to shoot he always said don’t blink when the gun goes off. Only way I know to fix it is just focus/concentrate on keeping your eyes open thru the shot when you practice at shorter distances. Same as developing any other fundamental, focus on one thing at a time til you can put them all together. That’s what I did, ymmv.

 

[fdkay]

What you could do to stop from blinking is this:
When your buddy is recording, everytime he sees you blink, he should walk up behind you and kick you square in the groin while wearing steel toe boots as hard as he can.
That should fix it.

 

[37L1]

Shoot farther and a blink won't matter.

 

[SD Carpenter]

It's a natural response to an explosion in front of your face, as said earlier shooting with both eyes open helps reduce it. Either way, a blink is so fast it shouldn't stop you from seeing an impact

 

[KnowNothing256]

I usually blink the first round or two, until I remember to take an active step to not blink. One thing I’ve found that works for me is to “lean into” the shot, mentally/metaphorically speaking. I try to switch from flinching away from the recoil blast to seeking it out. If that makes any sense.

Also, agreed with those above that said to focus specifically on that skill by itself. Don’t worry about trying to shoot tiny groups with your eyes open, just make it go bang with good fundamentals and focus only on keeping your eyes open. Then progress to visually seeking out a good sight picture post-recoil, to spot your impact.

 

[Racer88]

Have you tried firing the rifle without the brake - to see if you blink without it? Is it possible the brake blast is making you blink? Depending on the design of the brake, some of them direct quite a bit of blast backwards.

 

[Cardboard Assassin]

I was struggling with this a little the other day, I usually wear safety glasses when I shoot but forgot to bring them.

At the start I couldn't see trace (was shooting at 400M) but I zoomed back a little and even with the blink I still had time to recover and see the impact.

Gonna try some of the stuff mentioned here.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I think it's a rare shooter who never blinks as the rifle discharges. The combination of sudden sound and the recoil pulse are hard to ignore. Trying to stop it is seldom successful; just let it happen.

Blinking after the trigger breaks is generally not an issue, the average human isn't quick enough to disturb their aim once ignition has begun. Blinking before the sear breaks is a significant problem; it's hard to be accurate when your aiming eye is closed. It usually is the initiation of a flinch occurring.

An observer watching the aiming eye for a few shots can usually tell which situation is occurring.

Good hearing protection can help.

Greg

 

[Seymour Fish]

I think it's a rare shooter who never blinks as the rifle discharges. The combination of sudden sound and the recoil pulse are hard to ignore. Trying to stop it is seldom successful; just let it happen.

Blinking after the trigger breaks is generally not an issue, the average human isn't quick enough to disturb their aim once ignition has begun. Blinking before the sear breaks is a significant problem; it's hard to be accurate when your aiming eye is closed. It usually is the initiation of a flinch occurring.

An observer watching the aiming eye for a few shots can usually tell which situation is occurring.

Good hearing protection can help.

And if you can call your shot, fuggetaboutit

 

[Marine52]

I think it's a rare shooter who never blinks as the rifle discharges. The combination of sudden sound and the recoil pulse are hard to ignore. Trying to stop it is seldom successful; just let it happen.

Blinking after the trigger breaks is generally not an issue, the average human isn't quick enough to disturb their aim once ignition has begun. Blinking before the sear breaks is a significant problem; it's hard to be accurate when your aiming eye is closed. It usually is the initiation of a flinch occurring.

An observer watching the aiming eye for a few shots can usually tell which situation is occurring.

Good hearing protection can help.

Greg

Precisely! once the sear breaks, the human startle response is too slow to impact rifle before the bullet exits the barrel.

 

[Garvey]

I have been having issues seeing impacts on steel so had someone video my trigger press process. Found that i blink with the muzzle blast. I had a blank loaded in a mag by someone else and on the blank....no blink...so it does not appear to be an anticipation issue. The reason i have read appears to be a subconscious reaction to the blast.

I found a couple suggestions but wanted to see if anyone else has something.

1. Double ear pro - plugs and muffs
2. Press tongue hard to top of mouth to keep subconsious busy through trigger press process - sounds silly but serveral people said it worked.

Anything else to try?

Conscious effort to keep the eye open. Force it open. Be looking for your bullet flight. More rounds fired, you will get there. Eventually (when lighting is right) you can see your own trace. With sun behind you, and a bit lower in the sky, you can see the glint off the back of the bullet. Force the eye open!

 

[Gil P.]

I think it's a rare shooter who never blinks as the rifle discharges. The combination of sudden sound and the recoil pulse are hard to ignore. Trying to stop it is seldom successful; just let it happen.

Blinking after the trigger breaks is generally not an issue, the average human isn't quick enough to disturb their aim once ignition has begun. Blinking before the sear breaks is a significant problem; it's hard to be accurate when your aiming eye is closed. It usually is the initiation of a flinch occurring.

An observer watching the aiming eye for a few shots can usually tell which situation is occurring.

Good hearing protection can help.

Greg

+100

Question answered.

 

[SporterII]

I do not think the blink is an issue unless you fight it.

 

[fdkay]