gun shy

[sbertram87]

Hi i am gun shy, a lot of the times i do not squeeze the triger i pull it. The reason i do this is becuase i am waiting for the kick to hit my arm. Any tips on over coming this?
thanks

[bmstaaf]

Practice with a smaller gun with no kick...

[Ohio farms]

You might try a limbsaver on the butt of your rifle/gun. I put one on my slug gun and it helped significantly.

[jonny5buck]

When i was a young buck maybe 12 yrs old i was in a shooting seminar with bb guns...they made us lay in a type of ''sniper'' position .laying flat on yer belly ,right leg bent.......elbows as gun rests..cheek planted smoothly on the stock ......than they told us to calm down and control your breathing...focusing only on your breathing and the the sight on the target....than to hold your breath for a second and right as you exhale slowly release the trigger...slowly.....

This might help...im not sure if it was a pre-military camp or what,all i know is we put the damn shmack down on some paper targets...i scored my first 100...10 shots in the bullseye...the instructor was way more happy than i was.......this might help for rifle shooting or single shotgun shots,but all that went out the window when i shotgunned for pheasent and quail....i just pulled the damn trigger....quite a few pheasent got whacked ,but a whole lot of quail got the upper hand!!!---

[kellory]

i don't believe you posted what you are shooting, but you might try a .410. It is perfectly legal for just about everything, with a lot less recoil. I learned to hunt with a 22/.410 over and under, by savage that I still love to use. Savage does not make these anymore, but I believe remington does. It is legal for deer, though slugs are harder to find. I can help you find them if you want to use a smaller caliber.

[rmontez]

like OhioFarms says add on a limbsaver. Another important thing to remember is to keep a firm hold of whatever you are shooting with the stock pressed firmly against your shoulder. This way your avoiding the butt of the gun slamming into your shoulder and it's more like a very firm push. One of the biggest things is practice. Take your gun out and fire several shots through it each week and just get used to the kick.

[bobow]

i don't believe you posted what you are shooting, but you might try a .410. It is perfectly legal for just about everything, with a lot less recoil.

I would suggest you check with your state regulations before you decide. In IL, the limit for deer is no larger than 10 ga and no smaller than 20 ga

[kellory]

Perfectly correct! I forgot you may not be in Ohio. Here it is legal for deer. I have taken several with that gun, HOWEVER, you may not possess ammo that is not legal for deer while hunting deer. So no squirrels shot with the .22 while hunting deer with the .410. And no shot loads, just slugs. Only drawback of the .410 is the rifled slugs cost as much as sabot slugs, due to thier scarcity. And they NEVER go on sale!

[Cut N Run]

Depending on the caliber of gun you are shooting, you could get some ammo handloaded that would help tame the recoil that still produces some accurate shots downrange. It doesn't have to hurt your shoulder to be able to kill a deer on the other end.
Good luck no matter which way you go.

Jim

[mnslayer]

I have been there. I had a 7MM remington mag that felt like it could kill on both ends. First time at the range I held it lightly like I would with my 30-30, needless to say it showed me who was boss. Only pulled the trigger once that day and went home with a bruise from my shoulder half way down my rib cage. I wasn't just gun shy of this gun it down right scared me. I did get over it though with practice and some learning. First I had to learn to hold the gun proper this helped a lot, second the trigger pull required a full grown man and 3 arangatangs to pull so I had the trigger reworked to about a 2lb pull. That was on the light side but it made a world of a difference. With the heavy trigger I would start to squeeze but it took so long I would Instinctively flinch in preperation of the recoil. With the reworked trigger I wouldn't have that long build up to the trigger release, the trigger broke almost instantly when I would squeeze it. Went from being lucky enough to hit 2 hundred yard targets side by side to holding 5 shot groups in a 2 inch circle. Try practicing with snap caps to get use to pulling the trigger and hold the gun properly to the shoulder, then when you go and shoot do it exactly like you practiced. GOOD LUCK AND SAFE HUNTING