I was very pleased with the result of an experiment today and wanted to share the experience with the rest of you.
Every so often, my shooting gets absolutely lousy - as in all over the target. I dry fire at home quite a bit, and the motion is very smooth. (There's no flinching at trigger pull.) Well, last week, we noticed that, after the shooting the XD40, then moving to my kids' Beretta Neos (.22), that I anticipate recoil by pushing the gun down at trigger break pretty energetically. That was my first hint that I was not holding the gun still after firing the XD40, even with all that dry fire practice.
So today I devised a method to check and correct this problem. First I shot five rounds, then removed the magazine and dry fired at the same target. The flinching (pushing and pulling or whatever in anticipation of recoil) was amazing. I knew that there was not going to be recoil, but my mind still pushed my strong hand forward in anticipation of recoil with a forward flinch. So I kept racking and dry firing until that flinch was worked out of the motion. It took some some time to convince my mind not to flinch. When all was smooth again, I put the magazine back in and begin firing again. My groups immediately got smaller on the next five rounds.
Then I removed the magazine and began dry fire again. The same thing happened. But the flinch was easier to remove. After doing this repeatedly, my groups got smaller and more accurate than ever before.
Then I pulled out the most expensive ammo (and maybe the best) I've ever tried: Hornady Custom Pistol XTP (.40 155GR JHP). After shooting a group of eight shots in a 2.75" group just above the bullseye at 35 feet offhand, I decided that this was how I wanted to end my day. (For me and my stock XD40, that is VERY good.)
From now on I'm going to have to use the dry fire technique at the range to get the recoil anticipation out. Maybe some of you have had the same experience and can even improve on the routine. Any comments would be appreciated.
- Mike
Every so often, my shooting gets absolutely lousy - as in all over the target. I dry fire at home quite a bit, and the motion is very smooth. (There's no flinching at trigger pull.) Well, last week, we noticed that, after the shooting the XD40, then moving to my kids' Beretta Neos (.22), that I anticipate recoil by pushing the gun down at trigger break pretty energetically. That was my first hint that I was not holding the gun still after firing the XD40, even with all that dry fire practice.
So today I devised a method to check and correct this problem. First I shot five rounds, then removed the magazine and dry fired at the same target. The flinching (pushing and pulling or whatever in anticipation of recoil) was amazing. I knew that there was not going to be recoil, but my mind still pushed my strong hand forward in anticipation of recoil with a forward flinch. So I kept racking and dry firing until that flinch was worked out of the motion. It took some some time to convince my mind not to flinch. When all was smooth again, I put the magazine back in and begin firing again. My groups immediately got smaller on the next five rounds.
Then I removed the magazine and began dry fire again. The same thing happened. But the flinch was easier to remove. After doing this repeatedly, my groups got smaller and more accurate than ever before.
Then I pulled out the most expensive ammo (and maybe the best) I've ever tried: Hornady Custom Pistol XTP (.40 155GR JHP). After shooting a group of eight shots in a 2.75" group just above the bullseye at 35 feet offhand, I decided that this was how I wanted to end my day. (For me and my stock XD40, that is VERY good.)
From now on I'm going to have to use the dry fire technique at the range to get the recoil anticipation out. Maybe some of you have had the same experience and can even improve on the routine. Any comments would be appreciated.
- Mike
