SIRT

Shoot Better with SIRT Trainers: Laser Beams Make Everything Better

The SIRT is a useful training tool to augment live fire training exercises. The resetting trigger allows the user to “fire” the gun without having to action the slide and the shot indicating lasers provide immediate feedback for shot accuracy.

SIRT is an acronym for Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger. As the name suggests, the trigger of the SIRT emulates the trigger pull of the Glock after which it is modeled, but after the the pull has been completed, the trigger “resets” as though a round was cycled.

The metal slide helps to give the SIRT comparable weight and balance to the Glock, but it does not move. Although, the dry fire pistol does have a functioning magazine release, and its magazine is molded and weighted to resemble an actual Glock magazine.

Dry fire is an important element to firearms training off the range. But, while it helps train skills such as, drawing from a holster, changing magazines, and trigger control, it can be monotonous and uninteresting. Fortunately, there are some ways to make dry fire training more interesting, like using the SIRT Dry Fire Training Pistol.

A feature of the SIRT that makes it more interesting for dry fire training is its shot indicating laser. During the trigger pull, a red laser will light up to indicate that the trigger is “prepped.” A second green laser emits when the trigger pull is completed. This secondary beam indicates where the shot would have been placed, were it a live fire drill. The laser positioning is adjustable, and the SIRT also features a switch to engage or disengage the red trigger prep indicating laser.

As the SIRT features a rail for mounting light or laser accessories. This allows the user to train with a tool that more closely emulates their own pistol while performing exercises like speed reloads, mock IDPA courses, or even force-on-force training.

There are a variety of models. The 110 models emulate the key functional features of a Glock 17/22. The 107 Models emulate the functional features of the Smith&Wesson M&P. Coming soon; a pocket pistol sized SIRT.

The Next Level Training Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger Training Pistol is an essential training and teaching tool. You cannot understand the full impact of this device on your life until you get one. Don’t wait. The basic model is $239. It doesn’t take much ammo savings to pay for one. There are a number of models for different needs.

Use Discount Code “GreenBeret” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT

There are some great training videos at Next Level Training.

Photo courtesy of Next Level Training

This post first appeared on paragraph4.media and is re-posted with permission.

Tactical Christmas Gifts for 2018

A Gear-End Review sure to help you find a Tactical Gift this Christmas.

If you have a black nylon and Velcro person in your world that’s tough to gift shop for, we have a list of ideas for you to put under the Christmas tree this year. Here’s my Gear-End Review from 2018.

Knives

When looking for a loadout for everyday carry, you need a great knife. This last year I discovered a couple of amazing knives that I use daily.

Ravencrest Tactical Knives specialize in out the front knives and I’ve enjoyed the ease of use, one handed opening and closing, and sharp edge. I have two Ravenscrest Tactical Knives now and I very much enjoy them and use them. There’s just something oddly satisfying about opening and closing these knives. Prices vary but I’m sure you can find one in your range.

I’ve also loved my Gerber Gear auto, the Empower, that I’ve been carrying off-duty. You can’t beat Gerber’s warranty and I love how durable the blade has been. I use it and abuse it. Price varies based upon which model you’re choosing but look to spend about $80 to $110.

Upgraded Hearing and Eye Protection

Valholl has a solution to all-day-comfort while wearing hearing protection. They are an amazing upgrade to stock hearing protection. Check them out here and just buy a set to improve on your Howard Leight electronic hearing protection, they retail for about $34.95.

Tactical Stocking Stuffers for 2018 — Valholl Gear Gel Cups as installed on Howard Leight Hearing Protection

After improving your hearing protection, go check out Edge Tactical Eyewear and the line of eye protection they offer that doesn’t fog up, protects your eyes, and bends to insane levels when you screw up and smash them. One of the places you can buy them is here, they retail for about $40.29.

