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Hello Vicki & Gil from Colorado; Dear Jeff, Perhaps the most confusing thing about a flinch is separating the perception from the reality. The perception is that you can’t pull the trigger but the question is why? In almost every instance we have encountered this problem we have asked the student what they saw when it happened. The first few times we ask the question the answer is “I don’t know”. Eventually the student begins to realize that the last thing they saw when the flinch occurred was the gun. That’s the reality.
Now before all you flinchers out there get your knickers in a knot about your theories and experiences with this phenomenon here us out. We are sure that there is more than one cause for flinching. Our objective is not to deal with all of them. It is our objective to share with Jeff some of the things that have worked for many of our students in the past. They may work for him or you, they may not, but you will never know until you try them.
One of the biggest problems with a flinch is that when it occurs the shooter tries NOT to flinch on the next shot which increases the probability that he will. The more the shooter tries not to flinch the more flinching is on their mind. The subconscious mind does not understand the word “not”. We have all experienced this phenomenon when shooting. You are shooting a round with your buddies and somewhere about the middle of the course you realize that you have only missed one or two targets. You do the math and realize you could shoot a 98 if you keep going the way you are. The problem is that you don’t keep shooting the way you were. You become tentative and cautious. You over try. You begin to shoot NOT to miss. Because the subconscious mind does not understand the word “not” it only hears shoot to miss, and it does. In our experience this is how flinching becomes a huge problem. Because you are afraid you will flinch, you do. Fear is a powerful emotion. Your emotions are the gate keepers to the learning process and the performance process. The more you fear a problem the bigger it becomes and the harder it is to overcome and eventually eliminate.
In your description of what happens there are a couple of things that cause us to suspect that your flinch is caused from visual awareness of the gun. “I will be swinging on a target with laser focus and maintained lead.” This is a red flag to us. The fact that you are swinging on a target with maintained lead says to us that you are probably riding the target and that you have some awareness of where the gun is. There is a fine line between fishing and goofing off and there is a fine line between laser focus on the FRONT of the target and “laser “ focus on the target and an awareness of the gun. It’s our experience that you can get by with a 3% to 5% awareness of where the gun is and still hit the target. In other words it’s ok to know that the gun is ahead of the bird but the more you know about exactly how far ahead the gun is the more your focus has shifted form the target toward the gun. Your next statement about “dancing in the window” also infers that you are a little more aware of the gun or lead than you ideally should be.
How does excessive muzzle awareness cause a flinch? Well first we must look at what happens when you take the shot. Hopefully you by now have learned that when you move your focus from the bird to the gun during a shot that the gun stops. The reason it stops is because the eye has stopped transmitting the data from the moving target to the brain. With no movement input coming into the brain there is no movement out put therefore the gun stops. We can conclude from this that the reason the gun moves is because of the movement input the eyes give to the brain and any confusion or interruption in that input can not only cause the gun to stop but can also cause your trigger finger to stop depending on when the confusion or interruption occurred. If the confusion occurred before your break point the gun would stop. If however the confusion occurred as you were about to pull the trigger it could not only stop the swing but also stop the trigger finger creating a flinch. This confusion is actually an argument between the conscious and subconscious brain. Depending upon when the argument occurs and how violent the argument is we have seen many different and sometimes violent involuntary actions. Actions such as not being able to pull the trigger, the gun muzzle making abrupt movements in a variety of directions, the shooter falling off the station or even dropping the gun are not uncommon.
We know it’s hard to believe that these actions could be caused by visual confusion but when you realize that what we do when we shoot is a subconscious reaction to what we see. When the conscious mind gets in the way and you start to think and not react your eyes come off the target and ANYTHING can happen. There is a simple way for you to see what happens to your focus when you think. Ask a friend to help you with this experiment. Stand about 3 feet apart facing each other. Looking each other in the eye hold your index finger up just in front of your face. Ask them to focus on your finger nail. Ask them these questions and watch their eyes. Are you a man or a woman? Do you have clothes on? Is it day or night? You will notice that their focus is able to stay on your finger nail because the answers to these questions require no conscious thought. Now ask what they had for supper last night? Because they must think about the answer you will notice their focus leave your finger nail as they think about the answer. This is what happens to your focus on the target when you think about lead. If the last thing you do before you pull the trigger is check the lead you are leaving yourself open to a flinch.
We have been successful in helping people eliminate a flinch through the implementation of a break point. Sporting clays is a game of breakpoints. Where you break the targets determines how difficult or easy the pairs are. It also determines the consistency with which you break the pairs. In fact every thing you do in your set up is determined by your breakpoint on each target. When setting up your plan you need to have a focal point and a break point for the first bird and a focal point and a break point for the second bird. This is something that almost everyone does as they begin to get better at sporting clays. It is one thing to have a break point but it is more important to make a commitment to the break point. For some people the break point is a specific spot for others it is a place in time. Shooting sporting clays without a break point is like coming to a fork in the road and taking it!
Every shot you take has a beginning, when you see the target. Without a break point the shot has no end. Without a break point you can’t hope to have timing because you don’t know when to finish the mount and take the shot. This is where the visual confusion comes in. Where in the flight path of the target you decide to take the shot will determine the necessary lead. Without a breakpoint you will always have the gun mounted early which causes you to track the bird. What do you suppose you are THINKING about when you are tracking the bird? What happens to your focus when you think? What does that little voice in your head say when you are tracking the target? I doubt that it is saying “Just focus on the front of the target and trust it!” It’s our experience that the conversation goes something like this. “Here comes the target. Get the gun up. It’s too close push out! Push out! How far? I don’t know. Awe hell, let’s try that.” BOOOM!!....lost target. During this half-a-split second your eyes are bouncing back and forth between the gun and the bird trying to judge the lead, speed, and line of the bird. People actually wonder why they make the involuntary jerky, and anything but smooth moves at the end of their shots. It’s no wonder to us.
With a committed break point the chances of a flinch caused by visual confusion all but disappear. When we say committed this is what we mean. “I don’t care what the lead looks like, I’m going to focus on the front of the target and when it gets right there I’m going to be in front of the bird and pull the trigger!” Once you are committed to a break point you will find that the voice inside your head will be quiet because you are more concerned about focus on the target, the rhythm of the move, and killing it in the break point. Now the shot has a beginning and an end and no visual confusion!
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