Dry fire training devices... Any firsthand experience out there?

[Panhandler80]

So my wife expressed some interest in the Strikeman system, which I'd never heard of. I have heard of Mantis, but have never used it, or any other system, for that matter. I also don't know anybody who's ever used any of them?

Are any of them worth a darn? Seems kinda like a gimmick to me. She's already a good shot in terms of self-defense. I think familiarizing herself with carrying / drawing / etc would be time better spent that playin on an App, but I could be wrong.

Any of you have any firsthand experience with any of these deals?

 

[Beendare]

I dry fire a lot. Its an excellent way to stay sharp.

I have a couple different systems but most times I don't even break them out, just either dry fire or insert a laser bullet.

I think the best is just to buy a laser bullet- about $12. That gives me the feedback I want- which is 1) was it an accurate shot....and 2) did I move the pistol- laser held steady- when pulling the trigger.

 

[Grizzly550]

I have the Mantis and use it for draw training, especially getting first shot on target from draw. It is a cool system but has its limitations when using striker fired pistols.

 

[DesertPinstripes]

The purpose of dry fire is to ingrain perfect form. It’s very effective at doing that without any of the “tools” out there. Are they fun toys? Maybe. Do you need any of them? Not at all.

If you press the trigger and the reticle/sights do not move (which is incredibly easy to see without any recoil) then the “bullet” would hit your point of aim.

 

[Yoder]

I have a few friends that have the Mantis and like it. If you have a striker fired gun, you only get one trigger pull then you have to rack the slide. They do make a special magazine that will reset the trigger but it's a little over $100 and the trigger is not the same from what I heard. The Mantis can be used with live fire, which I would think would be the most beneficial.

I bought a SIRT pistol, just a fake pistol that shoots a laser when you pull the trigger. It's pretty similar to my Glock trigger and you can weight the magazines to make them more realistic. The trigger resets after every pull on that, which is nice. The trouble I had with it was I wound up just looking at the laser dot that was projected instead of looking at my sight picture. If you're using a dot sight, that wouldn't matter anyway. I never use it anymore, I just dry fire with my actual pistol and use the fake weighted magazines to practice reloads.

 

[Rich M]

My BiL had some laser thingy and it was okay. For sone reason i couldnt get any overlapping “bullet holes” so wasnt happy with it.

Dad used to shoot competitively and would dry fire a lot. He’s a good shot. ie, shoots at bullet holes instead of bullseyes.

 

[menhaden_man]

We just got the iTarget. Like it pretty good but we have a DA/SA 9 mm (FN9) that we use it with. It would suck having to rack a Glock for every shot tho.

 

[Will_m]

I used something with a laser. G sight maybe? I liked it but the laser would show direct hits and I put live in I couldn’t replicate. I do understand the benefits of dry fire, but I don’t know if you can replicate recoil.

 

[kpk]

I bought a couple of the laser bullets of Amazon for 25 bucks or so. I thought it worked great for practicing draw, shot, reholstering. I didn't use any of the apps, I just stuck a target on a door at the end of the hall. It gives immediate feedback which I thought was beneficial.

 

[elkliver]

MANTIS is pretty good. A SIRT gun is good and can be used un multiple areas of training. But from my viewpoint as a firearms instructor.... Training at the range with Snap caps or dummy rounds intermixed into your magazine by another party is one of the best things you can do. Because people know that they are dry firing, they wont usually flinch. Dry firing can be really good to develop good habits but after a certain point, you get diminishing returns and need to try it for real