Gear

Despite the best efforts of instructors, shooting schools, police and the military to prevent accidental shootings, tragedies do happen during class or practice. Some agencies cannot afford red or blue plastic replica handguns and are forced to use real guns, but no matter how careful people are, somehow, somewhere a live cartridge can get introduced into the mix and someone ends up getting hurt or killed.

The crew at Blade-Tech Industries has a solution. The Training Barrel replaces the real handgun barrel so the gun handles and feels just like always but is rendered safe for use in training because there is no longer a chamber in which a cartridge can be inserted. Other than that, function is unaltered, and the gun can still be used for dry fire, practicing draws, presentations, tactics, weapon retention and disarm techniques.

Because the bright yellow plastic barrel protrudes past the end of the slide, the gun is instantly recognizable as safe.

Before training begins, an instructor can remove the real barrel from each student's gun and replace it with a Training Barrel. Until the instructor gives the real barrel back to the student and it's installed, the gun is safe and can be pointed at others during tactics training without fear of shooting anyone. Because the external dimensions of the gun are unaltered, normal holsters can also be used during training.

Training Barrels are available for Glock 26/27, 19/23, 17/22 and 20/21; Smith & Wesson M&P 9/40; and SIG 228 and 229. Other models are in the works.