G-Sight Laser-Training Cartridges: First Impressions

For a multitude of reasons, you might not get to the range as often as you’d like. Yes, we all know there’s no substitute for live-fire for the best training experience possible, but given the choice between dry-fire and no training, well, there’s no question. But, dry-fire can be boring after a few dozen repetitions, and it’s easy to lose interest. What if you could make it more interesting? Enter the G-Sight Laser training cartridge.

Looking like an odd-shaped cartridge, it fits into the chamber of your firearm and emits a red laser beam when struck by the hammer or striker. It can be used with a standard target where you see a momentary strike, or you can use the free app to record and review your shot placement. There’s even a vaguely shot timer-like addition to give that element of surprise to your training.

There are a few things to note with the G-Sight system. First, the laser insert can be a tight fit in the chamber and may require numerous slide manipulations before it becomes fully seated. Secondly, with a striker-fired handgun, you will need to rack the slide to reset the trigger—those that prefer DAO or DA/SA will have an advantage here. Third, for the striker-fired, the slide has to be fully retracted or there might not be enough force to properly reset the striker. And, lastly, when dry-fire time is over, you’ll need to remove the unit from the chamber. A chamber brush should do the trick nicely.

Of course, we have to keep safety in mind. Make absolutely sure that your firearm is unloaded, make sure you’re aiming in a safe direction and take the time to check and double-check that the laser insert is loaded into your firearm before even thinking of pulling the trigger. It is absolutely imperative to use something like the G-Sight Laser Training Cartridge in a room completely devoid of live ammunition to minimize the possibility of a live round being anywhere near the pistol. Safety first, second, third and, well, you get the idea.

With these caveats, there’s a few really nice things about the G-Sight Laser training cartridge. Units typically run around $50 for a single laser insert, which is equivalent to maybe a couple of boxes of premium defensive ammunition. This is short money for training. Also, it just plain works—we ran the equivalent of 300 rounds through the insert, and it functioned as expected every time. It’s more fun if you have something like the LaserLyte QuickTyme target to aim at, but even choosing a section of cardboard box as your aiming point has its rewards.