Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Portable Propane Heaters

Winter camping can be miserable, and I’ve winter camped in Washington State in the snow and the wet and the cold as a Boy Scout. Now I’m camping in Georgia year-round with my son’s Trail Life Troop, and “below freezing in Georgia” is just as miserable as “below freezing in Washington.”

There are two schools of thought among the adults who provide some level of safety for our troop. One is “I need to be able to carry all my kit long distance,” and the other is “What the heck, I own a truck, and I’ll carry my gear from the truck to the campsite.” The first group doesn’t use any artificial heat sources, and the second group does. At the last campout, the second group was more comfortable than the first group because they had bigger, roomier tents. In two of those tents were Mr. Heater Portable Buddy Heaters, and I got to enjoy them simply by being there.

https://amzn.to/4hJdxY7

In Use
First observation: even the smallest Mr. Heater product is plenty for a tent that a single person can pack. The advertisement says “up to 225 square feet” which I think is a bit generous for most tents, but in a well-insulated room or small cabin it would make sense.

Second: plan to use one 1lb bottle of propane per night, or six hours of burn time. You can get an adapter to use any size of propane bottle you want if you need more than six hours of heat production. 

Note: while commercial locations won’t refill most 1lb propane bottles, you can buy adapters to refill them yourself.  This is obviously discouraged by single-use propane vendors, but there are  refillable bottles on the market.

Pros and Cons
A Mr. Heater is a bit of a luxury item for camping in Georgia or Washington, even in the winter time. But as a survival/resiliency prep it has a few things going for it. 
  1. If you have a gas grill and adapter hose, or a few 1lb propane bottles on hand, you have a safe indoor heating in a pinch. 
  2. A heat source can be used to heat food. One YouTuber I watch routinely opens canned food and gently heats it using his Mr. Heater in the depth of Canadian winter, and toasting frankfurters or marshmallows is very similar to using a campfire.
Is it perfect? No, not really.
  1. It takes up space when not in use. Not much, but some.
  2. Unlike a rocket stove or Solo Stove or Kelly Kettle, it uses a fossil fuel that may or may not be easy to get in an emergency. If you live in an apartment where wood or twigs aren’t plentiful, that might be a positive rather than a negative.
  3. It’s big enough that I wouldn’t bother keeping one in a full size van unless the van had been converted into a small camper. In a large camper, a Mr. Heater makes quite a bit of sense.
Should You Get One?
I’m not in a hurry to go out and buy a Mr. Heater of my own, but if I see a good sale I’ll probably snag one. They run very quietly, and in an elevated deer stand in the winter where I sit still for hours on end, it might be really nice to not feel the cold so deep in my bones.

Also, don’t underestimate the value of the “nice to haves” in a situation where you have to rely on your preps and not public infrastructure. The little luxuries can make all the difference between a miserable experience and a merely inconvenient experience.

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Hammock Camping

I’m not getting any younger, and the ground isn’t getting any softer. Several of the fellow Dads in my son’s Trail Life Troop are avid backpackers, and they all recommend hammock camping. Some camping hammocks are mini-shelter solutions in themselves, some even with snuggly sleeping bags built in for cold weather... but not the ones I bought at Harbor Freight. I purchased two of these hammocks, one at the full price of $19.99 for my son, and one for myself when it was on sale for $14.99.

https://www.harborfreight.com/parachute-hammock-with-adjustable-tree-straps-57399.html


Bottom Line: It Works
It is a hammock. It is actually a very well-designed hammock for what it is: two nylon straps to wrap around trees, two steel carabiners, and a hammock with its own storage bag sewn in.

What It Lacks
Any sort of built-in coverage or bug screening, or any sort of thermal insulation. This means that when I slept in it for the last few nights of sub-freezing weather (I woke up with frost inside my bivy cover on my outer sleeping bag), I had to adapt my sleeping system a little bit.

To keep from freezing in the freezing weather, I put my close-cell foam sleeping pad inside an Army surplus bivy cover, and used both the winter and summer bags for the modular sleep system and a woobie to fill in the air gaps and Hot Hands brand hand and toe warmers to make me toasty. The Hot Hands warmers weren’t strictly necessary, but they definitely helped me get comfortable faster when the temperature was below freezing.

