Integrating SIRT Pistol with Live Fire

The problem: Rob Pincus hears from a lot of people that they can’t practice from the holster at their live-fire range, perhaps because of the rules, or because it has to be under supervision. Or they can practice presentation from the holster but not in a non-standard position such as seated.

The solution: We can use a SIRT pistol to practice the actual presentation from the holster, then as we’re going through the ready position into our shooting position, we can transfer to live fire. In this way we can get both seated shooting practice in a live-fire environment and presentation from the holster practice, but without violating the range rules or putting ourselves at unnecessary risk.

We know that drawing from the holster and reholstering after firing are the most dangerous parts of handgun training and practice in terms of potentially having a negligent or unintentional discharge. Using the SIRT pistol removes that risk. Rob in particular encourages new shooters who may be learning on their own to utilize this method.

The demonstration: Rob demonstrates how he performs the draw from the holster with the SIRT pistol. As he’s about to drive out, he transitions to his handgun, takes the shots, assesses the environment (he may stand up at this point), switches back to the SIRT pistol, and reholsters.

Not transitioning to the handgun but instead taking the shots with the SIRT pistol is an option, but on a live-fire range, it’s better to practice with the handgun – get some trigger time and manage recoil.

Rob addresses the issue of mixing a non-live-fire gun and a live-fire gun, and explains that is not what he’s doing – he treats the SIRT pistol as a live-fire gun in every respect.

More on SIRT pistols: If you’re not familiar with the SIRT pistol, you’ll find several SIRT pistol videos here on PDN.