It’s been roughly six months since I last dedicated a full post to Ace Virtual Shooting—though I’ve sprinkled mentions of it across other posts and social media since then. Funny enough, I keep getting “What game is that?” on the socials, like some of y’all missed the memo (no offense—I don’t expect you to read everything I write). I figured I’d be boring you by now with how often I bring it up, but I’m happy to answer the question every time. Anyway, six months and 50K virtual rounds later, it’s high time I circled back with a proper update.

Actually, I thought I was a lot closer to 100K trigger presses with it. In fact, a few weeks back, while assisting with a class, I was asked about my usage and confidently tossed out that six-figure number—only to log in later that night and see I was only halfway there. Whoops! That threw me for a loop, considering how much I hype it up.

My Usage Evolved

Why was my estimate so off? I’d based it on my first couple of months of usage and extrapolated, not realizing I’d slowed down. That seemed weird given how often I pair it with dry fire practice. Not gonna lie, it bugged me, so I sat down to figure out how my usage had actually evolved.

It didn’t take long to find the discrepancy. My initial usage had a lot more exploratory sessions. I was looking into all the features, checking out every range, every stage, every series, and all the different equipment options—not to mention attempting to “hero or zero” ranked runs to “class up.” And I did manage to earn “Diamond” class, which is one step below “Ace” class. I like to think that’s the virtual equivalent of USPSA’s Master and Grand Master classes. I’m fairly certain that’s a false equivalence, but it’s the best I’ve got, and I find that it somewhat works. That was the first few months that accounted for more than half of the round count.

The last few months, Ace has simply become another training and practice modality that I use to supplement my dry fire practice. In one way, it’s become my virtual verification for dry fire improvements since getting out to a range where I can verify with live fire is rarely practical for me. In other words, I’ll work on something with dry practice and then run a similar, if not the exact same, course of fire in Ace to verify that what I’m seeing in dry fire translates to holes on target—albeit a virtual target. It’s not the same as live fire verification, but most days, it’s the best option I have, and in my opinion, it’s lightyears better than nothing.

How I Use Ace Now

More than half the time, it is my primary training modality, meaning I start with Ace and do most of my work in Ace while supplementing with dry fire to cover the things I can work on in dry fire but not in Ace—at least not with the same level of fidelity. Examples of that are working reloads and concealed draws. Looking at what a practice session looks like might paint a better picture, so let’s do that.

I often start with Ace, where I log in and begin with the daily stage challenge. The first three tries are now for ranked score, meaning if I do well, it improves my classification score for the season. If I don’t, it decreases. With the latest season—that’s season 3—they made all ranked runs count towards your classification, not just the best run. This is more or less in line with the recent USPSA classification system changes, which aim to promote consistency over heroics. So, I run my three attempts like I mean it. I do my best to shoot them at my current level of performance while avoiding over- or under-trying, much like one should treat any stage at a match.

After the daily stage challenge, I check for the weekly series challenge. Series are a collection of four to six stages that are run back-to-back. Like the daily challenge, your first three ranked runs at the weekly series are for ranked score. So, I shoot those next in the same manner as the daily challenge, unless I already have, and there is no weekly challenge available for that practice session.

After the challenges, I face a decision point on how to continue with my practice session. Considering what I want to change or improve from my challenge performance, I pick which training modality would benefit me the most for what I think is most important to work on that day. With few exceptions, if the focus doesn’t require heavy presentation isolation or reload work, then I remain in Ace. Otherwise, I immediately switch to traditional dry fire.

What I do in Ace when I remain in it really depends on what I want to focus on. Usually, it involves me picking a few or a handful of individual drills or stages that I work on. For a stage, I might stick to one plan. Or I might try one plan for a while and then work a different plan for another while. Some days, I will work a different plan with every single attempt to flex the adaptability skills. Other days, I might run a different set of stages and only allow myself one attempt per stage—not unlike a match. Again, it all depends on my goals for that specific practice session.

I will often continue in Ace until either my grip and trigger finger start becoming fatigued, or I am no longer able to remain mentally present in each attempt. Almost every time, it’s the latter. Mental fatigue tends to come before physical fatigue. Regardless of the fatigue type, it’s easy to see when it sets in because I start getting sloppy, and the hits on the target make it very obvious when it’s time to give it a rest. However, there are days when I don’t have a lot of time available, and the timer I set as a reminder says it’s quitting time.

