Thanks for this video. I wish the box came with more of an instruction manual instead of having to do all the searching online. I also wasted your customer service desk’s time thinking my laser was broken and I was ready to ship it back. I look forward to training with this, and think it has potential to be a great tool. Thanks!
I 100% agree with you... I purchased the matisx laser academy, and it took me a couple days to finally figure out how to properly load the laser into my Glock. Once I figured it out it was pretty easy but I did not want to mess anything up and do it improperly so I just waited until I knew for sure. I love the product but the directions suck. I am actually considering making a video of my own for those who have the same questions.
I'm glad this was explained, this makes a lot of sense actually and wasn't naturally apparent to me at first when I was installing the Blackbeard even though I am aware of "Sight Over Bore".. still an awesome system and I feel even better about it after having watched this. There's actually quite a bit of utility to this as you get used to varying distances and the awareness of Sight-Over-Bore. A very real thing and it's a tactical disservice to yourself to be able to zero the laser and whatever indoor distance you're aiming at knowing full well that wont be the exact distance you need to fire at should you ever need to actually use the rifle in self defense.
I found that folding down my flip-up sights gave me a near perfect visual on the Mantis laser while still having an intuitive hold with the rifle, and short indoor distances.
I agree almost completely with the sight over bore concept you discussed here. The laser WILL at some point reach your optic center mass! Depending on what distance you zero your weapon from line of bore to line of sight. The bore does eventually cross line of sight if zeroed correctly due to gravity taking effect on a round. Most 5.56 weapon systems are zeroed at 25 meters in the army which will create line of bore line of sight crossing to create an effective zero at 300m as well. Great video though!
I’ve got the Blackbeard and zero’d it to my red dot on a 45 angle at about 15 feet and it is barely under. I use the small targets in my hotel with my ar15 pistol and it’s amazing… small targets further away and cheek weld shooting is a skill you must try. Love the Blackbeard.
You can zero the Blackbeard to the reticle if you have an SBR, but not on a 16" barrel, if you dry firing in a room large enough. 18 yards in my case. The only issue is that the laser windage adjustment does not go east-west, but it adjusts northeast - southwest. Not impossible to zero, but annoying. And the adjustment is not fine enough. Maybe you can address this on Blackbeard 2.0
"They train at 5 yds". Well, if they adjust the laser to match at that range, what happens if they have to respond to a real-life threat at 5 yds and they have live ammo? They would hit 'much' lower that they aimed. Train for reality, reality will occur. Train for 'ease', reality still occurs. Zero at 25, 30, 35, 50, 100 yds. *Learn* what the response is, use that!
This is great advice. I don't know many people that train at multiple zero distances, but that seems like a clear path to better marksmanship with any rifle. I mean, what if your sights lose zero in the field? This isn't something I hear about often!
Just got my Blackbeard yesterday, fully charged this morning and couldn’t wait to zero the laser and get to shooting. Well as you said it sits right below my chevron. I’m running the Primary Arms ACSS SLX 1x Prism Gen2. But I just noticed is there when I look out past 15-20yrds the laser lines up perfectly with my chevron. Not sure if this is by design, but I love it. Again, not sure if by design or if it’s the optic but I have a dead on zero with my chevron past 15-20yrds. Has anyone else notices this?
The optic I use is the Swampfox Blade and that has lower dots on the sight to account for the hight over bore when shooting at close range so I just zero my laser to the lower dot on the sight that is made for 10 yard or the 5 dot for shots if you don’t have room to zero for the 10 yards anywhere inside.
Easy ways to do this guys. A: line up your optic on a ruler of some sort. (I use a yard stick) or put tape on the wall how many every inches apart your height over bore is and get a rough “zero” B: wait until dusk or when it’s dark and step outside and point at something at least your zero distance away. Such as a tree or your neighbors cat.
After reading the comments, all I can say is, "Good grief people"! HEIGHT OVER BORE, is the distance from bore centerline to the centerline of the optic reticle.... Height over bore is not a new concept, it has been around for some time now. As a Range Master in the military for 17+ years this was taught specifically in CQB/CQC training. The advent, or I should say the current popularity of high optics mounts today makes this a bigger issue, especially at closer ranges say 25 yards or closer in etc.
Height over bore is not a new concept, correct. Completely failing to understand it is also not a new concept, however. No need to act like that part is new.
Height over bore is something so many folks don't realize is a thing. My uncle had no idea what I was talking about because he never shot any targets up close other than steel. Even if you tried to zero the laser to the actual center of dot, you couldn't unless you re-zeroed your optic to the laser. You're limited by the line of sight inside the barrel, so you'd need to move it up at a very large angle and it would end up shining into the chamber wall and not coming out of the barrel before you'd get it high enough to match the optic. You'd also be doing yourself a disservice, because you'd be missing out on training to remember your height over bore at close distances.