Pocket Tools, Pens, and Wonder Pens

Gerber Gear again knocks it out of the park with a pen that is ready to write and ready to break faces or glass all at the same time. No manipulating it some special way, just strike to defend or break the glass that’s in your way. It’s also a great pen that Writes in the Rain. The Gerber Gear Impromptu Tactical Pen retails for about $73.

If you’re not looking to spend that much but want a great pen that does many things, check out the “pen” from Blue Shield Tactical. This pen provides you with a stylus, window punch, ink, knife, and probably more that I haven’t noticed yet. The pen from Blue Shield Tactical is priced at just $16.95.

Firearms Multi-Tools

The Gerber Gear Short Stack Multi-Tool is a pretty amazing little fella that stows in the handle of your AR rifle and always there when you need it. If your loved one likes to shoot or build the AR platform, the Short Stack would make a great gift at about $47.

Backpacks and Gun Bags

The Handgunner Backpack from G.P.S. Wild About Shooting has been one of my favorite pieces of gear in 2018. I love this bag and how it makes my life easier when it’s time to head to the range. You don’t forget essential items, it keeps everything organized, and if it starts to sprinkle, you pull out the rain cover and keep your toys dry. To purchase this great bag, head over to Amazon or find them at 30% off right now at Action Target’s online store.

If you like tough built gear, check out the bags and gear made by Vanquest. Vanquest has the Markhor 45 backpack that adds durability and function in a backpack for your next journey. Give a gift of adventure when you buy a Vanquest bag. The Markhor 45 retails for about $269.99 but are on sale RIGHT NOW for $229.49.

Gloves

You don’t have to be tacticool to wear black gloves but it helps. Blauer has a full-line of gloves to fit every need. I really liked the Fray Glove and the Strike Shooting Glove and have enjoyed having them for firearms training and use on patrol. I love that I can still use the touchscreen on my phone and mobile data computer touch screen and pad while wearing them. These gloves are well designed, thought out, and are comfortable. Blauer Tactical Gloves as tested are about $37.99 and make a great stocking stuffer.

Stands and Steel

CTS Target Steel is a wonderful gift for your shooter. It might be a little heavy to put in the stocking on the mantel but I’m sure you can manage. CTS Targets have a full line of great steel. I’ve really enjoyed having their hanging target and found the kit that they provided for hanging it to be inventive and easy to use. $ varies.

Challenge Target also has amazing targets with wonderful quality and craftsmanship built into them. I’ve loved the Challenge Target’s Texas Star steel reactive target and found it great for pistol, rifle carbine, and shotgun with birdshot training. It’s a hoot! $675

The HatPoint Target Stand is a less expensive option that is great for setting up a range on the go or adding directions to shoot or setting up tactical courses of fire with varying distances to shoot. They retail for $51.99. I like that they are light, portable, and break down into a small footprint when not in use. If a round strikes the stand, it doesn’t destroy it and doesn’t make it a sharp hazard. Read more about this target stand here.

Training Essentials

The SiRT Training Pistol is a gift that keeps giving. The $239 expense is easily justified when you look at how many repetitions you’re going to be getting on the gun without spending money on ammunition.

If you use a red dot site, get the SPOT Trainer from SiRT as well for just $19.99 and train yourself to quickly find that red dot site, again, without expending that precious ammunition!

After you’ve spent some time on your SiRT training pistol, head to the range with a new-found focus using the Burnett Live Fire Drill Cards. Burnett Live Fire Drill Cards start at just $69.95. The system from Burnett allows you get away from just punching holes in paper and start to train! Drills are laid out and ready for you with benchmarks for you to use when shooting, measuring, and improving.

While shooting with your new-found focus, make sure you have a MantisX installed on your pistol. The MantisX is a magical black-box device that works with your smartphone or tablet and provides you with an expert shooting coach. Read here how it works! It retails for about $149.99. I received this for Christmas in 2017 and absolutely love it.

