My New Year’s Resolution was to do more dry fire. I bought the books, carved a spot out in my schedule, and got myself a Mantis TitanX. The TitanX is a Glock-shaped laser pistol with a built-in Mantis X10 device.
I’ve been dry-firing at least five days a week. Anytime I have a little downtime, I get a few reps in. There is no replacement for dry firing with your actual firearm, but the TitanX fills a niche by being able to accurately gather data on drills, draws, and accuracy.
I mix the two, and after firing 1,000 shots with the TitanX, I’ve learned a few things.
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It Makes Me Dry Fire More
The TitanX keeps me dry-firing more for two reasons. First, the feedback from the Mantis app makes me want to keep trying. Can I beat a previous time? Can I get a higher trigger pull score? Not only that, but the goal-based courses are fantastic when I don’t have a plan.
These courses provide a mix of drills, including draws, accuracy, reloads, hostage shots, and more. They are entertaining enough to break up the monotony.
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The other part of dry-firing more is that I don’t have to recock the striker or hammer with every trigger press. Each one of those motions takes time. The TitanX has a clicky trigger and saves me a lot of time during my practice. It is ultimately more efficient.
I Don’t Need the Laser
The laser is great when you use Mantis Laser Academy, but ultimately, I don’t need it for regular dry fire. With the TitanX, every time you pull the trigger, a laser fires. It is used to confirm my hits, but it is not necessary. Eventually, I realized I didn’t need the laser. I know where that shot would land based on where my red dot appeared.
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I could see the dot hit as I pressed the trigger. I took a mental picture of the dot and was able to call my shot without paying attention to the laser at all. While it is nice and does provide feedback, I think you will move past needing it fairly fast.
Cognitive Training Is Valuable
The TitanX and the Mantis app have more than just draws, drills, and precision trigger pulls. It has shoot/no-shoot options. Let’s say your dry fire practice is made up of precision shots, draws, and Bill Drills.
Before you end your training session, swap to the shoot/no-shoot mode. It can provide a color, number, or math problem that you have to deal with before knowing whether to draw and shoot. It gets your brain working.
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You eliminate the conditioned response to draw and shoot every time. You have to think through it. It helps with tunnel vision and makes you think before you shoot, which is invaluable for real-life events.
Speed Means Relaxing
As I dry-fired with the TitanX, the same thing that always happens with dry fire occurred. You get a little bored. Repetition is boring but valuable. As I got bored, my speed increased. At first, I thought it was just because I had done a lot of practice and was getting better.
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In reality, I realized that when I was a little bored, I was more relaxed. In a relaxed position, I was able to move faster and more efficiently. With that in mind, I took a moment between practice shots to make sure my muscles were relaxed. Tense muscles are slow muscles.
It Can Be Gamified
A downside to any of these dry fire aids is the ability to gamify the system to get a good score. I can get a really fast draw if I don’t get good confirmation. I don’t have a target telling me I performed poorly. Additionally, there is no recoil. I can use a compromised grip and still make my hits.
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When it comes to precision shooting, I release my grip a fair bit and get higher scores. In real life, a looser grip would result in worse control. I can get faster times and higher scores by shooting in an unrealistic way.
You have to keep an eye out for that if you are chasing higher scores and faster times. Doing it right is what matters. Doing it wrong will reinforce bad habits just to get points on an app that doesn’t really matter.
TitanX: The Tool
The TitanX is a dry-fire tool. It doesn’t replace dry fire with your actual firearm, but it supplements it. Be wary of gamifying the process. If you can train and enjoy it, that is where the value of the TitanX lies.
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