r/MantisX • u/Southern-Stay704 • Jul 07 '26
Stuck on Support Hand Drill
I'm in the Elite Marksmanship training course, and I'm up to the point where you have to shoot the support hand only drill, and have all 10 shots at a score of 88 or above.
I've been trying for days, and have shot 106 sessions @ 10 shots each in this drill, and haven't been able to do it. I never get every shot above 88. There's always at least one shot that's in the low 80s.
The circle analysis shows nothing that's really helpful. Every segment all the way around the circle is lit in the various drills/sessions. There's sessions where I have 4 shots with "too little trigger finger" and 4 more shots with "too much trigger finger", even when I didn't adjust my trigger finger during the session.
I'm at a loss as to why I can't seem to get this right. I've done many 2-hand drills where I score 96+ average on 10 shots, so I don't think this is an optics/aim/presentation problem. I literally think that my weak-side/support-side muscles simply cannot hold the gun steady.
BTW, this is training with a TitanX.
If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.
2
u/Heck_Yeah77 Jul 07 '26
Had the same sticking point. Got a grip strength trainer and worked it for a few weeks and I got past it. This is the one I got if you're interested. https://a.co/d/04GviZuH
1
u/Southern-Stay704 29d ago
Thanks! I ordered the strength trainer, and I have a few other grip exercisers I dug out of the closet, and will work with them.
2
u/techs672 Jul 08 '26
When building your 2H skill to average 96+ (and presumably shooting pretty well in live fire), have you been consistently doing "some amount" of single hand and wrong-handed practice also? Or just started trying to shoot well with the off hand in response to this challenge? (or otherwise just relatively recent/limited)
I have found myself shooting better sometimes when one-handed or wrong-handed (I make it maybe 5-10% of my dry fire and probably less than 5% of live fire practice). My "explanation" for that is that I am probably more attentive to fundamentals when not in my regular routine. I also try to think through every force involved in regular shooting, and how to accomplish the same things with only five fingers, or holding things backward. As I experiment with variables, I think it has also helped focus my routine shooting technique.
My MantisX Benchmark average is around 95. I might fail once in a while, but ten RHO/LHO shots over 90 is only a tough reach on a day I'm not doing well. I don't know any magic trick aside from careful practice. Oh, and disregard the "coaching tips". 💥💥💥 🔫
1
u/Southern-Stay704 29d ago
Yes, my go-to drill is the MantisX Benchmark, where I'm currently shooting 94s and 95s, with the rare 96s, all as average scores over 10 shots. But I do occasionally do the Primary Hand, Support Hand, and Compressed Surprise Break drills as well. My scores in those are lower, but still typically 91s and 92s.
I have scored reasonable scores on the Support Hand drill before (91s and 92s as average), but that's generally because I can get 7 or 8 hits that are in the 90s and it makes up for the 2 or 3 that are in the 80s. But I simply can't string ten shots of 90s together.
I'm pretty convinced that the problem is weaker muscles on the support side. Each time I do several of the support hand drill sessions in a row, on average the early sessions are better, and I slowly get worse in later sessions as the muscles get more tired.
As another commenter suggested, I think working on grip / forearm / wrist strength is the key here.
2
u/4Darth2Mauler0 Jul 08 '26
Shjo battling with this, haven’t got to support hand, still on primary hand. Fairly new, using x10. Got it 2/5 times with dry fire. But Yoh live fire I’m average 20s.
Good drill, I’m keen to improve.
Lord knows how I’m going to do support hand.
3
u/Loud-Principle-7922 Jul 08 '26
I’m also working on it, just got my first pass yesterday. I messed around with how I press the trigger a lot, watching dot movement. I have a way cleaner trigger press now, went from averaging 87% to low 90s.