Laser Training

When it comes to practicing and honing your firearm skills, nothing beats live fire training at the range. But what if you can’t get to the range? Do you give up on practicing? Now, you don’t have to! There are products on the market which will allow you to continue practicing in the comfort of your home. Yes, you read that right. Practice in the comfort of your home. But not with live ammo. With lasers! 

There are products on the market which allow you to set up a paper/cardboard target somewhere in your home, and shoot a laser beam at that target using your own gun. You simply insert a laser cartridge of your gun’s caliber into your gun’s chamber, and rack the slide. When you squeeze the trigger, it fires a momentary laser beam at your target.  Completely safe. But there are just a few hitches. 

First, the projected laser beam is momentary. Your eye and brain will probably not register where the laser hit on the target. Your brain may register one round, but not remember enough of them to determine how your shots are grouping. To compensate for that, there are products on the market which allow you to download and install an app for your smartphone. You launch the app, point the phone’s rear camera at your target so the target completely fills the phone’s screen. When you squeeze the trigger and the laser beam fires at the target, the phone’s camera records the laser beam’s shot placement. As long as the app is running, you now have a record of all your laser beam shots. By looking at your phone’s screen, you can see how your shots are hitting on the target. Are you shooting left? Do you have a tight group?

Second, since the laser cartridge simulates an actual cartridge, after every shot your gun’s firing pin needs to be reset, so the next time you squeeze the trigger, the firing pin can strike the laser’s primer during the next shot. This means that if you are shooting a semi-automatic pistol, you have to manually rack the slide after each shot, because there is no recoil from expanding gunpowder gasses to do that for you. The whole purpose of owing a semi-automatic pistol is so the racking and reloading is…well…automatic. Manually racking the slide blows away any follow through you may have been working towards perfecting. To compensate for this second hitch, assuming you like using systems like this, you have no choice but to invest in a revolver. Let’s say you purchase a six-round .38 special. You then need to invest in six (6) identical .38 special laser cartridges, one for each round in the cylinder. Then you can shoot all day, as there is no racking. Simply keep squeezing the trigger. The cylinder will just keep spinning, shooting off laser round after laser round, all the while your smartphone app keeps recording your shot placement.

But what if you don’t want to invest in a revolver for indoor laser training? Is there a way one of these laser trainers can allow you to shoot shot-after-shot without the need to rack the slide after each round? The answer is “yes”. There is a system out there called the “Blowback Laser Training” system. This is the most realistic laser training system I have ever seen. It is a real-looking full-frame semi-automatic pistol which shoots a laser beam using compressed air (CO₂). The compressed air, identical to the CO₂ cartridge used in Daisy BB guns, recoils and racks the slide, simulating live fire training, but 100% safe. It allows you to practice all the follow through techniques you were working so hard to attain.  When the gun is fired, the compressed air from the CO₂ cartridge is released and “recoils” the slide, similar to a normal gun. The barrel even jumps up slightly. But when the slide closes, and if you are using the correct follow through, the barrel comes back down…right on target. 

The Blowback system kit comes with the following:

• Training gun
• Battery pack (housed in the gun’s grip)
• Battery charger

I use one of these Blowback guns in my training classes, and it is a phenomenal training tool! Keep in mind, many of my students have never held, let alone fired, a handgun.  This training gun is absolutely perfect for them to use, to see if gun ownership is for them. Firing the Blowback gun 1) recoils, 2) racks the slide, and 3) goes “bang”. Yes, there is an audible “bang” sound, just as through a real gun was being used. But instead of a live projectile exiting the muzzle, a laser beam exits the muzzle.

Now, why should you, as a gun owner or potential gun owner, consider investing in the Blowback system? Here’s why:

• No investment in ammo.  Every time a liberal politician fires off rhetoric about more gun control, the cost of ammo rises.  If you decide to shoot 200 rounds of “real” ammo during your range training visit, at $.55 per round (9mm) that’s a cost of $110, for an afternoon of fun at the range. If you do that once a month for a year, that’s over $1000 in ammo.
• No investment in fuel.  With gas prices approaching the highest on record, depending on how far you you live from the range, that could be a nice chunk of change.
• No range fees.  If you shoot at a range, you either have to invest in a membership or pay per use fees every time you go.
• No permits or registration required.  This means you don’t need to go through background checks and any other registration your state requires. It also means you can begin teaching young children the concepts of safe gun handling, so that when they reach the responsible age when you can take them to the range for live fire training, they will already be experts in safe gun handling.
• 100% safe, shooting lasers instead of bullets. The battery pack for the laser will fire 2000+ laser shots before it needs recharging.
• Simulates the weight of a real full-frame handgun, not the weight of some plastic toy gun.
• Realistic recoil and slide racking when fired.  Yes, there will be an audible bang, the same as you would hear with a real handgun. But the bang is not so loud as to damage your hearing.
• Purchase CO₂ cartridges anywhere…Walmart, Amazon, Cabela’s, etc. The CO₂ cartridge is the only consumable item in this system. And they are cheap, with many deals going for $1.00 per cartridge. Each cartridge is good for about 50 shots. That’s 2 cents per round!
• Practice speed drawing. Use the optional holster to improve your reaction time for that ever-so-critical time between when a violent attack begins to occur and your reaction to that attack. The BLT kit comes with a target which contains a countdown timer, so you can practice your speed drawing.
• Perfect for new gun owners.  The number one fear of new shooters is recoil or the anticipation of recoil. With the Blowback system, you get that fear out of the way without the additional fear of danger.

So, if you have an interest in looking into the Blowback Laser Training system further, visit the company’s website. Simply click on the Blowback Laser Trainer gun image above to be taken to the company’s web site for more information or to purchase. You can purchase it from there, or if you prefer, you can purchase it through Amazon.