Shooting is a skill but like any skill, it needs to be practiced. The problem with shooting is that you can’t practice it everywhere, or can you? Laser training is a great way to get your practice in, but is it as good as a live fire? Well, let’s take a look and see.

You can train more

To train with live fire means you need to go to a range, which means paying for travel time, range fees, and targets. You also have to spend time packing, driving, loading mags, waiting, and cleaning. Laser training can be done any time and anywhere, at home, the office, garage, or basement and it will save you both time and money and you can get more practice in that you can with live fire.

Laser helps shooters to improve

With laser trainers, there is no recoil and no loud noise which can really help shooters to hone their skills. When you practice with live fire it can be distracting because firing a gun is not a natural activity for the body and it causes the brain to release several neurotransmitters and happy chemicals, including dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, adrenaline, and endorphins. It does this regardless of whether your shot was good or not, so it doesn't help people to improve. 

Laser is excellent for treating flinching

As mentioned, when practicing with live fire there is a loud noise and a physical jolt. The human brain will normally try to avoid situations like this as they are deemed to be dangerous so this natural response is not conducive to good accuracy. What happens is that the body begins to avoid the noise and impact at the very moment the trigger is being pulled, usually by closing the eyes, turning the head to look away, or both. This is commonly called flinching. When training with lasers this doesn't happen and without the fear of loud noise or physical injury, the brain can improve the skill of pulling the trigger without disturbing the gun.

Laser builds confidence

Learning to shoot a gun accurately isn’t easy and when you’re new to it can be very frustrating. It can be very discouraging when you think you’re doing everything right, but the bullet holes in the target are nowhere near where you want them to be. Training with lasers means you can avoid this disappointment and feeling of failure. Using lasers is helpful from a mental standpoint and a shooter is more likely to remember what they did right as opposed to what they did wrong which will help to build their confidence.

To sum up

There are some major benefits to using lasers for training and as it can help you to develop, improve and maintain your shooting skills, practice your stance, sight alignment, sight picture, breath control, trigger pull, and follow-through just like you would with live fire. Training with lasers is a powerful and rewarding experience and can help you to easily recognize and correct any errors ingrained in muscle memory. Add in the fact that it’s cheaper and you can do it anywhere, then it sounds like the perfect substitute.