Random Insights from Analyzing over 100 Million Shots.

A few years ago, we shared 10 fascinating insights from 10 million shots analyzed. Well, we just recently came around the corner of 100 million shots, and one of the engineers got a little bored and wanted to write some database queries, so here we are. I present: Random Insights from Analyzing over 100M Shots.

A little background if you're not familiar with Mantis. Mantis sells various hardware devices (one of which is called MantisX), that attach to your pistol (or rifle, bow, or shotgun), and gives you real time feedback on your shooting technique for each shot, and can be used for both dry fire practice and live fire. The "insights" shared below are derived from over 100m shots saved over the last five years.

1. Three years ago, when we crossed the 10m shots, we shared this metric, "Most Popular Handgun Manufacturers." I ran this data again, expecting that, because of the huge craze to go buy guns, that maybe we'd see an uptick in HiPoints or something. However, this data looks pretty much exactly the same as three years ago. I probably shouldn't be surprised that the cross section of people that want to buy Hi-Points and people that take training seriously is going to be incredibly small. In fact, it is eight. Only eight people in the last 365 days have selected "Hi-Point" as their firearm and shot a session.

2. Anecdotally, it seemed like 2020 was a bad year for live fire. People stuck inside, ammo was crazy high in demand. And the data confirms that yes, there was less live fire happening in 2020 than years previous, although I was a little surprised that I didn't see an even larger discrepancy between 2020 and 2019. Live fire went from about 20% of sessions in 2019 to about 10% of sessions in 2020. In March 2020, when we were all washing our hands 30 times a day and trying not to touch our faces, live fire only made up 5% of sessions.

3. We also did this one 3 years ago, but there's been some movement since the last time we ran the numbers. Interestingly FN and Springfield are still at the bottom of the pack, but Taurus has seen a lot of improvement. Glock also has a significant improvement since we last ran these numbers. One note - Browning, Kimber & STI have less than 1% of people shooting with those guns, so the average scores for those brands are prone to a little more movement over Glock which has a plurality of people behind it. Which makes a 5 point score improvement for Glock a lot more impressive. Way to go Glock shooters!

4. Shot Show 2018 Sig dropped the P365. And it's been a huge success. Based on our data, it now makes up around 25% of all active Sig Shooters.

5. In contrast with the P365, Glock has released a few new models in the last few years, but none of them have even come close to competing with the G19 and G17.

6. Breaking the Glocks and the Sigs down by model, people seem to have a harder time with smaller/lighter guns. And to some extent, with the Glocks, this carries over into dry fire practice as well.

7. Not much to say about this; on average, we're flinching really hard when doing live fire.  But was is interesting is that we also flinch/push down during dry fire as well.  Another vote for dry fire practice.  You can root out live fire issues with dry fire practice.

8. These two are kind of fun. The Morini and Pardini guys have their flinch much more under control than the rest of us, but maybe that's just because they aren't shooting 9mm.

9. You've probably noticed shooting two handed is easier than single handed. These are the average scores for the Primary Hand Only drill, Support Hand Only drill, and MantisX Benchmark Drill (two handed).

10. But! The difference in scores between these two drills actually converge on one another. On average, the people that put in the time to do 250-300 Support Hand Only sessions are now matching their Primary Hand only scores. Don't give up.

11. Have you done the marksmanship courses? Even if you've made it through the Basic Marksmanship course, you're in the minority. Only 13% of users have completed Basic Marksmanship (5.9% have completed only the basic level).  Reminder: we send you a free (well, you have to earn it) patch upon each course completion.

12. Are the courses worth it? With each Marksmanship level, the Average Benchmark score is improved by almost 2 points. Selection Bias? Maybe. But who cares? You want to be the selected don't you?

13. We saved the best for last. The reason we train is for live fire. Here we look to see if practice actually improves our live fire performance, and it does! Obviously, we all want to be getting recoil therapy, but even if you're not able to get to the range, dry fire practice is an effective way to help stay sharp.

Thanks for all the love and support. We have received so much love and support from everyone over the last 6 years and love this community. Looking at data and hoping to find proof that people shoot better with Sigs is fun, but the most rewarding thing for us are the anecdotes. Being able to make something that people find valuable and love to use is tremendously rewarding, and hearing about your enthusiasm for Mantis is what fuels us. A few glowing comments that we’ve received in the last two weeks:

"Honestly and without any hesitation I have to say this company and product is great! I have used the X10 Elite for several months and find that its feedback very helpful in bettering my 45+ years of handgun shooting."

"I could go on & on about ur product... from ur amazing customer service to the way its helping me increase accuracy & speed to the ease of having a system this good at such an affordable price! U guys seriously rock! Thanks!"

"Mantis works as advertised if not better. Truly ingenious piece of gear, and worth every penny especially now that ammunition is near impossible to find at any price where I live. I’ve recommended it to all my shooting friends. Thanks again."

"I have the x10 Elite and have been using the Laser Academy as well. They make a wonderful pairing. I love mine. I’ve done more practice at home with this than I ever have before. Great trainer."

"It's worth the money. There are still things you need to practice during live rounds firing, it isn't a full replacement, but it sure does help out tremendously when you can't get on a range and need to keep up practice regarding muscle memory."

"MantisX saves the day! I've been using this device as a pistol instructor to aid in training since about 2017. A instructor friend showed up to assist in a training camp. His MantisX was DOA. A quick call to MantisX, and a replacement device was on the way. Way to go! Glad to see you have our back!!"

Thanks again!