Best Dry Fire Training Systems: Laser Cartridges, Smart Targets and Shot Sensors

A laser cartridge is shaped like a round of your caliber, with a rubber pad where the primer would be. When the firing pin hits it, it fires a short laser pulse. It does not cycle the action, so a striker-fired pistol needs the slide racked partway to reset the trigger, and a single-action pistol needs a full rack each shot.

The target is what decides the experience. Phone-scored kits like Strikeman and Mantis Laser Academy use the camera to log hits and split times, with drills and history. Electronic targets like the LaserPET II and BOOLIT EYE light up on their own, with no phone.

Most laser kits are made to be used from about 7 to 15 ft. To make a close target look farther away, print it smaller by the ratio of the two distances.

A laser cartridge only fits the chamber it is made for. Strikeman sells the same kit for .380 ACP, .38 Special, .40 S&W and .45 ACP, and a .223/5.56 cartridge that works with a Strikeman target and app you already own.

A .38 Special cartridge also chambers in a .357 Magnum revolver. In a revolver the laser fires only when its chamber is under the hammer, so turn the cylinder to line it up before each press.

A Mantis sensor clips under the barrel on an accessory rail and records the muzzle's movement through the trigger press. The app scores each shot and tells you what the movement means, such as anticipating recoil or jerking the trigger. Because it needs no laser, it works with any caliber, and the X3 and X10 also work live at the range.

Guns without a rail need an adapter. The X10 comes with a universal one; the X2 and X3 are also sold in bundles with a MagRail that replaces a pistol magazine's floor plate.

Snap caps are inert dummy rounds that cushion the firing pin and let you practice loading, reloads and malfunction clearing. They pair with a sensor, which gives the feedback a snap cap cannot.

Store the gun locked between sessions. A small quick-access safe keeps it out of reach of children and visitors and still opens fast.

Unload the gun and check it twice. Move all live ammunition to a different room, not just out of the gun. Choose a direction where a wall would stop a bullet if you made a mistake, and never aim at a person, a pet, or a wall with people on the other side. When you finish, say out loud that the session is over before you reload, so a habit press never meets a live round.

Laser cartridges are Class I to IIIa lasers. Never look into the beam or point it at anyone's eyes.