PMCI - May 2021

companies such as Laser Ammo have begun to market to the
civilian firearms trainers.
As I read more about the Smokeless Range program online,
I began to ask around locally and in trainer forums on social
media for feedback from those who may have trained with
it or possibly owned a system. Within a few days, I seriously
lucked out. A good friend of mine, Mitch Holloway, (US Army
ret.) informed me that he not only had a lot of experience with
the Smokeless Range system but personally owned one. After a
highly informative discussion about the benefits of the system,
Mitch offered to let me borrow his set up to learn more firsthand
to determine if it was worth the in vestment. With a generous
offer like that, the only answer one can possibly give is YES!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
A few days after our conversation, Mitch dropped by my
home with all the needed equipment and accessories for the
Smokeless Range. As he erected the 6 ft screen, standard throw
camera and projector, Mitch walked me through the entire set
up and take down process. The heart of the system was a Dell
gaming style computer with various modules of the Smokeless
Range program downloaded onto it. Laser Ammo offers several
packages with different combinations of individual programs on
it. The basic program is called Judgmental & Marksmanship. In
addition, Mitch also had the Open Range, Video Scenario Trainer
Pro, and IPSC Competitive Shooter packages. Accompanying
the system were a plethora of Laser Ammo brand drop in laser
cartridges for pistols, rifles, and shotguns. In additional, there
were several different models of Shot Indicating Resetting
Trigger (SIRT) Training Pistols was developed by NextLevel
Training.
Over the next few months of working with the system, I saw
firsthand how beneficial the Smokeless Range was and what I
would need to get started with my own set up. Although Mitch
mentioned needed lighting conditions, I learned the hard way
on a few vital specification details on my own. The system
must be set up in a room with controlled lighting with very
little sunlight and no harsh lights over screen or in the view the
camera ridges as well. The size of the screen also plays a huge
part of set up. With the portable 6 ft screen, the projected image
was smaller than the systems intended specs of having images
between 8 ft to 10 ft wide. The smaller imagine often required
the projector brightness to be dialed down and in some cases
prevented the system to configure altogether.
Once the system was set up, it ran flawlessly each time I
used it. Between initial classes taught with it, I would love the
Smokeless Range set up in the front room of our home which at
the time only housed our gun safes and range equipment while
waiting for new furniture to turn it into a living room area once
the original was finished being renovated into a billiard room.
As I taught classes and trained on the system, I began to save up
revenue and clear room on the credit card to ensure our training
company owned one of these systems as soon as possible.
When the time came to purchase our own system, the
first item ordered was a 110” (9 Ft) Elite Screens Yard Master
Aluminum Frame Indoor / Outdoor Projector screen. From the
first day and beyond, the projector brightness and image size
were never a problem again. The larger aluminum frame screen
is quick and easy to set up virtually anywhere with just one
person in a matter of minutes. As a bonus, when I purchased my
Smokeless Range system, the software had just been updated
to version 2.0. Programs seemed to run faster, images looked
SMOKELESS RANGE
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