Speaking of dry-fire, do yourself a favor and add the Slideblok to your loved ones (and your own) stocking if you shoot a Glock. Pick up a few of these smart devices to improve your trigger press, they’re only $8.00.

Spend more time training and less time loading with Striplula and the UpLULA from Maglula. This is the best product I didn’t know I needed until I had one. It works wonderfully and is very reasonably priced. If you’ve ever struggled loading a pistol magazine, get a UpLULA. If you’ve ever thought to yourself that you need a faster way to load your rifle magazines, get the Striplula. You can thank me later. The Striplula retails for about $26.95. Make sure you don’t buy a knock off, get the real deal. $26.95

Upgrades for Your Guns

Talon Grips is an amazing product that lets you get a better grip without permanently altering your gun. Their products are quality, proven, and easy to install. At only $18 they are a great stocking stuffer.

Maxim Defense CQB Stock is the real deal product that helps you make a smaller footprint with your rifle build while still offering the luxuries of a full-size AR stock. They are a little more spendy then the items I typically get in my stocking but wow is it nice. They retail for about $435.

V-TAB offers an add-on for the AR platform of rifles, allowing you to make vertical adjustments to your rifle stock. If you have a precision shooter or someone that struggles to obtain a proper cheek weld using the AR rifle, this would be a great gift at just $69.95.

Your Day on Patrol Made Easier, Safer, and More Comfortable

The Mic Loop is a great gift for your loved one that wears a portable radio with remote microphone. Priced at just $10.99, it’s easily placed into a stocking to make them more comfortable and safer.

Blue Force Gear Micro Trauma Kit is a product that should be with every first responder and person that chooses to carry a firearm for self-defense. Priced at $68 it’s a self-contained inclusive kit that gets the job done.

Holsters

Having holster options is like having shoe or jewelry options. You just need to accessorize.

Mission First Tactical holsters has a great line of holsters and I liked the minimalistic approach to their AIWB holster that they offer and use it often with my G19. It retails for $49.99.

Bravo Concealment Holsters also has a great line of holsters. I’m still working on an article featuring a few of Bravo’s holsters but can say that my wife has been using the IWB holster with her Glock 43 and loving it’s small footprint, ease of taking on and off, and comfort. We spent some time on the range with it recently and we were both pleased with its performance. Look for more on this holster soon. The IWB holsters currently comes with a free mag pouch and retails for about $45.89.

Tenicor offers a new perspective on appendix carry and inside the waist band. I have to say; this holster disappears when even this big boy wears it. They have some torsion technology in their design that makes this not just another Kydex holster. They are priced about $77.00. Take a look at them, especially if you need to make absolute certain that your pistol won’t be seen.

Alien Gear has a wonderful line of holsters. The Cloak Tuck 3.5 makes a great stocking stuffer that your tacti cool loved one can wear all day long in comfort. I love the padding, http://aliengearholsters.com/ $varies.

SnagMag allows you to carry an extra magazine with ease. It looks like a clipped-on pocket knife in your pocket and is intelligently designed to be drawn with a proper index on the magazine. I can load a fresh magazine from concealment as easily as loading from a duty belt. This product is very fairly priced at $34.95 and makes an excellent stocking stuffer.

I’m sure there is more, what would you add to the Tactical Stocking Stuffers list? Share your thoughts with us.

Concealed Carry Training? SIRT Laser Pocket Pistol

The SIRT Pocket Pistol variant of the SIRT simulates subcompact pistols and comes with all the things you know and love from previous SIRTs. The Pocket Pistol comes with a fully adjustable trigger module and two lasers.

This secondary beam indicates where the shot would have been placed, were it a live fire drill. The laser positioning is adjustable, and the SIRT also features a switch to engage or disengage the red trigger prep indicating laser.

There are two models available, the performer (polymer slide) and the pro model (metal slide). Unlike previous SIRTs, the magazine is not removable but you can pick different base plates to simulate the feel of the specific model of your real pocket gun.

