I live in snow country, which is not particularly conducive to outdoor training in winter months. To add insult to injury the town I live in bans shooting on one's property. Additionally the town explicitly bans airgun shooting on one's property. For all the above reasons I am stuck practicing indoors. I want to practice fundamentals of marksmanship. Currently I am thinking about shooting some kind of airgun indoors and dry firing my centerfire rifle. I know that there are a bunch of dry fire training devices available, like Mantis X elite, Noptel, Scatt, Rika and probably others. I have no experience with any of these devices, and I don't understand what benefits they offer, how they are different from each other and whether they are needed at all. Any pointers to where I would be able to educate myself on the pros and cons of the above devices and other indoor training ideas would be greatly appreciated.
- Thread starter juha_teuvonnen
- Start date
Probably not a feasible option for everyone, but I grew up with a 10m air rifle range in my grandpa's basement. It was awesome, especially in the winter with the woodstove going. All shooting was offhand. Backstop was just some layers of carpet hung on the wall. Good times.
Ya, Hit Swanny's and get the Dry Fire Kit,
swannyscompgear.com
IDTS Full Kit Swannys Edition Dryfire
Precision Gear for Precision Rifle Shooting
swannyscompgear.com 
Juha, where are you located? As the town might not have any legal power to make rules that are actually legally bounding. The rules might just be "for guidance"
I have Scatt and also have used Mantis X.
They are quite different, but for PRS training and target shooting I recommend Mantis. Mantis also has interesting training courses or paths.
For plain scoring the Scatt is better. It is also much more expensive. Scatt (MX-W2) also needs proper lighting and here in Finland it is a real problem to find any day light. It also does not like LED lighting, at least from my flashlights. But uniting Scatt with live-fire training it gives very interesting data. Not sure if Mantis can offer the same data.
I just use spent casings for dryfire, one case is good for 10 shots and then I use another "corner".
I have Scatt and also have used Mantis X.
They are quite different, but for PRS training and target shooting I recommend Mantis. Mantis also has interesting training courses or paths.
For plain scoring the Scatt is better. It is also much more expensive. Scatt (MX-W2) also needs proper lighting and here in Finland it is a real problem to find any day light. It also does not like LED lighting, at least from my flashlights. But uniting Scatt with live-fire training it gives very interesting data. Not sure if Mantis can offer the same data.
I just use spent casings for dryfire, one case is good for 10 shots and then I use another "corner".
I live in Lexington, Massachusetts. The town has an ordinance that explicitly prohibits shooting airgun "over any land in town". The consensus at the local shooting forum is that shooting airguns in not allowed unless at a shooting range "duly authorized by chief of police".
Ordered Daisy 599 PCP air rifle and Mantis X10 elite. I would like to thank everybody for their suggestions, I appreciate your help and advice.
Back when I was shooting NRA N/M Highpower, I was trained that the match was "Won in the Prone" and "Lost in the Offhand". Down in my basement, I set up a traditional 15yd Pellet air rifle target and trap, and did hour after hour of offhand shooting with that Daisy Break Open Biathlon Trainer rifle. The trigger was awful, starting out atrocious and going downhill from there.
But conquering that trigger was a valuable challenge, and when you could do it; it shot damned nicely. It had a cockamamie adjustable plastic rear sights and a hooded front post, and the sight picture could be relied upon. If anything, it refined my trigger control to above average, and that was one of the key necessities in my marksmanship basics training.
I learned a ton from that air rifle, and it improved my Offhand scores to the point where I was competitive with a basic glass bedded issue grade Garand.
It doesn't need to be exquisite, it just needs to be reliable.
Greg
But conquering that trigger was a valuable challenge, and when you could do it; it shot damned nicely. It had a cockamamie adjustable plastic rear sights and a hooded front post, and the sight picture could be relied upon. If anything, it refined my trigger control to above average, and that was one of the key necessities in my marksmanship basics training.
I learned a ton from that air rifle, and it improved my Offhand scores to the point where I was competitive with a basic glass bedded issue grade Garand.
It doesn't need to be exquisite, it just needs to be reliable.
Greg
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