I reached out to TrainingSights after discovering them through Instagram. They were happy to send samples of their training aids to me for free to test and review for you. I was not paid or compensated in any other way to produce the video or write this article. All of the opinions expressed are my own. All links are affiliated with other brands, including Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualified purchases.
TrainingSights Marksmanship Teaching Aid Hands On Review (Video)
As a firearms instructor, I spend a lot of time explaining the importance of proper sight alignment and sight picture. There is a reason these aspects are part of the core fundamentals of marksmanship. If your sights aren’t aligned correctly, your bullet impact is going to be somewhere you did not intend for it to be. In training, when shooting at paper, this is a minor issue that can be corrected. In reality, if you had the same sight misalignment in a self-defense shooting situation, it could mean the difference between hitting your attacker or accidentally hitting an innocent bystander.
I’m not going to go into detail about all the basic fundamentals of marksmanship in this article – just understand that proper sight alignment is extremely important. If you are a firearms instructor, you have probably spent a significant amount of time drawing pictures on targets, holding up your fingers like castles, and drawing in the dirt to try and explain the concept of “equal height, equal light” to a group of novice shooters.
If you are a professional firearms instructor, I would highly recommend looking into SIRT pistols from Next Level Training. They condense several minutes of one-on-one instruction into a few seconds of “ah ha!” for students. Check out my video review here, and my written review here.
TrainingSights to The Rescue
TrainingSights is a veteran-owned business that has solved the problem of explaining proper sight alignment by producing thick, plastic cards with sights printed on two separate sheets. This allows the instructor to clearly and accurately show what proper sight alignment looks like and how minimal shifts can drastically affect where the bullet will impact the target.
TrainingSights has several different sizes and types of sights to choose from for several different marksmanship applications. For example, if you’re teaching basic pistol marksmanship in a concealed carry class, you could pick up an 8.5×11” pistol sight set and be able to show an entire room full of students what perfect sight alignment looks like. Because the iron sight packages come as two separate plastic sheets, you can also very quickly show examples of improper sight alignment and how that discrepancy will affect accuracy.
One of the biggest advantages of using TrainingSights versus traditional 2D drawings or slides is that you can have the student(s) hold the cards and interact with them in a way that will engage audio, visual, and kinesthetic learning all at the same time. This is exactly what you’re looking for as an instructor, so your students achieve the maximum level of learning and comprehension possible.
TrainingSights Aren’t Just for Beginners
In addition to the various iron sights and 1x optic options available, TrainingSights also produces several different standard-issue magnified optic reticles for Trijicon ACOGs and Leupold optics used by snipers. These would be perfect for squad designated marksman school houses to explain ranging and wind holds with ACOGS.
at NextLevelTraining.com
Prices accurate at the time of writing
On the more advanced end of the spectrum, sniper schools could use the mil-dot and T3-style Horus cards to teach several different aspects of range estimation, holdovers, leads for moving targets, and wind holds. Each sniper reticle card also ships with an unknown distance card, so students can actually go through the process of ranging targets and doing equations in a classroom environment. This would be extremely helpful to reinforce learning and comprehension because of the audio, visual, and tactile engagement by the students.
Photo Credit: TrainingSights.com
Increased student comprehension equates to a higher passing rate, which would produce more squad-designated marksmen and snipers, leading to less wasted money for students, who may otherwise fail to make the cut. It couldn’t be more of a win/win teaching aid.
Photo Credit: TrainingSights.com
Conclusion & Final Thoughts
TrainingSights should be part of every marksmanship class on every level. They are simple, yet hugely effective. The sights are weather-proof, plastic cards. The designs won’t peel off or wipe away. It’s a no-brainer perfect score and VERY highly recommended for anyone teaching marksmanship in any capacity.
Well done, TrainingSights!
2 thoughts on “TrainingSights – Seriously Effective Teaching Aids For Any Marksmanship Instructor”
How do I buy the 3 dot sight training cards ?
I don’t see a link to add to cart.
The cards are made and sold by trainingsights.com so you can pick up a set there if you’d like. I don’t currently offer them, but I may stock them in the future.