Police Rifles: Selecting The Right Rifle For Street Patrol And Special Tactical Situations [Paperback]

W.E. Fairbairn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1994

Here is a complete guide to selecting and using the right patrol, military or sniper rifle for everyday and special law-enforcement situations. Fairburn analyzes the strengths of candidate weapons and their calibers. He also provides field tricks and proven drills that will maximize the officer's and rifle's performance.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

W.E. Fairbairn taught unarmed combat to the famed British Commandos and the U.S. armed forces during World War II. Before the war he served as assistant commissioner of the Shanghai Police Force. He was the inventor of the Fairbairn Commando Knife and the author of the classics Get Tough and Shooting to Live.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press (November 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873647998
• ISBN-13: 978-0873647991
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,189,849 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good all around primer, June 2, 2003

By 

Rodger Young "Tweak" (Tacoma, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Police Rifles: Selecting The Right Rifle For Street Patrol And Special Tactical Situations (Paperback)

Dick knows his stuff and has been around long enough to give sage advice. This book covers all versions of the police rifle whereas so many other books concentrate on one aspect of LE usage of longarms be it a "patrol rifle" snipers rifle or SMG.

Fairburn's book gets down into the 'been there bent that' of using long arms in the field, a lot of lessons learned went into the book. He also touches on ancillary equipment, bags, bipods, scopes, binos etc. He includes the generic ballistics tables that are becoming so common in manuals of this type as well as a light discussion of cartridges. None of the material is covered in an overly technical manner and it is obviously written from the perspective of a po' officer working for a po' agency. An unfortunate, but all too common, event these days. As such, he gives tips on using the cheap new breed of "unassault" rifles (levers and bolts) as well as little used models such as Marlin Camp series.

He touches on all aspects of police rifle use, patrol, sniper, etc., and gives enough information to get a newbie started in the right direction. If your background and training only consists of pistols this book should be on your shelf. An added nice touch is the extensive and well done targets included in the last pages. Many will never use them but for that unfortunate po' officer (or lawful citizen) they do make for inexpensive training.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is By Fairburn, not FairBairn!!!!, February 11, 2008

By 

Ron Robinson "Rogue" (LA, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Police Rifles: Selecting The Right Rifle For Street Patrol And Special Tactical Situations (Paperback)

Most in the know who see the byline of W.E. Fairbairn think of the former British Commando and Shanghai Police Chief who was instrumental in saving the lives of uncounted SAS and OSS operatives with the hand-to-hand combat training he delivered in their training camps. Richard Dunlop said of Fairbairn:

"All of us who were taught by Major Fairbairn soon realized that he had an honest dislike for anything that smacked of decency in fighting."

The idea was to win a fight and win it quickly.

This book (if you look closely at the cover) was written by one Richard Fairburn (who I do not know) and neither he nor Fairbairn's memory are well-served by the mistake that this book has been attributed to Fairbairn. This book was published in 1994. Fiarbairn died in 1960 and it's unlikely his estate would have waited this long to offer up any previously unpublished works.