While we were visiting the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) convention this year we were happy to run into the folks from MantisX. I have been a big fan of Mantis products since I first got my hands on their products a few years back. The MantisX suite of products has grown a lot from when I first started with them. Now they offer not only pistol but live fire, rifle, archery, and shotgun. On top of all this they offer a laser academy which for full disclosure, I have yet to try. MantisX cant replace live fire training but they can help keep you in the game between range sessions. On top of that it can make your range time more effective because you wont spend as much time working on your bad habits. If its the cost of ammo (not all of us have sponsorships with ammo flying in) or less friendly to firearms sports areas or living overseas for a few years where personal firearms are not a thing we all have reasons before we even get into the most expensive part of any regiment which is time.
Dry fire popularity has grown a great degree over the last few years with more and more people acknowledging its benefits. If you want to be proficient with a tool you must be familiar with it. As such you must make yourself as acquainted as possible with it. Dry fire can not only make you familiar but comfortable with your tools. The suite of Mantis products can help use that time to build a solid awareness of challenges you face with your proficiency. Ever since I moved out of Texas to a much less friendly shooting sport state getting to the range is a challenge. Not only that but Ive yet to find very many good places to train out here so my own ability to keep what edge I have is that much more important. Add to that the almost three years prior I was outside the states and unable to train or keep my tools as much as I would have liked and you come up with a bit of a training deficit. Luckily I have things like the Mantis suite of products and some solid friends at the top of the game to help knock the rust off.
While their suite of products cant see all aspects of your practice it can do a great deal. Anyone who has done firearms training with the military no doubt remembers the old dime washer drills for hours. The Mantis suite takes that like a caveman with fire and evolves it into the space race. Your movements on target and trigger movements associated with engaging the firearm can take you off target or degrade your reaction time getting on target. Frankly theres so many drills and metrics measured it can be a little overwhelming when you first dive in. I personally keep my X10 in my coffee table and when the mood hits I make sure my firearm is cleared and get to dry fire. Maybe your use case isn’t as casual as mine but I find if its there Ill engage in the training while relaxing.
Post AUSA I got my hands on the BlackbeardX for my SIG MCX. Now this is a game changer. While the X10 requires you to manually reset your pistol after every shot (for now) the BlackbeardX has an auto reset trigger so you can practice multiple iterations of fire without slapping your charging handle around. While I tried to leave an extra set up around the living room and use it more that didn’t go over well in my house. Nevertheless I still find myself swapping out the carrier group and mag quickly to get into training. Charging takes a few hours at most and hasn’t been an issue holding out for my sessions. The areas you can work on are almost endless from sway to drift to slapping that trigger like it owes you money.
MantisX made getting your firearm from every day configuration to training mode so easy it takes seconds and needs no tools. Specifically the BlackbeardX is a swap of carrier group and use of a rechargeable mag. In a minute you’re in training more or back to your personal set up. The only excuse you have for not training is yourself they made it so easy.
Accountability is something many people struggle with. On top of that some activities are just more fun in groups. Our community has its own training group in the app where we can help (harass) each other into practicing more often or just a little friendly competition. The social aspects of the Mantis suite are offered at no additional charge like all the other features you see except for the Laser Academy. With the initial entry cost well into a manageable price point I can’t encourage people to pick up the X10 as well as the BlackbeardX for practice not just in-between range days but on them as well.
What they cant do yet is see what you see. In that vein you can have a great smooth trigger press and light speed draw but if your sight work is garbage you’re not going to be getting the hits you want. I acknowledge their systems can’t do it all…yet but I would rather have one issue than five when I get what trigger time I can squeeze in. No system is perfect or can help you fix everything but I think what Mantis has done and continues to do is well worth the cost.