Sometimes it’s hard to find the time, money, and place to train, right? While outdoor ranges allow you to run drills, they still require significant travel and cost. And although indoor shooting ranges are nice during bad weather, it’s often hard to run dynamic drills there.
With the new TitanX from Mantis, training at home is much more beneficial than it used to be. The TitanX, however, is a complete training gun with the MantisX system built in.
I’ve been using the MantisX 10 system for a while, and it’s been great. But unless you have another system to go with it (like the DryFireMag), you still must reset your trigger between drills.
The TitanX, however, solves this problem. It even comes with mags so you can practice reloading. An optics plate and rail allow you to keep an optic and light attached to the gun so you can train with the same setup as your real handgun.
We cover the Titan X10 and MantisX app in other articles, so I won’t go over how to use those in this one. Instead, we are going to talk about five of my favorite drills to run with the TitanX training gun.
1. Shoot/No Shoot Drill
My background is in law enforcement, and shoot/don’t shoot drills are extremely important to run. Most of the time, we used a machine that would spin a target around. On one side was a “bad guy with a gun,” and the other was “grandma with her glasses and purse.” The objective was simple: When the bad guy appeared, you fired, and when it was Grandma you didn’t fire. (At least that was the idea…)
However, a machine like that is pricey and not something I have at home for personal use. It’s also training that everyone should do, not just cops, and that’s possible with the MantisX app.
The app has several shoot/don’t shoot drill,s which I like. There isn’t a “bad guy” to shoot at, but you learn decision-making skills. You can select from color squares, shapes, dice, etc., to practice rapid decision-making skills.
Once you have your TitanX turned on and connected to the MantisX app, go to the training tab and scroll down to “Drills.” Click on “Decision Drills,” and you will see all the options for “Shoot No Shoot” drills. For this article, I will use the “Shoot No Shoot – Colors” drill.
Running the drill
Once you hear instructions to be in low ready mode, the screen will flash a color. For instance, you shoot on green and don’t shoot on blue (pictured above).
I like to use an iPad and set it up on a chair or somewhere across the room. For this drill, you don’t need a target, just point and shoot at the screen. The app will time your reaction and gauge your accuracy, so the faster you react, the better.
The app will repeat this drill for 10 cycles before stopping and giving you feedback. To run the drill again, simply hit the reset button.
2. Reload, Tactical
Running magazine change drills is another important drill to run if you carry a gun for self-defense. This is often overlooked because it requires dropping mags and picking them up again. A lot of people just don’t like dropping their magazines in the mud or dirt and having to clean them all later. But that doesn’t change the fact that we may need to reload someday during an incident.
You can run multiple reload drills on the MantisX app, but the one we are covering today is the tactical reload.
If you are not familiar with a tactical reload, this is swapping out a partially depleted magazine with a full one. This type of mag change is normally done when you have a few seconds to reload (normally from behind cover). The idea is to keep a full magazine in your firearm if possible.
You don’t want to confront a shooter with one or two rounds left in your mag if you can keep from it. But you also don’t want to drop a mag on the ground that still has a few rounds in it, either. And so a tactical reload is the practice of swapping out your magazine and putting the old magazine back in a magazine pouch.
Running the drill
For this one, find “Reload Drills” on the training app and then click on “Reload, Tactical.” The app will give instructions on how to run the drill.
With the gun in your hand and a spare magazine in a mag pouch, push the start button on the screen. You will hear a voice prompt say “shooter ready,” followed by a beep, which is your cue to run the drill.
Pull the spare magazine from your mag pouch, and then pull the current mag from the gun. For a moment, you will have both magazines in your support hand. Insert the new magazine into the gun, replace the old magazine in the mag pouch, and then fire one shot. When you fire a shot from the TitanX, the app will automatically restart the drill.
You can continue running the drill until you push stop on the phone or tablet. The app will then combine all your drills to give you an average time and other feedback.
I like running this drill because juggling two magazines in one hand is harder than dropping one and inserting another. Just remember, a tactical reload is only used when you have time and are not actively engaging a shooter.