Watching this I'm wondering why if you have zero set with your optic and turn the caps to show your zero, adjust the laser as far as it will go then zero the optic to the laser. When you're done using the Blackbeard, just move your optic back to your zero mark. Keeping in mind where it was when you zeroed with the laser and move it back when you want to train again. I haven't tried this yet as I'm thinking of getting this system. In theory, it should work right?
Only issue I would see with this is an impossible reality when practical use is needed. If you rifle is zero'd at 100 yards like mine, you need to know when the true POA vs POI marks are. Someone breaks into your home, you aim between the eyes, its not hitting there. Just my thoughts. I'd like to practice knowing the trajectory difference for real life
I feel like if I zero it out to 30 yds, it should perfectly hit my line of sight, then I just have to treat holdovers realistically for anything closer… am I missing something???
Well...most people don't do a 30 yd zero. I guess if your real zero is 30 yds then yes. If you've got your rifle setup in a ballistics calculater then you can figure out how low your POI is in inches at whatever range you're gonna zero the laser at then make an offset target. For example in an M4 shooting green-tip for a 100 yd zero: at 9 yds you should have a POI 2.25" low. So take a piece of paper, make a dot, measure 2 1/4" down, make another dot. Hold aiming point on higher dot. Zero the laser to lower dot.
Could you PLEASE explain that the laser will always be below the line in your INSTRUCTIONS that come with the unit? I just got mine and was worried and just about to call you.
Since you seem to engage with the comments, I figured I'd leave a comment here saying that this doesn't work with echo triggers. Not a super big deal, but I wasn't able to find anyone saying this after a google search
Mine will not work with my Elftman Match Trigger. It works for about 10 cycles then stops until you remove then replace the battery. If I use a mil-spec trigger...no problem.
The best way I've found to adjust the laser for a Blackbeard is to: Toggle the switch on the Blackbeard Bolt Carrier Group to the + sign so the laser stays on constantly. Insert the Blackbeard Magazine. Put something close to the muzzle end of the barrel. (I like to aim the rifle straight up and place a piece of paper on the muzzle end of the barrel.) Rotate each of the adjustment screws in the direction that appears to be making the laser brighter. Once the laser is bright on the paper, it will probably be a crescent shape or a circle. Remove the paper, and aim at something a little farther away (the ceiling or wall). Continue adjusting by fine-tuning whichever screw makes the crescent smaller. - This is usually the hardest part. A strategy that has worked well in the past involves selecting a primary screw. > Make a quarter turn adjustment on that primary screw. > Move to the second screw and try an eighth turn in each direction of the position it was in, checking to see if the laser image tightens. If you see improvement, keep the screw at that point before continuing on the primary screw. Eventually, you should be able to get the laser signature down to just a dot.
Technically that depends on how long you're willing to wait for the hit. If you're willing to wait a year, you can hit 1 lightyear away. You can hit the sun in ~8 minutes.
I just received mine. After a ridiculous charge time my windage does not work and my phone refuses to recognize the target. The laser itself isn't a dot but a very large half circle. I feel like after all this bs I received a faulty unit.
I believe this video should be retitled. Or at least a disclaimer that if you understand basic trajectory principles, you only need to watch the first 30sec. 30sec about how to zero and 5+min to explain rise/fall of a projectile and that bullets/barrels are really small... Some people may take offense to this but I hope the mantisx folks get a smirk.
So of course you have to zero the device. But technically once you zero the device you your impact point of an actual round, you COULD refer your optic to a closer range like 7 yards. And then yes the laser should hit your impact point at 7 yards.
I just got mine today and the windage adjustment won't turn either direction. Not good QC. Now I have to hassle with a return and reorder or get a refund and just wait for something better. This would be exactly what I was looking for - if it worked. I'll look at it again tomorrow, but I'm not optimistic.
Sight or height over bore perople!!!!! Y'all need to learn your holdovers. Thugs shoot up the neighborhood because they miss their target even when aiming.
