Dual mode apparatus for assisting in the aiming of a firearm

A target practice system comprising:

• laser designating means boresighted with the barrel of the firearm;
• means for actuating the laser designating means to illuminate a target with laser light at an impingement location in response to actuation of the trigger of the firearm;
• target means defining a target reference and including sensor means for sensing the spatial relationship between the impingement location and the target reference, said target means including:
• a laser light diffuser which produces scattering of incoming laser light in a known geometrical distribution;
• and
• a plurality of detectors for sampling said distribution and thus providing an output indication of the position of said impingement location relative to said target reference;
• and
• means for providing a hard copy output indication of the spatial relationship between the impingement location and the target reference.

A target practice system comprising:

• laser designating means boresighted with the barrel of the firearm;
• means for actuating the laser designating means in a first mode of operation for target designation to illuminate a target while permitting normal operation of the firearm to shoot projectiles and including operator control switch whose actuation produces a laser output of the laser designating means;
• means for actuating the laser designating means in a second mode of operation for target practice to illuminate a target with a laser beam emission in response to actuation of the trigger of the firearm and incorporation a firing sensor whose output produces a laser beam simulated firing;
• and
• target means defining a target reference and including sensor means for sensing the spatial relationship between the impingement location and the target reference, said target means including:
• a laser light diffuser which produces scattering of incoming laser light in a known geometrical distribution;
• and
• a plurality of detectors for sampling said distribution and thus providing an output indication of the position of said impingement location relative to said target reference;
• and
• means for providing a hard copy output indication of the spatial relationship between the impingement location and the target reference.

A target practice system comprising:

• laser designating means boresighted with the barrel of the firearm;
• means for actuating the laser designating means to illuminate an impingement location on a target with laser light in response to actuation of the trigger of the firearm;
• and
• target means defining a target reference and including sensor means for sensing the spatial relationship between the impingement location and the target reference, the target means comprising a laser light diffuser for scattering received laser light and said sensor means being operative for sensing the spatial distribution of the scattered received laser light.