Customer Reviews

The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat

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As someone who has taken courses with Taylor, this is the definitive work on the subject and I believe represents the best and most concise available source to civilians by where they can learn the actual uses for various military rifles, deployment of same, etc. As we have all been poisoned by movies and TV, where we see the guy with the Uzi pistol take out rifle toting goons at 300 yards, our minds have to be de-toxed from the umpteen years of garbage implanted there and this book it as close as you can come to an enema to remove that. Each infantry arm, SMG, Shotgun, Carbine and Battle Rifle are addressed, from both a select fire and semi fire perspective. The carrying and deployment of same is addressed. Practical applications, like muzzle blast, carrying of magazines, changing of magazines, are all addressed. While some of the material is dated, and several of Taylor's shooting techniques have been modified by him to make them better and quicker, whether or not you could ever go to one of this classes, this book and diligent practice of its techniques will put you a mile on top of everyone else.

This is a really good, concise book about exactly what the title indicates -- rifles used for fighting. The author is a renowned combat/law enforcement firearms expert. Unlike many others who claim that status, he actually has seen a fair amount of real-world combat. Thus his advice is always based on experience, not theory, with an emphasis always on practicality. He tells you what works, and why, in an objective, no-nonsense way. His derision of "slide-rule commando[s]" and "armchair expert[s]", i.e. those who spend more time number-crunching than shooting, made me think of several current 'gunwriters' who shall remain nameless. He also lampoons IPSC, which has strayed far from its original purpose, a criticism with which I believe Jeff Cooper agreed.

The author makes his preferences on the subject of combat longarms clear, but doesn't belabor the point and definitely allows that other weapons may work better for other people in different situations. I particularly liked his focus on what combat really is: trying to kill another person before he kills you. That's a point too often neglected. On this same line, I liked the fact that the author spent more time on tactics than on formal shooting positions. I also appreciated that he devoted a chapter to the bayonet, which never really went obsolete (I believe Marines in Fallujah used them quite recently.)

My only complaints have to do with packaging. I think this book could be significantly improved with better-quality, color photos, as the pics in this edition are b/w and sometimes hard to decipher in detail. Jeff Cooper's excellent ART OF THE RIFLE benefitted from this (see the color version and compare to the original.) This book could likewise benefit from a facelift.

A solid overview of the military application of riflecraft for the individual trooper, Chuck Taylor provides an ideal blend of combat experience (a Ranger in Viet Nam) with high level competition shooting experience (a top flight IPSC competition shooter) and well researched shooting drills via his experience teaching at Gunsite, Front Sight and his own school (ASAA.)

Some of the areas were a bit thin, providing only a series of photos demonstrating technique with NO text descriptions describing the process but the topic coverage is fairly comprehensive. I was especially pleased with the coverage on Automatic Rifles. It's shocking how many military personnel have no concept of the differences between the roles of machine guns vs. automatic rifles. Taylor not only wisely chose to cover ARs but offered a good set of drills to train on them!

This book, its reviews and countless other places criticize certain forms of competitive shooting as straying from its original purpose. There is a bit of truth there. Not even an "ideal" competitive format can cover every aspect of training so organized shooting can not be a lone solution.

The problem is the detractors of organized shooting use these facts as an excuse to cover their lack of skill. This is what separates Chuck Taylor from the bleating fray. Rather than merely complain about the competitive shooting format, he offers a set of tough but realistic drills to test your skills against instead. Ignore competition shooting if you like and aspire to shoot Mr. Taylor's drills at the Advanced level. If you can't, your low competition scores are due to low skills. If you can, you'll make a good showing at any practical rifle tournament. Turns out "fundamental" skills are fundamental everywhere.

Taylor is a man who has "been there, done that" with regards to combat shooting. This is his work, one of the original works on combat marksmanship. This book covers the basic history of various types of modern rifles in combat. It discusses the advantages of battle rifles vs assault rifles and gives good recommendations to consider. It has very good sections on the techniques of their use. It is as good as any book on the basics, and gives advice on how to acquire these skills for use on the battlefield (as apposed to the square range.) It also delves into basic individual tactical principles though it is far from complete in this area. No book is, so this isn't a complaint. As a bonus there is a section on the disassembly of most modern rifle families. That alone is worth the price. It is a bit dated, and a few things have changed since he wrote this. There are also a very few things I disagree with, but it is certainly worth getting. It may be the best introductory text on training to use a combat rifle. Even with its "typed on a typewriter and photocopied pictures1984 production" it is still better than most. Looks shouldn't make a book anyway!