My Plan to Hammock Camp in the Rain
  1. Bring 550 cord, bungie cords, ground stakes, and a tarp. 
  2. String the 550 Cord over my hammock using the same trees I attached the hammock to, and make a rain cover. 
  3. I wouldn’t recommend any tarp smaller than 8x10 feet, although the “Amazon’s Choice” recommendation for a hammock rain fly looks really tempting.
How to Overcome Bugs 
Other than chemical repellents, there aren’t many options. But for only a few dollars more, why not just buy a hammock with a bug screen built in?

https://amzn.to/4haOtJN


Complete Side Note and War Story
I once served with a bit of a character who had done some bounty hunting prior to his life in the Army. His team used a full-size van as part of their stakeout platform, and had modified the interior with hard points in the front and back to attach a hammock so one member of the team could get some sleep while the others observed, and the hammock could get stuffed away into nearly no space quickly (something an inflatable mattress couldn’t do). Having slept in a Ford Econoline van before, I’m positive the hammock provided an upgrade to the floor. If your preps include a van-sized vehicle, that might be an option for you.

I'm a Hammock Camping Convert
I still have to pack a sleeping pad in the winter time, but between the weight of the hammock and a rain fly, I’m saving weight and space over a tent. 

Is this something you absolutely need in your preps? Probably not, but it did provide me much better sleep than any other option I’ve tried, including some very expensive inflatable sleeping pads.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Physical vs. Cultural Infrastructure

Not actually Erin.
Used with permission.
If you expect the unexpected, then by definition it's no longer unexpected. Which is another way to say that people in North Florida were taken completely by surprise when it started snowing yesterday. And not just little flakes that melted when they hit the ground; no, some places had up to ten inches of snow! I don't know what you Northerners consider a significant amount of snowfall, but I think that "distressingly close to a foot deep" qualifies. 

As you would expect, the snow has had dramatic effects on the Sunshine State. Our capital city Tallahassee shut down yesterday, and our biggest northern city Jacksonville closed multiple bridges due to ice. There's also concern that warmer weather today has caused the snow to melt, which will then freeze over and make road conditions dangerous. 





















This is Florida's Superstorm Sandy. Back in 2012, Sandy was a category 1 hurricane that hit New York City during a high tide, and NYC wasn't prepared to handle that kind of weather. If Sandy had hit anywhere in Florida with the same strength and tide level, Floridians would have shrugged it off. By the same token, New Yorkers would have shrugged off 10 inches of snow, but it's crippling us. This is because both events exploited a gap in both physical and cultural infrastructure. 

You already know what physical infrastructure is: the tools, supplies, and people in place to address a problem. In Florida's case, those would be snowplows, sand trucks (with sand), and people skilled in driving those vehicles in snowy conditions. We have plenty of sand, but not much of the others; I only just today learned that Florida owns 11 snowplows. I don't know how many snowplows are needed to clear a metro area of 500k (Pensacola) to 2 million (Jacksonville), but I have a feeling that 11 isn't enough. If we need more than that, we'll need to get them from Georgia and Alabama, and that's assuming they can spare the people and trucks to help us.


 


Cultural infrastructure, or at least how I use the term, is the problem-solving knowledge and experience that the population as a whole possesses. For example, Floridians know how to drive in nearly whiteout levels of rain, because we're regularly hit by rainstorms for half the year. If you live here long enough, you acquire that skill, as well as skills on preparing for hurricanes and how to make it through them. That's part of our cultural infrastructure, but driving through snow and ice categorically isn't. While we may have some snowbirds who used to drive in the winter up north, those skills have likely atrophied. They're also more likely to be further south, like Central Florida (where I am) or beyond. If it snows there, the entire state will shut down and I'm going to start looking for signs of other Biblical plagues. 




So how do you prepare for the unexpected? As much as I'd love to suggest that everyone have preps for every single situation, that's unrealistic in terms of time, space, and money. Considering how rare snowfall in Florida is, preparing for it expends resources that are best spent elsewhere. Instead, the answer is a repeat of advice that I and others have given elsewhere:
  1. Plan for the most likely events instead of black swans so that your preps give you the most benefit. 
  2. Cultivate friendships, or at least working acquaintanceships, with people who have useful skills and knowledge that you lack so you can help each other out in emergency situations. 
  3. Try to keep an open mind and stay adaptable. Flexibility of thought is always better than complacency that can lead to panic. I do this by imagining scenarios and then role-playing them as realistically as possible, but there may be ways that work better for you, such as a script or flowchart. 
You can't change a state's physical infrastructure, but you can contribute to its cultural infrastructure by practicing those three tips.

