Keeping cheek weld when shoot

[arbogb06]

Gentleman,

I have noticed I am starting/have a bad habit of moving my head and losing my cheek weld as soon as I fire. A little bit of background: I do not do lose my cheek weld when I shoot smaller calibers (yet) and this only occurs when I shoot my .338 lapua. Are there any ways to stop this flinching motion and keep my cheek weld after pulling the trigger short of using tape or rope of any sort? I feel as though my current goups are good 0.50 MOA but occasionally I get a flyer and believe if I kept my head down and cheek weld through the shot this may assist in tighter groups and I will actually be able to watch the shot.

Thanks,

Brandon

 

[ksthomas]

Focus, follow through and practice. You need to work on maintaining head position, and that's something I deal with in offhand. My method entails firing the shot, and keeping my eyes on the target for a full two seconds after the round is gone. Trying to actually see the bullseye in the lead up, breaking the shot and calling it, and seeing the sights return right back on target, all without moving my head position. As far as the follow through, yes, I actually focus on leaving my head in position for a full two seconds while I reaccquire the target.

Might be time to play some ball and dummy, too. Using a number of dummy rounds along with live ammo, have a friend or coach load the rifle for you, using either a live round or a dummy round. While many shooters will swear up and down they don't flinch, ever, this little drill makes the point far better than an hour of arguing ever could.

 

[tobedell]

Brandon,
I don't usually loose my cheek weld unless the firearm moves forward. The contact between my weak hand, butt of the gun and my shoulder determines if I loose my cheek weld. Even if the muzzle flip is extreme the firearm will settle for a visual on the miss or hit, depending on the hang time. I also shoot with the lowest power that I can for maximum eye relief.

 

[arbogb06]

ksthomas; this is very good advice and I am going to try this at the range this weekend. I know it is my mind telling me to get the heck out of dodge when the round goes off and after reading on a forum where a guy's bolt came back at thim and the only thing that saved him was the adjustable cheek piece I guess put my mind in a higher state of alert which I believe is making me do this since I shoot my AR and .308 all day without any problems.

tkbedell; I will have to lower my power to see if i am doing this because i am trying to get away from being hit by the scope

Thanks for the advice gentleman.

 

[kraigWY]

Don't shave for a few days, then spray some Firm Grip on your stock. It'll break you from raising your head.

 

[Topstrap]

ksthomas; this is very good advice and I am going to try this at the range this weekend. I know it is my mind telling me to get the heck out of dodge when the round goes off and after reading on a forum where a guy's bolt came back at thim and the only thing that saved him was the adjustable cheek piece I guess put my mind in a higher state of alert which I believe is making me do this since I shoot my AR and .308 all day without any problems.

tkbedell; I will have to lower my power to see if i am doing this because i am trying to get away from being hit by the scope

Thanks for the advice gentleman.

If you have any fear or worry about what might happen when the round goes off then you'll not advance in your skill level till you conquer that. Maybe stick with the smaller calibers a bit more and work on keeping your eye on the target, staring at the center of the bull/target and wanting to see the impact while the gun is recoiling and settling back down.

It takes practice and a lot of discipline to shoot the big boomers the same way you'd shoot a 22LR. We've had to overcome that with the LR pistols we started with, every shot they would rise up near our heads and have a tremendous muzzle blast. You'll overcome it eventually but does take practice and you can't worry every shot that something is gonna hit you in the face or a bolt is going to come flying back at you. Yeah is might happen but you don't worry about being hit head on every time you go driving since you've overcome that with experience.

Keep at it, like others have said above, practice on staring at the target and wanting to see the impact instead of raising your head up after it goes bang.

Topstrap

 

[arbogb06]

Thanks for all the advice again gentleman. An older fellow at the range told me to cut up and old t shirt around the waist and put it around the outside if my right arm (trigger hand/arm since I'm a righty) make sure the gun is also in the loop and around the back of my neck he said if I try to flinch or move one of two things will happen my rifle will get knocked over or your arm will stop your neck from flinching. He said for your rigs sake you better hope it is the later of the two.

 

[jasonZ]

Well if tying yourself to the weapo doesn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, then nothing will. A new use for the wifes panty hose? God knows I ain't ripping up one of my shirts!

 

[vaeevictiss]

i think you just have to practice and get used to it like others have said. I have a nasty habit of flinching whenever i fire a new gun regardless lol. Case in point. I have gotten used to shooting my SRH in 454 casull. I have even loaded some hot rounds that will send a bowling pin flying and i have no problem shooting it anymore. This weekend after sighting in my rifle, i shot a friends 357, and on the empty chamber after the last shot (wasnt counting) i jerked like crazy and my wife was like..."wow, you anticipated the hell out of that" lol. It really had nothing to do with the recoil as the 357 felt like a pea shooter next to my casull, it is just that way when i fire a new gun lol. I also notice i do it if im rushing or trying to speed unload.

The thing with shooting a large rifle...you cant avoid it regardless what you do so you just have to get used to it. How are you laying if shooting prone? I used to lay cocked to one side like the military taught me, but recently ive basically centered myself behind the rifle and found myself shooting better than ever. If sitting, how are you sitting? if the height of the table/bench and the chair/seat is not correct you will be trying to sit in some awkward position. The recoil from a 338 will easily throw you off if you arent sitting right.

It could be a mental thing too. What is scaring you or making you flinch? The sound or the kick. If its the sound then you can try doubling up on hearing protection. If its the kick you just have to find a way to tell your body to relax. Ive gotten to a point where i dont even blink when i pull the trigger (well sometimes lol). I started out years ago with a 270, then wanted to switch to .308. The 270 got me used to the recoil as the .308 feels like about half that. What ended up helping me, is i try to imagine everything happening in slow motion. As im slowly pulling the trigger, it breaks, and the recoil is just (in my mind) the continual pull of the trigger. I try to make it feel like one single action. Yea it sounds dumb and maybe confusing but it works for me lol.

 

[Graham]

An older fellow at the range told me to cut up and old t shirt around the waist and put it around the outside if my right arm (trigger hand/arm since I'm a righty) make sure the gun is also in the loop and around the back of my neck he said if I try to flinch or move one of two things will happen my rifle will get knocked over or your arm will stop your neck from flinching.

While he was making things up I'm surprised that he didn't also suggest Superglue.

Do you have a can for it? Suppressing a .338 makes it much more pleasant to shoot, it gets rid of the blast and changes the recoil pulse so that you can focus on no disengaging during the follow-through.

 

[varmint slayer]

While he was making things up I'm surprised that he didn't also suggest Superglue.

I use a ratchet strap and Gorilla glue myself...

 

[wilecoyote]

shooting seated,from a bench, for me is an aggravating factor about the perceived recoil (and in some corner of my brain the rifle is born to be shooted prone,if not all because I don't like that the body be exposed when I shoot,if possible)_ if the recoil is perceived as excessive,anyway, aside the solutions above, some kind of shoulder pad can make it more bearable, so that your body won't unvolontarily "run away" from the booming rifle, or strongly "clinching" it to fight a foreseen recoil _ your body (&mind) will be more confident to move accordingly to it , and when/if you will be accustomized to the behaviour of your rifle, probably you will forget the pad _
a childish way to facilitate (my own) shooting relax is to smile, even if the bystanders will be thinkin' you're slightly out of mind, of course_

 

[sniperdude]

LMAO! but would work none the less

Don't shave for a few days, then spray some Firm Grip on your stock. It'll break you from raising your head.