Kind of misleading title, seems like you don't zero the mantis(except the windage), you align the mantis to your calculated offset of your gun, so in dry fire you must aim above the planned POI by whatever your offset is. Although I wonder if you could do a true zero at 25 yards at an indoor range (any further and the ballistic arc would diverge from the bore-sight)
You zero it so that it the laser comes straight out of the barrel. That plastic bolt will not fit perfectly so that the laser comes out dead center like bore sight laser so you have adjust the laser so that it comes out of the barrel without hitting the side of the barrel. You will know if the laser is hitting the inside of the barrel if you can’t see it on the wall you are aiming at or if the laser looks smeared on the wall. My optic is the Swampfox Blade and that has lower dots on the sight to account for the hight over bore when shooting at close range so I just zero my laser to the lower dot on the sight that is made for 10 yard or the 5 dot for shots if you don’t have room to zero for the 10 yards anywhere inside.
I know right! I bought a $3000 NightForce and slapped it on my rifle and it WASN'T ZEROED! Absolutely could not believe that I paid that much and it didn't work right out of the box. Saddening. /s
So it can’t truly match a point of aim and point of impact at any distance, only get close? If I confirm my point of aim and point of impact by shooting a target at 5 yards, can I switch to the blackbeard, put my point of aim at the same point of aim and then adjust the blackbeard laser to the point of bullet impact?
Do you use an eotech? If so, zero optic to 36yards and then at 7yards zero laser to the 6 oclock hash. That will give you a realistic point of impact at close range.
Why not tell people which direction of rotation is what?? Clockwise is right/up or left/down??? Neither this Video nor the paper coming with the product tell you that ...poor!
The "sight-over-bore" phenomenon is made very clear when using the Blackbeard. Said another way, the Blackbeard teaches CQB.
Thanks for this video. I wish the box came with more of an instruction manual instead of having to do all the searching online. I also wasted your customer service desk’s time thinking my laser was broken and I was ready to ship it back. I look forward to training with this, and think it has potential to be a great tool. Thanks!
I 100% agree with you... I purchased the matisx laser academy, and it took me a couple days to finally figure out how to properly load the laser into my Glock. Once I figured it out it was pretty easy but I did not want to mess anything up and do it improperly so I just waited until I knew for sure. I love the product but the directions suck. I am actually considering making a video of my own for those who have the same questions.
I'm glad this was explained, this makes a lot of sense actually and wasn't naturally apparent to me at first when I was installing the Blackbeard even though I am aware of "Sight Over Bore".. still an awesome system and I feel even better about it after having watched this. There's actually quite a bit of utility to this as you get used to varying distances and the awareness of Sight-Over-Bore. A very real thing and it's a tactical disservice to yourself to be able to zero the laser and whatever indoor distance you're aiming at knowing full well that wont be the exact distance you need to fire at should you ever need to actually use the rifle in self defense.
I found that folding down my flip-up sights gave me a near perfect visual on the Mantis laser while still having an intuitive hold with the rifle, and short indoor distances.
I agree almost completely with the sight over bore concept you discussed here. The laser WILL at some point reach your optic center mass! Depending on what distance you zero your weapon from line of bore to line of sight. The bore does eventually cross line of sight if zeroed correctly due to gravity taking effect on a round. Most 5.56 weapon systems are zeroed at 25 meters in the army which will create line of bore line of sight crossing to create an effective zero at 300m as well. Great video though!
I’ve got the Blackbeard and zero’d it to my red dot on a 45 angle at about 15 feet and it is barely under. I use the small targets in my hotel with my ar15 pistol and it’s amazing… small targets further away and cheek weld shooting is a skill you must try. Love the Blackbeard.
You can zero the Blackbeard to the reticle if you have an SBR, but not on a 16" barrel, if you dry firing in a room large enough. 18 yards in my case. The only issue is that the laser windage adjustment does not go east-west, but it adjusts northeast - southwest. Not impossible to zero, but annoying. And the adjustment is not fine enough. Maybe you can address this on Blackbeard 2.0
Exactly! I thought mine was just janky but i finally got it to zero.
"They train at 5 yds". Well, if they adjust the laser to match at that range, what happens if they have to respond to a real-life threat at 5 yds and they have live ammo? They would hit 'much' lower that they aimed. Train for reality, reality will occur. Train for 'ease', reality still occurs. Zero at 25, 30, 35, 50, 100 yds. *Learn* what the response is, use that!
This is great advice. I don't know many people that train at multiple zero distances, but that seems like a clear path to better marksmanship with any rifle. I mean, what if your sights lose zero in the field? This isn't something I hear about often!
Well done. Thank you.
Gotta know your hold over it’s a great way to get it ingrained
Just got my Blackbeard yesterday, fully charged this morning and couldn’t wait to zero the laser and get to shooting. Well as you said it sits right below my chevron. I’m running the Primary Arms ACSS SLX 1x Prism Gen2. But I just noticed is there when I look out past 15-20yrds the laser lines up perfectly with my chevron. Not sure if this is by design, but I love it. Again, not sure if by design or if it’s the optic but I have a dead on zero with my chevron past 15-20yrds. Has anyone else notices this?
