There are important safety rules to follow when practicing gun manipulations without live ammo. The problem is that somehow live ammo gets introduced before, during or after the practice and a negligent discharge occurs.

The use of a fake, colored plastic gun is about a safe as you can get. It is useful to a point, but they lack control features and realism that help with practice. The grip will likely be different, there are basically no sights, triggers are not functional or certainly not like your real gun, and the slide does not moves. I have a Beretta PX4 Blue Gun that has two mags that actually lock into a working mag stop/release, and that makes a huge difference. I weighted one of them to simulate a full mag and the other simulates an empty mag. I also added weight to the Blue Gun to make it closer to the real deal feel.

Dummy rounds can be used, but they are so close to real ammo that some people can get confused or careless. Besides, racking them out of the gun during manipulations means you have to hunt for them after each set and reload. Fairly realistic, but a bit of a pain. Also, depending on the quality of the dummy, they can wear out pretty quickly. That gets expensive.

A third alternative is to use your own gun but replace the barrel with a brightly colored plastic one. The gun cannot be loaded, and all the controls function normally, including safety, sights, mag insertion/release, slide racking, dry firing. This is particularly useful for practicing drawing from a holster. However, the slide will only lock back if you do it manually.

BLADE-TECH TRAINING BARREL | Brownells

I admit to using all three of these methods at different times, but the plastic barrel is my most often used method. I found that the barrel I bought needed a little fitting to work in my full size M&P, mainly scooping out the semi-circular part of the barrel lug a little deeper.

OK, let’s go . . .