Training aids for at-home everyday pistol practice? Not involving live fire.

[juha_teuvonnen]

OK, I admit, I am a better rifle shot than I am a pistol shot by a good margin. I need to get better at that pistol thing. I am looking for some at-home based system for training. I can't discharge a firearm at home for a variety of good reasons. Like any sport, there is no substitute for practice. The idea is to practice daily. I plan to visit the range weekly, in part for validating how well my training works. So far I have considered the following:

Airsoft pistol - never shot one, but heard that some people used it very successfully for training.

"Mantis X", seems like a device for dry fire practice + phone app that tells you what you are doing wrong. That part seems quite useful. Not sure how well that actually works, though.
http://mantisx.com/

Laserlyte "Laser training cartridges". Looks like I will need a training system in addition to the gadget itself. Any good books or sources for drill sets? Unsure how I can score myself on the drill and detect what errors I am making.

The SIRT training pistol seems fine. I like the safety of using a dedicated tool instead of a real firearm a lot. I am unsure where can I get the "training system", though. Having the tool without the training system seems not terribly useful.
https://nextleveltraining.com/

This "system" looks gimmicky and sounds a lot like a late night infomercial, I am including for completeness sake:
http://www.dryfiretrainingcards.com/21das

Have you tried any of the above, or may be some other system that worked for you? I am looking for a system that's essentially based on dry firing the gun, detecting the problems, fixing them and building muscle memory/making shooting an automatic skill.

 

[scheming]

I have a BB gun modeled after the 92FS and I use that to shoot targets inside the house. It's spring powered, so shooting from holster requires racking, so that's good practice and muscle memory training for me.
It's cheap and effective. Best part, shooting the target leaves real holes instantly showing my POI compared to my POA.

I also do snap caps practice on my carry gun. Nothing beats practicing on your CCW.

 

[bmills]

You might want to consider LASR Laser Activated Shot Reporter (http://lasrapp.com/) with a SIRT Pistol or an Aimtech Resetting Trigger Magazine Kit for your own firearm.

The LASR System can be setup anywhere and allow you to set up different training scenarios. The only issues I experienced is room lighting (too much or back lighting behind targets.)

https://youtu.be/I0w8HTjrrCI

 

[bill o]

To become a grandmaster pistol shooter, the only things you need are a real gun, dummy rounds (case and bullet only, not snap caps), a timer, and 1/3 size USPSA/IDPA targets. All the laser stuff is expensive and unnecessary.

By dry firing daily and validating your training with once-a-week live fire, you are already on the right track. I recommend Ben Stoeger's training books for dry fire drills.

 

[Cloverleaf Firearms Group]

To become a grandmaster pistol shooter, the only things you need are a real gun, dummy rounds (case and bullet only, not snap caps), a timer, and 1/3 size USPSA/IDPA targets. All the laser stuff is expensive and unnecessary.

By dry firing daily and validating your training with once-a-week live fire, you are already on the right track. I recommend Ben Stoeger's training books for dry fire drills.

This.

 

[ChevyGuy91]

To become a grandmaster pistol shooter, the only things you need are a real gun, dummy rounds (case and bullet only, not snap caps), a timer, and 1/3 size USPSA/IDPA targets. All the laser stuff is expensive and unnecessary.

By dry firing daily and validating your training with once-a-week live fire, you are already on the right track. I recommend Ben Stoeger's training books for dry fire drills.

This.

+1.

I like to youtube music videos and use them for dry fire work. I take a laundry basket, lay a big towel in the bottom, put it on my ottoman in front of me, and all of my reload mags end up in one spot so don't have to hunt for them all over the living room floor.

 

[bill o]

+1.

I like to youtube music videos and use them for dry fire work. I take a laundry basket, lay a big towel in the bottom, put it on my ottoman in front of me, and all of my reload mags end up in one spot so don't have to hunt for them all over the living room floor.

This reminds me, there's one dry fire specific product that I really like and is definitely worth the $60 or so - Jerry Tetreau's "Reload Basket." You have to experiment with the positioning at first but it saves you from destroying your mag feed lips during reload drills. And by not having to bend over and pick up mags between reps (and find the dummy rounds that splashed out), it lets you get in more practice in a shorter time.

This is how I use it:

 

[Darkstar888]

Laserlyte trainer. Allows you to use your real pistol for interactive target practice at home.
http://www.laserlyte.com/products/laser-trainer-target

 

[Machete]

I've used a SIRT pistol for years now, and gotten over 30000 reps on it (guesstimate from the # of batteries I've gone through.) I also have those dry fire training cards. They're ok, I wouldn't trash them or recommend them. I also have a club pro timer I use to work some drills. That's about it! Scour the web (pistol-training.com) for some drills you can adapt to laser fire and have at it!

 

[juha_teuvonnen]

I would like to thank everyone who responded. I do appreciate everyone taking the time to share the knowledge. I will be ordering Ben Stoeger's book shortly. I am leaning towards SIRT training pistol simply because I will have no reservations about practicing with it anywhere at home. Call me paranoid, but I would only practice dry fire drills with a real gun against a proper backstop. Mistakes and accidents happen. After a careful look at my current house, I don't think I have a backstop that I am comfortable with.

 

[bill o]

I would like to thank everyone who responded. I do appreciate everyone taking the time to share the knowledge. I will be ordering Ben Stoeger's book shortly. I am leaning towards SIRT training pistol simply because I will have no reservations about practicing with it anywhere at home. Call me paranoid, but I would only practice dry fire drills with a real gun against a proper backstop. Mistakes and accidents happen. After a careful look at my current house, I don't think I have a backstop that I am comfortable with.

Most of the dry fire drills are done with an empty chamber. Dummy rounds are just to simulate the weight of a loaded gun.

 

[Supermoto]

Most of the dry fire drills are done with an empty chamber. Dummy rounds are just to simulate the weight of a loaded gun.

Yep, there is no getting around the fact that if you want to be a good to great shooter, you need to use your gun

 

[MantisX]

Austin from Mantis here.

IMHO, those are all great options, none are complete. Depends on where your needs are.

Airsoft pistol: if you can get a solid replica pistol (I like some CO2 pellet guns, personally) these are great for practicing target reacquisition (assuming the pistol has blowback).

MantisX: great for looking at core mechanics. Which way are you pulling/pushing when dry firing? There are some nice visualizations to help:
http://mantisx.com/pages/how-it-works-1

Laserlyte/SIRT: great for scenario training and more complex drills.

Can't speak to the cards. Whenever I see long page with 5000 words, I kind of cringe away. Or maybe I'm just too ADHD to read the whole thing.

TFB did a setup for dry firing you might find interesting:
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/06/06/dry-fire-training-experience-part-2/

I use all three, depending on my area of focus.

 

[Cloverleaf Firearms Group]

Most of the dry fire drills are done with an empty chamber. Dummy rounds are just to simulate the weight of a loaded gun.

I would also say that they are important to be able to practice slide lock reloads as well. An empty magazine puts unrealistic pressure on the slide stop lever, which screws up the pressure and timing you would use.

 

[Varmint]

If you have a SIRT pistol, a portable web cam and a computer, you can record your shots and see if you're hitting the target. But personally I'd just do dry fire. You're supposed to treat a SIRT pistol like a real gun anyway, so I don't see the difference.

 

[MantisX]

The key difference for me is that the SIRT comes in either a Glock or M&P style grip, and then their own trigger that doesn't mimic either one. So the grip may be different than your own gun, and the trigger absolutely will be different. So it's great for drills and scenario training, but weaker on the core shooting mechanics.