This article contains affiliate links.

First of all, when I say “long term”, I mean “long term”. I published my first impressions back in June of 2021, 18 months ago, over on my site at the Pro-Gun Millennial. To be clear, I have not been using the CoolFire Trainer (CFT) that entire time, but I’m getting ahead of myself. To be perfectly clear: no one paid me for this review. The following is my own personal opinions and I was not compensated in any way for this work. I purchased my CoolFire Trainer with my own money.

Let’s begin.

What Is a CoolFire Trainer?

The CoolFire Trainer is a device that replaces your barrel and recoil spring assembly with a small, pressurized tank and a proprietary replacement recoil assembly. It small puffs of CO2 gas, triggered by the gun’s striker, which cycles the slide. It replicates your gun’s recoil and resets the trigger, giving you the most realistic dry fire experience possible without using real ammo.

Since it displaces your barrel, it also renders your firearm completely inert as well. The barrel and tank are a nice, bright red color. I really appreciate this detail, as it allows users to quickly tell at a distance what they are holding.

How Do I Use the CoolFire Trainer?

If you can pull your barrel and recoil assembly from your gun, you can use the CFT.

  1. First, make sure your firearm is clear.
  2. Next, remove the barrel and recoil assembly like a normal field strip.
  3. Now install the RED pressure tank as you would your gun’s barrel, and place the CFT’s recoil assembly in just as you would your gun’s recoil assembly.
  4. Replace the CFT-equipped slide assembly back onto your firearm as you would normally reassemble after cleaning.
  5. Fill the tank from your CO2 source, and begin practice.
  6. Using the device is just lining up the sights and pulling the trigger. The device cycles the slide and re-cocks the trigger for you, just let it out and pull again. Just like shooting real ammo, but much quieter and fewer holes in your walls.
  7. Disassembly is simply field-stripping the gun and then re-assembling with your real barrel and recoil assembly.

In the Pro Column

Realism

It is truly as close to shooting real ammo as you can get without actually shooting real ammo. It’s literally your gun. It’s got your red dot, your light, your magazine, your trigger, any mods you’ve added, and any wear or smoothing that you’ve done because, again, it’s literally your gun. I can personally vouch for this.

The part that gets a little different than normal firing is in the felt recoil. The recoil is not quite as strong as my gun’s normal recoil impulse. It’s a compact 9mm, but with the CFT topped off I’d put it at about a .380ACP. Out of a gun that size, very enjoyable. I would put the kick as higher than my LCR shooting .32 ACP, but still less than the gun’s normal 9mm ammo. It does get softer as the tank’s internal pressure goes down, but that’s to be expected.

Topping off the tank every 10-15 shots is a good habit to stay in. If you did that, you’d never really notice the recoil drop off much at all.

The reason that recoil reproduction is useful, is in the aspect of recoil control and building your grip. When we normally dry fire, we don’t get any feedback from the gun on our grip. With live ammo, that gun is going to tell you immediately that you did not build your grip very well. In dry fire, you can have the sloppiest, loosest grip possible and receive no corrective feedback.

The CoolFire Trainer gives you that corrective feedback, helping to keep the shooter from developing bad habits that can then only be noted with live ammo and corrected after possibly thousands of bad reps. Controlling recoil, and therefore the speed and accuracy of follow-up shots, is determined in large amount by a shooter’s grip.


Safety

Another aspect that I like about the CFT is the safety aspect of it. Even though it is still technically a firearm, you have removed the gun’s ability to fire ammo, or even chamber rounds.

There is absolutely no way a bullet can enter the weapon with a CFT installed. It is, in my opinion, as dead as an airsoft or blue dummy gun for training purposes. That being said, I would never want one pointed at me or my loved ones, but that is born out of an abundance of caution and not a realistic.

The tank that replaces the gun barrel is painted a nice, bright, eye-catching red color. There is no way to mistakenly put your gun in a firing condition if you even glance at the weapon, or keep it un-firable after your practice session is over. The recoil spring assembly is similarly distinct from the OEM parts.

Cost Savings

Another pro of the CFT is the cost savings. After the initial purchase, there is very little cost required to use the CFT. The CO2 is really the only consumable cost, and we’re talking a few thousand trigger pulls for~$35 from a refillable soda maker bottle. You can do other gas options, like standard paintball tanks and one-time-use 90 gram CO2 tanks.

For reference, at time of writing, 1,000 rounds of 9mm costs $295 shipped, before tax. If you get 2,000 trigger pulls from that soda maker, then you’re doing the job of $600 worth of ammo.