Stay prepped, or get wrecked. The choice, as always, is yours.

Friday, January 17, 2025

Product Review: GOAT-15 Helium .22LR Rifle

In previous posts I've talked about gun safety and properly introducing children to firearms. Both topics are intertwined with using the right tools: firearms that are not only functionally safe, but also of appropriate size and weight for smaller shooters.

While attending the GOA GOALS Expo last year, I got to meet Caelinn, Alex, and Braxton of Mountain Billy Gun Labs. They were more than willing to spend some time talking about their product with me. In the short time I was able to handle this firearm, I was quite intrigued.

Following the expo I reached out to them about getting one of their .22 long rifle GOAT-15 Helium mini AR-15s for testing and evaluation. After the usual communications and assurances, they sent one to my local FFL.

Caelin, Alex, and Braxton at GOA GOALS



Description and Specifications
The GOAT-15 is 28 inches long with the stock collapsed and 31 inches long with the stock fully extended. 

Size comparison

The buffer tube has seven positions, enabling it to fit a variety of shooters.

Smaller, but traditional AR-style stock adjustments



The 16" barrel is rifled 1 turn in 16 with a right hand twist. The muzzle is threaded with standard 1/2-28 threads and comes with a thread protector for when another muzzle attachment isn't in use.

The rifle weighs a featherlight 2.75 pounds unloaded. Adding a Swampfox Liberator green dot optic increases that weight to only 3.2 pounds.

Weight with and without optic



Mountain Billy Gun labs contracted with MagPul on the one piece upper receiver and hand guard. The fore end has standard M-Lok slots for accessory attachment on the sides and bottom, and a full length Picatinny rail on top.

M-Lok handguard with Picatinny rail



The GOAT-15 comes with two magazines, one that holds a single round for training purposes and another that holds five. Ten round magazines are now available as well. If the GOAT-15 product line takes off like I hope it does, maybe Pro-Mag will make a drum for it.

Five round and single round magazines



Other than the M-Lok slots, Picatinny rail, and muzzle threads, no parts on the GOAT-15 are interchangeable with standard AR-pattern rifles or accessories. All other parts are proprietary.

In accordance with BATFE regulations, the serial number is located on a metal plate inset into the right side of the magazine well.

The full Billy


Handling and Shooting
The GOAT-15 Helium is on the compact side for me, but it's a good fit for smaller-statured shooters. My 5'2" tall wife and a 5' tall friend were both comfortable shouldering the rifle with the stock fully extended. Two taller friends and I found that it required a somewhat cramped hold, but we were able to manage with no real issues.

All controls are of the standard and familiar AR pattern, with one exception:  the safety lock, a unique feature of this rifle.

From their website:

Safety was so important, we developed and patented a new tamper resistant safety switch that requires strength and dexterity to release, adding a level of safety found on no other firearm, of any size.

The safety lock is a knurled knob on the right side of the receiver where the boss of the safety lever cross pin is located. In normal use, it can be completely ignored and doesn't interfere with operation of the safety lever in any way. To activate, the knob is pulled out slightly and rotated 180 degrees. This locks the safety in the safe position, rendering the rifle inoperative until the knob is rotated back. If desired, the safety lock can be removed. 

GOAT-15 Lower Receiver


When I talked with Caelinn, Alex, and Braxton at the GOALS Expo, they mentioned the future possibility of a safety lever that could be put in place of the safety lock. This would allow for full ambidextrous operation of the safety. However, that's not a priority at the moment. 

If I were to describe my experience shooting the GOAT-15, the first word that comes to mind is fun. 22s are nearly always fun to shoot, and the GOAT-15 takes that to the next level. It's small and light, while still maintaining the negligible recoil of a 22. It's also quite accurate: shooting from ten yards freehand, anything other than one-hole five-shot groups were the exception.

Shell casings ejected in the four o'clock direction and landed about 10 feet away in a relatively contained area. When the last round is fired, the bolt locks open as with any standard AR platform firearm.

