The top three all have a common trigger - could that be at play? How much is the gun, and how much is the shooter? More to come on this - just be patient.

And before you pass judgement on certain firearms, remember 1) the graph is scaled, and 2) some are absent.

4. "BUT IT'S DRY FIRE!" you say. "LIVE FIRE IS WHAT REALLY MATTERS!" We can hear you yelling through your keyboard. Fine. Here you go:

Some interesting shifts here. There are other factors that are filtered out here that influence results: the type of shooting, the intent of the shooter, etc. You can't blame everything on the gun.

5. We'll do the math for you: Shooting live is harder than shooting dry. Here is the average point drop between dry (higher scores) and live (lower scores), by manufacturer.

STI takes the cake with an average drop of only 7.5. Does the credit go to the shooters or guns? And while you most certainly agree that your choice of firearm is the best (while others gleefully disagree), let's all agree on this: that owning, and using, and training with a gun is better than not.

And let's take another minute to all agree: live fire trigger control is more difficult than dry fire trigger control. Same gun? Yes. Same Trigger? Yes. Different conditions? Yes. The impact of your psyche on shooting mechanics cannot be understated.

6. Live fire is harder, but in which way? We aggregated the data in sector and magnitude to more easily see the common tendencies. We equalized handedness to clarify the data (e.g. a RH shooter pulling low left is the same as a LH shooter pulling low right).

Anticipation, anyone? As expected. But still denied, far too often. And it is the biggest issue in both live fire AND dry fire. The data does not lie, so accept that fact, and make changes to improve it. Root out those issues in dry fire practice, and you'll see real results at the range.

7. So you're determined to improve. How many trigger presses will lead to the improvement you want?

The average shooter with MantisX starts at an average score of 78. 2000 presses in, the average climbs to 85. Hitting 5000 presses, your average could be a 92. And when you get to 10000, you'll be averaging 95. IF.

If what? Practice without feedback can build training scars. Get the right feedback on dry fire, and you'll get the best results.

Also of note: look how quickly the initial improvement happens. 94% of shooters still improve within 20 minutes of using MantisX. When performance is measured, performance improves.

8. So you've done 10,000 trigger presses. You're at the top of your game. No one can touch you. How long do your skills last? We graphed the average session score vs. the days since the last session. As you look at the graph, note that consistency is strong, but falls apart the longer the time spent between shooting.

Shooting ain't like riding a bike - it's a perishable skill. It's like that tail that your amphibious ancestor from 6.5 million years ago used to have. Use it or lose it.

9. The crazies. The most prolific trigger pressers to date? Our most prolific shooter has logged 36294 trigger pulls (as of Aug 2018). He averaged 92 on his last 50 shots and has only been training with MantisX since January 2018.