Top Three Shooting Simulators of the Annual Meetings

Thanks to laser-based shooting simulators, attendees have the opportunity to log some exciting trigger time at the Annual Meetings in Indianapolis. Various companies host the action with low-intensity laser shooters that take the form of replica firearms. The simulated scenarios range simple bullseye in a timed sequence to a realistic take on an action pistol range to "almost-there" driven boar hunting. Show-goers shoot for free, though at times they're waiting in line for their go on the firing line.

Here are three that really grabbed our attention:

*Beretta-Shooters step into a tunnel-like setting tucked inside the iconic company's busy booth, grip what looks and feels like their popular M92 semi-auto pistol, and then "fire" away on a familiar training silhouette flanked by a simulate swinging steel plate. You get a magazine full (15 shots) of chances to score as many hits as you can.

*Aimpoint-The sim range at the popular red-dot sight maker's booth is a mini-version of the company's unique Sportsman Shooting Center complex near Dallas. Shooters square off with laserized rifles fitted an actual Aimpoint Micro H1, and then do their best to intercept running wild boars or trotting moose through a video depictions of Nordic forest scenes. It's actually an uncanny recreation of a classic European driven hunt right down to how hard it can be to drop those darn pigs.

*Laser Shot-This one offered a hands-on crack at cutting-edge training equipment now relied on by LE and military agencies as well as home users. Laser Shot components (cameras and software) can sync up with home-theater-like systems to present all sorts of mock shooting scenarios that can involve up to five different shooters either competing or working together. Their Annual Meetings' booth simulator presents banks of color-coded bullseyes, rows of silhouettes and a barricade course, and then times the shooter's ability to clear the targets.