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Dry fire aids- anyone using them?

Drix said:
Been eyeballing the mantis training aids for a while, especially given the cost of ammo.

Anyone using these and do they live up to the hype? I was thinking about getting a x10 for pistols and a blackbeardx for my ar's.

Edit:
So I did the math, with MA tax the Blackbeardx is $380, at the current cost of PMC 5.56, thats ballparking 1,100 clicks and its paid for itself. The battery is good for 100,000 clicks.
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1. Not sure how you justify cost by clicks. Do you have to buy a new one after 100K clicks?

2. I tried one at a NES member home and I know two people that use them to practice for steel challenge.

I liked it. If I could use it with a semi auto handgun, I would. Last time I checked I don't think I could.

This is for .22lr practice. I don't know how well this would work for a caliber with more recoil.
 
Supermoto said:
I agree, if you're honest with your dry firing you don't need laser gimmicks.
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True, but a lot of new people have no idea how to read their sights or assess sight alignment at the same time as trigger pull. This tool tells you what you are doing when you don't have the tools to self assess as a new shooter.
 
Broc said:
1. Not sure how you justify cost by clicks. Do you have to buy a new one after 100K clicks?

2. I tried one at a NES member home and I know two people that use them to practice for steel challenge.

I liked it. If I could use it with a semi auto handgun, I would. Last time I checked I don't think I could.

This is for .22lr practice. I don't know how well this would work for a caliber with more recoil.
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1. No it's rechargeable on a micro USB, but even if you had to buy a fresh one, by the time the battery runs out (100k clicks), if you're shooting PMC 5.56 you've saved yourself $34,000.
There are other non-resetting systems out there, but they don't seem to offer a lot of the features. I know you're heavy on "if it doesn't recoil it doesn't help" but all the research says that's not the case, this will augment my .22lr conversion and general range time.
2. I'm with you on the semi-auto thing, I've heard there's a CO2 powered one out there, but I haven't seen it. Their system is apparently supposed to be particularly helpful when it comes to diagnosing trigger issues which I might have on my EDC. After a few years my G43 is still shooting a bit to the right, and I'm becoming more convinced- especially since it only happens with that gun, that it may not be me or my grip, but rather the replacement sights just aren't on straight.

I broke down and ordered the Blackbeardx the other day, still eyeing the pistol version but I'm way less sold on it because you still have to rack. Guess I'll see how it goes, what I'm most looking forward to is aiming and trigger pull analytics:

mantis-blackbeardx-07-1024x575.jpg
 
xtry51 said:
True, but a lot of new people have no idea how to read their sights or assess sight alignment at the same time as trigger pull. This tool tells you what you are doing when you don't have the tools to self assess as a new shooter.
Click to expand...

I don't feel that is the case during dry fire. I have yet to work with anyone that didn't realize their sights where moving during the trigger press for dry fire. What I do see is them shocking as soon as it is live fire. An easy way to show them that is to press the trigger for them. The shot hits the target dead on, because they aren't shutting down before the shot, so any influence on the gun will be after the shot breaks since they are not in control of that. Then you need to teach them to keep their eyes open to see the sight as the shot breaks. I usually have them shoot at the berm and just focus all their attention to how the sights track without worrying about recoil control or accuracy.

Another issue I see is that most people don't grip the gun hard when dry firing. They use a relaxed grip and not a shooting grip. So now their dry firing is basically teaching bad habits.

And a big issue I see, and this is a higher level issue, when using Mantis for live fire is that you are relying on the app to track your sights. Oh, look it says my sights are going up to the left, well that is something that you need to see and be able to correct while it is happening not after. Without being able to call your shots, track and control your sight path, you can't get to predictive shooting. You will alway be at reactive....and reactive is boring
 
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99% of people I've ever shot with are incapable of calling their shots. I'm not sure who you are training where this is not a problem 🤷‍♂️


The laser helps you collect data, ask the shooter to call a shot and tell them if they are doing it correctly without spending money on ammo to punch hols.
 
xtry51 said:
True, but a lot of new people have no idea how to read their sights or assess sight alignment at the same time as trigger pull. This tool tells you what you are doing when you don't have the tools to self assess as a new shooter.
Click to expand...
If they can't do that, they are probably not sophisticated enough for this laser.
 
xtry51 said:
99% of people I've ever shot with are incapable of calling their shots. I'm not sure who you are training where this is not a problem 🤷‍♂️


The laser helps you collect data, ask the shooter to call a shot and tell them if they are doing it correctly without spending money on ammo to punch hols.
Click to expand...

Calling shots is almost always a problem in the beginning, because they are closing their eyes. Once you get them to keep their eyes open, they quickly see the sights moving before and after the trigger break, then they get that a-ha moment where they see the flinch but don't break the shot. Then they can start calling shots.

