TargetTalk

I coach NRA 4P for our club's Junior Members. One of my better shooters (half way through offhand) suddenly starts closing his eyes as he releases the shot--not a flinch per se but something that needs to be fixed pronto.

I need some ideas on drills that will help him. I was thinking of making him call each shot and mark it in pencil on a blank target. I've used this with success in the past for follow through. Think it will help?

Any other ideas would be appreciated.

FWIW, I had the club purchase the book, "Coaching Young Rifle Shooters"--very disappointing...very little on diagnostics and addressing problems.

You have the right idea with shot calling. Even marking an unfired target with where the POA was at the time of the shot AND which way the sight moved after the shot, could help him keep his eye on the front sight.

I've used a chart with intermediate and higher shooters where they keep track of the shots under headings of H (hold), T (trigger), M (mental), C (call)(score and hashmark for direction e.g. 9- would be a nine at three o'clock); and R (result (what was the actual score and location). Soon you'll see which column the most errors appear in (thus where to aim the training).

Is he using hearing protectors.
I found that even with the relatively soft report of an air gun, I would sometimes "flinch."
I put on an ear muff (pistol) or plug (rifle) and that problem went away.

(Guess #1)
Does your shooter shoot with regular glasses, safety glasses or shooting glasses?
If not they may be sensing some of the gas release out of the receiver and anticipating that.

If this is the case, maybe a simple set of good/clean/newish safety glasses could give them a "shield" from even a slight puff that they sense. If they are sensing a puff, you may need new o-rings or a work over of the gun by a gunsmith.


(Don't have a guess #2 yet)

Thanks all...headed to the range to coach.
We require hearing and eye protection as it's smallbore. We use high grade Saftey glasses. I'll see if I can make some progress with him tonight!

He responded pretty well to a "mental imagery" pep talk and the shot calling/target marking exercise. The flinch was reduced to 1 out of 10 shots. He's in offhand now. If it continues, I may put him back in prone and change guns just to break the known trigger/anticipation thing.

You can try loading the rifle for him, with a dummy round now and then.
Have him turn his head away as you load. Let him close the bolt.
The suprise of the shot not going off will show you if he is flinching or not.
Sometimes bad habits are hard to break. Especially in standing.
See if he does this when dry firing.
Going back to prone will not help, may hurt.

Calling each shot is a must, for proper follow thru.
Tell him to see the bullet shoot thru the target.

Besides the dummy round ruse, which I've also used, I make up some scorebook pages as addendums to their journals to drill them on calling shots followed by plotting their calls. A useful drill in their first year whether they have a flinching problem or not.