FUN TOY: So I got a home-pistol-training setup from Laserlyte. The way it works is that there’s a Laser target that lights up where it’s hit by the beam from the LaserLyte pistol trainer, which can fit in the barrel of either a real pistol, or a bright blue training gun. The laser beam is controlled by a sound switch that responds to the sound of dry-firing. I bought the training gun because (1) I don’t like dry-firing my guns; and (2) I treat all guns as loaded all the time, and there’s nowhere in my house I’d be prepared to fire live ammo.

It works quite well. The training gun feels and points very much like the real thing, the target lights up satisfactorily when hit, and you can set it up pretty much anywhere. Helen — who I have to pester to practice shooting enough — also liked it and thought she’d practice more with it, which is nice. Not as good as having a 25-yard range in your basement, but not bad.

Alas, I also tried the Laserlyte plinking cans, which I had to order from their website because they’re not on Amazon yet. These, unfortunately, were a bust. The idea is that when the laser beam its the target, a plunger pops out from the bottom, making the can go flying. It seems like a great idea, and I suppose it is, but mine just don’t work. When I installed the batteries, each can emitted a steady clicking and the plunger kept popping out. The manual, such as it is, said that a low battery condition might cause this, so installed new batteries. That problem went away, all right, but the cans were completely non-responsive to the laser. I can’t figure out what else could be causing that, so I guess I’ll return these. Maybe I’ll try again in a few months.

Here’s what the setup looks like: