Now You Can Do
Real World Training
WITH RECOIL
At Home
For As Little As 8c Per Round

That’s one of the most common questions I hear about all other-than-live-fire training options.

The bigger question is whether or not the trigger on your training gun needs to feel like the trigger on your real steel and whether your training will carry over to live fire.

For precision shooting, you want your training trigger to match your competition trigger.

If the difference between a .09 split and a .10 split matter, you want your training trigger to match your competition trigger.

But when you do all of your training with a specific trigger, it oftentimes creates fragile technique that doesn’t carry over to other pistols OR high speed/high stress situations.

This can be a huge problem when someone who trains on a highly tuned trigger with a light, short take-up and short reset tries shooting a stock trigger.

On the other hand, if you’re training to be able to shoot whatever gun you pick up and you’re training to be able to perform at a high level when lives are on the line, then you want to be able to grip firmly and quickly press the trigger without disturbing the sights…regardless of what that trigger feels like.

So, to answer the question directly, the mechanics of the T4E trigger are different than on a carry pistol because the T4E trigger press is moving the barrel back to isolate the top round from the mag and seal the chamber.

The bigger question is whether trigger press training on the T4E carries over to shooting live ammo.

The T4E trigger press is heavier than most carry pistols and it has a different feel…but it does carry over to real steel incredibly well.

The slide is metal.  Because the forces are less than live fire, the slide is lighter than the slide on a real pistol, but it still feels real for training.

The slide travels about 1/3 as far as the slide on a real carry pistol.

I really like the sights on the T4E trainers.  They use a yellow, 3 dot system.

Any time you train improperly, you are at risk of developing training scars.

Any time you train a lot, because it’s easier & cheaper, that risk increases.

Particularly with airsoft and CO2 trainers like the T4E, it’s common to grip the gun lighter than you should AND it’s common to use the projectile flying through the air as an artificial aiming mechanism that won’t be present in real life.

We include training with each of the packages to maximize the chances that you’ll actually do training that will carry over to real-world life & death situations.

We don’t want you to just have fun training…we don’t just want you to check the box that you’ve trained…we want to give you the tools you need to train effectively and smarter than the other guy.

If you have a dovetail mount, you could use it with the T4E.

But…

I strongly suggest that you consider adopting a technique like what we teach in Praxis that shooters seamlessly switch back and forth between irons and red dots.

Yes…I’ve tested them with all 3 and the T4E guns work great.  I’m working with Blazepods to add light based drills and different sized targets to make them work even better.

Depending on which ammo you use, they’re about 30 ounces.  Depending on what ammo you use, a double stack subcompact might be 23-26 ounces and a full size might be 30-35 ounces.

Airsoft and paintball are different than real steel because the weight of a full mag and an unloaded mag isn’t much different on a training gun but it is quite a bit different on real steel.

In short, people who use a fragile technique need to have everything exactly right…since you’re one of my patrons who are part of my clan/tribe and are focused on developing resilient technique that works in the real world, the difference is inconsequential.

As an example, I have trained exclusively with the T4E (full size) with iron sights and then went and performed on-demand at a match with my subcompact with irons or a red dot without skipping a beat.

It’s a case where fragile training creates fragile skills and resilient training creates resilient skills.

This answer has a few forks…

If you’re using a resilient training technique, like we teach, you can switch seamlessly between guns in the same family.  In addition, you’ll probably be able to switch between guns with different grip angles…you’ll have a vertical offset with your first 1-3 rounds, but on standing targets, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

For single stack guns, things get complicated because of grip…

An old-school “rope” grip where a lot of force is applied to the sides of the gun can be quite a bit different for a single stack and a double stack.

If you’re using a modern “vice” grip that uses physics to manage recoil by applying pressure high on the rear of the grip and low on the front, then there’s significantly more carryover between double stack guns and single stack guns.

BUT…a lot of this depends on where you’re at as a shooter.  A newer, inexperienced shooter or one who has focused on fragile techniques can be thrown off by small changes between guns.  A more experienced shooter and especially one who has focused on resilient techniques can perform well with whatever gun they happen to find in their hands.

In short, the T4Es will work great regardless of which size gun you own from a manufacturer…and probably do you well for any other double-stack, but your mileage may vary if your only pistol is a single-stack.

I’ve used these platforms A LOT over the last few years.  They aren’t perfect and no training platform (or gun) is, but it is incredibly effective.

