Flintlock Flinch, Need Help

[huntingsgr8]

Well I'll admit it.....I am a flincher. I've tried for almost two years to get rid of it, but I can't seem to manage, every time that flash of sparks goes off in my face I flinch, it's not the sound of the flint striking the frizzen, it's not the sight of the flint moving forward, it's the d@mn3d flash. I really like my Hawken and would hate to trade it in for a caplock version, but this is ridiculous. Do any of you have tips for eliminating the accursed flinch?

[duckey]

Close your eye(s) after sighting in and just before pulling trigger.

[dondiego]

Sounds like you might be having a delay in the priming setting off the main charge. It should be instantaneous.

[wild thing]

You are supposed to concentrate on the front sight so that you do not notice the flash. That said , when you figure it out please let me know the secret. I have been flinching for years. John

[mdr8088]

That's a hard thing to do. I've only shot my Dad's flintlock he left me a few dozen times, and every time I blink. Something about the flash right close to my face. I've seen a lot of people shooting flintlocks and most of them at least blink. Your not alone. A guy at the range one time told me to wear the welding goggles you get with cutting torches. You can still see thru them a little. He said shoot some with them and when you don't blink, then try safety glasses. It sounds weird but even with my transitions lenses darkened out it helps. Of course, I get frustrated when it don't go boom and the deer laughs at you, so I use 209's to hunt with. It's like people that are afraid of heights, some of them are ok if there's a railing at the edge. Weird.

[waksupi]

Be sure to use as little priming as possible. That will give you fastest ignition. My locks are so fast, I don't have time to flinch, unless I really work at it. By the time I see the smoke coming out the side, my ball is gone. Lots of trigger time, too. The more you shoot, the less you should be noticing the flash at all.

[pietro]

.

There might be less "flash" if the priming charge is reduced to less then 1/2 pan depth; or maybe switch to FFFg from FFg (or vice-versa).

I don't recall even seeing the flash from my rocklocks - only smoke; but then I only shoot it at a range for a few shots (to check the zero).

The rest of my shots are taken while hunting.



.

[ejcrist]

Use 4F if you ain't already, only put enough in the pan to make it work which is usually no more than a squirt from a brass pan charger, and like Wild Thing said, stay focused on the clear tip of the front sight post only (nothing else should be in focus). Also what Waksupi said is very true - lots of trigger time. The ball should be long gone by the time you blink.

[doc1876]

I know this will sound strange, but after I took up skeet shooting and learned how to follow through with the bird, I actually got better with flint shooting.

[Blammer]

less powder in the pan and it will help a bunch. It did for me.

[kens]

it sounds like you are flinching regardless, it is just the flintlock seeming it is magnified.
When you are fully cured of flinching, the flintlock no longer matters.

If you have a misfire on your hawkins, I will bet you would notice your flinch.

Practice, practice, and more practice

[Gtek]

Load bore, pick hole, pan 1/3 full outboard with 4F, close frizzen, full cock, boom. Maybe a piece of card stock pinned to a hat bill? Too much fun to give up!

[oldracer]

Several things to try, one is attaching a "musket flash guard" as sold by The Possible Shop or make one your self. Next is breathing and front sight concentration. What I had to do was use three smooth sort of deep breaths as I bring the rifle down from over top the target while watching the front sight line up with the target and the breath is out as I squeeze the trigger. I do not try to steady hold on the target as my arthritis prevents that so I do what a lot of cartridge shooters do. I used up about two tins of #11 caps practicing in the garage (make sure not loaded) with a 22LR shell on top of the barrel until it did not roll off. My set trigger is about a 1 OZ break so all I have to do is touch it on all my rifles, even the one I got from Johnson1942 with a single set trigger but I was flinching and also pulling to one side. The practice cured it.

Good luck

[Maven]

"...pan 1/3 full outboard with 4F...." ...Gtek

Actually, Gtek, Larry Pletcher (Pletch on some forums) demonstrated ignition was faster with the priming powder banked toward the touchhole. His data are repeatable, btw.

[huntingsgr8]

Thanks for the suggestions, sadly I've already tried many of them. When I first started out I know for certain that I was using wayyyyy too much powder, I'd fill the pan until it was level and occasionally more. After reading an article by Chuck Hawks I reduced my priming charge, and began to prick the charge too, it helped a lot and made a very noticeable difference in ignition time. As for me just flinching with any gun well, I seriously doubt that, off hand I can regularly print 2.5 inch groups at 50 yards with a my .22, granted it has a 4X scope, the only gun I own that I know I flinch with is my 535 Mossberg with 3.5" Black Clouds, after shooting that thing for a year even my .300 Win just feels like a tap on the shoulder. Thanks for all the tips, maybe I just have to man up and just practice with priming charges until I get the hang of it.

[OverMax]

Once you develop a flinch. It's hard to overcome that habit. My suggestion: Focus extremely hard on you're tunnel vision ability at the very moment of your triggers squeeze. Pay absolutely no attention to your peripheral vision. If this technique doesn't work for you after a period of time. Good bye flinter. Hello cap lock.

[dondiego]

3.5 inch Black Clouds are the source of your problem.

[tddeangelo]

I may catch some grief for this, but here's what helped me when I got flinchy.

I also shoot a bow, and what helped me there was shooting with back-tension. Bear with me.

With a bow, and when using a release, you anchor and aim, then squeeze your back muscles and pull into the back wall (where the draw stops). Trigger finger (wrist release) lays over the trigger, and does NOT pull/squeeze/etc. It just lays there. Squeeze back muscles and continue to pull into the back wall...i.e. back tension. Eventually, this causes the trigger to trip and the arrow is gone.

I've read other places of people doing something somewhat similar with a flintlock. My custom gun has a single trigger, which tolerates this a tiny bit better than a double set trigger, but it would work regardless, I think.

So, the next time I was out with the flintlock, I got on target, snugged the gun into my shoulder, curled my finger in front of the trigger, and began adding pressure into my shoulder with the stock by pressing the rifle back into me tighter, little by little. This eventually triggered the gun and the shot went perfectly. No flinch. About 100 more shots like that, and I lost a ton of the anxiety that came from shooting the flintlock, and my shooting was improved immensely.

I'm sure there's a hundred reasons why I shouldn't do any of that, but it worked like a charm for me.

[waksupi]

Another thing to help, cut a wooden replacement for your flint, to practice dry fire. Dry fire ten times a day, every day.

[tddeangelo]

Forgot to mention that. I did a lot of dry fire too. I had read that a rubber eraser would be a good flint substitute. It wasn't. The stupid thing came apart in about 15 dry fires.

I used the ends of wood clothespins and they worked great. The more times you trip the trigger without a flinch, the better. It helps to give yourself a target for dry fire, too. I put a small spot of painter's tape on the wall as an aim point. Make sure your sights don't come off target through the fall of the hammer (I know that's not the proper term, but the correct one often gets hit by forum language filters), and hold fast on that target for at least a second or two to encourage good follow through. It really helps.