10 Months with the SIRT
In July 2011, a generous friend gave me a SIRT Pro 110. In the interest of full disclosure, he received it free of charge from Next Level Training. I don't believe that has influenced my view of the SIRT one way or the other, but I will leave that judgment to you.
As noted on NLT's site, the Pro 110 is the metal-slide flagship model with green/red lasers, which very closely resembles the Glock 17/22. It came in a plastic case with manuals, a weighted dummy magazine, and tools for adjusting the trigger.
Let me share my general impressions of the pistol itself, before broaching the topic of its usefulness.
Overall Construction:
In a word - Impressive! It is clearly sturdier than my Airsoft KWA G19, though to be fair, the KWA obviously utilizes far more moving parts, not the least of which being a reciprocating slide. I make the comparison, however, to note that my KWA has withstood some pretty nasty abuse in Shivworks classes, so I have no concerns about what the SIRT can take. In the 10 months I've been using it, I have yet to come across any part of the SIRT that I feel is fragile or suspect to breakage.
Sights:
True to the real Glock, it comes with crappy plastic sights. The rear sight is especially short, with a very shallow notch, meaning that proper sight alignment actually cuts off the white dot. Unlike Glock plastic sights, they do not feature the white outline on the rear sight.
In the interest of matching my SIRT to my real Glock, to maximize training potential, it was only a week or two before I installed a set of Warrens on the SIRT. It's worth noting that my MGW309 Sight Pusher cannot be used on the SIRT because the SIRT slide isn't built to ride on rails. I just used a punch and everything turned out fine.
Factory SIRT sights on the left, Warrens on the right
One interesting issue that I encountered was the glossy finish on the slide: when pointing high, I could see a reflection of the tritium front sight on the glossy slide, giving the false appearance of an extra dot. I roughed the top of the slide with sandpaper and painted a small black strip to resolve this.
Magazine Well:
The dummy mag provided with the SIRT is a high quality piece that can be taken apart and tailored to your preferred weight. If you are especially OCD, you can even distribute the weight in a specific fashion within the magazine; there is a honeycomb pattern to hold the individual weights. For better or worse, this magazine is loose in the magwell of my SIRT. It makes it very easy to drop the mag, which is convenient for practice, but might give a false sense of confidence in your ability to eject mags via gravity.
The inside of a SIRT dummy magazine
The SIRT seems to be very hit-and-miss as to other magazines it will accept. The blue safety mags that I usually use for dry fire will not fit unless I hammer them in there, and then need to be aggressively ripped out with significant force (silver lining: practice for stuck magazines). As for my actual Glock mags, some of them easily fit and drop free, while others stick pretty bad. I can't even narrow the pattern to a certain generation of magazine: it just seems I'm experiencing random tolerance issues. Still, I have identified a handful of Glock mags that I can reliably use.
In addition to these fit issues, I noticed that when attempting speed reloads with Glock mags, even loose mags would sometimes bind during insertion. Upon inspecting the magwell, I noticed a visibly raised shelf of plastic: nothing huge, but just enough to seriously catch a mag. After a few minutes with sandpaper, I haven't experienced this issue since.
The above photo shows the plastic shelf. The below video shows how badly it was able to snag magazines.
Another area that I hit with sandpaper was the butt of the grip. As it came from the factory, there were sharp corners where the magazine seats. On reloads, I would occasionally pinch the heel of my palm here, causing some nasty blood blisters. Like the shelf, this was a quick and easy fix.
The SIRT will use any mag-catch that works on a Gen3 Glock. Again, in the interest of setting up my SIRT to mimic my Glock, I installed a Vickers mag release.
Trigger:
My trigger finger isn't as educated as some here. I picked up the SIRT, evaluated the trigger and said, "good enough for me!" I haven't bothered to adjust mine at all. It feels close enough to my real Glock that I haven't felt a need to tinker. As set, it is slightly heavier than my Glock trigger, but I feel that it has forced me to develop better trigger control.
My only real complaint about the trigger is that it requires too much travel before the red take-up laser turns on. I assumed that it would be a good way to catch finger-on-trigger violations, but that's not the case. Instead, it takes a partial pull before engaging, so casual violations aren't caught.
