Dry Fire Device
I recently purchased a Mantis Blackbeard after it was recommended by a friend and it has been an incredible dry fire training tool for the AR platform. It essentially acts as a repeating hammer that resets your trigger for you after every pull, allowing uninterrupted semi automatic dry fire, while also projecting a laser with each shot that is adjustable for windage and elevation. When it is properly charged it is fast enough that you can not outrun it, no matter how fast you pull the trigger. The best part about the system is that you actually get the feel of the normal trigger pull on whatever system you use it in. My Geissele 2-stage triggers feel like they do during normal fire during use of the Blackbeard in terms of trigger pull and reset. My milspec trigger feels the same as well. I did test it with a Geissele SSP and seemed to have a little "bounce" when the trigger was fully depressed after firing and prior to reset but it was not a gun I owned, figured I would share that if it is relevant to anyone.

iPhone Dry Fire Laser App
After using the Blackbeard quite a bit, I had a friend recommend the LaserHIT app, for iPhone or Android. I downloaded it and used it with the Blackbeard for the first time today and I was amazed at how useful of a dry fire session I just had. The Blackbeard alone was great but coupled with the LaserHIT app I was able to track my exact hits on a variety of targets while doing a variety of drills, and all of it was mirrored to my TV screen for instant and easy to see feedback.

Pros
After dry firing somewhere around 1,000 times in an hour, due to the semi automatic capability of the Blackbeard, it made me think about how I used to dry fire my AR by racking the charging handle every time, which took forever. Then I eventually got a laser cartridge activated by the firing pin, which still required racking the charging handle every time but was a bit more gratifying. Dry firing 1,000 times by racking the charging handle used to be probably 4 weeks of dry fire for me personally, if not much longer depending on my schedule. Now with the combination of the Blackbeard resetting my trigger for me while simultaneously projecting a laser, combined with the LaserHIT app tracking the data (hits from the laser), it seems like dry fire just become 10x easier and about 20x more effective.

Cons
The LaserHIT app could use a few more features and I would be interested in other apps out there that perform a similar function but have more features. A longer delay prior to beginning shooting would be nice. The app also tends to miss a laser hit every now and then or count 3 hits as 4, 4 hits as 5, etc. That being said, a good portion of the LaserHIT app is free and it works rather well so I cant really complain. If you guys have any recommendations for laser apps please let us know.

Conclusion
Anyways, I just wanted to throw this info out there because it appears to be a game changer for me personally and I think it would work well for a lot of other shooters as well, for quite a few different reasons. Whether you're a pro shooter, competition shooter, recreational shooter, complete beginner or anything in between, I could see the Mantis Blackbeard and LaserHIT (or any other good laser tracking app) being very useful to improve your skills.

Now we just need something similar to the Blackbeard for strikers/hammers on handguns, without it being an extremely expensive CO2 system that only works with one specific handgun. That being said, I still kind of want a Cool Fire Trainer .

This is what today's dry fire session looked like: scaled down targets on the wall, LaserHIT app running on my phone, phone jerry rigged in my hog saddle tripod until an iphone specific tripod gets delivered, mirroring the entire session to my TV for easy to see and immediate feedback. And like I said above, I probably got close to 1,000 trigger pulls in with about an hour of dry fire. My trigger finger on both hands are feeling the burn, I don't usually shoot that type of volume in such a short duration! Looks like this is a (finger) strength training exercise as well.
Attached File

I'll chime in on this as well.  The LaserHIT is unique (AFAIK) in that it will pick up green lasers.  I believe most of the other laser trainer programs & stand alone targets will not pick up green lasers so it's a point worth noting if you are trying to decide red vs green and already have some laser targets.  That said, laserhit is accurately recording my hits.

If you are using the LaserHIT program & find yourself getting an occasional false return go into settings & change it to "other training system".  You can also use any target you'd like with the "free target" option in LaserHIT.  Alternatively, if you are outrunning the app make sure it's in the laserhit mode instead of other.

The Blackbeard I have was firing on both fire and trigger reset in a 6920 OEM lower.  In a different lower with a G 2 stage it works perfectly.

You'll need a tripod for your phone, which I was able to get on amazon for $11

I played around some today with mirroring an iPhone to iPad and will test that out tomorrow.  I've got a ~45 ft stretch in my house I can setup in, so shooting distance should be ~38 ft once I lay out a shooting mat.  My intention is to mainly shoot 4 MOA x 4 MOA squares (0.53x0.53 inch squares @ 38 ft) with a focus on steady position & trigger squeeze.  I'm using powerpoint to make exact size squares for a target.

I'm having trouble getting my Blackbeard to adjust elevation so going to have to check with their CS tomorrow; but all indications are this will work out pretty well once I get it fixed.

Attached File

Anyone know if the newer models are piston compatible?

https://mantisx.com/collections/all-items/products/blackbeard-the-auto-resetting-trigger-for-ar-15

Yes, definitely.  I ended up with a dedicated mantis upper and optic.  I can adjust the optic to the laser instead of the other way around.

Cool..... I have a mantis x on my airsoft GBBR for dry firing. Get a sense of recoil, noise ect.

Mantis has updated their Blackbeard web page, the Blackbeard now supports both DI and piston AR's.  Nice.



https://mantisx.com/collections/all-items/products/blackbeard-the-auto-resetting-trigger-for-ar-15