Laserlyte LT-1 pistol laser trainer
Laserlyte, makers of the infamous pistol bayonet, have developed a training laser device called the LT-1. The LT-1 is inserted into a pistol barrel and is sound activated by noise from the hammer striking the firing pin/transfer bar. Presumably it also works on striker fired pistols such as Glocks.
It comes supplied with a daylight target which has a reflective coating. When I suggested to the Laserlyte PR person that another person would be needed to spot “hits”, she told me that it is obvious when you hit the reflective target but another person spotting could be useful.
I think this could be very popular with proponents of point shooting – a pistol shooting technique where instincts instead of sights are used to aim.
It comes with adapters to fit pistols in calibers .22 – .50 with a barrel at least 4″ long.
More info here.
Now Laserlyte has more advanced Trainer PRO. I got it from http://www.imarksman.com for $90…
A Clarification:
Please see my two posts above. After emailing Laserlyte again, I finally got definitive answers to my questions and speculations.
They state the LT-1 is accurate to 4 inches at 100 yards, and about an inch at 25 yards. This is more than good enough for pistol training. As far as battery life goes, they explained that in continuous mode it is about 1-1/2 hours. But in intermittent – training mode – they claim about 2000 shots per set of batteries. That is plenty too and more than reasonable, considering its price.
Based on these I can give the LT-1 my complete recommendation.
Oops… my comments above, couple additions…
Like to say that, all considered I’m glad I bought the LT-1. It has two settings – intermittent for dry-firing, and continuous (like a bore sighter). Both proved useful to me. I recently changed to a much heavier trigger on my Glock, and found myself a bit low and left. I wasn’t surprised, I was used to a significantly lighter trigger.
So I’d been dry-firing for a couple weeks, with great care, to try to regain trigger control. I was just about to go to the range to check it out – normally spend about $20 or so for ammo and time. The LT-1 I ordered arrived that day, so of course I installed it and checked things out.
Using the dry-fire (intermittent) mode, I quickly determined that my dry-firing work had been useful and that my trigger control was better. Laserlyte states the “flash” is about 100 milliseconds – which didn’t mean much to me. Whatever it is, the “flash” was bright enough, and just long enough for me to note my rough point of impact, and to insure good follow through. But not so long that I was “painting pictures”.
In continuous, I was able to see that my sight hold wasn’t bad either.
Bottom line: Although I believe the fact that the unit continously drains the batteries while they are in (you can’t turn it “off”, even though there is an “off” position) is a design error. Still, with judicious use, and being careful to remove the batteries as soon as you are done, will suffice. I found the LT-1 to work properly.
In sum, I am glad a purchased it – it is invaluable to checking your aim and trigger control/follow through. Laserlyte sells batteries for about $1 apiece (plus shipping I think), which is very reasonable. As I noted above, if you use it for 30 minutes a week, that’s just a dollar or so. And you will learn plenty in 30 minutes.
I do note they have a new “Pro” version coming out, which is promoted as getting 3000 shots per battery set, so I assume this one solves the design issue they had with the LT-1.
Hope that helps…
Jimmy, thanks for your comment.
I found that iMarksman sells the tactical laser for dry fire practice.
You can use it with the regular holster.
Impressive..
I purchased this item, want to clarify some misimpressions (above).
1. You need at least a 3 inch barrel (not 4 inches as in the article).
2. The unit runs continuously, so the batteries will last only about 1-1/2 hrs, which can work by finding a cheap source of bulk batteries.
3. It CAN be used for decent sight checking for SD pistols (within limits, see below).
My observations:
Because of the battery life, it is best used as an addition to dry firing, to check how you are doing. Laserlyte sells 12 batteries for $12, which should be about 6 hours of useage. If you use the LT-1 for say 30 minutes a week – and this would be more than enough – that works out to about $1.33 a week. Not bad.
Because of the design (continuous drain when in) the batteries should be taken out right after you are done. Don’t leave them in to drain.
Last, when you call Laserlyte they state the LT-1 cannot be used for sighting in. And they avoid giving out any accuracy figures (I asked what the accuracy would be “for training purposes”, at say from 5 to 25 yards (SD distance). They hedge on this too, will only say “it’s fine for training”.
