No, it never occurs when punching. It only occurs when entering a vehicle or mount of some kind, aside from horses and donkeys, and then accessing the inventory. It also occurs when people are riding a vehicle on multiplayer and you look at them, or in their direction.
I have this exact same issue. It happens when you are riding a vehicle and enter your inventory on singleplayer, or on multiplayer when ANYONE rides a vehicle of any kind. On singleplayer it does not happen when entering inventory on a horse/donkey because they have their own inventory screen.
Didn't mean to sound harsh about it, sorry. My guess is that it is trying to mimic what the model is doing on your world model, seen through F5 or entering the inventory while riding something. It's only a guess, though, as I don't know much about game design or coding at all.