3. Support Hand Only
It’s hard to train for every scenario under the sun, but being able to shoot with your support hand is important. I know another cop who was shot in the right side, just below his armpit. Unlike in the movies, where they shake it off and keep going, he couldn’t move his right arm very well.
He managed to fire an entire mag back at the car with his left hand as it sped away. He even performed a reload and re-holstered his gun with his left hand only, before calling for help.
Shooting with your support hand isn’t really fun for most of us, so we tend to skip it on the range. With this syste,m however, you can get in a little practice at home without wasting any ammo.
Running the drill
On the training screen, click “Support Hand Only.” Just above the start button, you will see a flashing button that says “right” or “left.” Select the appropriate hand. Since I am right-handed, I set it to left-hand mode.
When you push the start button, the system will be ready for you to shoot. This one is not timed, so begin shooting when you’re ready. Each time you pull the trigger, the app will record your data next to each shot. When you reach 10 shots, the app will stop you and give you feedback. You can repeat this drill as many times as needed.
To repeat the drill, push the “reset” button, and the screen will go back to the start page.
On my first drill, it said my average accuracy was 84%. It also suggested that I use more of my finger on the trigger. After making some adjustments, my second round averaged 92%.
4. Bill Drill
The Bill Drill isn’t an option on the MantisX app, but that’s ok because it has an “open” and “shot timer” training mode. While Mantis has multiple drills built into the app, you may want to run some other popular drills or even make up your own.
To run the Bill Drill, click “shot timer” in the app. Near the bottom, just above the start button, click the drill settings button. From here, you can make adjustments for specific drills.
For this drill, you want to set the shot count to six. If you plan to start from a holstered position, click “ready position” and change it to holster.
When you push start, the voice prompt will say, “holster the firearm.” Once you holster it, you will hear “stand by” followed by a beep. The app can tell if the TitanX pistol is facing down or not, so if you have it set on holster, it will not start the drill until the gun is holstered.
When the drill is complete, it will give you data for each shot and an average score and time for the entire drill. Just hit reset to start the drill over.
5. 1R1 Drill
You can’t really get enough practice reloading your gun. When you run reload drills that combine shooting, you also get faster at target acquisition. I know of some shooters who try to keep their eyes on the target and never look away while changing mags. Some people can do this after practicing a great deal, but I’ve found that it doesn’t work in real life.
When your adrenaline has spiked, your hands are shaky, and your brain is in survival mode, changing mags without a quick glance at your mag-well is probably not going to happen.
Also, I like to bring my gun right up in front of my face so I can see what I’m doing. Everyone has their own methods, and you can practice whatever method works for you. Just keep in mind, things don’t work as smooth and cool during an incident as they do at the range.
Even though I tilt the muzzle of my gun up and bring it closer to my face, I still glance down momentarily at the mag well as I’m inserting the mag. After the magazine is inserted, I re-engage the target. This is why the drill helps with target acquisition.
Running the drill
The 1-reload-1 drill combines magazine reloads, firing, and speed all in one. Under “Dynamic Drills,” click on “1R1 Drill” and go to settings. You can set the drill to run one time or repeat several times. You can also change the total number of shots fired.
I keep mine on 1 shot-reload-1 shot, and have the drill end. This gives me time to pick up my mag and get ready to repeat it. Just hit “reset” and start the drill over again.
As you perform this drill, the app will give you feedback on accuracy and speed for each drill. If you set the app to run multiple drills, it will give you an average time and accuracy for all drills combined.
Ready to train?
There are a ton of drills and even multiple courses you can do with the app. As I’ve said before, a system like this will not replace real training on the range, but it’s a good way to supplement it. However often you make it to the range, you can add a ton more training by using the Mantis system.
My routine starts in the morning with the gym. When I get home, I grab the TitanX and do about 15 minutes of drills with the app. This is a great way to start the day before work.
Sometimes I make it to the range a couple of times per week, other times only once or not at all. But at least with this system, you can continue to train and keep some of those muscle memories sharp.
If you have the TitanX or the MantisX system, give these drills a try and see what you think.
