New rifle...... Flinching

Gundog74

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2021
Messages
286
Location
WV
So I have been shooting practically my whole life. I consider myself a pretty fair shot. Last year I decided I wanna shoot farther. I'm hunting elk and I had been shooting 500 yards. Now I wanna shoot out to 1000 yards. Sounds simple right...??? Well I've got a huge education. Lol. So last year I started shooting with a good buddy who has been shooting long range for a while and he gets me hitting at 1000 pretty consistent. I was shooting a 300 RUM with 180 grain barnes bullets. After doing some research I see I'm shooting 775 ft lbs at 1000. I wanna be at least 1000 ft lbs. So I buy some 190 grain barnes LR bullets that's supposed to get me over the 1000 ft lbs. Problem is I haven't got a muzzle brake, so 180 grains have little recoil but 190's kick like a mule! I decided to buy a new rifle with a brake. I ordered a Weatherby 338-378. Sweet rifle! Now the problem is I am flinching BAD! The gun doesn't kick that bad, I think it's the brake messing with me. I never owned a gun with a brake before and it's different. With the price and availability of ammo I'm not sure what to do to quit wasting it. I can't even see what powder charge shoots best cause I can't shoot a group. Definitely not the gun it's just I'm a head case behind it. I'm not afraid of it, I'm just not sure why I'm doing it. Anyone have any ideas or pointers to help me out? Anything is much appreciated.
 
Brakes can be LOUD! So LOUD they can make you finch in anticipation of the BOOM. Some brakes send the pressure and sound more back to the shooter than others. With some brakes you can feel the concussion and it can be annoying and cause a flinch. I would double up on ear protection. Use plugs in the ears and good muffs on top of that. Try not to shoot from under a roof at a range. NEVER fire a braked rifle without hearing protection in. Shooters have gone deaf from one shot from a braked rifle without hearing protection...
 
For some it's not only the felt recoil that can cause flinch, the muzzle blast can affect some people. Try using some wrap around glasses and wear ear plugs and muffs. Definitely dry fire and get comfortable behind the rifle. And for now shoot something that doesn't cause you to flinch.
 
Dry fire and get another smaller caliber rifle to practice with I run a 223 AI out to 1000 almost every time I got shoot long range it's cheap fun practice .

Might try a different brake as well. People say brakes are too loud but I dont get that. I shoot quite a bit but never ever without hearing protection so I dont worry about how loud brakes are. I hunt with ear plugs on my neck and put them in before I shoot out of 13 years hunting with a brake I've got ear plugs in everytime.

I'm a wimp when it comes to recoil and run a brake on anything bigger than a 243. I like to watch impact as much as possible.
 
A friend of mine and myself would load each others guns. We would have dummy and live rounds. If you flinched when you shot a dummy round it was pretty obvious.

We also watched each other shoot their gun. We got to the point that even when varmint hunting dummies were fair game. You never knew when you pulled the trigger when you would get a click.

I remember one time he shot at a jackrabbit, and click, he got this strange smile and said " oh well, I would have missed any way " because I saw the muzzle twitch when it went click.
 
A friend of mine and myself would load each others guns. We would have dummy and live rounds. If you flinched when you shot a dummy round it was pretty obvious.

We also watched each other shoot their gun. We got to the point that even when varmint hunting dummies were fair game. You never knew when you pulled the trigger when you would get a click.

I remember one time he shot at a jackrabbit, and click, he got this strange smile and said " oh well, I would have missed any way " because I saw the muzzle twitch when it went click.
Ball and dummy is another great drill.
 
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