I purchased a 9mm Luger Strikeman Laser Training System to help keep up my shooting skills.  I have two 9mm Luger pistols in my collection, a Beretta 92FS and a wide-body 1911 that I built from parts.  I thought I could make adapters for my larger caliber revolvers, i.e. .44 Remington Magnum and .45 Colt.  The 9mm Luger laser cartridge should fit inside both of these larger caliber cartridges.  My wife can’t cock the hammer nor pull the trigger of my Beretta 92FS, but she should be able to cock the hammer of a single or double-action revolver.  This system can’t help with recoil control, but it can help with sight picture and trigger control.

The Strikeman I purchased came with one laser cartridge.  It is made of brass in the shape of a 9mm Luger cartridge and fits in a 9mm chamber.  Two O-rings keep it centered and prevent it from falling out.  It does not have a rim or ejector groove so it won’t be ejected when racking the slide.  The rear of the laser cartridge contains a momentary switch that when struck by the firing pin causes a red laser to flash out the bore.

The target that comes with the system is highly reflective.  My smart phone runs the Strikeman app and using the phone’s camera, records and scores the location of the laser flash against the target.

Fabricating the Adapters

I purchased two 1/2” x 11” brass rods from ebay.  I used one rod to fabricate the adapters and had plenty leftover.  In fact, I make a .45 Colt adapter for one of my shooting friends.

Using the SAAMI cartridge drawings, I turned a .45 Colt and .44 Remington Magnum cartridge from the solid brass rods with my lathe.  The minimum rim diameter for the .45 Colt cartridge is 0.500 so the 1/2” brass worked great.  The minimum rim diameter for .44 Mag. is 0.504, 4 thousandths over 0.500, but this didn’t seem to matter.  A rim diameter of 0.500 worked great.

I used a T drill bit (0.358”) to drill out the center of each cartridge adapter.  This provided the pilot hole for the 9mm chamber reamer.  Notice there is no groove ahead of the case rim in the above photo.

I purchased a 9mm Luger chamber reamer from ebay.  This was made in Ukraine but was shipped from Orlando so it arrived in a few days.  I used this reamer to ream the center of the adapters to 9mm chamber dimensions so the 9mm laser cartridge would fit.  (It didn’t; read on! ☹)

I chucked each adapter blank in my lathe and cut the 9mm chamber with the chamber reamer using plenty of cutting oil.  I used a 9mm case to ensure the reamer didn’t cut too deeply. 

The 9mm chamber reamer must make a very tight chamber because the 9mm laser cartridge wouldn’t fit; it wouldn’t go past the rear O-ring.  I used a countersink bit to bevel the inside rim-edge of the adapter.  I still couldn’t get the laser cartridge past the rear O-ring.

I took a 13/64 drill bit and drilled out the entrance to the adapter just enough so the 9mm laser cartridge would fit.  Even though the .44 magnum adapter was thinner, the drill bit did not go through the side walls.

I tested each adapter in all my .44 magnum and .45 Colt handguns and the 9mm laser cartridge functioned perfectly.  The adapters fit in the chambers and dry-firing triggered the laser. 

Additional Laser Cartridge

I purchased a separate .45 ACP laser cartridge from ebay for a very reasonable price.  I can practice with one of my 1911 .45 ACP pistols while my wife uses a revolver, or vice versa.  What fun!