On occasion, my practice for the day begins and ends with Ace. That’s a relatively low-frequency event, though. Usually, I will take a break long enough to let the fatigue subside and circle back to a brief traditional dry fire practice session to work those concealed draws and reloads that I can’t work on in Ace. Those of you who didn’t miss my first couple of posts about Ace might be wondering why I keep mentioning working draws traditionally when I have a holster that works with the Ace handset. I’m really only talking about concealed draws. As far as the gamer rig goes, I can use it in Ace, and I do. But as I’ve mentioned before, I can’t stuff the Ace handset in the IWB holster, so that rules out Ace.

Notable Side Effects

An interesting side effect from working with Ace regularly is that I no longer seem to suffer from the occasional “dry fire grip.” Dry fire grip is a bad habit that can form where our “normal” live fire grip becomes less firm over time as a result of not paying enough honest attention to our grip pressure in dry fire practice. It manifests itself as a few early “fliers” on a target at the beginning of a live fire session that remind us to “firmly” grip the gun like we mean it. We should be gripping the gun the same way in dry fire practice, but it takes experience to remember not to overlook your grip pressure. Overlooking it is easier than one might think, given the dot or sight movement generated by mild input resulting from a slightly less firm grip pressure is not always easy to perceive with our eyes. It’s easier to see with a dot than irons, but it can still be overlooked. Turns out that seeing increasing rates of outside A-zone impacts in Ace as a result of insufficient grip pressure is much more difficult to overlook. I can’t be completely sure Ace has cured me of the occasional dry fire grip ailment, but I’m fairly certain it’s played a role in that.

Another side effect that I think is closely related is that my ability to maintain sufficient grip pressure has increased in duration. Sure, that can be attributed to general conditioning that can happen with any sort of regular practice where sufficient grip pressure is maintained, but again, seeing a “loose” hit that I can attribute to a lapse in grip pressure affords the opportunity to at least attempt to reapply and maintain sufficient pressure a little longer before calling it quits.

Where Ace Fits In

It’s worth noting that these practice sessions average somewhere around 300 virtual rounds per session. Assuming daily practice, that’s roughly 2.1K per week or 9K per month. Five to six days a week is more the norm for me. So, in practice, that’s 1.5K to 1.8K per week and closer to 7.5K per month. Hence, just north of 50K total after seven months of Ace ownership.

That number, 50K, while lower than I expected, is still quite a milestone in my mind. That’s roughly double the trigger presses I’ve logged to date with the Mantis X, which I’ve had now for several years. The truth is that I’ve logged exactly 113 trigger presses with the Mantis X in the past 12 months. Now, I’m not saying this to fling poo at the Mantis. I stand by what I’ve said about it for years. It’s a solid product, but its value is inversely proportional to the shooter’s skill level. It’s phenomenal for novices who are just discovering dry fire, but as one gets better at dry fire—or more specifically at reading their sights and calling their shots—the Mantis’ value proposition declines.

The reason I bring up this comparison is because I feel the same way about most dry fire aids. Their value proposition diminishes as one gets better at dry fire. They just aren’t necessary, and one’s reliance on those devices naturally decreases over time. The rate at which that value diminishes depends on the product, but this point is worth mentioning because I don’t see the same thing happening with Ace. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that in the last six months, my reliance on Ace has increased, as has my usage. I suspect it’s because the training modality isn’t confined within dry fire practice. Sure, there is overlap, but it also extends beyond it and even steps into live fire practice. It’s not a replacement for either, but more like a bridge between the two. I suppose this is why many professional organizations value simulators. It gets really close to the real thing without taking on the same risk as the real thing.

Why I’m Sold on Ace

At this point in time, I’m a big believer in Ace Virtual Shooting—so much so that I’ve applied to their ambassador program. I’ve yet to be accepted but haven’t been rejected. It certainly would be cool to be accepted, though. Regardless, I’m going to keep using it. It has certainly proven to be worth the investment for me, and I keep hearing similar stories from others who have taken the plunge. Is it perfect? No, but it’s damn good and keeps getting better.