Should you use Airsoft for realistic training?

 

Overview

It's 2024 and we're looking for the best ways to conduct firearm training at home and on a budget. Airsoft can be a great alternative to frequent range trips. However, there are a lot of dry fire training aids on the market such as the Mantis x, Cool Fire Trainer and the SIRT pistol that could help out. Let's see how they stack up against airsoft for realistic training. 

Traditional Dry Fire Training

Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire. Every firearms instructor has said that phrase at some point to their students to convey the importance of training at home and not just at the range.

We're able to uncover common mistakes and build a solid foundation of good muscle memory at home if we conduct dry fire correctly. 

First and foremost is safety. Ensuring the weapon is clear and that all ammunition is separated from your designated dry fire training area. Ensure magazines are empty and don't forget the main rules of gun safety (Treat every firearm as if it's loaded, never point a firearm at anything you're not willing to destroy, identify your target and what's beyond it and keep your finger off of the trigger and out of the trigger well until you are ready to fire).

Pros

- Free (If you already own a firearm)

- Can build good muscle memory

- Proven method to increase accuracy and efficiency

Cons

- Having to re rack the slide after every trigger pull (this can lead to bad muscle memory)

- No follow up shots or splits

- No recoil 

- No projectile (Unless you failed at safety)

- No reloads (Only if you lock the slide to the rear before practicing a reload)

- Can be deadly if live ammunition is accidently introduced

 

Laser Training

These can be aids to help assist your dry fire training. Such as the Mantis X, Strikeman and the Cool Fire Trainer. The idea is that a laser will take the place of a projectile to provide feedback such as shot placement and shot time. However, these only enhance dry fire training, they do not necessarily improve the realism of training at home. We still lack recoil, last round slide lock, an actual projectile and trigger reset (some of these systems will reset the trigger on an AR style platform but it's similar to pulling the trigger on your Xbox controller). 

The Cool Fire Trainer improves upon these systems, allowing for the slide to blow back and conduct follow up shots. Paired with a laser system, this can come close but it still falls short of a realistic training system as the slide will not lock to the rear on a final shot and it doesn't fire a projectile. 

The Cool Fire Trainer can also be tedious to use as it requires a bit of setup to swap the internals of your real firearm with the kit provided by Cool Fire. Having to change things out frequently to train can be a pain and become discouraging to the point where someone might not even train with it at all. 

Pros

- Better insights when paired with dry fire training

- Data retention to show progress and areas of improvement

Cons

- More expensive ($99 - $989.99)

- No recoil

- No projectile

- Doesn't work well with holsters due to the attachment (losing the ability to practice from concealment)

- Having to re rack the slide after every trigger pull (this can lead to bad muscle memory)

Airsoft Gas Blow Back Systems

Using a gas blow back airsoft gun like the Umarex Glock 19X is as real as it gets to shooting a real firearm. They are officially licensed by Glock and have to be made to their specifications. These Airsoft gas blow back pistols are made so well that they will fit in your existing G19 holster. They allow for all of the light attachments of a real pistol such as the Surefire X300-T and training extremely realistic, especially in low light conditions. This means you can train exactly how you'd like to setup your real pistol.  

They fire 6mm airsoft projectile BB's and are very accurate up to 100-300' (depending on the wight of the BB that you use). This means you have to utilize good fundamentals if you want to hit what you are aiming at. 

The recoil is snappy and allows for the reset of the trigger, so you can really train those follow up shots from the reset point without having to re rack the slide after every shot. The slide will also lock back to the rear on the last shot, forcing the trainee to conduct either a speed or tactical reload. 

When using these to train indoors, we use the Lancer Tactical BB Trap to capture all of our shots so there is no cleanup involved after training.

Paired with a Shooters Global Shot Timer, this is as real as training can get without moving up to force on force training. Which is another great aspect is that you have the ability to take your training further with force on force and realistic scenarios.

Here's some video of clients conducting training in their own home with gas blow back airsoft weapons. 

Pros

- Fits in real holster so training from concealment works like a charm

- Fires a real projectile so you are responsible for your shots and have instant feedback

- Provides recoil and cycling of the slide so the trigger is reset and training follow up shots is a breeze 

- Slide locks to rear on last shot forcing you to conduct reloads in the same manner you would in real life

- No bad training scars of racking the slide after every shot

- Enough noise to know your shooting but quiet enough to shoot without ear protection

- Safe (Only shoots 6mm BB's, not real ammunition)

- Effortless to train (Just add gas and BB's and get to training, no swapping internals or separating ammunition prior to training)

Cons

- More expensive than traditional dry fire ($189)

Conclusion

If you're serious about becoming a better shooter, we believe there are 2 options. 

1. Dry fire with your existing firearm if you don't have an existing training budget. 

2. Train with a realistic Airsoft gas blow back system if you are willing to invest more into your training. 

The great thing about option #2 is that once you have the training weapon, the cost of training at home becomes 1/100th of the cost of going to range (with 9mm). 

If you're serious about taking your training to the next level, you can grab our Beginner Starter Training Package and we also invite you to train with us, either in person or online. 

Rangers Lead The Way!