Video: Afterburner returns, visits Miramar

Gee, I thought I had fun in a personal-defense simulator yesterday, and fired a couple of pretty awesome guns at the MOB On The Range event last week.  Bill Whittle blows those away — in a simulated fashion, of course — in his relaunch of PJTV’s Afterburner this week.  Be prepared to be green with envy as Bill recounts his exploits in a Marine Corps flight simulator at Miramar, but stick around for Bill’s thoughtful and philosophical analysis at the end, too.  Even if we can’t all be Marines, we can contribute positively and ethically — in other words, walk the walk:

Great to see Bill back to the Afterburner series, but he will also continue producing his Firewall series as well.

As long as we’re talking about guns and simulators, though …

Last weekend, in the middle of the Midwestern Humigeddon, I took my newly-purchased Glock 23 to the range to get acquainted with it.  I bought the pistol from the estate of my late friend Joel Rosenberg, and I’ve taken to calling it JR in his honor; it also allows me to tell people, “I shot JR,” a joke that only works if you’re at least as old as I am.  After a half-hour on my usual indoor but non-air-conditioned range last Sunday, 30 minutes that resembled “the box” from Cool Hand Luke, I went to Gander Mountain to check on ammunition prices.

To my surprise, Gander Mountain had just opened a new facility called Gander Mountain Academy, which featured an indoor live-fire pistol range (up to 30 feet), a virtual range, and two training simulators — one with 180-degree action, and the other with 300-degree action.  The virtual range and simulators use Beretta and Glock conversions with laser fire and a CO2 cartridge that mimicks recoil. All of these are contained within an environment so plush that one might be a little embarrassed by the comfort.

I didn’t have the time last week to check any of them out, but scheduled an hour on the live-fire range for yesterday, and Mitch Berg and I checked it out.  The live-fire range is slightly more expensive ($25 for an hour) than our usual hangout (the terrific Burnsville Pistol Range), and the depth is more limited, but the targets are free and the RSOs stay on the line with you to provide assistance.  That’s more helpful to shooters with less experience, but for those who need less handholding, the RSOs are pretty good for chatting during reloads and not at all intrusive. All in all, I’d probably stick with BPR (except on really hot days) for the lower price and the fact that it’s closer to me, but the experience at GMA was top notch.

However, I’m definitely going back to GMA for the simulators.  We didn’t get to the target shooting simulator, but it’s a very nice setup.  Targets can be e-mailed to the shooters as they get used (they’re “virtual” targets, obviously) for record keeping, and it’s the same price as the live-fire range.  Mitch and I did the 180-degree simulator, which was $35 for a half hour ($45 for the 300-degree sim), but we got some extra time when one of the simulations malfunctioned.  (It wouldn’t stop running, which wasn’t exactly a heartbreaker for Mitch.)  Since I am mainly concerned with self-defense, the simulation is excellent training.  It forces one to distinguish between lethal and non-lethal targets and to operate the pistol in at least some mild stress.  I plan to try the 300-degree simulator at some point, and to do that kind of training every two to three months.  GMA also has instructors for all of their offerings to improve performance and analyze outcomes at reasonable prices, although one could probably find excellent instructors at competitive prices elsewhere.

It may not be in the same league as Miramar’s Marine Corps flight simulators — okay, it’s not even in the same sport — but Gander Mountain Academy is definitely worth a try, especially the simulators for those considering target shooting and personal defense but perhaps intimidated by the prospect.

Update: Apologies for misspelling “Beretta.”  It’s fixed above.