Mantis-X training tool

 Handguns, Rifles, Training  Comments Off on Mantis-X training tool
Nov 132017
 

Every once in a while, I sorta step out of things that are within my range of expertise and talk about other things I experiment with.  That is why every once in a while you see me talk about somewhat random things, like bags, shirts and other accessories.

Mantis X is an accessory that is a little more relevant than most.  For a little while now I have been talking about miniature red dot sights and their applications on handguns.  While I do not talk about handguns all that much, I shoot them quite a bit and go take classes once or twice per year.   With all that practice, over the last twenty years, I have become a somewhat adequate shot (not good compared to people who are truly good, but good enough to understand my limitations).   Some classes I take are shooting classes with a lot of lead heading downrange, while some are more of what I would call “thinking” classes.  For both of them, to do well, my fundamentals have to be pretty solid.  Generally, noone has ever become a worse shot by practicing the fundamentals.



With that preamble done, I stumbled onto the Mantis X rather accidentally, and about 3 seconds after learning about it, I made arrangements to get one here to play with.  Basically, it is a small device that clamps onto the rail on your gun (be it handgun, rifle or shotgun) and using a bunch of internal accelerometers and stuff, it senses what exactly happens as you pull the trigger.  Then it transmits the data to an app on your phone.  The app plots what was happening before and after a trigger press, provides some statistics on how you have done overall and makes suggestions on what could be causing some of the problems.

Mantis X works for both live fire and dry fire.

I had grand plans to use on both handguns and long guns, but so far it has been so incredibly useful for my handgun shooting that it stays put on my Glock.

This thing is awesome.  I repeat: it is freaking awesome.  It seems to pick up subtle problems just fine.  I can do some basic troubleshooting and see the differences between what I do in dry fire vs live fire.  It gives me an idea of my wobble zone.  It gives me some data to see what happens when I speed up or slow down.  It tells me if I am doing anything differently when using iron sights or a red dot.  It tells me what happens when I experiment with different ways of holding the gun.  And the list goes on.

I could not be more impressed if I tried.

 

 

 

 Posted by at 11:49 am

Long Slide 10mm Glock with red dot mount from www.sight-mount.com

 Handguns, Reflex Sights, Training  Comments Off on Long Slide 10mm Glock with red dot mount from www.sight-mount.com
Apr 022017
 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been looking at a lot of red dot sight mounts lately.  I have already talked about the Unity Tactical slide and optics mounting system.

Now, it is time for a few words about the mount form www.sight-mount.com

To re-iterate: I like this mount and it works well if you want to us many different reflex sights.  However, I would not use it for a carry/defense setup.  Like many people do, I insist on having co-witnessed iron sights with the reflex sight.

If the shooting position is slightly off (let’s call it improvised) and you do not see the dot, the sight does not give you much feedback in terms of which way to adjust your position.

However, for my purposes for this 10mm Glock, the mount works well and I will continue using it.




 Posted by at 11:54 am

FrontSight Training

 Training  Comments Off on FrontSight Training
Mar 272017
 

I have gone to a few FrontSight classes and I keep on meaning to write a proper review of them, but I never quite get around to it.  The reason for that is fairly simple: a lot of people visit FrontSight and quite a few of them write about it.

I do not think I have anything particularly new to offer, but if you want me to talk a little more about the curricullum and how they teach stuff, shoot me an e-mail or say something in the comments.  I’ll be happy to provide more information.

Still, there are a few things I thought I should say since a lot of what I see out there in FrontSight discussions has not matched my experience with the place.

I recorded a brief video clip a couple of days ago when I came back from the latest class:

Some of this may be repetitive with the video, so I will make it brief.

When you sign up, you get on their e-mail list and you start getting an immediate barrage of long and frequently idiotic e-mail from Ignatius Piazza (I am sure he does not send them himself).  Those e-mails were such a turn off that I did not go for many years.  When I finally made it over, my opinion changed.  Classes are well structured and well run.  Basic classes are aimed at being equalizers: they are really there to get rank beginners up to speed and for experienced shooters they are a refresher.  However, since there are several instructors who keep on roaming around and looking at what you are doing, the individual suggestions you get are geared at whatever you need help with.  I took a lot of advantage of that since I have gone a few times with friends or family to the same basic class.  I just wheel up to the instructor early on and ask a question.  Once they figure out that I generally know what I am doing, they are very helpful with whatever specific thing I am struggling with at any given time.




I took several rifle and handgun classes there and with handguns I started bringing in different guns and holsters to test them out in a rather repetitive environment where you work on the presentation  and general gun handling a lot.  It is generally a good idea to revisit the fundamentals every so often, and this way I get to keep it interesting.

Next time I do it, I will probably bring a revolver, or take the class left handed.  I shoot adequately well with both hands, but but I have not done any presentation drills with the the left hand.  That should be interesting.

 

 Posted by at 9:47 am