You can get your very own SIRT HERE.

Use Discount Code “GreenBeret” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT

However, those who aren’t deterred by the price tag will find the SIRT a useful training tool to augment live fire training exercises. The resetting trigger allows the user to “fire” the gun without having to action the slide and the shot indicating lasers provide immediate feedback for shot accuracy.

There are some great training videos at Next Level Training:

Photos courtesy of Next Level Training

New to Pistol Optics? The SIRT Pistol Optical Trainer Builds Repetitions

The SIRT Pistol Optical Trainer (SPOT) is a very simple and cost-effective way to train for the reflexive optic you may have on your live fire pistol. The SPOT fits on your SIRT slide (110 glockish models) and uses the red trigger take up laser to mimic the dot in a pistol mounted red dot optic. This new feature will hit the Next Level Training website in August.

SIRT is an acronym for Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger. As the name suggests, the trigger of the SIRT emulates the trigger pull of the Glock 17/22 after which it is modeled, but after the pull has been completed, the trigger “resets” as though a round was cycled. The metal slide (which helps to give the SIRT comparable weight and balance to the Glock 17/22 models), however, does not action. Although, the dry fire pistol does have a functioning magazine release, and its “magazine” is molded and weighted to resemble an actual Glock magazine.

There are a variety of models. The 110 models emulate the key functional features of a Glock 17/22. The 107 Models emulate the functional features of the Smith&Wesson M&P and there is a pocket pistol sized SIRT.

Use Discount Code “ArmsGuide” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT

There are also some great training videos at Next Level Training:

Firearms Safety: Follow the Rules and Save Lives

Gun safety is not a device, it is a behavior. In-spite of 1,000 years of human experience with gun powder and related devices, it is still dangerous stuff. We can mitigate the risks, but no matter what kind of technological developments we have applied, guns remain dangerous. How dangerous? That depends on the shooter and how they use a gun.

The latest internet meme concerns a drop test video, before that it was negligent discharges during disassembly and legs shot accidentally. Before the internet, striker guns were unsafe, polymer guns were unsafe, 5.56 wasn’t effective, 9mm wasn’t effective, some bolt action rifle safeties failed and some shotguns had un-clearable jams. Many of the most popular (and least dangerous) guns on the market today were demonized as un-safe at some point. How can this be?

Everybody has their favorite guns. This is natural and good. The problem comes not from loving my gun, but when I hate your gun and say silly mean things about it. Add big dollar government contracts to the mix and there can be some real hard feelings.

It usually looks like this on the internet, “Your gun sucks because it shot when it was dropped on a video and if you bought my gun it was designed to be used as a Hacky Sack and dropped from great heights.” The response goes “Oh yeah, what about your gun leg and all those guys who discharge when cleaning, my gun is new and much better.” We are not accomplishing anything and we certainly aren’t learning anything.

Every design, every gun, has strengths and weakness. A gun with many safety features may provide more confidence to a certain shooter, but those features effect the trigger and speed with which you can shoot which will bother another shooter. I have seen experienced shooters disable factory safety features they deemed were unnecessary in their environment. Recklessness or calculation?

If we want to make a safe gun, it cannot shoot. The magnificent SIRT pistol from Next Level Training is inert, it can not shoot. You can dry fire with complete abandon and flaunt the safety rules because it won’t shoot, even if you drop it just right. If you want a safe gun, buy a SIRT.

If you need a tool to protect yourself, you need a weapon capable of inflicting damage. If it can damage a bad guy, it can damage a good guy. Are guns dangerous? You bet they are, that is what makes them useful. All the “safety” features on guns are trade offs. It is up to the shooter to carry a gun that suits his training and environment to make the situation safe, because the gun, by its nature cannot be safe. Shooters can be safe.

