Virtual Ranges

Virtual reality apps immerse users in science fiction, provide an interactive gaming experience, bring the outdoors in and more. Today, they even provide valuable firearm training in the comfort of home. It’s not quite the same as sending lead downrange, but it’s inching closer each day.

Virtual reality (VR) is not new, although it was the stuff of science fiction until 1957. That’s when Morton Heilig’s “Sensorama” allowed viewers to rotate their chairs while watching 3-D movies. Three years later, he introduced the world’s first VR headset—the Telesphere Mask. Then, in 1995, Sega’s VR headset arrived, but sales didn’t match the hype. Consumer-oriented development cooled, until Oculus VR showcased its Oculus Rift DK1 in 2013. The floodgates opened the next year. Google introduced a head-mounted viewer driven by a smartphone attached to the back. Sony unveiled VR technology that was later released as PlayStation VR. Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg recognized the demand and purchased Oculus VR, a firm he renamed Meta Quest, in 2022. Today it’s the overwhelming favorite in the industry, and two apps ideal for shooting practice use its system.

For serious pistol practice, AceXR Virtual Shooting is a marvel. With more than 100 handgun-training drills and shooting competition stages, it offers everything needed to increase proficiency.

Hunter Donahue, CEO and cofounder of AceXR, told Shooting Illustrated the real value is in skill building, not gaming. That begins with Ace VR’s pistols, and partnerships with players in the firearm industry. The app’s handsets are deliberately white and orange in color. Meta Quest hand controllers slide atop to detect and then reflect movement on the screen. The company’s first “pistol,” however, wore ergonomics convincingly similar to a SIG Sauer P320.

“It’s within an ounce or two of the real guns,” Donohue said. “We’ve put a lot of focus on the trigger experience.” Triggers reset, magazine capacity is identical to real firearms and each has a magazine release. “It’s dry fire on steroids,” he summarized. The only thing missing is recoil: Meta Quest controllers failed when attempting to replicate recoil.

As if shooting drills, instant feedback, competitive stages, scores and mini games weren’t enough, there’s another facet to the app’s popularity. “It’s a membership program,” he said. “It’s a living breathing community. There’s always new stuff to push their skills.” With users in more than 160 countries, there are also global leaderboards, multi-player duels, seasonal rankings and more. 

GAIM, originally developed by Aimpoint, is another VR practice solution. It also operates on the Meta Quest system and provides pistol, shotgun and rifle training. The app was launched in 2021 in Europe and debuted in North America in February 2023.

“The goal of everyone at GAIM is to ensure that users can get the most realistic experience from the system, so that the skills and muscle memory they develop readily translates to the field,” explained Phillip Jones, GAIM U.S. director of Sales and Marketing.

It’s certainly no fad. The virtual shooting experience appears to be gaining favor as a bona fide aid in training. USA Shooting, the national governing body for Olympic and Paralympic shooting sports in the United States, has entered a partnership with Ace Virtual Shooting. GAIM also teamed up with a marksmanship program, entering into an agreement with the MidwayUSA Foundation in October 2024 to bring its training system to youth shooting sports programs nationwide.