Dry fire is a great way to improve your firearm skills without breaking the bank. Ammo is expensive, and dry fire helps you build and retain skills without the need to spend money on ammo or range time. Dry fire has its limits, but a little company called Mantis is dedicated to making dry fire better. The Dry Fire Laser Academy from Mantis is one of their latest products aimed at making you a better shot without any rounds being fired.
Laser Academy is tough to define quickly, so we’ll take it slow. There is a digital and physical portion to the entire system. The app is free to download, but you’ll need to purchase the kit to unlock the pro version. To be fair, the free version offers some limited access, and that’s nice for something that’s free, but the Pro Version makes it so much better.
The 2nd part of Laser Academy is the kit and kaboodle. The portable kit we have here comes with a laser cartridge, a mini tripod, 15 targets, an extraction rod, and a nice little carrying case. When you combine the two, you get a training system that’s tough to beat. It’s also a lot more entertaining than dry firing at a light switch over and over.
Laser Academy — Purpose and Benefit
The real benefit and purpose of the Laser Academy are real-time feedback for your dry fire practice. It gives you a mix of feedback types. Your phone camera scans the smart targets and is capable of reading where the laser insert hits on the target.
This allows the setup to score your shots in coordination with the target and will leave the shots ‘on’ target. You can see your groups on target and measure where each one lands. Outside of the visual feedback, we also get audible with a little gunshot noise, and the app will announce your score as well.
To really get the most out of the Laser Academy, you need to set it up properly in a nicely lit area, but you don’t want the phone to be directly facing a light. Any extra light plays havoc on the sensor. The range you are shooting at can be set separately from the distance you place the phone in relation to the target, so it is flexible.
Going the Distance
When you bring the Laser Academy app to life, the menu offers various drills and courses. The courses are self-guided and present a constantly evolving and changing challenge that will have you working through a wide variety of skills and on a variety of targets. It’s nowhere as easy as I assumed it would be.
The various drills will have you drawing from the holster, shooting multiple targets, and even multiplayer duels. There are various timed and untimed challenges as well. What’s cool is that Mantis is releasing new targets here and there for different challenges. You don’t even have to buy them. They make them available to be printed.
The two newest are the Konami target which replicates a few of Konami’s famed video game characters, and the Konami code, of course. There is also a Die Hard-inspired hostage target that has you taking down two goons and saving your soon-to-be ex-wife. You can also at anytime print the targets included with your Laser Academy and even print larger full-sized variants.
Does the Laser Academy work?
That’s the million-dollar question, right? Yep, Laser Academy works and works super well. The only bit of frustration I had was finding a good spot in my house where the phone wasn’t facing a light. That’s way harder than I thought it would be. I have too many lights in my house.
If it’s not facing a light directly, Laser Academy works exceptionally well. It picks up every shot I throw at it. If you use a DA/SA gun, you can throw rounds as fast as possible, and it will pick up every single one of them.
So, it picks up shots perfectly and doesn’t falter, but is it useful for training? Oh, hell yeah. It takes dry fire to a new level. A perfectly focused shooter can get a lot out of regular dry fire, but most of us lose focus after about five minutes. The Laser Academy eliminates that loss of focus.
Additionally, it sets standards you have to meet. Those can be accuracy, time standard, or maybe both. This makes life oh so much more difficult but increases your training takeaways. Laser Academy isn’t just doing the same-old same-old dry fire. You can just use the open shooting, but that’s like using 10% of your brain.
I’ve seen a real improvement in my consistency in accuracy, as well as a reduction in my draw time. I also generally feel more confident drawing, and it’s hit a new level of muscle memory. Drawing, getting a proper presentation in, and landing an accurate shot feels much more natural.
Blasting Away
My personal favorite drill is the draw under a par time. It’s challenging but fun and gets that concealed carry practice down to a T. I also love to use the Dot Torture target and use the open shooting mode to complete the drill. You can mix in a variety of real-world drills with the Laser Academy if you are creative, like Failure Drills.
Additionally, Laser Academy is compatible with the Mantis Blackbeard, SIRT pistols, and various other laser-operated dry-fire tools. The Blackbeard makes this all sorts of fun and allows you to practice some practical rifle drills without spending a single round of 5.56.
The Mantis Laser Academy is an awesome piece of gear and makes dry fire a whole lot more enjoyable. Enjoyment aside, the Laser Academy is also a very effective training tool that allows you to get more and more out of your dry fire practice. The initial investment is nearly nothing compared to a few boxes of ammo, and it will pay itself off in no time.
