Advantages

��Simunition, a Canadian company, makes several types of specialty ammunition including FX "special effects marking cartridges." These are basically paintballs for real guns - they're made in 9mm and .38, and there are adapters for use in shotguns and some .223 caliber firearms. The real advantage is that you can generally use your duty firearm to train with realistically. The other advantage to FX cartridges is that they work just like paintballs - when they hit, they leave a definite mark. They also hurt a lot if you're not wearing a lot of protective gear, which definitely leads to sound tactical reasoning and minimizes unrealistic risk-taking. The rounds conform to the basic dimension and function of live ammunition, so your firearm will retain its original magazine capacity, and it will function on semi-auto or full-auto as it normally would.

Disadvantages

��There's a catch to using FX cartridges, though it was one designed with safety in mind: you need a special adapter to fire the cartridges. If you don't have the adapter, your firearm will not function normally. With the adapter installed, regular live ammunition will not feed into the chamber of the gun, thereby eliminating the risk of using live ammo in a converted gun during a training exercise. The adapter kits are expensive though - the least expensive ones (for common semi-auto handguns) are around $150, and they rise in cost to over $300 for submachine guns and so forth. On top of that, the ammunition is a good deal more expensive than live ammo - around $30 for a box of 50 rounds, as opposed to around $10 for a box of 50 rounds of 9mm FMJ ammo. Also, the conversion kits for Glocks will permanently alter the weapon, so any Glock you convert for Simunition can not be used again for live ammo. In the case of shotguns, the adapter is shaped like a 12 gauge shotgun shell and it fits a single .38 FX cartridge, which doesn't really adequately simulate a shotgun's abilities. Also, since the paintballs don't touch the gun's rifling, they're not that accurate. On top of that, the paint is unevenly distributed in the capsule. I imagine most or all of the paint is forced to the back of the capsule as soon as it starts accelerating down the barrel, but that's just my guess based on introductory physics courses. Overall, an excellent system for indoor and close-range use, except for the cost.