I’ve been shooting for the past few years and I’d say that I’m a decent shot. But this year, I really want to focus on getting better, and for me, that means becoming faster and more accurate.
As you probably know, nothing beats the experience gained from live fire, but the cost can rack up pretty quickly. So for most of us, dry fire is where we get the majority of our training. I’ve done thousands of dry fire reps, but at some point, it starts to feel like you’re just going through the motions with very little feedback on what you’re doing right or wrong. Because of that, I’ve been looking for something to elevate my dry fire experience, and the system I decided to check out was the Mantis Titan X Training System. Honestly, no other firearms-related piece of equipment has helped me improve my shooting like this device.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Titan X, the simplest way to explain it is that it’s a dummy gun with proprietary sensors built in, which are able to read the various movements of the gun.
The device itself is available in different sizes. I opted for the Glock 19 size since that’s what I prefer to shoot in real life. In the package, you get two weighted dummy magazines and a few other small accessories. The dummy gun features a Glock-style accessory rail and an optic cut that’s compatible with both RMR and RMSc footprints. One of the most appealing features of the Titan X is the resetting trigger, which means no more racking the slide after every shot.
For me, this product solves a big problem. Local ranges around me don’t allow drawing from a holster, and they don’t allow rapid fire. The only way I’d be able to practice those things with live rounds is by driving a couple of hours out to the mountains, which just isn’t realistic with my schedule. So, a lot of the drills that actually build speed and real-world shooting ability, I just couldn’t practice. Until the Titan X.
To use the Titan X, you just press a button on the slide to turn it on, then head over to the Mantis X app. The two sync up, and after a quick calibration, you’re ready to start training.
The app offers a lot of different shooting modes, each with descriptions to help guide your training. The app itself is free and doesn’t require a compatible device to check out, so I’d recommend downloading it if you’re interested in the Mantis ecosystem.
I’m still getting the hang of everything and haven’t tried all the modes yet, so I want to highlight the ones I use regularly and the ones that have been the most beneficial for me.
I want to mention that I have a spare phone that I’ve dedicated to the Mantis X app. I keep it mounted on a lightweight tripod nearby while I train. This isn’t necessary but it does make it easy to quickly check my results after each shot.
As I mentioned earlier, I can’t draw from a holster or rapid-fire at my local ranges. And when it comes to dry fire, you typically can’t rapid-fire a real gun unless you’re using some kind of add-on. So I’ve actually never done a proper Bill Drill before. Since it’s such a common drill and a solid indicator of shooting ability, I knew I wanted to try the Bill Drill mode. With this, you draw from concealment and fire six shots as fast as possible, while still trying to stay accurate and keep your shots under control.
To warm up, I usually go straight into a few Bill Drills. The app has a daily goal of 50 shots, so I’ll typically just run Bill Drills until I hit that. This mode does give you a score along with a breakdown of what it means, and across different modes, you’ll get different types of data depending on what Mantis considers relevant. That said, I don’t really rely on the scoring in Bill Drill mode. I understand what it’s trying to measure, but in my experience, I can shoot pretty poorly and still score in the 90s or even 100. So for me, the score doesn’t mean much here. I’m more focused on my speed and how accurate I am during rapid fire.
As someone who doesn’t really get to practice rapid fire, this is where I actually started learning new things with the Titan X. I’d heard of trigger freeze before, but never really understood what it was. It’s basically when you’re shooting and don’t let the trigger move forward enough to reset. Because I don’t train rapid fire, I would never run into this during normal dry fire. But with Bill Drills on the Titan X, I’ve experienced it multiple times. This system gave me exposure to that issue, and now I’m able to recognize it and adjust. To me, that’s a big deal and something I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise.
Before we move on, I want to touch on shot placement and accuracy. When using the Mantis system, you can keep a mental note of where the laser lands, but if you want to actually visualize it, you can use the app’s camera mode to track your shots on a target. From what I understand, this only works with Mantis-designed targets, which you can download and print for free. Mantis also sells printed versions on thicker cardstock, which is what I went with since I plan on using this system long term.
After Bill Drills, I usually move into Holster Draw Analysis mode. In this mode, you draw from concealment and fire a single shot. This was actually my primary form of dry fire practice before using the Titan X. Now, the difference is that I get much more detailed feedback. As you go through each rep, the app breaks everything down from the moment the buzzer goes off. It shows how long it took to establish your grip, bring the gun up, acquire the target, fire the shot, and your total time. Before the Titan X, I used a shot timer to time myself, which only gave me the total time. Having this level of detail makes it much easier to see where you’re losing time and what you need to work on. Since switching to the Titan X, I’ve stopped using a shot timer for this type of training, and my draw times are now much more consistently around one second.
Next, I move on to Endurance mode. Here, the goal is to maintain a streak of shots scoring 92 or higher. I can’t speak for everyone, but I find this mode really difficult. There’s something about it that just messes with me. Getting a 92 on its own can already be challenging, but doing it repeatedly starts to feel like a mental battle. As the streak goes on, I can feel my focus slipping. My trigger control changes, and it almost feels like the trigger is getting lighter. Because of that, I start rushing shots and pulling the trigger faster. It’s a very different kind of challenge and a solid test of consistency and focus.
To finish my training, I use Open Training mode. This lets you shoot freely while still getting feedback on each shot, and it’s where I really analyze what I’m doing. Every shot gets a score out of 100, and if you’re off-axis, the app will show how the gun moved and suggest possible reasons why. With that said, I treat those suggestions as possibilities, not facts. Sometimes the explanations don’t fully line up. The main ones I see are “slapping the trigger,” “too much finger,” or “too little finger,” but I’ve had situations where my finger placement doesn’t change at all, and I still get different negative feedback. So over time, you start to figure out what’s actually useful and what to take with a grain of salt. Personally, I like Open Training because I can use it in a variety of scenarios. For example, instead of doing traditional cardio to warm up for a workout, which I hate, I’ll walk on the treadmill while dry firing. It gives me something to focus on, mixes up my training, and helps me work on the skill of moving while shooting. With the Mantis data on top of that, I’m able to get valuable feedback and a better understanding of what I need to improve. And that applies to pretty much any situation you want to train for, whether that’s sitting, shooting out of a window, or anything else. Open Training becomes a really useful data-collecting tool, no matter the scenario.
After I finish with the Titan X, I’ll usually switch over to my carry gun with a laser cartridge. That’s mainly for practicing draw and fire, along with basic target work. I do this to reinforce what I worked on with the Titan X, using the gun I’d actually rely on to defend myself. I think this is really important and definitely something I’d recommend, because there’s not much point in dialing everything in on the Titan X if you’re not also training with your real firearm. At the end of the day, you’re not carrying the Titan X out in public, so make sure you’re putting in time with what you actually plan to carry.
After training with the Titan X over the past week, the biggest thing I’ve noticed is this:
When I switch back to a real gun, I feel sharper. More accurate. And my trigger control feels much more consistent. It’s subtle at first, and I was honestly a bit skeptical about whether the training was even working. But once I went back to live fire, everything just felt cleaner. I can control the gun better, my shots group tighter, and overall my accuracy has improved at different distances.
To sum it up, if you’re limited by range rules like I am, or you’re just trying to save money while still improving, the Titan X is a game-changer. It lets you train things that are either difficult or straight-up impossible to practice at home with a real gun. And it gives you feedback that you’re not going to get otherwise. For me, it’s become an invaluable training tool, and honestly something I wish I had picked up years ago instead of spending countless hours doing unstructured dry fire or burning through ammo without much improvement.
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