Customer Reviews

The Complete Book Of Combat Handgunning

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The author, Chuck Taylor, is a legend in the field of defensive handgunning. This, however does not automatically mean that a book written by him would be any good. A fact that is emphasized by this book, although it is a classic. When this book was first published in -82, it may have been the cutting edge of combat handgunning, but so much has changed since then.

If a book is supposed to be "the complete book" of just anything, and the page count is less than 300, I became very suspicious. In this case, there are less than 180 pages, and only about 140 of those comprise the real text part (including pictures). The rest is filled with glossary and appendixes.

The book starts with the history of handgun. Next it handles care and cleaning of the gun. In my opinion, you should not learn the maintenance of your weapon from a book like this; you should stick to the instructions the manufacturer has provided (for liability reasons mainly). Next the author discusses customizing the gun. Now this is a thing I do not understand: Why buy a gun that is not ready to use out of the box? But then, I shoot Glock. Well, Taylor is a fan of Colt 1911, and it shows in this book. After this, there is a chapter on holsters, which is fine but the age of the book shows here somewhat. Next is a chapter on stopping power; a chapter that should have been left out. As I said, Taylor is a fan of Colt 1911 and .45. After all this, Taylor finally gets to the shooting part. There is pretty much all the basic stuff on gun handling, but it is presented in such a hurried way that you are not really supposed to learn anything from this? Or are you? For example, Taylor uses full two pages to present different shooting styles with a flashlight. Is that adequate or what? Then there is ten pages of tactics? Enough said on that. There is also a chapter on mental conditioning. In favor of Taylor, he is one of the few gun writers who have the courage to say that the color code of readiness (condition white, yellow, orange and red) was not invented by Jeff Cooper. The last chapter is about training and handgun competitions. And that's it, folks! 140 pages makes "the complete book".

I believe I made it clear that the contents of this book don't match the title. That still doesn't mean that this book is worthless. You just can easily find books on the subject that are better than this. This book serves best as an collectible for those who are interested in the subject, and not as an instruction book for those who are worried about their safety.

As someone who has attended some classes instructed by Taylor, you realize that out of thousands of columnists and gun writers, he is clearly 'been there and done that'. Now there may be many people with as much combat experience as he has attained, however Taylor refined his technique, and has done so for a very long time. He is not out there teaching the Swiss Army, La Legion, or Seal Team Six because he is a couch crusader. Taylor is also set apart from most because he can write. Taylor has distilled the majority of his experience and techniques into this book. This book is the original Combat Hangunnery Book, and it is already to its Fourt Edition. Now naturally some material in this book is dated, but I have this along with the current edition because it fills in some of the theoretical underpinning of his current techniques. It also lets you see that the techniques have not changed all that much in the last 10 or 15 years. I wish I had bought this book when I first started to practice with hanguns as I would not have necessarily bought the same guns. I now, of course, use a 1911, as does everyone else eventually.

Get this book, dry practice, then go take a Taylor course, you WILL NOT be disappointed. He will stop you from wasting time and ammo developing bad habits, and rapidly improve your skill, yes even cops could learn for Taylor.

Even though this book was first published in 1982; nevertheless, most of the information in this classic is just as valid today in 2009. The book is clear, concise and informative. The ten chapters cover a wide variety of topics. The first chapter gives a brief historical reference to handguns. The second chapter explains the purpose of the handgun. The third chapter tells how to properly clean and care for your gun. The fourth chapter gives tips on how to prepare your handgun for combat. The fifth chapter details types of holsters and ammunition carriers. The sixth chapter gives information on handgun stopping power. The seventh chapter is on the techniques of combat shooting and chapter eight provides vital information on combat tactics using the gun. Chapter nine deals with mental conditioning and the final chapter covers training and competition.

In conclusion, this is a book for anyone interested in combat shooting.

Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Use of the Monadnock Straight Baton).

I try and pick my shooting books very carefully. Read all the reviews, digest them, sort through the garbage, and make an educated decision. Like I said, good read over and over, just keep me on track. Very good shipping.

I am taking training courses in defensive handgun and shotgun and find this book (and Taylor's book on 'Tactical Shotgun and Submachine Gun') a great source of USEFUL info. I'm glad to have purchased it.
Greg C.

I FIRST READ THIS FINE REFERENCE BOOK SEVERAL YEARS AGO. FURTHER
READING,STUDY AND TRAINING HAVE REINFORCED THE FUNDIMENTAL TRUTHS
AND REAL WORLD UTILITY OF THE TECHNIQUES WELL DETAILED IN A EASILY READ,UNDERSTOOD AND MEMORIBLE STYLE. YOU CAN BET YOUR LIFE ON THE TECHNIQUES AS TAYLOR AND HIS STUDENTS DO EVERY DAY.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT HANDGUNS IN REAL LIFE
USE, THIS IS THE BEST REFERENCE TO BEGIN WITH AND TO END WITH.

This book covers the technical basics fairly well, if you don't take the claims of scientific validity too seriously. It does not address markmanship fundamentals in enough detail to be useful; it recommends formal training to accomplish that task. The overpowering ego makes the reading a bit difficult at times, but the data is mostly there.