The only issue encountered was on the second day of shooting. We were several hundred rounds in, and the rifle suffered a series of failures to feed. As many people know, 22 rimfire is pretty dirty ammo, and firearm function being affected by a build-up from the externally lubricated bullets and combustion residue is not uncommon. An examination of the rifle revealed a ridge of gunk had accumulated on the feed ramp; a quick scrub with a nylon bristle brush through the ejection port cleared this up and we were back in business.

The rifle was tested with Federal and Winchester 36 grain copper plated hollow points, as well as a mix-and-match of other brands from my leftovers bin. Other than the fouling issue I just mentioned, the GOAT-15 handled them all without a hiccup.

For amusement value, a few of the testers tried shooting it like a pistol, with a one- or two-hand grip. Although a bit muzzle-heavy when shot in this manner, it was manageable, but group size suffered as would be expected.

A passable but unwieldy handgun



Internals
Disassembling the GOAT-15 for cleaning or maintenance is only slightly different from standard AR-patter rifles. While the upper and lower are still connected by takedown and pivot pins, they're not retained by detents. They're also not pushout, instead having a hex socket on one side and a flat slot on the other, which necessitates two tools to unscrew one end of the pin from the other. This process takes a little getting used to, but it isn't complicated. I do recommend securing the rifle before attempting disassembly.

After the pins are removed and the receiver halves separated, remaining teardown is consistent with most ARs. The bolt and charging handle slide out the back of the upper receiver, and that's it. The rifle is field stripped.

Bolt and Charging Handle



When I looked down into the fire control pocket, I would have believed I was seeing a standard AR if I didn't have a sense of scale.
All the internal components look like what we expect to see, just smaller.

Fire Control Group, Hammer up and Down


Packing and Accessories
The GOAT-15 Helium comes packed with foam spacers in a sturdy cardboard box. In addition to the rifle, it also contains two magazines (one-round, and five-round), the federally mandated lock, a manual, and a sticker.

The GOAT-15 in its pen



The MSRP of the GOAT-15 Helium is $470 for the rifle and $23 for the 10-round magazines. In my opinion, this is a remarkably good price.

Mountain Billy has also recently released the ATOM pistol and H2 SBR versions of the GOAT-15, at MSRPs of $480 and $490 respectively. The SBR price does not include the $200 National Firearms Act tax stamp fee.

Summary
At the end of the T&E period, I was so impressed with the GOAT-15 Helium that I talked to Mountain Billy Gun Labs about purchasing their test rifle. They agreed, so I'm now the keeper of this lovely firearm. I foresee it getting plenty of use, both by me and by every friend whose hands I can get it into.

Whether for training new shooters, outfitting a smaller statured shooter, or just as a fun plinker, I highly recommend any of the GOAT-15 variants.

As you might guess, I give it a ten out of ten.

Have fun, and safe shooting.



Wednesday, January 8, 2025

The Game is a Foot

Humans are bilaterally symmetrical bipeds. As such, we're designed to spend a lot of time on our feet. Unfortunately, Americans generally don't do enough of this. Both extremes of these circumstances can lead to a variety of health issues, specifically foot problems. Thankfully, in addition to balancing our activity levels, we also live in a time where a number of products are available to help maintain foot health.

Keep Your Feet Clean & Dry
I keep packets of baby wipes in my car, as well as my toiletry kit for travel. These can be used to clean any part of my body, not just my feet. A similar product called Dude Wipes is also available.

https://amzn.to/40rxJYA


When our feet are wet, they are more susceptible to fungal growth (such as athlete's foot) as well as abrasion injuries, so keeping them dry is in our best interests. Microfiber towels are remarkably absorbent, and have a variety of other uses aside from their drying power.

https://amzn.to/4hafoF9


Talcum powder is a finely ground and extremely soft mineral that absorbs both moisture and (to some degree) odors. It can be applied directly to the feet (especially between the toes) and sprinkled inside shoes to help keep our feet dry. Many types of commercially available talc-free powders are blended with anti-bacterial medications as well.

Wear a Clean Pair of Wool Socks
For colder weather, or situations where we might not be able to change them regularly, merino wool (or other wicking material) socks are recommended. For those with circulatory issues, compression socks can help reduce blood pooling in our feet, a condition that can lead to increased mobility issues, neuropathy, and foot pain. Spare socks should always be part of our Bug-Out, Get-Home, or any other travel supplies.

