Recoil and Accuracy
The #FreeForAllFriday thing we do every week is my absolute favorite thing I do for this site. Not only do I just love helping out readers by answering their questions but I love the challenge of it as well. Every now and then, I get a question that I really like and want to focus on a bit more. In this case, I got a question from Ann…at least I think it was Ann judging by the email address. She wanted to know “since you said that you would have felt recoil when the bullet is already 10-20 ft away from you, would it affect the accuracy of your shot? Why or why not?”
This makes for a great followup article to our guide on recoil from a while back.
To recap a bit, recoil is the physical reaction to the action of the bullet leaving your gun’s barrel. Felt recoil, however, a term for how much of that recoil you actually experience. I stated in the article that, by the time you feel the recoil, the bullet is already well away from the gun itself. Logic would dictate that the recoil itself wouldn’t have any effect on accuracy then since the bullet is already well on its way.
Yes and no, as it turns out.
The recoil itself will actually have no effect on the bullet’s path. Recoil’s effect on you, however, can guarantee that you’ll never hit a target. You see, recoil is pretty traumatic on your hands and wrists. Physical limitations aside, it’s not damaging. Your body and reflexes, however, don’t know this. Your brain knows the recoil is coming. Your nerves know it’s coming. If you let your brain and nerves get the best of you, one big thing happens:
Flinching
You’re essentially anticipating the shot. You’ll tend to actually push/jerk the gun forward a bit knowing that the big push backward is coming. This is going to cause your shots to run 6 inches to a foot below where you’re aiming. While common among new shooters, the comforting thing is that this isn’t an amature problem. It doesn’t matter who it is or how long they’ve been shooting, people will always start flinching at some point or another. Take a look at Hickok45, for example. Every now and then he’ll get into a streak where he can’t hit anything. He has to stop and collect himself before he can hit anything again. This is because he’s started flinching.
The bright side is that the flinching can be tamed for the most part. Things like dry fire practice and just slowing things down at the range can get your body and mind prepared for the big bang. If you find your shots going low, slow it down and focus on your fundamentals again: slow and controlled trigger squeeeeeze.
So the solution, as it turns out, is the same solution to all the gun issues: get out there and practice! Thanks for the question, Ann!
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Leave a Reply