A virtual range setup

August 2022

If you're considering building a virtual range, I absolutely recommend it, so this is going to sound like I'm trying to convince you. When I was researching how to select and build mine, I had trouble finding other people's experience and advice, so here's mine.

Virtual ranges are growing in popularity. They really are very good tools (and toys) that can save you a lot of money and provide training and experiences that there's no other way to get. Every armed person should consider it essential to train on a virtual range.

Moving and surprise targets

It's rare to be able to shoot at moving targets at a shooting range, and even when you can, it's usually some basic and repetitive movement. Almost never will you be able to train with targets that present in any surprise way or move like an attacker might.

Human threats

The only way to shoot at human threats is to attend a force-on-force training. That of course is very expensive, rarely available, usually very unrealistic for civilian self-defense scenarios, and attended by other people you may or may not want to hang out with. A virtual range can come with dozens or hundreds of filmed scenarios with various endings that are controlled by your verbal commands (as the person at the computer hits a corresponding key based on your behavior) or, well, shot placement.

An advantage that shooting a video of a person has over force-on-force is that we can replay the video and discuss legal, moral, and tactical considerations, and we can even redo the exact same scenario.

My setup

I travel with mine, so it fits into a protective box and a cloth bag. Every other setup I've seen is stationary with mounted cameras and projectors. It takes me about 30 minutes to set mine up in garages and backyards, but if it were stationary it would take less than a minute.

At the time of this writing I've experienced four or five other professional setups, some of which cost $30,000 and $50,000. Some of their software and scenarios might debatably have been better, but most places don't use blowback guns. The setup I've built is the best I've seen, and I can't really brag about that, because the decision makes itself if your criteria is to save money and have the most realistic and useful tools available.

I can't speak to other brands, and by now some may have become better or cheaper than the one I chose. When I purchased it in 2020, it was the best option available to me.

The product I have is the Firearms Trainer Simulator Combo Package with standard throw camera. The company's customer service and technical help is very responsive via email and phone. They've helped me with technical issues (that I caused), and they even helped me choose a laptop to buy. NRA Instructors get 10% off of all hardware and software from Smokeless Range and Laser Ammo.

I have a second-hand Lenovo laptop running Windows. The computer requirements are low, and they overstate them a bit on the website just to be on the safe side. I'm using an old LG LED projector with an advertised 300 ANSI lumens. I would check with tech support before buying a projector if you have any question about its viability.

I use airsoft and real firearms. You can also purchase various training firearms that are made for this kind of thing that shoot lasers, but they're expensive, and many have other downsides. Some brands to check out are LaserLyte and SIRT. These are probably decent options if you don't want real firearms present or if you don't want to have to mess with airsoft guns and the maintenance they require. I do spend about 10 or 15 minutes setting up my airsoft guns every time (because the batteries in the laser die if I leave them in, and sometimes the magazines leak air).

Gas-powered airsoft guns are very nice because they can be fired with gas and without pellets, so they'll still recoil kind of like a .22. The laser they shoot comes from a Spider Kit discussed later.

Another notably cool thing about using airsoft guns (rather than BB or pellet guns) is that they can also be used for other types of training. They can be used for new shooters with trepidation, fear, or strength issues. It's a great activity to do with pellets at a target before using live firearms. They can also be used for force-on-target or force-on-force training. Force-on-target has you moving while shooting at paper targets.

I have a fun little theory that airsoft guns are every bit as effective as Simunitions or UTM, but the people who use those ridiculously expensive and finicky products are too proud to "go play airsoft" and would rather brag about training that's elusive to the general public while convincing people that thousands of dollars weren't just wasted. Those dollars by the way? Taxpayers'.

Airsoft pistols

I cannot speak highly enough of KY Airsoft in Hong Kong. Customs rejected one of my packages, and KY Airsoft covered the shipping to resend it to me. On their site you can find dozens of types of airsoft pistols that exactly replicate specific real firearms. The WE Pistols brand is cheap, has worked well for me, and will accept Umarex magazines. I recommend Green Gas Blowback (referred to as GBB). It's propane with less of a scent and with lubricating oil. You can get an adapter to use 1lb propane tanks instead of the much more expensive and disposable green gas containers made for airsoft guns. Then you add lubricant separately. One-pound propane tanks are refillable. Buy extra magazines. They fail and break, and they don't work as well when they get cold from rapid use. 