Protect Against Injuries
A good pair of insoles will cushion our feet against shocks while simultaneously supporting our arches. Regardless of the type purchased, they should be replaced every three to six months.

https://amzn.to/4h89m7P


If we do suffer an abrasion injury to our feet (whether due to poor fitting shoes, moisture, or some other cause) it needs to be dealt with quickly so as not to become debilitating. A product called Moleskin is available, both as adhesive sheets and as little donuts for use on blisters.

https://amzn.to/40uoPsn


Finally, keeping our toenails trimmed is important for comfort as well as health. When wearing closed toe shoes, long toenails can impinge against the shoe, frequently leading to pain on even a relatively short walk. Bacteria can also find a cozy home under untrimmed nails.

https://amzn.to/4h7KI78


For those with other health related foot problems, such as diabetes, please seek out the care of a licensed podiatrist.

Foot Note
While not everyone is able to toe the line, this is a subject that touches our sole.

Monday, January 6, 2025

Snap Caps & Dummy Rounds for Dry Fire & Malfunction Practice

Modern firearms are “dry fire safe” in that they don’t need a round or snap cap in the chamber to safely work the trigger mechanism through the full range of operation. However, snap caps are a useful tool for deliberately inducing a “failure to fire” event during live training to help perfect the “clear a malfunction” sequence into muscle memory. 

Snap caps are commercially available from a number of manufacturers, often in sets of five for handguns and sets of two for rifles and shotguns. However, it’s often cheaper to make your own dummy rounds using commercial ammunition components.

https://amzn.to/40f7fth

In my military service, a dummy round was an inert training aid that can be easily distinguished from live ammunition by having indentations on the sides of the brass, being a different color entirely, or a combination of both feel and appearance. These dummy rounds were used in training personnel to use weapons in a safe manner, often in classroom locations. Lessons on how to load, arm, and troubleshoot a failure to fire could all be done as slowly as needed before going to a range and doing it live. If you’re helping to introduce new people to the shooting sports, then dummy rounds are a great tool for teaching basic firearm manipulation, how to load, unload, and so forth.

Making Your Own
I like to make my dummy rounds with a drill press by drilling holes through the sides of the cartridge case for an easy visual indicator that they aren’t live ammunition. Since I’m a handloader, I can omit the steps of priming and charging a round before crimping in the bullet. This leaves me with a dummy round that has holes in the side for visual identification, but weighs very close to what a live round would weigh. I find this to be useful for properly weighting a handgun magazine, as 15 rounds of 115gr 9mm ammunition is about 3.5 ounces of additional mass if you’re practicing “draw from concealment” drills at home.

The author's handmade dummy rounds

Some of you may be wondering “Why not just take a live round and drill through it?” I’ve done this when no other option was available to me, and it works because brass doesn’t spark. I don’t recommend it, though, because there’s still a lot of steel-cased ammunition on the market and I don’t think the risk justifies the potential reward. 

Additionally, if you drill a live round and then pour the powder out the holes, you still have to deal with the primer. You can’t use your firearm to do that, either, because the chamber would be directly exposed to the hot primer gas and you might dislodge the bullet into the barrel.

For dummy shotgun rounds:
  1. Take a spent hull and fill it with BBs and epoxy just below the crimp line. Because the vast amount of mass in a shotgun shell is in the lead shot, you really have to add a filler material back in to get the right weight/feel.


  2. Wait for the epoxy to harden, then cut the crimp away at the crimp line.



  3. Drill the visual indicators in the metal part of the hull and drill out the spent primer. 


This is a tad more expensive than pistol or rifle dummies, but still quite a bit cheaper than commercial snap caps or dummy rounds. 

Concerns
“Is there a risk of having a bullet from a homemade dummy round come loose into your firearm?” Yes, but I've not yet encountered that in reality. I’ve experienced an AK-style rifle (Saiga .308) slam uncrimped match ammo so hard into the chamber that it unseated the bullet spilling powder everywhere, so it’s entirely possible that this “inertial bullet puller effect” could happen with a dummy round. If you’re worried about that, then don’t use homemade dummy rounds mixed with live ammo for live training.  However, I haven’t experienced this with dummy pistol ammo, and the dummy shotgun ammo is epoxied in place.