Compatibility with accessories:
As noted, the SIRT can accept any Glock-compatible sights, any Gen3 mag release, and some Glock magazines. I've found it to be 100% compatible with all Glock holsters I own, even the RCS VG2. In most holsters, it fits slightly looser than a Glock, but I've not found it to cause any issue. The only rail mounted devices I've tried on it -- a TLR-1 and TLR-2 -- were also fully compatible.
Bear in mind that Grip Force Adapters will not fit onto the SIRT, as it already has a slight beavertail, and does not have a housing pin like the Glock for attachment. Since my real Glocks sport GFAs, I've been considering a project with sandpaper and epoxy, but haven't yet gotten around to it.
Usefulness for Training:
Here's where the potential controversy comes in. It seems that some industry leaders consider this to be the greatest training advancement since Airsoft, while others seem to contend that it will instill bad habits, such as looking over your sights.
I won't try to speak for anyone else, or claim that my experience will be universal, but I have found it to be extremely beneficial to my shooting.
If you are the type of guy who religiously dry fires, who can easily sight track, and who can masterfully interpret the slightest shake of the front sight during dry fire, you might not see as much benefit from the SIRT as someone like me. That's not to say that you won't get something out of it, however.
Convenience:
First and foremost, I think the biggest benefit of the SIRT is that it makes dry fire easy, fun, and interesting. I know that some of you already consider dry fire to be those things, but I never did. For me, it always started as something fun and interesting, but within a few minutes was quickly a boring chore. That is no longer the case. I pick up my SIRT at least once a day. Even if I'm not always adhering to a solid routine, at the very least, I'm getting regular practice on my grip, sight alignment, and trigger press. I'm not constantly racking the slide, I'm not chasing snap caps, and I'm not running any risk of accidentally putting a hole in something.
Safety:
That's another big benefit of the SIRT in my opinion: safety. Even if you break all dry fire rules; even if you have live ammo around; even if you gas up your SIRT with a loaded magazine; you're going to be fine. Am I advocating sloppiness? Of course not! But given the option between practicing with A) a device that could damage my eye, a feat which would still required a concerted effort, or B) a device that can potentially kill me, I'm going to choose A. Not only does this offer me peace of mind in individual practice, it also allows me greater opportunities for involving others.
I don't just mean man-on-man drills, or other practice that requires pointing a weapon at someone: I also mean basic firearm familiarization for novices. True, it does not have a reciprocating slide (though I understand some future models will), but I can still safely instruct a complete novice on things like grip, trigger manipulation, and magazine changes.
Just this past Christmas, I had a ton of fun with my 8 year old step-nephew, who thought the SIRT was the coolest thing ever made. I showed up for our morning celebration wearing the SIRT in my Shaggy, with no one the wiser. At some point while we were playing toy soldiers, I made a big show out of drawing the SIRT and blasting enemy soldiers. My nephew's eyes opened wide and his jaw hit the floor. My family is not quite fond of my shooting hobbies, and would be extremely upset if I had brought a real Glock to Christmas, but no one batted an eye at the SIRT. In fact, my mother excitedly said, "Byron, why don't you go show him how your laser gun works?"
I realize this is quite tangential to the actual subject of this review, but I have to note how impressed I was at my nephew's "tactics." When I showed him how the SIRT operated, he wanted to know why the magazine was a removable piece. He dutifully listened while I explained its purpose on a real weapon. Without any guidance from me, he then started role-playing imaginary shoot-outs. What was fascinating was that he would seek cover, drop the magazine, slap it back in again, then pop out and start firing. I'm not sure whether he saw me do it first (it's very possible), or whether he picked it up from TV, but either way, it made me smile. Kids are awesome.
In this photo, you can see the previously mentioned black strip on top of the slide
Instant Feedback:
Back to the SIRT, its greatest value for me has been instantaneous feedback. While I never quite loved dry fire, I was familiar with it before the SIRT. Still, I wasn't building skill the way I thought I was. Worse, I didn't even realize this until I got the SIRT. When dry firing my Glock, the only feedback I get is my own perception of sight movement. What I thought were good, clean trigger presses, turned out not to be. It wasn't until I had the higher level of feedback that I was able to see this.
