How to Stop Flinching
I wanted to let you in on a little secret to shooting I discovered before I launched AXIL over 20 years ago: How to Eliminate Your Flinching with One Simple Trick!
Check out the #1 Trick Here to Eliminate Your Flinch!
I was down at the range practicing with my 1911 model .45 handgun and my .300 win mag hunting rifle one afternoon.
I had on my traditional ear muff hearing protection which was fine, though I’ve never loved the bulk of old style ear muffs, as they often get hot and get in the way of the stock of my rifle.
But more importantly that day, is that when firing my .300 win mag (or especially other times firing my .50 cal), I was flinching more than I cared for.
I’d usually take this as a sign of my confidence in shooting. Yet I was 29 years old at the time and I’d been shooting my whole life with great success on long range shooting and hunting everything from waterfowl to big game. Yet flinching still tripped me up a bit.
I’d also been a Board Certified- Licensed Hearing Specialist for 6 years at that time and gone through extensive college, internships and graduate programs- all on hearing. I’d developed the first in-ear hearing protection for a new company I was launching called SportEAR- now AXIL. Yet nothing in the hearing or hearing protection industry shed light on what I was about to discover that day.
Though I was wearing earmuffs that day, I’d brought along my first in-ear prototypes. I noticed I was still flinching a bit that day and IT BUGGED ME! I decided to try my new prototypes and guess what- My flinching immediately disappeared. I stopped and took a break and walked around the range a bit and noticed something interesting. All the guys who were using ear muffs were still flinching a bit. But then I noticed 1 guy shooting who had in-ear protection and he was NOT Flinching… AT ALL.
“Wow!” I thought to myself, “Can my ear pro really be the cause of my flinching?” I asked.
So I began to research this aspect of hearing protection which no one was talking about then- or even now for that matter. But the more I’ve tested & researched it, It’s simply the pain effect of the gunshot on your eardrum! So obvious, yet no one’s talking about this.
You see, the inside of the ear canal, the eardrum and associated inner ear is the most sensitive part of the external body. You can take the strongest man in the world and make him cry like a baby when pushing a simple Qtip in his ear too far... Tears start flowing and he’ll be dying to get away ASAP!
This is why enemies in warfare jam bamboo shoots into their enemy’s ears in the past, as a method of torture.
Crazy, right? Yet us, as shooters, never consider this in relation to hearing protection.
Since that day, I’ve tested this on thousands of customers and always get the same result. The #1 cause of flinching is the pain of the sound wave hitting your eardrum. Take that away and there goes the main problem of flinching. Plus, now we’ve evolved so far on innovation to where we can put all three technologies (hearing, hearing protection and bluetooth audio into a tiny pair of ear buds. (I’ve been an ear bud junkie my whole life, so creating new earbuds to cover everything has been a long term goal. It’s taken us 6 years to develop the technology right, but now they are fantastic) Check them out here
Simply put, these new earbuds offer:
- A pair of small in-ear buds for ear pro allowing you to bypass bulky ear muffs.
- Sound/hearing enhancement technology to let you hear sounds on the range and in the field to maintain your hearing, your directional hearing and situational awareness
- Automatic hearing protection to shut out loud sounds while allowing you to maintain great hearing
- Turn Bluetooth audio on or off as you want music, or audio from your phone.
- All of these advantages in one pair of earbuds.
- My personal favorite is these are the only earbuds where you can use hearing enhancement and protection or Bluetooth audio separately or both at the same time to dial in your hearing and audio exactly to the environment you’re in.
Essentially these will allow you to leave your ear muffs, audio earbuds & noise cancellation headphones home and just take your new EAR PRO buds as
your new ‘Go To’ Ears!
The best part- I haven’t flinched while firing my firearms since I’ve been using in-ear protection and now these new ear buds are smaller, sleeker, more capable and affordable than ever!
That’s it! A great seal in your ear canal is the best hearing protection you can get-
Hands Down!
Do this and watch your flinch disappear!
Wes Harris
‘America’s Leading Hearing Specialist for Outdoor Enthusiasts’
P.S. Always test new ear pro with lighter sounds like clapping your hands or smaller calibers before pulling out ‘the big guns’. This is important to make sure you have the fit and seal right and the technology is working right. Plus, keep your volume turned at the 50% mark or lower for best protection on any electronic hearing product.
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