Customer Reviews

Secrets of a Master Gunfighter [VHS]

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I have to admit that I was just a little bit disappointed in this particular video especially when compared to Mr. Cirillo's first video (JIM CIRILLO - Modern Day Gunfighter) and his previous books, which were absolutely fantastic and loaded with tons of useful information. I found this particular video a bit lacking in that respect and although there was a lot of good information presented, there seemed to me to be an air of trying to cover too many topics and not really spending enough time on any one subject. I personally would like to have seen fewer topics covered but more time spent on the ones that were covered.

For example, there was a very good section on the realistic aspects concerning cover when faced with a rifle, the .223 and .308 to be specific, in which these rifle rounds were fired at a cinder block, railroad tie, windshield, and a telephone pole. Good information and very enlightening as to just how effective these items would or would not be if one was using them for cover but, and here is where I think this video failed, they never did demonstrate the effectiveness of these items against the various pistol calibers which you are more apt to be facing in an urban environment. Now the rifle rounds were great, but they should have included pistol rounds as well from the .380 all the way up to and including the .44 magnum.

Another thing that kind of bothered me is that there were portions of this film that seemed to be more of an advertisement for certain gun related products than actually instructing you on efficient and effective gun handling techniques and tactics. Now that isn't meant to imply that there wasn't some good information presented, just that there wasn't enough of it.

Now one thing that really stood out for me was the fact that Mr. Cirillo was adamant about making sure that you have the proper training for self-defense and not to develop bad habits that may be fine in a controlled environment where nobody is on the other end shooting back at you, but would get you killed in real life. Sport shooting and competition shooting is fine and does develop certain skills, but it is not reality and you need to acknowledge and separate the two into two distinct and radically different methods of shooting. Be sure and check out these books by Mr. Cirillo and his other video previously mentioned in this review.

Jim Cirillo's Tales Of The Stakeout Squad

Guns, Bullets, And Gunfights: Lessons And Tales From A Modern-Day Gunfighter

Shawn Kovacich
Creator of numerous books and DVDs.

This is a second trainig film by Jim Cirillo, a veteran of 17 gunfights. Although the subtitle of the film says that this is an advanced film, the techniques presented here are not necessarily very advanced, but rather intermediate level.

This film covers many topics, like training for reality, downed officer defence, geometric point shooting technique, low light shooting, and so on. The problem is that the film is mainly a hodgepodge of different, separate tricks and techniques. I would have preferred if Cirillo had presented a clear, total system of self defence shooting, but instead he has chosen to cover varied topics, and some of them are given just a glance; maybe a minute or even less.

Some of the things Cirillo covers are very good (like the fact that you should integrate armed and unarmed defence into a total package, or that you should modify the techniques to suit your individual needs and limitations), but some things don't even belong into this tape, in my opinion (like the 5 minutes Cirillo uses to demonstrate a 6 mm x 45 rifle his friend has developed - it may be a good rifle, but otherwise this has been a handgun tape. And they don't even teach any techniques for the rifle, they just tell about a rifle Cirillo's friend has developed). But the major downside of the film is that Cirillo teaches some techniques that are not very good (like an obsolete flashlight shooting technique), or are downright dangerous (like using tracer ammunition to illuminate the target, which requires you to shoot first without identifying the target - you could be shooting your own family member, or a responding police officer!).

As I said in the beginning, the techniques are not necessarily very advanced. But no beginner should see this tape, before he has acquired enough knowledge and experience to be able judge himself whether a given technique is good or not.

Run time: 1:31

Reading both of Jim Cirillo's books is like learning at the feet of the master. Cirillo has walked the walk and survived numerous gunfights against those who would do us harm.