“But the gun has a flaw! There was a law suit…” I am very familiar with a case where a police officer placed a loaded handgun into his waist band without a holster. Not surprisingly, the gun went off damaging key parts of his genitalia. He sued the gun manufacturer because the “un-safe” gun went off in his pants. He didn’t win the law suit, but there was a settlement. This is absurd, but very common. I take all law suits with a grain of salt.

“I saw the video…” Video is very compelling, but it never tells the whole story. It is limited by time and point of view. I don’t say ignore video, but always seek corroboration and complete understanding before jumping to conclusions.

“I read on the internet…” I love the internet and the best output of the best minds on Earth can be found there. Sadly, many people unburdened by intelligence or experience are also free to populate the internet with their musings. Learn the difference.

When a story breaks on the web, give it a few days. If one side cites industrial and military safety standards and the other talks about a video, let things settle and the truth will emerge. If there is a hypothetical problem which has produced no reported injuries, things will work themselves out. Every big company has a battalion of engineers science-ing the shit out of these kind of problems 24/7. Let them work.

Don’t crow if my gun looks bad and don’t get depressed if your gun seems to have a problem. Every gun, every modification, every round of ammo is a compromise between effectiveness and risk of injury. Manufacturers spend much more time on testing than design. They are financially liable and have a moral obligation to protect their customers. I know many people in the gun business and I can tell you I have never met even one who is cavalier about customer safety. They mitigate inherent risks with design.

There are circumstance where safety features on any device will fail. If it were absolutely safe it would be completely useless as a gun. Even where mechanical safeties are redundant, they can under-perform or simply break. We are taught not to count on mechanical devices for safety.

When a weakness is found in an existing design, it is normally corrected by the manufacturer and some program established to fix existing guns. In extreme cases, a safety recall pulls guns in and repairs them. This a positive outcome which is normal and frequent.

Before you chose a gun, get some competent training. Learn about the gun you want and make sure your training and equipment match your application. If you play gun games with after market triggers, that might not be the gun to appendix carry every day. Think before you buy and carry.

If you are afraid you might drop your gun, by all means, buy a gun that has a manual safety, heavy trigger and super redundant features. If you have solid training, experience and equipment, a lighter trigger can be just as safe and allow you a faster reaction time and cleaner first shot. What ever your choice, please don’t tell me why I need to make the same decisions you did.

There are rules to keep shooters and bystanders safe:

Jeff Cooper’s Rules of Gun Safety

RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED

RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY

RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET

RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET

If you apply these rules, your gun may go off, but no one will be injured. If you don’t have confidence in your ability to operate within these rules, or you feel your gun is unsafe, slowly and carefully unload and lock your gun up, Get some training and/or new guns until you can carry with confidence. There are no safe guns but there are millions of safe shooters. Join us.

Use Discount Code “ArmsGuide” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT

There are some great training vidoes at Next Level Training:

Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger: The Laser Pocket Pistol Trainer

The SIRT Pocket Pistol variant of the SIRT simulates sub compact pistols and comes with all the things you know and love from previous SIRTs. The Pocket Pistol comes with a fully adjustable trigger module and two lasers.

You can get your very own SIRT HERE.

Use Discount Code “GreenBeret” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT

There are some great training videos at Next Level Training:

Photos courtesy of Next Level Training

SIRT

Use Discount Code “GreenBeret” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT

A Gear-End Review sure to help you find a Tactical Gift this Christmas.

Knives

Upgraded Hearing and Eye Protection

Pocket Tools, Pens, and Wonder Pens

Firearms Multi-Tools

Backpacks and Gun Bags

Gloves

Stands and Steel

Training Essentials

Upgrades for Your Guns

Your Day on Patrol Made Easier, Safer, and More Comfortable

Recommended Reading and Conversation Starters

Holsters

Use Discount Code “GreenBeret” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT

Use Discount Code “ArmsGuide” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT

Use Discount Code “ArmsGuide” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT

Use Discount Code “GreenBeret” (not case sensitive) and get 10% off your new SIRT