I think one of the problem is most shooters think or process of each shots as an individual picture that ends with the trigger press and not a continuous movie. One of the issues is the gun fire shuts down the brain for a split second, you stop seeing and processing what is happening. The ears shut off the eyes. Once you break that bad habit, and the eyes shut off the ears, calling shots just happens.
 
DW357 said:
She not just a pretty face. She’s a grandmaster level shooter
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I don't find her face pretty. Not that she cares, or should. Grandmaster Shooter? For.... what? Seems like that would give her endorsement some additional heft, but instead I see shots with her other assets being centered on. Reminds me of tit streamers on twitch who cut off their forehead to make sure their chest is fully in-frame. Which is how the word came to be.
 
Agnotology said:
I don't find her face pretty. Not that she cares, or should. Grandmaster Shooter? For.... what? Seems like that would give her endorsement some additional heft, but instead I see shots with her other assets being centered on. Reminds me of tit streamers on twitch who cut off their forehead to make sure their chest is fully in-frame. Which is how the word came to be.
Click to expand...
Grandmaster USPSA competitive shooter

View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CiBItN_jwD2/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChD2S32jHmq/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
 
DW357 said:
🙄 🤦🏻‍♂️
Click to expand...

You are focusing on her skills, because you knew about them. I have never heard of her before, and don't use social media, so I am not even looking at titles below the account name. USPCA is acronym I first learned about maybe a week or two ago when someone mentioned some kind of "steel" competition series. So when I see that ad, the only thing I am seeing is a woman using a product. I am scratching my head at the marketing angle. I suppose if you are already on the platform, you are someone who follows this particular person, and therefore would know something about them.
 
Agnotology said:
So a $5000+ race gun running a course. Cool.
My point remains, if she is that good why be a model promoting a product?
Would be like a race car driver endorsing a brand or model of car and only focusing on how big his bulge is.
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It's amusing how ignorant you are but you keep digging yourself deeper and deeper. You have no idea who we're talking about, what sport we're talking about, and you clearly have never shot a match or driven on a track.
 
kalash said:
It's amusing how ignorant you are but you keep digging yourself deeper and deeper. You have no idea who we're talking about, what sport we're talking about, and you clearly have never shot a match or driven on a track.
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Skeet and trap count? What about Lime Rock? Karting?

Given ignorance is that I don't know that I don't know, feel free to illuminate me.

I'm reading more about USPCA competitions as I am replying to get a better handle on what it is, but I will go back to my overall knee-jerk response.

Given she isn't an instagram model, or someone with an onlyfans (which was my first thought from an outside observer perspective), it's terrible despite how accomplished she is nothing about the advert leans on her experience or accomplishments.

Going back to the thread topic,
Are there any other systems like Mantis that do similar things, or the same things better? I've seen mantis on ASP a lot, and a few other guntubers I watch, but not much in the way of actual use and the nitty gritty of how it works.
 
Agnotology said:
So a $5000+ race gun running a course. Cool.
My point remains, if she is that good why be a model promoting a product?
Would be like a race car driver endorsing a brand or model of car and only focusing on how big his bulge is.
Click to expand...


084.png
 
I have the Mantis Blackbeard for my ARs.
Its slick because it resets the trigger after each shot.
Recommend.

I used a laser ammo cartridge in my Sig P220 when I carried it every day.
When I started carrying a Glock, that sucked becase I had to work the slide of the Glock after every shot to reset the trigger. So I switched to a SIRT laser training pistol. Worth the money in my opinion.

For targets I use the reflective ones from laser ammo.
They are about the size of a playing card and I stick them in the corner of light switch and outlet covers around the house and shoot them while moving. A hit produces a big splash of red light, a miss is just a small dot on the wall.

Dryfire is the best training method I have found.
It really works.
 
Agnotology said:
So a $5000+ race gun running a course. Cool.
My point remains, if she is that good why be a model promoting a product?
Would be like a race car driver endorsing a brand or model of car and only focusing on how big his bulge is.
Click to expand...
It's someone who probably shoot a lot better than you (or I) do... 🤣 i make gun of mouse fart loads and fussy shitf*** 2011 mcfinicky race guns all day long but my favorite competitor on bowling pins actually did more slaughtering on the line with his stock p220 with 190pf loads than any racegun. His racegun actually slowed him down sometimes. 🤣
 
drgrant said:
It's someone who probably shoot a lot better than you (or I) do... 🤣 i make gun of mouse fart loads and fussy shitf*** 2011 mcfinicky race guns all day long but my favorite competitor on bowling pins actually did more slaughtering on the line with his stock p220 with 190pf loads than any racegun. His racegun actually slowed him down sometimes. 🤣
Click to expand...

Pretty sure a blind guy with parkinsons shoots better than me.

You guys are focusing away from my point.
 
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