Customer Reviews

Combat Focus Shooting

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been a handgun shooter for a bit over 50 years now. I had high expectations of this book after reading the reviews here on Amazon. I was sadly disappointed. It has about 100 very small pages of mostly common sense information written in 3 page chapters. An example would be his observation that:
1. When should you use the sights on a handgun? Answer: It's up to you.
2. What kind of gun is best for defensive use? Answer: It's up to you, whatever kind you like is OK.
3. In a defensive situation, 5 shots fired in 2 seconds into a 12" circle is better than 5 shots fired in 10 seconds into a 1" circle. Really......that does make some sense. 10 seconds in a gunfight is an eternity.
4. Generalizations like "practice how you expect to shoot" really goes without saying and is just basic common sense.
I just did not find ANY useful, enlightening, or significant information in this very small book. I have only returned 2 books to Amazon in my many years of buying them here. One was damaged in shipment. This one is the other one I returned. I will add, if you've never handled a gun before and are totally unexperienced with firearms, you might find a couple of useful pointers in this book.
I should edit this to add some recommendations that may offer more information along these lines. I highly recommend:
1. Stress Fire by Massad Ayoob
2. In The Gravest Extreme by Massad Ayoob
3. Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights by Jim Cirillo
4. No Second Place Winner by Bill Jordan
5. Almost any of the books on defensive handgunning by Jeff Cooper or Chuck Taylor

The book has excellent information about why Rob Pincus is an advocate for combat focus shooting in certain combat situations. My only complaint with the book is the numerous spelling and punctuation errors. I'm not talking about 3 or 4 in the short book, but many times that number. They are minor errors and relatively easy to overlook, but in a professionally published book I would expect better proofreading. (Rob, if you would like a proofreader for any of your other works, please contact me.) Other than that, the information is wonderful. I'm looking forward to getting out to Valhalla for some training!

Rob's passion for clear and useful communication shows! Every page deals with what he thinks will keep himself and you alive during a "dynamic critical incident". Even better than the "what" is the "why"; if his opinions are different from yours then you are given the reasoning behind the practice.

The book starts with the right things up front. Rob spends the first half in your head. If you're going to the range twice a year and do one-handed slow fire at 25 yards, you're not going to really improve your ability to defend yourself when it's at the statistical average range of 5-10 yards and happening very fast. You must consider your mindset first, and set reasonable training goals and measurements for those goals. Rob covers Safety, Leaning opportunities, Efficiency, Consistency, Body Mechanics, Combat Accuracy, and how to determine "How fast can I go?" and "How accuracte do I need to be?".

You get to the physical specifics in the second half of the book, but spend some real time on the first. Until you're fully comfortable with your pre-engagement decisions you will always risk increased hesitation in the moment of truth. Set measureable goals against your specific needs and settle in your own mind what you and the weapon can do. That solid foundation will let you confidently move to the actual skills.

There seems to be at least two ideal candidates for this book. First, if you're new to pistol shooting but want to be able to use your weapon for personal defense, this is the book to read. After your initial orientiation to the pistol via an NRA class or equivalent then you process Rob's information into your specific needs. The book, and the DVD available from Valhalla Training, will give you a wealth of information and let you see how you can protect yourself and your loved ones.

The second ideal candidate is a team member in a unit with limited training funds. Make no mistake, going to the Valhalla training is in all ways superior to reading a book. However, few departments have unlimited funds. If your line of work puts you in harm's way then Rob's disciplines will increase your chances of coming home safe every night.

While I would have appreciated more explicit "exercises" for brand new shooters, you can figure out creative ways to integrate Rob in your range time. The biggest plus for me? Rob has his thoughts, I have mine. Whether or not we agreed I was given enough information to critically evaluate my current practice. If I can improve, great. If what I am already doing suits my needs better, great. Rob made me think, and for that I consider this money very well spent.

I first encountered Rob Pincus in a video produced by Vahalla, and was so impressed with his knowledge, logic, and ability to articulate and teach that I picked up the book.

Pincus says that "Combat Focus shooting wasn't developed, it was recognized," and he is exactly right. Since Jeff Cooper pioneered this field almost 40 years ago, instructors who continue to learn rather than stay stagnant have been vectoring in on the epitome of grip, trigger control, sight use, stance, etc. with remarkable consistency and similarity.

I was amazed at how virtually identical Rob's techniques are to the ones we use at Northern Virginia Tactical. Nomenclature may be different (what he calls "high compressed ready" we call "centerline retention") but the concepts are remarkably similar.

In an effort to be "cutting edge" some of the material out there are highly proprietary and peculiar (e.g. Ayoob's "StressFire," Middlebrooks' "Fist Fire"). Not Rob's approach. It is eminently sensible. It's where the state of the art is going, and Rob is ahead of the curve.

I have been wanting to do a review on this book for a while, but didn't just want to say how much I liked the book and how it changed my prospective on defensive shooting. It came to me when my girlfriend asked me to take her shooting. I thought it would be a good chance for me to teach someone who didn't have much experience with firearms for a change since I have been spending my last 6 months teaching local police units and my fellow navy service members. I started out by showing her the basic functions (it was full size M&P 9mm), I quickly realized that unlike my previous teaching experiences she had no idea how to use a firearm and was a little anxious about using it, and because of this I didn't have time to teach her about trigger control or how to use the sights. Within 10 minutes she and I were on the range getting combat accurate hits. I looked around and noticed that other people were teaching basic range marksmanship, and there was not a lot defensive shooting. After an hour we left and I asked her if she had a good time and if she felt comfortable with a firearm. She replied yes, and told me though the first couple times she was scared she quickly felt that the techniques were not only safe, they were practical. I told her I didn't care if she could fit 5 rounds into the five ring (neither did she) all I cared about was that she could protect herself with a firearm. In closing I used to spend a week with my new shooters in the navy trying to teach them to be marksmanship shooters. As Rob says it easier to teach someone to just look at the target and extend, touch, press than learning how to be a marksman!
Stay Safe!
Louis Gorman

Having been taught and performing marksmanship shooting for many years, I have realized through Rob's book just how much defensive shooting needs to be taught first and marksmanship second. After studying Combat Focus for approx. one year I took the Combat Focus Instructor Development course and learned a wealth of information. This book will open your eyes on how to build a firm foundation in defensive shooting and expand from there.

The best way to experience this book is paired with Rob's unbeatable Combat Focus shooting course. It was one of the longest and toughest weeks I ever went through, not the least because I had two herniated disks at the time, but I was planning to deploy the Iraq and the concept needed to really sink in for quite a few of us. We had a good deal of familiarity with our primary (M-4) and secondary (M-9) weapons systems, but Rob and his team taught us how to make those weapons systems and shooting them intuitive. Additionally, we had to look at our third and fourth order systems (when neither weapon worked) and the Vahalla academy really came through on that score for us.

I highly recommend the book, but not in a vacuum, and especially not if you really intend to use skills like this in a tactical or combat role. You need to have the hands on application of skilled trainers and a critical eye, which one can say of any book on improving your combat focus.

Rob Pincus has done a great job with this book. The material is fairly comprehensive and the explanations are easy to understand. I've tried some of the drills and have found they have helped me to hone my skills. It is a great book for any shooter, whether you are new to carrying a handgun for personal protection or you are the intelligent experienced shooter who doesn't close your mind to new ideas. Read the book and then get out on the range and give it a try.

It was an ok read. I thought that there could have been more drills outlined in the book.

the book is easy to understand,the theories are sound from a self defense standpoint.although there are many diferent theories out there depending on the instructor,i feel this book is an exelant starting point for anyone interested in combat/self defence shooting.