Conclusion
Dummy rounds are useful for teaching new shooters the manual of arms with a firearm and for working misfire drills and dryfire practice for more skilled shooters. I cannot recommend strongly enough that every prepper incorporate dummy round-enhanced training drills at home, as they are incredibly valuable to skill building and skill retention and don't require range fees or expending live ammunition.

Dummy rounds are also cheap to purchase and easy to make if you have reloading tools, and I encourage you to buy or make them at your next opportunity. You don't need a whole lot of them, but you should have a few on hand for practice and education. 

Saturday, December 28, 2024

Product Review: Laser Ammo's Recoil Enabled Glock G19 Training Pistol

Not actually Erin.
Used with permission.
David has talked about the importance of dry fire for marksmanship, and I agree with that position. If you carry a firearm as a self-defense prep, then you must  ensure that all of your shots go where you need them to go if you ever shoot in defense of yourself or another. Unless you're law enforcement, you aren't protected under qualified immunity if you miss your target and hit an innocent person; regular folks like you and I are legally responsible for every bullet that leaves our gun. 

David also reviewed the Mantis X3 dry fire system, which has the benefit of enabling the user to practice with their own firearm. However, as he observed, any gun which uses a striker rather than an external hammer will require either working the slide between shots or the purchase of specialty dry fire magazines, which are both expensive and only fit a limited selection of firearm models (Glock seems to be universal, followed by Sig Sauer and S&W M&P). 

Another solution to this dilemma is to purchase a recoil-enabled training pistol from Laser Ammo. I have the Gen 5 Glock 19 version with infrared laser, so my review will focus on that, although I assume that the other Laser Ammo guns (Glock 171911 and Sig Sauer M17, M18, P320) function similarly. 


Comparisons With Reality
Built on the chassis of an Umarex airsoft Glock 19, these training pistols function exactly like a Glock 19 with the sole exception of being unable to fire bullets: the trigger safety functions the same way, the slide reciprocates and can be locked back, magazines are loaded and ejected identically, and it can even be field-stripped in exactly the same manner as its real counterpart. 

https://amzn.to/4gEtEpF


It's also worth noting that a proper Glock magazine will not seat inside this trainer. I have several, and they all encounter friction resistance about halfway in. It's possible to force the magazine in further, but it stops well before the slide can engage the ammunition. Only airsoft magazines will fully seat inside this trainer.

As a point of curiosity, an unfilled Umarex magazine for the airsoft Glock 19 weighs about as much as a real and loaded Glock 17 magazine, and more than a real and loaded Glock 19 magazine. I'm not sure why this is, but it does mean that magazines on this laser trainer drop free cleanly.

https://amzn.to/4gEtEpF


Speaking of weight, the Laser Ammo G19 weighs less than an unloaded Glock 26. This will become somewhat relevant later. 

Operation
Because this laser trainer is so similar to the Glock 19, the manual of arms is almost exactly the same. The two exceptions are that the slide doesn't need to be racked for it to function (although I find myself doing that anyway), and the magazine is filled with green gas from a pressurized can. 

I specifically chose a green gas (essentially propane without the smell and with silicone oil added for lubrication) trainer over CO2 because of price. According to this source, green gas is more cost-efficient and is easier on the gun because it has reduced recoil. This allows the user to practice more often without worrying about hand fatigue from recoil, although there's enough recoil that it's easy to lose your sight picture without sufficient control and practice.

As an indication of its recoil and the amount of noise it makes -- best described as a sharp snapping sound, akin to a stapler gun -- I asked my 85-year-old mother to give it a try. Despite the arthritis in her hands, the recoil wasn't too much for her, nor was the noise harmful to her ears. 

To my mind that makes this product ideal for teaching firearm safety to children and hesitant adults:
  • The light weight makes it easier to lift and use.
  • The similar manual of arms makes it possible to teach safe firearm handling without using a real gun, and with more function than a dummy gun. 
  • The mild noise means it can be used indoors. (I would suggest a well-ventilated area, as after a magazine's worth of shots are fired the smell of the green gas is noticeable. I don't find it objectionable, although some might.)
  • The gentle recoil means that children, the elderly, and anyone with an injury can use this product without discomfort. 
In fact, using this as an instruction tool is the main reason I bought it. The fact that it helps me with my shooting is a welcome secondary benefit. 