Here’s my system’s cost breakdown:

  • Barrel, recoil assembly, and bottle adapter: $365
  • O2 bottle: $45
  • Bottle exchange: $30
  • Bottle warmer: $25
  • TOTAL COST: $465

If you divide my total system cost by the estimated 4,000 rounds I’ll get out of the two bottles of gas, we’re looking at 11.6 cents per trigger pull. Another bottle of gas gets me +2,000 trigger pulls for +$3, 8.25 cents per pull. It is definitely a case of “The more you use it, the cheaper it becomes.”

You can even get parts for different guns without having to purchase a whole new system, lowering the cost barrier for expanding a person’s collection. The CFT is available for an astonishing array of pistols 

If you own a semi-auto, CoolFire makes a system for it. [Note from Matt: Not available my CZ P07, P10F, or PCR…so that’s a bummer].

Accessories

There are quite a few options and upgrades for the CFT, from different CO2 filling options to laser integration for use with systems like Laser Ammo, further increasing the realism and usefulness of the CoolFire Trainer and would be a great match with something like the Mantis Laser Academy.

There are also tank capacity extensions that allow the device to be used for longer periods between top-offs, and quick-fill adapters. I don’t personally see the value in those specific upgrades, but that’s just me.


Now for the Cons

Price

This is probably the biggest thing stopping people from purchasing a CoolFire Trainer, and I think it’s overblown. As mentioned earlier, buying a thousand rounds of 9mm (at time of writing) is $275 +$20 shipping +tax. The exact package I have is $365 +tax & shipping.

It’s real money we’re talking about, and if it doesn’t work it’s going to sting. I went with the soda maker CO2 source, which is another ~$45 or so before the first shot. Averaging out that cost over the estimated 4,000 trigger pulls I’ve put through it drops the cost per round quite a bit, but that initial investment is considerable.

Fickleness

The system isn’t as robust as the gun it’s designed to work with. Now that’s less an indictment of CoolFire as it is a testament to modern handgun design, but it is a change in mindset that the user needs to understand. The system is a little finicky.

The reason this review is 18 months in the making is because of user error. The main issue with normal usage is CO2 temp. When a gas pressure drops, the temperature drops, and if the CFT gets too cold the source gas won’t be able to cycle the slide. You can put workably high pressure gas into the CFT and the trainer will chill that gas to a low enough temperature to keep it from cycling.

The main problem is in the name of the company, lol.

So, just like guns in real life, temperature management is an issue, except here we’re trying to add heat instead of get rid of it.

The best way to add heat to the CFT is to use hot CO2 by using a bottle warmer. CoolFire recommends getting one in their paperwork that comes with the system, but I am telling you that such devices are mandatory. This is the one I have, and it is the single greatest increaser of reliability for my trainer.

I have never gotten mine to run reliably for any amount of time unless I was actively warming my CO2 bottle somehow. In a pinch I would place it in my all-black mailbox in the middle of July, and that worked.Not sure what my neighbors thought of me, walking to my mailbox every 5-8 minutes with what looks like a gun in my hand…

What does not work for warming the bottle is just leaving it outside between sessions. Yes, the summer heat will soak into the bottle, but after leaving my source bottle outside for less than a week the elements had seized some part of the soda maker adapter, and it would no longer pressurize my trainer’s tank. $60 and a week later I received a new soda maker adapter and it worked again.

The problem is that it took me almost a year to break down and buy a new bottle adapter. As I mentioned earlier, this is not an indictment of CoolFire. I just had expected it to be “toss-in-the-dirt-and-go” robust like a Glock or M&P. If you consider it to be a something that isn’t at the admittedly exceptional durability level of a modern handgun design, you can avoid the stupid mistakes I made.

Conclusion

TL;DR: Is it worth it? Yes, with the caveat that you have to actually use it.

The startup cost is a little on the steep side, but will absolutely pay for itself if you use it. The fickleness of it can be frustrating at times, but if you use it regularly it will become a minor annoyance at worst. If you don’t practice regularly, you won’t see the benefits. And you’re already practicing with your carry gun regularly, right?

Right?

The CoolFire is a device that will last for years, and will pay for itself in only a few months if you actually use it. If you dry fire once a week for 20 minutes, the CFT will absolutely allow you to build skill while giving you good, usable feedback on your grip and recoil reduction techniques, something that normal dry practice does not. If you do not use it very often, like I did for a while, its wasted money.

