Adrian, I'm not specialized on the subject, but some tips follow:

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I am currently working on a laser tag system for my son. I have constructed
the "gun" using a 16F628. I use the 16F628 PWM to provide a 38kHz carrier
which I modulate at 1.8kHz when a "shot" is fired. Ammunition remaining,
firing mode (single, burst, auto), magazines remaining and hits are
displayed on an LCD and stored in EEPROM to prevent cheating by powering
on/off the gun. A piezo buzzer provides audio feedback when ammo is out, the
"gun" is completely empty, a hit is taken or the player is "dead". The "gun"
is reset by a separate IR code from a "referee" box. The gun firmware and
software are working very well.
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    Forget EEPROM. Use a battery or capcitor supplied SRAM or FRAM from
Ramtrom. EEPROM will fail in a very small time, remember the number of
writes is very limited (a hundred thousand can be too much, when you forget
that your son gives three or four thousand shots an hour). Seems prone to
failure!

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I am, however, having problems with the sensor. I elected to use Sharp
IS1U60 sensors. I have a 12F629 which measures the pulse width of the
incoming IR signal (using code from the PICLIST). Pulses that fall within a
min/max value are declared valid. I measure the pulse train for a fixed
period and declare a "hit" if 20 valid pulses are received. The signal from
IS1U60s is nice and clean on the workbench and does not suffer any false
triggers. When sunlight is present, however, it is an entirely different
situation. The signal is very noisy and triggers hits at an unacceptable
rate.
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    Are you using any kind of optical filter, like those ones you find in
remote controls and like? IF not, there is your error. Also, are you using a
IR sensor or IR module? Forget IR sensors and use IR modules, they are less
prone to interference, and has internally good circuitry to handle that.

    Good luck, and publish your results! ;o)


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