Today we’re looking at pairing Laser Academy with the Rogers Shooting School Tap Rack Training Aid (TRT). The TRT is specifically designed to allow you to run the slide of your pistol without it catching, meaning effective trigger resets even with a magazine in the well. Also, unlike the use of dummy rounds, the TRT does not eject when the slide is racked, making for an effective and efficient training companion for dry reload and malfunction drills. Today, we want to look at making these drills a bit more engaging by incorporating some target practice with Laser Academy as well.

The TRT’s namesake drill, being the Tap, Rack, Bang, seems like a great place to begin, and Laser Academy will be providing the “bang” during our dry sessions. The point of this drill is to build muscle memory for clearing an array of malfunctions your pistol may experience, causing a dead trigger, by following a few basic steps.

Here’s the breakdown:

An important detail is to maintain safely pointing your gun downrange through the drill, as when you transfer this to live fire training, unintentional discharges are a possibility, further, in a real-life danger situation, you want to keep your firearm ready between you and the threat as you work through the process of getting it back in the action. 

TAP: As we’re replicating an unresponsive trigger scenario, step one is to “tap” the bottom of the magazine. Considering the culprit of a real life dead trigger can often be an unseated magazine, you want to ensure you’re using more than a gentle caress here, so don’t baby it just because it’s, “only practice,” give it a firm smack.

RACK: Racking the slide is often for clearing stuck brass or a round with a bad primer and feeding the next round into the chamber all in one go. Even though it’s a simple step, do not go easy here, be sure to aggressively pull the slide all the way to the rear position to ensure proper clearing of the chamber, and that the return spring has the chance to properly seat the slide. By not committing to this during practice you’ll be more likely to cause even more feed issues for yourself during a live fire scenario. 

BANG: Ideally, this is where the “bang” happens after a successful clearing and recharging. For our purposes here, we’ll have a Laser Academy laser round in the chamber, ready to fire.

Laser Academy has a variety of modes to choose from for this drill, whether you’re practicing alone or if you want to add some competition with a partner. We recommend using the basic “Open Shooting” though as you build your fundamentals and develop your movement efficiency through the process. Being able to tap, rack, then accurately get back on target for the “bang” is a naturally desirable, additional step you don’t get with just the TRT alone. As you get comfortable and are ready to add speed, the built in shot timer can help push you, and the ability to work from a holster draw to adding multiple targets just means more variety in your regimen. Laser Academy’s session storage also allows you to track your progress over time, giving you deeper insights into your training.

Give the combo a try, and stay sharp everyone.