There was a time where ammo was cheap, but those days are gone. The CFT allows you to train with your carry gun for the price of cheap .22lr. Even if you switch to .22lr for all your training instead, you would need to purchase a dedicated .22 trainer or conversion kit, which is going to be a similar startup cost as the CoolFire. The one thing that we cannot overlook is that it provides realistic recoil impulse in the privacy & comfort of your own home.

The setup and breakdown for using a CFT is less than the amount of time you’d spend driving to your local gun range, and you can afford to do this one daily.

Sunshine Shooter

Sunshine Shooter

I run the Pro-Gun Millennial blog. I've participated in a half-dozen different kinds of firearms competitions in the last few years, both sanctioned and outlaw, club-level and nation-wide. I've also got a family and a regular 9-to-5 desk job.

Discussion

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

7 Comments
Oldest First
Newest First
Paul
Paul
Guest

Good unbiased write up. Sounds like the ‘gas cooling’ issue is something ‘Cool Fire’ should address itself. That’s a significant problem for an initial cost of almost $400. I’ll stick with dry firing and 6-8 trips to the range (per year) for my purposes. Range fees are getting more significant in the ‘training equation’ also.

Bob
Bob
Guest
Replying to  Paul

And, depending where one lives, time and gas $ to the range as well. 🙂

Paul
Paul
Guest
Replying to  Paul

If the ‘advantage’ of the CFT over dry firing is felt recoil and yet that ‘felt recoil’ is not on par with the caliber and size of your pistol I don’t see an advantage. Don’t get me wrong – squeezing a trigger is always fun! I shoot many calibers from 22LR to 44 magnum. I have both semiauto and revolver handguns in compact, full size and 8 inch barrels on my hunting revolvers. I’ve been ‘dry firing’ for years in between range trips and swear by the methodology even if developed in the days when semiautos were rare. Keeping ‘in… Read more »

Phill Davis
Phill Davis
Guest

I have had one of these for about a year and have never had any issues with it. I have run about a soda tank a month through it since getting it. I have 3 tanks now, just to not ever be down without gas. And I have never had a bottle heater, and never needed one. I am not sure what the issue with the cold CO2 the author is talking about. I sometimes run mine constantly for 20-30 minutes or more. I have the fill tank at room temp, the gun at room temp, and I can fill… Read more »

Michael Ger
Michael Ger
Guest

I have bad experience and unresolved issues with support right after getting the kit. I got the kit for Canik with rapid fill adapter, and here’s what I have to say: An awful technical support experience. Purchased a kit. Recoil portion works good, but the laser piece (red) with shock sensor was not working with any of the software programs, nor with the electronic laser targets, that work fine with my other lasers. It took 1.5 weeks to get a reply to my 1st email to tech support about the issue. Spent 1.5 month in lengthy emails communication with support… Read more »

Josh Todd
Josh Todd
Guest

“when I say ‘long term’, I mean ‘long term'”. CLEARLY you do not. 18 months is NOT long term, not to mention you went out of your way to “mention” that you didn’t use it the “whole time”, which means you used it a bunch for like a week, then used it again like 2 or 3 times over the course of the next year and a half. You lost me right there. Not bothering to read the rest of the review simply due to the dishonesty.

Kris
Kris
Guest

Not once does this article mention the consumable plastic striker tips that protect the CFT from the firing pin. If you don’t regularly change out the striker tips, it will ruin the CFT. Each tip is good for 50 – 100 trigger pulls before it is destroyed and needs to be replaced. These tiny, 5¢ pieces of plastic cost $1.50 – 2.00 each, plus $10 shipping… A pack of 25 should cost about $3.00 shipped, but they’ll charge you over $50. Sure, $50 is cheaper than the cost of 2500 rounds, but it’s insulting that they ask that much for… Read more »

Adventure Awaits

+ Newsletter
+ New Content Alerts
+ Deals and Sales

Subscribe now

Affiliate Links

Or...How The Everyday Marksman Makes Money

I would write for the site and produce content for free if it was practical, but domains, webspace, and other online services cost money. Not to mention practice ammo and gear to review.

So what is an affiliate link? There are times where I link to specific products or companies that I recommend. If you click on the link and buy something, then I receive a small commission, typically 3% to 5% of the sale.

It’s not much, but it adds up over time.

Some Frequently Asked Questions:

No, my commission comes at no additional cost to you. It’s simply an arrangement I have with the retailer.

My primary goal is providing you with quality information and recommendations. I often link to products and companies that I receive nothing from because I genuinely think it’s a good product.

If I can also get a percentage from a retailer selling the product, then great, but it’s not a primary motivator.

Check out my affiliate disclosure page, which has a bit more information. You can find that by clicking on this link.

The Everyday Marksman is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program.