Also a pcc Glock 45 battery magazine would be pretty cool
The optic I use is the Swampfox Blade and that has lower dots on the sight to account for the hight over bore when shooting at close range so I just zero my laser to the lower dot on the sight that is made for 10 yard or the 5 dot for shots if you don’t have room to zero for the 10 yards anywhere inside.
Easy ways to do this guys.
A: line up your optic on a ruler of some sort. (I use a yard stick) or put tape on the wall how many every inches apart your height over bore is and get a rough “zero”
B: wait until dusk or when it’s dark and step outside and point at something at least your zero distance away. Such as a tree or your neighbors cat.
After reading the comments, all I can say is, "Good grief people"! HEIGHT OVER BORE, is the distance from bore centerline to the centerline of the optic reticle....
Height over bore is not a new concept, it has been around for some time now. As a Range Master in the military for 17+ years this was taught specifically in CQB/CQC training. The advent, or I should say the current popularity of high optics mounts today makes this a bigger issue, especially at closer ranges say 25 yards or closer in etc.
Height over bore is not a new concept, correct.
Completely failing to understand it is also not a new concept, however. No need to act like that part is new.
Height over bore and holdovers always need to be taken into account when shooting in close range.
Height over bore is something so many folks don't realize is a thing. My uncle had no idea what I was talking about because he never shot any targets up close other than steel. Even if you tried to zero the laser to the actual center of dot, you couldn't unless you re-zeroed your optic to the laser. You're limited by the line of sight inside the barrel, so you'd need to move it up at a very large angle and it would end up shining into the chamber wall and not coming out of the barrel before you'd get it high enough to match the optic. You'd also be doing yourself a disservice, because you'd be missing out on training to remember your height over bore at close distances.
If I have a 50 yard zero on optic and viz laser, at 7 yards I should be able to just match where my viz laser is on the wall with the mantis, correct?
What is the size of the Allen wrench? lost mine :(
Ultimate laser tag
Watching this I'm wondering why if you have zero set with your optic and turn the caps to show your zero, adjust the laser as far as it will go then zero the optic to the laser. When you're done using the Blackbeard, just move your optic back to your zero mark. Keeping in mind where it was when you zeroed with the laser and move it back when you want to train again. I haven't tried this yet as I'm thinking of getting this system. In theory, it should work right?
Only issue I would see with this is an impossible reality when practical use is needed. If you rifle is zero'd at 100 yards like mine, you need to know when the true POA vs POI marks are. Someone breaks into your home, you aim between the eyes, its not hitting there.
Just my thoughts. I'd like to practice knowing the trajectory difference for real life
the best toy my wife and dog wish she never bought me..
I feel like if I zero it out to 30 yds, it should perfectly hit my line of sight, then I just have to treat holdovers realistically for anything closer… am I missing something???
Well...most people don't do a 30 yd zero. I guess if your real zero is 30 yds then yes.
If you've got your rifle setup in a ballistics calculater then you can figure out how low your POI is in inches at whatever range you're gonna zero the laser at then make an offset target.
For example in an M4 shooting green-tip for a 100 yd zero: at 9 yds you should have a POI 2.25" low.
So take a piece of paper, make a dot, measure 2 1/4" down, make another dot.
Hold aiming point on higher dot. Zero the laser to lower dot.
Could you PLEASE explain that the laser will always be below the line in your INSTRUCTIONS that come with the unit? I just got mine and was worried and just about to call you.
thank you for the feedback
Adjust the Mantis zero to the rifle zero, never the rifle zero to the Mantis zero. 💯
It's kinda sad that this has to be said :/
Since you seem to engage with the comments, I figured I'd leave a comment here saying that this doesn't work with echo triggers. Not a super big deal, but I wasn't able to find anyone saying this after a google search
It may work with the binary trigger- there are product reviews that suggest it does.
Mine will not work with my Elftman Match Trigger. It works for about 10 cycles then stops until you remove then replace the battery. If I use a mil-spec trigger...no problem.
What criteria should I use to select either the red or the green laser? I am running a green dot optic, so should I use a green lighter or vice versa?
It's personal preference, really.
My Blackbeard just projects images of the barrel’s rifling no matter how I adjust windage or elevation. Best I get is about a third of a circle.
The best way I've found to adjust the laser for a Blackbeard is to:
Toggle the switch on the Blackbeard Bolt Carrier Group to the + sign so the laser stays on constantly.
