10 Months with the SIRT

[Skunkwoks]

Byron and Skunk, thanks for the reviews. I asked about the SIRT on another forum and got all kinds of useless responses from folks that had never used it, but managed to have huge negative opinions.

Your reviews are appreciated.

My pleasure. I know before I bought mine I had some difficulty finding a variety of reviews so I am glad to help out.

[Byron]

Thanks everyone

I have largely switched over to a simpler feedback mechanism. The green laser will fluoresce differently on some neon backgrounds. I use simple orange target stickers (on IDPA cardboard backers). Turns the normal green dot to a different orangish dot, with an interesting visual effect (small bit of green halo-ing around the orange center, resulting I would believe from a small amount of secondary reflection from initial sidescatter. If your sights are set up properly (even the factory sights, due to adjustable laser POI settings), this "bloom" will be very noticeable even with a good front sight focus.

Great point, and definitely a whole 'nother topic that I neglected to mention.

The surface that you hit definitely makes a huge difference in how the laser appears. Dark black surfaces, especially ones that are rough/matte, really dampen the dot, while fluorescent surfaces give a huge bloom.

Another fun thing I've noticed: try using semi-opaque objects. The easiest items I've found readily available in my house are bottles of Isopropyl Alcohol. Depending on lighting, no matter where you hit it, the entire bottle will glow green. This is handy if you want to set up less precise targets that still give immediate feedback (like steel).

Two questions: Would the current model be a useful training aid for someone who doesn't carry a Glock? Is the SIRT more useful for dry fire practice than a pistol with a laser grip? Thanks.

All of my semi-auto pistols are Glock, so I can't offer firsthand experience, but Todd posted this in another SIRT thread back in December:

I started using a SIRT when my carry gun was an LEM HK45 and it still had real benefits.

And I agree with Skunkworks regarding the comparison to a live Glock with a laser grip. I'd also point out that it's nice to turn the take-up laser off (which I do most of the time) and only be able to see the actual shot break; something you can't do with a laser grip.

[Mike_Hughes]

wow friends. I made this tool to aid in my own training and it has grown in to the full fledged start up. I have been meaning to write a response for weeks now but there is so much to comment I fealt like I needed to budget out a few hours! But a response is better than none. I am impressed with the insights. What I love about this discussion is that there is implicit knowledge of the metes and bounds of what the SIRT is supposed to do. it is not to replace live fire, not for building skills to respond to slide lock (exclusive for live fire training), its for getting in a high volume of self diagnostic training that we can do day in and day out with no barriers to entry. I work out a lot and I find if there are barriers to get something going (driving, set up, having someone watch kids, etc.) the odds of training occurring is cut drastically. Its not a discipline thing anymore it is a reality of our busy lives.

What I like about the review is noting potential issues. You hit it no the head about people potentially "walking in shots" that is a concern of mine and the more awareenss we can get out there the better. If a shooter is walking in the shot and they should have more sight awareness for the particular shot, this can be rememdied by only limiting one shot on the difficult target. That way they get the necessary sights they need. Now of course we don't categorically shoot a target once since we need rapid shot trigger mechancis and skills to drive targets down, but as part of our training a one shot on a small acceptable accuracy zone target really hones in our acceptable sight picture and trigger controll.

The other big thing I want to get out there is having shooters grip the gun in the most effective manner when gun handling. The nice thing about dry fire is our grip is the same, exactly the same, we don't contract more muscles (flinch) or less muscles (mush) when we shoot. Going off topic here but I have had some revelations on grip the last 6 months. Here is a quick video on my grip if anyone is interested. This was shot for an NLT app coming out here soon (actually showed the FAST test in this app ).
Anyhow if anyone had any questions feel free to reply, email, call etc. ~Mike Hughes

[fuse]

Great video, Mike. Very interesting concept of 'the canal'.

[BCGlocker]

Bryon, thank you much for the detailed unbiased review. I found it to be very helpful.

[BCGlocker]

Does the laser stay on a bit after the shot? Specifically, the moment the shot breaks, one is supposed to have a "hard focus" on the front sight not the laser impact point. I am concern not to train to looking over the front sight when shot breaks.

[Chance]

I am concern not to train to looking over the front sight when shot breaks.

It was a struggle for me to keep my focus on the front sight, rather than the POI. My solution was to adjust the laser so that it actually hits slightly lower than the point of aim. If I do everything correctly, I don't see the laser. If I pull a shot high, left, or right, I can see the laser and get feedback that I did something wrong. My $0.02.

[Byron]

Does the laser stay on a bit after the shot? Specifically, the moment the shot breaks, one is supposed to have a "hard focus" on the front sight not the laser impact point. I am concern not to train to looking over the front sight when shot breaks.

The laser stays activated as long as you keep the trigger depressed. So if you hold the trigger after the shot breaks, the laser will stay on. If you release the trigger as soon as the shot breaks, the laser turns back off.

Different people have different strategies for the issue of visual focus.

For example, you could buy a model with the green laser simply because it's that much brighter. Even when focusing on the front sight, it's not hard to see the green 'splash' of the laser on its target.
Other people make targets out of reflective material so that hits/misses become very obvious while still allowing front-sight focus.
Then of course you can always decide where exactly you want the laser to strike. Some people (like Chance) allow the front sight to obscure the dot. Other people like the dot to appear at the tip of the front sight. If you're practicing at varying distances, you'll likely have to gain comfort with both. After all, your dot may be obscured by the front sight at X yards, but may be above the front sight at X+5 yards.

[Gio]

Does the laser stay on a bit after the shot? Specifically, the moment the shot breaks, one is supposed to have a "hard focus" on the front sight not the laser impact point. I am concern not to train to looking over the front sight when shot breaks.

I had this problem, and it became a deal killer for me on the SIRT. I found myself losing the ability to call my shots in live fire because I was not able to do it in dry fire due to the laser pulling my focus from the front sight. I moved the impact point of the laser down behind the front sight/slide but I shoot both eyes open all the time, so I could still see it with my other eye.

The best feature is the resetting trigger, which is great for dry fire, but I found the trade off in loss of visual awareness to be a no-go.

[GJM]

I had this problem, and it became a deal killer for me on the SIRT. I found myself losing the ability to call my shots in live fire because I was not able to do it in dry fire due to the laser pulling my focus from the front sight. I moved the impact point of the laser down behind the front sight/slide but I shoot both eyes open all the time, so I could still see it with my other eye.

The best feature is the resetting trigger, which is great for dry fire, but I found the trade off in loss of visual awareness to be a no-go.

Me too -- I taped over the laser.