So I took the time to measure their Universal Standard boresighter closely.
The business end of this boresighter is close to 3.9 inches, compared to the LT-1 at 2.75 inches. This correlates with Laserlyte’s advertising which states the Universal boresighter needs “at least a 4 inch barrel”, while the LT-1 needs a “3 inch barrel”. In other words the LT-1 trainer is 70% the length of the boresighter.
Visually, the only difference between the designs is the length of the probe. They both use the same delrin caliber fittings at the end of the probe, so it’s fair to assume they both exhibit the same amount of misalignment.
Laserlyte says the Universal boresighter is good to “…a couple of inches at 100 yards”. Let’s assume even worse, say 3 inches. Assuming my trigonometry is accurate, This means the LT-1 will be that accurate at 70 yards. At 25 yards I’d then estimate the LT-1 at 1 inch, probably less. If the Universal boresighter is truly good to “a couple inches” – 2 inches – as they claim, at 100 yards, then the LT-1 is good to under 3/4 inch at 25 yards.
That’s better than I can shoot.
So although this is NOT really intended as a boresighter for say a rifle, this is plenty good enough for my needs in centering a SD handgun.
iSniper, Inc. sells interactive shooting simulator with this kind of lasers.
I got trial software. Looks impressive for the money (from $600).
You can download iMarksman – Final v1.5 – Trial here:
http://drop.io/hidden/enufkwqvekpisx/asset/aW1hcmtzbWFuLWZpbmFsLXYxLTUtdHJpYWwtemlw
I just rec’d this in the mail today and I had a problem…It works great, but there is a brass battery holder that has a tiny little spring on one end to make the connection for the laser to the battery pack…Guess what…It broke. The laserLyte folks may need to go back to the drawing board on this one and figure out a way to encase the spring so it is protected during the battery changes.
Well, the Walther P99, in the AS and QA versions at least, will pull back and release the striker as many times in a row as you want to pull the trigger, without requiring the cycling of the slide.
So the Walther P99 follows what is usually thought of as a double action pistol.
I wasn’t aware that Glocks also pulled back the striker on the trigger pull, I thought they only released the striker that had been cocked by racking the slide manually or under recoil.
I hadn’t really paid enough attention the few times I’ve fired Glocks, I guess.
freddyboomboom, the striker is pulled part of the way back when the slide is racked. The trigger pulls is further. If is only released the striker is would have to be classified as a single action.
This animation shows of the glock function:
http://www.sniperworld.com/content.aspx?ckey=Sniper_World_Glock_Index
EmptorMaven: not all striker fired pistols require cocking by racking the slide.
The Walther P99 in the picture is a double action pistol and is striker fired.
There may be others.
Definitely not Glocks, though.
freddyboomboom, you make a good point. Glocks are touted as being double action, but in reality they are not – they are double action in the sense that the striker is pulled back by the trigger pull, but cannot be done twice in a row
Or you can do this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgIHc9A1T_g&eurl=http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=840647
I do drills in my own homes without ammos of course.
Uh, just how much fun would this be with a striker-fired pistol? You have to recock it after every shot by racking the slide!
I do enjoy dry-practicing using my S&W 642 with Crimson Laser grip sight though.
Heh, google’s my friend.
http://www.peostri.army.mil/PRODUCTS/LMTS/
We had a system at my Army Reserve unit using a similar laser for the M9s and M16s that had a sensor hooked up to a laptop that would display your groups. There was a box with pop ups too, so you could run through a whole simulated qualification course. I don’t remember the name of the system, but it was always fun to mess around with.
Presumably it also works on striker fired pistols such as Glocks
Yes, definitely since the Walther P99 in the picture is a striker fired pistol.
Jose, well spotted
Looks interesting! It would be something to do when I want to go to the range but am stuck at home. I would assume one should use snap caps with this product?
Crystal, yes defiantly! I meant to put that in the blog post. Certain pistols can, such as the Ruger SR9, can develop serious problems if dry fired.