The Loadout Blog

News|Industry News

By Drew Bryant
October 27, 2022, theloadoutblog.com

Innovation is a necessity for any business, industry, or sport to grow and thrive. I am always looking for that next quantum leap forward in firearms training and analysis. You have innovative dry-fire solutions from companies such as MantisX with their data-driven series of add-ons to your pistol, rifle, or shotgun. These tools can bring your training up to the next level with hard data-driven analysis at your fingertips of how well your shooting fundamentals are applied. Data that allows you to see trends and make corrections as a shooter. That was unheard of before MantisX. Innovation is a necessity and a fuel source of creativity.

When I see innovation it excites me with the possible application and training implications that could come from new technology. As, an avid student of firearms and as a person who hopes to instruct shortly, one of the things I emphasize the most is biomechanical efficiency.

Biomechanical efficiency is necessary when shooting. We don’t need any wasted movement on our draw, presentation, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger press, and reset. We want that movement from point A to point B to be as efficient as possible. In competition shooting seconds and accuracy matter. In life-or-death situations, those seconds could be life or death. So, speed and efficiency of movement are essential for a shooter across all spectrums.

Sometimes it’s hard for new shooters, students, and experience shooters to see how their biomechanics are affecting their shooting. Yes, we have film and slow-motion cameras to help us see our deficiencies as shooters. The camera doesn’t lie. Yet, it can if you don’t know what you are looking for in that film. It’s like a quarterback watching game day film of the next week’s defense and not understanding the scheme the other team is running. If he is watching the video and not understanding the defense scheme he won’t know how to defeat it or manipulate it on game day. Or it’s a batter watching his at-bats and not understanding why he keeps missing that curveball that drops away. He has to be able to process that information on his own or with the help of a hitting coach to diagnose the problem.

The people who know me and talk shop with me know I stress biomechanics because it’s the way forward. Also, it will help instructors teach shooting mechanics more effectively and efficiently. I finally believe we have a new tool that will push this industry forward for the better.

Last week I ran onto the Instagram page of Lara Tactical. The owner of the page is a shooting instructor from France that is creating some awesome technology that I believe will revolutionize the industry. The name of the technology is called Aim Assist.

Before we get into the awesome technology of Aim Assist here’s a little information about Johan Lara, founder, and director of Lara Tactical.

Brief History Of Johan Lara

A former career soldier, I am now a seasoned instructor.

From my background, I draw solid operational experience; 13 years in the Army, including 11 years in a Special Forces unit, followed by 3 years in the private sector, teaching Combat Shooting and Tactics, with the obtaining of the Professional Qualification Certificate of ‘Gunsmith.

For almost two years now, I have also been sharing my experience and techniques with over 60,000 people through the Lara Tactical Youtube channel.

Together we have built one of the largest French-speaking shooting communities.

Aim Assist Technology

I have tried to have the introductory page for the Aim Assist to be translated by Google Chrome but very unsuccessfully. So, I will try my best to explain the technology from the videos I have watched on YouTube and Lara Tactical’s Instagram page.

The Aim Assist technology potentially uses cameras and points of reference on your body from a monitor that tracks your biomechanics in real time. Or it could be using a your laptop or cellphone camera with digitally placed markers used on the application. Either way the Aim Assist allows you to see your flaws from your draw stroke, in your stance, and how inefficient you are on the move or transition from rifle to pistol. Presenting information to you from a data-driven perspective on how you are being biomechanically inefficient.

First, the potential usage for this in a training environment is mind-numbing. Second, the benefit this tool can bring to the student and teacher is phenomenal. The value of this technology is priceless and is a gaming-changing innovation in teaching and training.

With this Aim Assist technology, we can put to the test the movements, drills, and concepts we have as shooters. To find out what ways are truly the most effective and efficient. Giving an example of why one way is more efficient than others with factual evidence. We can see how far and at what angle we can move our body over by only exposing the bare minimum. We could break down draw strokes from pistol for top to bottom. To find any potential deficiency. This technology will open up a potential Pandora’s box of information. You can go on and on with the information that can be gathered with this technology.

Here is one idea we can test out. What is a more efficient height for an optic mount for an LPVO?

Currently, you have three main height options for your scope mount for your LPVO which are: 1.54”, 1.78”, and 1.93”. With this system, you can see which mount height is the most efficient for shooters to gather their sight picture, sight alignment, and put a round on target down range. You could also see if correct body position is being maintained correctly during recoil. Does stock and shoulder placement affect speed on target, accuracy on target, and recoil management? Does having the rifle deeper in the shoulder pocket hold better results? Or does it slow you down? All these things could be answered conclusively.

You can teach proper recoil management and stance with a pistol or rifle. You can work transitions, magazine reloads, and tactical reloads. You can identify proper or improper head angles on reloads. Shoot, you can even find out the proper angle for pistol reloads to have the highest percentage of a successful reload. The options are endless.

This Aim Assist technology can change the way we fundamentally train and teach civilians, military, and law enforcement for the better. The data-driven technology of Aim Assist will be an absolute game changer at the end of the day. You can argue semantics but, you can’t argue with facts and data. Unless you can put out a hypothesis and prove your theory correct.

At the end of the day, I think that the technology being pioneered by Lara Tactical and the Aim Assist team is revolutionary and a game changer. I would love to get my hand on this technology to test it myself. I plan on reaching out to Lara Tactical to see if we can start a line of communication to see if I can get my hand on this technology. If it’s here already. I gotta get my hands on it asap.

Thanks For Reading

Thank you for reading. If you enjoy this article hit that like button and subscribe to the newsletter. Feel free to drop a comment in the comment section below. Be Humble. Train until only savagery remains. Remember to stay deadly ladies and gents.