These have been inconsequential for me, but I want you to know about them in advance.

Sometimes, the base plate on the mag slips and pinches my pinkie on reloads.  Sometimes, it flies off of the mag when I’m doing reloads.

At 21 feet with perfect sight alignment and trigger press, the pistols are capable of about 4″ groups.  I wish they were tack-drivers, but they aren’t.  Even with this, they’re pretty darn awesome.

There are 2 weights of springs that are included…light and heavy.  With the heavy springs and rubber balls, the trigger is pretty heavy.  That’s because, when you press the trigger, the barrel actually moves backwards and the bottom part of the barrel slides between the top round and the next round in the magazine…the combination of heavy spring tension and the friction between rubber balls makes the trigger press firm.  Not a deal-killer, but something to be aware of.

Since it’s powered by CO2 and not gun powder, the slide doesn’t travel as far as the slide on a real pistol.

Piercing CO2 can be a pain because of CO2 escaping…this is true with all CO2 guns.  The piercing mag takes care of this, but then you’ve got the button on the bottom.  With the Allen wrench, the way to take care of this is to tighten the bolt until it’s snug…then quickly turn the bolt 180 degrees.  The wrench that comes with the T4E works for this, but I find a Allen wrench key set works better and is easier to keep track of.

CO2 pressure drops off as the cartridge empties and does strange stuff if it gets too cold.  This is true with all gas guns.  Each CO2 cartridge is good for 5 or more mags before pressure starts dropping.  In cool/cold weather, I pre-warm my CO2 cartridges and T4E on a heating pad or with handwarmers.

For dry fire with the mag in, the slide locks back after each trigger press, but, just like with airsoft, you can fix this by pushing the magazine follower down 1/2 an inch or so and jamming a piece of string, paracord, or masking tape into the side of the mag to keep the follower from going all the way to the top.

With the MantisX, it reads the trigger reset as a 2nd shot…you can fix this by using the P320 setting and setting the filter to .5 seconds or 1 second.

The powder balls have a smell that is pleasant to almost everyone but me.  I don’t like most artificial fragrances, including soaps, detergents, air fresheners, etc.  I’ve got a nose that can smell stress from several feet away, patchouli from across the room and can usually smell wild game from a hundred or more yards away…that being said, I still love using the powder balls outside.

Finally, while they are built for hard use, they aren’t indestructible.  If you beat the hell out of the mags by leaving CO2 in them for days or weeks at a time and drop them on hard rock/concrete hundreds of times while doing reloads, and occasionally step on them and grind them into the rock/gravel, they eventually need to be replaced or rebuilt with the T4E mag rebuild kits.  In 2 years and well over 10,000 rounds, I’ve had 2 wear out.  And while I want them to be indestructible, that’s pretty darn good.

T4Es can be used with pretty much any target, but they are an awesome tool to use along with shooting based on changing visual input rather than responding to a beep…and this setup is the best I’ve figured out yet.

That’s what they look like after several hundred shots from orange & blue paintballs, powder balls, pellets, BBs, airsoft, and UTM rounds.  I start with an E-Type Mil/DOD target.  You can get them on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2SWQmU0 but they’re pretty expensive through Amazon.  You’ll get access to my most current recommendation on where to get them as soon as you order…historically, they’ve been 50-60% cheaper direct from target companies, but there are some pretty crazy swings in availability and I don’t want to post out-of-date info here.

I make the cutouts with a Dremel https://amzn.to/2SZQYrY and a Dremel hole tool https://amzn.to/3pnfHCB  In this picture, the center-mass disc is held in place with zip ties and the head-shot is held in place with 2 short pieces of shock cord.

I swap out the green plastic center mass disc with a clear polycarbonate/lexan one (DON’T use acrylic…it doesn’t stand up)  You can get polycarbonate locally or on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2T0vlaU  I have a local manufacturer make my discs for me and punch the holes, but you can make them with the Dremel and hole tool as well.  I may sell them if there’s enough interest.

I use the polycarbonate centers so that I can attach BlazePods https://amzn.to/3fSpjlN or a smart phone behind the disc for visual based decision training.  You can see the whole setup in action…with the T4E >HERE<

The 2 lasers I showed were:

If you want a Walther PPQ M2 or HK VP9 version, let me know ASAP by replying back to the email that sent you here and I might be able to take care of you and keep the same pricing.