Personal Blue Guns

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Craig_AR

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I just ordered a couple of blue guns for home practice in drawing, one to match each of my carry guns.
Do you have your own training guns, or do you practice draw with unloaded firearms?
Any suggestions on personal practice methods with them?

I probably should have asked here first, but my research was the best price I found on a small order was from Alternate Force. Amazon has some listed, bu not a wide range of gun models, and higher prices.

I ordered the standard models, instead of the weighted ones, because the latter doubles the price.
 
I use real guns either dry or live for MY training.

If I were to work with someone else new to guns I feel like I'd probably do the same.

Where I find blue guns to be particularly nice is CQC or HTH training. And that's mainly so you dont have to get all scarred up wrestling with metal and/or sharp edges.
 
At $45, I'm not sure what the value is. They don't have working, accurate triggers, so they can't help with trigger pull. Sights don't appear to be terribly good for helping with sigh alignment. They're not going to be the same weight as the real deal, so practicing drawing won't be accurate. Can't practice emergency reloads with them. What are they good for?

Seems to me, one would be better off applying the cost of this to one of those Umarex CO2 replica pistols (if they make one like your gun) or putting the money toward professional training, or toward ammo for practice, or toward snap caps for dry fire practice, or towards a tank of gas...at least the gas would be useful for something.
 
At $45, I'm not sure what the value is. They don't have working, accurate

I use mine to demonstrate grip, draw, and sight alignment. I filed the notch in the rear sight and I use it to demonstrate sight alignment by having the student look at the alignment of front sight, rear sight and my pupil from in front of the gun. A miss is not always jerking the trigger or grip, sometimes it’s sight alignment. I have the student look at the proper alignment from in front of the blue gun and then I give him the blue gun and check his sight alignment from in front of the gun. It’s really the only way to check. I’ve seen mirror devices that let you check sight alignment from behind the shooter but I’ve never really liked them.

They are also required to teach weapons retention and HTH skills like disarms.
 
I would like to order one or two for practice in disarming and attempted grappling training. Also I’d like to do some drills where the goal is to keep someone from taking the gun out of a holster. I don’t think I’d want to do either with one of my real guns even if they are loaded with snap caps. That would be the only reason I see me with them.
 
I don't have any blue guns, but I do have a blue magazine that's weighted to simulate a loaded mag. I can use it to practice reloading without messing with an actual loaded magazine.

If I were doing a lot of classroom training, I'd probably spring for one.
 
I use the real gun, and sometimes, close-match air guns. My Gamo PT-85 is close to a Ruger P-series, and my Gamo "Bone Collector" (don't remember the model number) is close in size to my Taurus G2C.
 
I have blue and red guns. I use them for weapon retention training.

I also used them for testing new CCW holsters and methods of carry in public - where prior to a change in law it was illegal for a CCW gun to be exposed in public. A red or blue gun in a holster, if someone saw it as a result of a CCW fail during carry testing, was not a criminal violation. This way I could test things as realistically as possible.
 
I use a real gun. I load it with a couple snap caps, and draw aim - experience a fail to fire since it is not chambered or cocked. rack and chamber a round. since it is a dummy round - fail to eject, rack slide, fire. this way I'm training for draw, dry fire, and some of the things that can/will go wrong. nothing worse than that - oh no, freeze that happens when something unexpected takes place under pressure. you have to train it out of you.

If I was showing or training someone I know who was completely new - I would want a blue gun. It is less scary to them, and you can observe and walk them through anything you or they want, until they get a fundamental idea of basic basics.
 
Okay I know times have changed but this thread reminded me of one of my criminal justice courses I took while attending Cleveland Community College in N.C. in 1981.

The instructor was a detective sergeant of the Shelby, N.C. police. We were doing a shoot/don't shoot scenario that was projected at the front of the classroom. There were probably 10-12 of us in the classroom. Before we began he hoisted a briefcase onto the desk, opened it up and proceeded to hand everyone in the class (an empty :)) 4" bbl model 10 S&W revolver.

We sat in our seats and watched each officer involved scene, the camera being our "eyes". When it was obvious there was a need to protect yourself from a lethal threat, a chorus of clicks emanated through the class as students furiously clicked away with their DA S&W's. I kid you not.

That would have been a great place for a blue gun :)
 
Blue gun... don’t have your model? Make a mold of it in silicone and cast one with polymer resin. You can actually do it very cheaply for anything you have. I am just really starting with casting plastic. It so far I’m happy with what I have done. Polymer resin to make a blue gun would probably be roughly $6-7 worth and the silicone mold would cost you about $2 to make.
 
I like the idea of casting your own.

For HTH training, martial-arts, or just a non-specific demonstrator, Cold Steel sells "green" guns that can retail for less than $20. They only have a few models, but they're good enough for the purposes I listed. If you're a holster maker or want to train with a replica of what you carry, casting your own might be the best bet unless you carry a fairly generic, box-stock model.
 
I was happy there were blue guns at my first class. I was determined to learn to shoot but I was also scared -- a 67-year-old lady who had never shot so much as a squirt gun, undoubtedly very different from everyone else here. The blue gun was obviously harmless so it was a good intro. At one point I got yelled at for having my finger on the trigger, being that it wasn't a real gun the yelling was the only consequence, and it seared it into my consciousness, I would bet money I've never done that since.
 
Count me as a huge fan of blue guns. No need whatsoever to get "real guns" out of the safe or the sock drawer to practice one's draw stroke or break in new holsters.

Where they're really necessary is for handgun retention training and drills.

Having seen the worst things possible that can happen when using real firearms for any sort of training not on a supervised range, I believe blue guns (red guns, orange guns, whatever) to be a great training tool (especially at home, in the living room, wherever). And I don't feel guilty when using one to practice my draw while sipping a fine aged bourbon and watching seasons 1 and 2 of Miami Vice on Blu-Ray ...

Midway, Galls, a few other companies regularly put 'em on sale. I have one for every duty and carry gun I use.
 
Blue Guns, SIRT and Airsoft are all vital tools, especially for an instructor.
Blue guns are excellent for practicing grip, draws and muzzle strikes as well as close combat techniques which many ranges prohibit.
They are also vital for disarming practice, room clearing, etc.
And they can never go BANG by accident.
I cannot see teaching a class without them.
 
Like others here, I find them invaluable for hand-to-hand, disarms, and retention drills. I personally don't see the value of them for general firearms training, though.
 
^^ As long as you make sure it's packed from the breech end, so it won't chamber a round.

Are the actual training barrels (the yellow ones) more than that?
 
LaneP writes:

Okay I know times have changed but this thread reminded me of one of my criminal justice courses I took while attending Cleveland Community College in N.C. in 1981.

The instructor was a detective sergeant of the Shelby, N.C. police. We were doing a shoot/don't shoot scenario that was projected at the front of the classroom. There were probably 10-12 of us in the classroom. Before we began he hoisted a briefcase onto the desk, opened it up and proceeded to hand everyone in the class (an empty :)) 4" bbl model 10 S&W revolver.

We sat in our seats and watched each officer involved scene, the camera being our "eyes". When it was obvious there was a need to protect yourself from a lethal threat, a chorus of clicks emanated through the class as students furiously clicked away with their DA S&W's. I kid you not.

That would have been a great place for a blue gun

As recently as 1990, my agency was having us shoot them at each other, loaded with cotton bullets. These days, that scores a double-:what:

(The guns had to be dug out of storage, probably from back behind the Christmas decorations, because we hadn't carried revolvers in years.)
 
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