Real pistols

Real handguns work best if they have double-action or restrike capabilities. Without that, it's not fun to have to cock the gun between every shot, and it can in fact lead to a training scar.

With real handguns, you'll use laser training cartridges. I've found that generic brands might not be bright enough for the simulator, but I still recommend them for paper targets and light switches. Pink Rhino is the brand to get, although about a third of them arrive broken or significantly out of alignment. I've returned a third of the Pink Rhino brand lasers that I've bought. Mantis sells them and has ok returns, but I had to explain what was wrong with each one, and they didn't seem happy about it. In the future, I may use Amazon because of its simple and fast return policy.

An AR-pattern rifle

Definitely get the Mantis Blackbeard (w/ red laser). It's a blast, it really adds a lot to the enjoyment of the events, and it's great for training, especially training for the mechanical offset since you're shooting within about 10 feet. It has a very realistic trigger pull, and it resets your trigger after every shot using a rechargeable battery which takes the place of a magazine. You have to use an AR-patterned rifle because the device is installed where the BCG rides.

Spider Kit

This is an adapter that rides on a Picatinny rail. It has a laser that fires on vibration, so it shoots when the trigger is pulled. Laser Ammo offers two kinds. The infrared laser is best with the Smokeless Range setup. The red laser works as well, but seeing the laser can be distracting, and sometimes it fires two shots instead of one. I have one of each. I bought the visible red laser in case I'd like to use it for paper targets or walls.

Cost

You can spend between $700 and $4000 for a Smokeless Range setup, depending on what you already have and what you want to get. For some perspective, that's between 2,000 and 12,000 rounds of 9mm if you're paying $.35 per round. Every time I set it up for friends or groups, we fire about 2,000 virtual rounds. Currently when I go to a live fire shooting range with friends, it typically costs me between $250 and $400 for travel, range fees, and ammo (150-mile round trip plus sharing ammo) even though I follow my own cost-cutting advice to a high degree.

Other brands of shooting simulators

The ShootOFF app is a free product. It's finicky and buggy and has less to offer and very few moving targets, but it's definitely worth trying. You can use a laptop or external webcam to see the shots. You can even use it without a projector if you map virtual steel targets to paper targets on your wall.

Virtual-Shot looks very interesting for its price ($100 - $130). It's a phone app. You mount your phone to the firearm, and it shows a video that senses your movement. From my understanding, with an AR you'd probably want to run it with a Mantis Blackbeard for its trigger reset function.

Point Blank Simulator has a setup cost of $100 plust $150 for the camera and then a $35 monthly subscription for its internet-based software. This matches the price of a basic Smokeless Range setup after about a year. Interestingly, you can use the camera that comes with the Smokeless Range, and you can install this program within the Smokeless Range software or as a stand-alone program.

Here are some brands that will cost a lot more but have more to offer including multiple screens, 3D ranges, and even avatars. MILO Virtual-Simulation Training and Shooting-soft.com. The links are to informative videos about them.

Links to the products I use

These are the current out-the-door prices, rounded up and without any discounts added. The bold prices show a $700 - $1000 setup that you could run on your TV (or if you already have a projector) that would be worth every penny.

• $2,100    Firearms Trainer Simulator Combo Package (with Standard Throw Camera). If you get the basic $600 product, you can still do a lot and then add software suites later if you want.

• $300      lenovo thinkpad 16gb i5 or i7 

• $150       WE G19 GEN5 GBB PISTOL BK with extra magazine(Bundle) - Either buy a couple more magazines or buy two matching guns that each come with two magazines because they get very cold and become less effective while they're cold.

• $100      WE Little Bird Black Full-Auto (2 Magazines) It's modeled after the M&P Shield

• $170      Laser Ammo Spider Kit - Get the infrared laser if you'll only use it for the virtual range. The visible red laser works with it, too, but not as well. The benefit to the red laser is that you can use it for other practice without the virtual range. (NRA Instructors get 10% off.)

• $45       Pink Rhino - Laser Training Cartridge 

• $235      Blackbeard: the auto-resetting trigger system for AR-15 

• $8          for a translucent tablecloth to put over your TV instead of using a projector

or

• ?             projector (the one I have is no longer available)

• $20        The cheapest projector screen or bedsheet you can find although I just use walls most of the time. It's very forgiving.