Insert the Blackbeard Magazine.
Put something close to the muzzle end of the barrel. (I like to aim the rifle straight up and place a piece of paper on the muzzle end of the barrel.)
Rotate each of the adjustment screws in the direction that appears to be making the laser brighter.
Once the laser is bright on the paper, it will probably be a crescent shape or a circle.
Remove the paper, and aim at something a little farther away (the ceiling or wall).
Continue adjusting by fine-tuning whichever screw makes the crescent smaller. - This is usually the hardest part. A strategy that has worked well in the past involves selecting a primary screw. > Make a quarter turn adjustment on that primary screw. > Move to the second screw and try an eighth turn in each direction of the position it was in, checking to see if the laser image tightens. If you see improvement, keep the screw at that point before continuing on the primary screw. Eventually, you should be able to get the laser signature down to just a dot.
it can be zeroed to a 36yard zero on a 16oal barrel
what is the max distance you can hit targets with the blackbeard laser
Technically that depends on how long you're willing to wait for the hit. If you're willing to wait a year, you can hit 1 lightyear away. You can hit the sun in ~8 minutes.
I just received mine. After a ridiculous charge time my windage does not work and my phone refuses to recognize the target. The laser itself isn't a dot but a very large half circle. I feel like after all this bs I received a faulty unit.
Sorry for the issues. Please reach out to customer support: mantisx.com/pages/contact-us
I believe this video should be retitled. Or at least a disclaimer that if you understand basic trajectory principles, you only need to watch the first 30sec. 30sec about how to zero and 5+min to explain rise/fall of a projectile and that bullets/barrels are really small... Some people may take offense to this but I hope the mantisx folks get a smirk.
So of course you have to zero the device. But technically once you zero the device you your impact point of an actual round, you COULD refer your optic to a closer range like 7 yards. And then yes the laser should hit your impact point at 7 yards.
I just got mine today and the windage adjustment won't turn either direction. Not good QC. Now I have to hassle with a return and reorder or get a refund and just wait for something better. This would be exactly what I was looking for - if it worked. I'll look at it again tomorrow, but I'm not optimistic.
Well looking at it isn’t going to do shit. Give them a call or email instead of complaining on the internet.
2:28 The center of the target.
Sight or height over bore perople!!!!! Y'all need to learn your holdovers. Thugs shoot up the neighborhood because they miss their target even when aiming.
That's not why thugs miss, but still a good thing to learn :)
Kind of misleading title, seems like you don't zero the mantis(except the windage), you align the mantis to your calculated offset of your gun, so in dry fire you must aim above the planned POI by whatever your offset is. Although I wonder if you could do a true zero at 25 yards at an indoor range (any further and the ballistic arc would diverge from the bore-sight)
You zero it so that it the laser comes straight out of the barrel. That plastic bolt will not fit perfectly so that the laser comes out dead center like bore sight laser so you have adjust the laser so that it comes out of the barrel without hitting the side of the barrel. You will know if the laser is hitting the inside of the barrel if you can’t see it on the wall you are aiming at or if the laser looks smeared on the wall. My optic is the Swampfox Blade and that has lower dots on the sight to account for the hight over bore when shooting at close range so I just zero my laser to the lower dot on the sight that is made for 10 yard or the 5 dot for shots if you don’t have room to zero for the 10 yards anywhere inside.
this video is now categorized as Nature.
Why not just zero ot at 25 yards or ....?
Kinda makes it sound like "best guess" mythology here.
There is no trajectory in a laser....
...there most certainly is.
It's not a ballistic trajectory. It's a straight trajectory.
just say height over bore - the optic sits higher then the barrel
lol never? I'm literally here because the laser is centered on the dot at 10 yards.
For the cost of this unit and how it doesn't work right out the box is saddening
I know right! I bought a $3000 NightForce and slapped it on my rifle and it WASN'T ZEROED! Absolutely could not believe that I paid that much and it didn't work right out of the box. Saddening. /s
So it can’t truly match a point of aim and point of impact at any distance, only get close? If I confirm my point of aim and point of impact by shooting a target at 5 yards, can I switch to the blackbeard, put my point of aim at the same point of aim and then adjust the blackbeard laser to the point of bullet impact?
Do you use an eotech? If so, zero optic to 36yards and then at 7yards zero laser to the 6 oclock hash. That will give you a realistic point of impact at close range.
Hehehehehehehehe
Why not tell people which direction of rotation is what?? Clockwise is right/up or left/down??? Neither this Video nor the paper coming with the product tell you that ...poor!
Your graphic and depiction of the trajectory is incorrect.
How so?