Red vs. Infrared
Laser Ammo offers two types of lasers on its trainers: visible red lasers and invisible infrared. They both have benefits and drawbacks. The red laser is less expensive, and you get immediate feedback about where you hit. On the other hand, many shooters end up "chasing the dot" rather than focusing on their technique. The infrared is the reverse, being more expensive (but only by about $20) and lacking the immediate feedback, but allowing the user to concentrate on sight picture rather than "I saw the dot go down and left, so I need to aim up and right to fix that."

Pick whichever one best suits your needs. I went with infrared because I already have a visible red laser trainer from LaserLyte (reviewed here, available from Amazon for $141). 

Targets
Regardless of which you choose, you'll need some kind of target to register your shots. I use the LaserLyte Score Tyme ($214 from Amazon, reviewed here) which I acquired 10 years ago; it still works great, and I'm happy to report that it registers hits from infrared lasers just as well as from red.  

https://amzn.to/3BQ1EQO


Another option is the LaserPET (Personal Electronic Target), also from Laser Ammo. At $70 it's much less expensive than the Score Tyme, and it's also a lot more portable (2.25" x 5.25" x 0.75", takes 2 AAA batteries). 

In terms of functionality, the LaserPET is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it doesn't show you where you hit like the Score Tyme does, only if you hit or not. If you're like me and you get validation from seeing tight groups, that's a drawback. On the other hand, the LaserPET has more modes (hit counter, shot timer, timed burst shooting, and double tap) and also comes with inserts which restrict the shot window. For example, you can shoot a 1" or 1/2" aperture if you like punishing yourself want a challenge. 

The 1/2" aperture insert


I contacted Laser Ammo to ask about the size ratio of this target and was told that 1 foot away from the PET equals 3 feet away from a full size target. This is likely only of use when shooting at the B-27 silhouette target, but I thought it was an interesting fact. 

My feeling is that the Score Tyme is better for new shooters and the LaserPET is better for experienced shooters, especially those who want to dry fire while away from home. 

The Price: $$$
Unfortunately, there's just no getting around the biggest drawback, which is its price. At over $400, these laser trainers cost as much as a good used gun and are approaching new gun prices, and that's before you add the cost of a laser-sensing target. Some people may balk at these prices, and I can't blame them. I bought mine specifically for my work with Operation Blazing Sword, and as a combination instruction tool and dry fire trainer it's fantastic. This is a good tool for anyone who teaches people how to handle firearms; for everyone else, it's likely too expensive and you should get a Mantis X3 instead. (Although, fun fact: the Laser Ammo G19 has an accessory rail on it just like a proper Glock 19, so you could also mount a Mantis on it for maximum training efficiency.)

There's also the drawback that, much like the dry fire magazines, Laser Ammo only has a small amount of brands available. If you don't shoot a 1911, a Glock 17 or 19, or a Sig P320, you aren't practicing with your carry pistol. I chose a Glock because it's still the most popular and prevalent pistol in the world, and because I have familiarity with the platform because I own a G26. 

My Rating: Well, It Depends
Are you someone who dry fires a lot, either because you need to shoot professionally or because you want to shoot really well? If you shoot one of the guns that Laser Ammo makes trainers for, then this product is definitely for you because of the feedback and the identical manual of arms. 10/10

Do you want more realism in your dry fire practice? This will give you that, but perhaps it's not the best use of your funds, especially if you don't have a lot of money to throw around. On the other hand, it's cheaper than ammunition, range fees, and gas to the shooting range and back. I'll say 8/10, because it's not for everyone, mainly due to the initial cost. That said, once you get it set up you're liable to really like it, so I don't think there will be much buyer's remorse. 

Are you just really annoyed by having to rack the side while dry firing and want a better way to do it? Don't get this. Instead, get a LaserLyte emitter and the LaserPET target. This will give you all the benefits of dry fire practice for half the price (about $211 total). 

Do you teach people how to safely operate firearms? 10/10 due to its functionality and its ability to teach at someone's home rather than going to a range. 

Dear FTC: I bought these products. Go away.

The Fine Print


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