I am a big fan of their Mantis-X and have a review [here].
Products that help you train are always a plus and their software is very helpful.

When Mantis offered me the chance to try out their Blackbeard product, I was excited.
Ammo, although more available than this time last year, is still expensive. I will admit, sadly, that my AR shooting was basically non-existent this past summer and replaced mostly with 22LR plinking. I know that I am not the only one. 

The Blackbeard is a product that lets you practice on your favorite AR without having to use any ammo. It resets the trigger after every shot and has a bore laser.

Packaging and presentation

The package is very professional looking and put together well. There was also a branded outer sleeve, but I had already taken it off:

Mantis takes packaging seriously. The Mantis-X comes in a Pelican hard case.
The Blackbeard comes in a semi-hard clamshell zippered case:

Inside the package

Magazine/battery

-        A “magazine” which is the product's battery. It has a micro-USB charging port (same as Mantis-X), located at the top right of the pic. 
The top of the magazine has the connection for the bolt assembly.

 "Bolt carrier group/charging handle"

-        A single-piece bolt carrier group and charging handle replacement replaces your existing parts. This includes hammer reset and laser sight.
In the bottom pic you can see the connectors that meet the battery. Insert mag so that they line up :)

Incidentally, should you de-cock the rifle (fire) it and it doesn't re-cock drop the Blackbeard mag and re-insert it. If it has a charge it should recock the rifle.

Accessories

-        Mantis sticker, wrench for laser adjustment, USB cable for charging. 
The cable is a bit short, but most people have a box of them.

Instructions

The instructions are short, but they are spot on.

Laser Academy

An advertisement for Mantis’ Laser Academy which is a completely different training system for this type of system. I would have liked a little more information on it, as I completely missed the fact that it is a separate app than the one MantisX uses. Instructions, or a link to their YouTube video on it would have been helpful, but it was easy enough to find online. Ok, I am not showing you the other side of the card which says to download their app lol. I thought I already had it though. 

I will follow up discussing Laser Academy in a later post.
Here is the link if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKpQRoaMENk

 Installation

For Blackbeard, you basically replace your AR’s bolt carrier group (BCG) and charging handle with the one-piece Blackbeard. The instructions are good, although I suspect that most users will not need them.

Blackbeard in a Colt 6920 (sorry for the pic, it wouldn't fit in the light box lol):

Does the Blackbeard "carrier" fit?

I used it in a few different AR’s. Ease of install varied a bit from rifle to rifle:

1.           Retro A1-build (Brownells): The assembly went in and out the easiest, with no pressure or tools needed.
2.           Aero-build: This was the opposite, VERY tight closing the upper and a punch was needed to push the pin out to disassemble.
3.           Colt and
4.        Surplus Arms (SAA)-build: Both the SAA and Colt were a bit tight to close and a little stiff to pop out the pin.  

Magazine fit

The magazine (battery) inserted and dropped out of each of the AR’s without issue. had no issues in any of the rifles.

Laser modes

The laser has 2 modes: constant and trigger-activated. It can be switched with a simple flick of a switch on the BCG unit.
The instruction sheet above shows and the first assembly pic shows it in the top right. It's a simple flick up/down and you can use your finger or the tip of a pen to change.

Constant laser 

Using constant on mode, the first thing that I thought of was: laser bore sighter. I think that this will easily get you on the paper. I have an expensive laser bore sighter that I got off Amazon for like $50. It uses spring prongs on the end of the barrel. I think that the Blackbeard would be more consistent. In my rifles I found the optics to be consistently 1.5” – 2” above the Blackbeard. This makes sense since they are sighted in very close - in between bullet rise and optic mounting.

Putting Blackbeard in various rifles showed the laser position to be consistent. So, a bore sighter as an unintended plus? Maybe -- Unfortunately, the distances available in my house are fairly short, so I need to take the rifles out and test that theory.

This would be good if you want to sandbag your rifle and practice pulling through the trigger noting movement. To be honest, none of my rifles are “precision-grade” and I am far from a marksman so that is of limited value to me. It does show the trigger differences between rifles though.

Trigger activated laser

I prefer the trigger-activated mode. Essentially, the laser activates momentarily every time you pull the trigger. The Blackbeard resets the trigger each time with an audible click. Mantis advertises that it can cycle the hammer up to 10 shots per second. Pretty neat! It is a definite improvement over standard dry-fire practice.

What to do with Blackbeard? 

Other than dry fire without racking and potentially bore sighting, what else can you do with the Blackbeard?

I found myself practicing house clearing half-jokingly – until I realized that I could potentially glean some good info and practice. Where the muzzle ends up is interesting. Also, a hard lesson was the amount of stuff in my way while trying to move through the house!  

I had another person randomly put targets throughout the house. I then went through the house with them spotting where I was “hitting” the targets. Even more interesting!

I can also see different variations of this using different types of targets and if you are a glutton for punishment, you could try rifle “dot torture.”

I haven’t even tried it with just rifle mounted lights – Legos are likely to be the end of me. I could spend a lot of time learning just my house since toy placement is “dynamic.”  

My next trip to my brother’s house will be with it along with some B27’s. I think that he will enjoy it and for me a new “course.” If either of us lived in a secluded area, if would be fun to set up something outside. Unfortunately, I don’t think the neighbors would be too happy about it.

Now, I don’t fancy myself ready for house clearing. In fact, from an old Wilson instructional video on the topic (paraphrased): The first rule of house clearing is DON’T. House clearing is best left as a job for a team of trained professionals.

Why? SAFETY. Not just in this scenario, but also in training.

The Blackbeard, in addition to facilitating low-cost training that doesn’t require travel, fees or ammo, it allows you to do so safely! That’s a winning combination in my opinion.
If you chose to get one, I hope that you enjoy it. Mantis does offer an instructor discount if you email them.

More info here: https://mantisx.com/products/blackbeard-the-auto-resetting-trigger-for-ar-15

I still plan on trying the Blackbeard with Mantis’ Laser Academy. I will post after I work with it.