A laser doesn't lie. It doesn't curve in unpredictable directions like an Airsoft BB. It doesn't suffer from inconsistent loads. It doesn't group. If you lock the SIRT in a vice, the dot will land in the same place every single time. Because of this, I know with 100% certainty that any deviation from my point of aim is my own fault. I also know that if I align my sights, and properly press the trigger, I will hit what I'm aiming at. This has been fantastic for building my confidence, as well as helping me understand "what I need to see" to make hits at various distances and levels of precision. How far off will I be if the front sight is out of the notch a little? How far off will I be if the front sight is within the rear sight, but aligned left of center? With the SIRT, I can answer these questions empirically, quickly, and free, at any distance, in any environment.
Bad Habits:
A common criticism that I see regarding the SIRT is the assertion that the laser will encourage users to look at their target rather than their sights. I have a few responses to these criticisms.
1. It can be true. It is possible to develop bad habits while using the SIRT. But can't the same be said of almost any form of training? While the laser may encourage some people to look only at the target and ignore their sights, I find that this is up to the user to control. As with any other training device, honesty with yourself is critical, as is a proper dose of discipline. Candidly, my previous dry fire contained bad habits that I did not realize were there, particularly in my trigger press. As such, it's hard for me to see the SIRT's potential pitfalls as particularly worse than anything else.
I could just as easily assert that shadow boxing can induce bad habits, as someone may start getting sloppy and opening up cover. But is that to say that shadow boxing isn't valuable, or that it should be avoided?
2. I don't find that the laser requires a hard target focus to see where it lands. In other words, I don't need to look past my sights to see where it is hitting. I have it set up so that it lands on the tip of my front sight. Even with a hard focus on my front sight, the green bloom is readily visible.
3. Even if the user is staring past his sights, I can't help but feel he is still getting good practice. After all, he is strengthening his index, right? Connections are being established in the brain between "hand does this" and "dot goes here." That is a higher level of instantaneous feedback than is available with Airsoft, Sims, or even live fire (excluding perhaps shooting on steel)
Even if I took the sights completely off my SIRT, but still practiced draws and press-outs, don't you think that my presentation and index would improve? I'm not arguing that this is ideal, but I still believe that improvement can be made, even if the user isn't being 100% faithful to the sights.
Results:
In October 2011, I met up with ToddG and a number of other shooters for an informal day of drills. As is the case with any function hosted by Todd, I was at the tail end of the pack by a wide margin. Still, he noted that it was the best he had ever seen me perform. I found it to be particularly relevant since he has instructed me in a number of classes, has seen me shoot over the course of a few years, and had no shame in (justifiably) criticizing my abilities in the past.
This was also particularly interesting because before that day, I hadn't fired a live round since October 2010 (I know, I know; "get a rope"). That was about three months into owning the SIRT, however. In other words, after taking a year off from shooting, three months with the SIRT had still brought me to a higher level of performance than I had ever previously achieved. Did it make me a GM? No. Did it make me a Ninja Operator? No. But there was no doubt about the fact that practicing with the SIRT made a noticeable improvement in my overall shooting, even in the complete absence of live fire practice.
"But, Byron - you would have seen improvement like that if you had just dry fired your regular Glock every day for three months!"
Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know. I especially don't know because I've never managed to maintain that level of discipline with dry fire of my Glock. Again, that's part of the appeal to me: the SIRT makes this fun, practical, convenient, and safe. I can use it at home; practicing not only fundamentals but AMIS. I check it in my luggage and take it on vacation. I take it to my buddy's house when we're watching fights on TV. I can hand it to anyone without concern (even if they're enjoying Jack & Coke with the fights).
I now have callouses on my hands from SIRT practice. I'm not a high round-count shooter; never have been. I've torn up my hands in live fire practice, but never enough to develop long term callouses. After a few months with the SIRT, however, I started developing them. That should hopefully indicate how often I pick it up, especially since the SIRT has no recoil with which to chew up my hands.
I didn't pay for this SIRT, but if I had, I would certainly feel like I got my money's worth. People often say that .22 conversions "pay for themselves." I think that's just as true for the SIRT. I fully plan on purchasing the G19 SIRT (with reciprocating slide) whenever it comes out, and somewhere down the line will strongly consider getting the AR bolt.
I highly recommend the SIRT to any shooter, without reservation.
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Originally Posted by vaglocker
