Customer Reviews

Tactical Pistol Marksmanship: How To Improve Your Combat Shooting Skills

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Gabriel Suarez is one of the best known authors on tactics and shooting, and for a reason. As with other books by Suarez, this book is written in clear and easy to read style, and the book is filled with photographs to add to the clarity of the text. Sadly, most of the photos are a bit too dark, or the lighting is bad (strong light coming directly from the side, for example). However, the pictures are clear enough to see what they are depicting.

Suarez starts with a brief history of combat handguns and combat handgunning. Then he proceeds to weapon and ammo selection, and he also touches the subjets of accessories. These chapters are short however, and you just can't make a selection on proper defensive ammunition, for example, by just reading three pages. Suarez gives a few valuable pointers on what to take into consideration when choosing proper gear, however.

Next Suarez addresses the basics of handgun shooting: the grip, stance, loading and unloading the gun, proper sight picture, and safety rules. After the basics he advances to ready positions, tactical and speed reloads and so on. Interestingly, he is not as strict in his opinions as he used to be. These chapters contain some ideas that are very interesting and were new to me.

The next few chapters are what sets this book apart from most: Suarez gives detailed training program to improve your accuracy and speed. He also advises that you don't have to spend vast amount of money on trainig ammo, as majority of training can be conducted as dry practise. Besides, quality beats quantity anyway. This section is worth the price of the book alone.

At the end Suarez tells "the truth about point shooting", and answers to some frequently asked questions. The question of point shooting seems to be a hard one, as Suarez defends aimed fire by giving what seems to be almost the same rationale as point shoters use when defending their point of view.

In the end, I would give this book 4 ˝ stars, if it were possible. Full five stars is reserved for special occasions, so I give this book "only" four.

This is a very good and useful book. It really is. If you are a pistol shooter and you are not shooting to your potential and you can tell yourself, though painful as it may be (we are guys after all) that you need to improve, and that you believe the fundamentals of shooting are the foundation of advancing your skill then this book will help you. If you're like the average guy I see at the gun range who "knows it all" and is just interested in piling a lot of brass on the range floor then this book will not help you at all.

If police academies taught the fundamentals of tactical marksmanship the way Gabe presents it in his book then they are getting some really good initial training that could very well save their life. The problem with this book is that it concentrates on the basics of not only marksmanship but practical tactics that can make you a really good and effective shooter but people don't want to do the leg work any more, they want to skip right to advanced techniques that couldn't be executed without having a strong foundation anyway. Then what they ultimately miss out is what this book really does well. It takes you from the basics of marksman ship and fundamental tactics and molds you to a practitioner of a useful skill. It's not the end of your training but part of it. There are so many books and videos out there that promise you what Suarez delivers for a few dollars.

My shooting was frustrating me. I reached a plateau and wasn't improving. I wasn't able to attend a shooting school and I seemed to have more empty casings than holes in my targets. I have had pistol training in the past but it was forgotten and I was just relearning bad habits. The book takes you through the necessary steps you need to make you better and more effective. It is that simple. It is concise, well written, it teaches concepts that are easy to grasp and no matter how good you shoot I would bet that you would be even better after reading and practicing what is taught. I was able to make the jump from practicing a lot to practicing more perfectly a lot. There is a huge difference. My shooting has improved immensely from this study. When I feel I am starting to slip I either re-read it or review the appropriate chapters. I am a better shooter because of it. It is that simple. I still need to learn, I still need to continue to dry fire and then go to the range and validate my practice but I am a better shooter. This book has really motivated me to improve even more. That's what you will get from this book.

As a Federal LEO, I can safely say that I have seen a lot of firearms training and Gabe is in the leage of master Trainers. He tells it like it is in this book and doesn't paint gunfighting with the rose colored glasses that cloud this sometimes PC topic. Gabe's techniques work and they work in the real world. I have used them on duty and they are far better than what is being taught at many of the so called high speed low drag schools.

Gabe teaches Gunfighting, not shooting. real gunfights are violent and while violence seems to offend some of the more timid readers, it is reality and anyone that is carrying a gun ahs a responsibility to be trained in its use. This book is a big step toward that training. Unlike many of his detractore, Gabe has actually been in gunfights and won. He knows what happens when it is time to sling lead and he knows how to win. I highly recomend this book for anyone interested in using a firearm for self defense.

If I could have only one book on self-defense with a pistol, this would be the book. It starts with the basics and moves thoroughly and well into intermediate levels.
Unlike many authors in this genre, Suarez does not use his books and articles as product advertisements for gun-makers, gunsmiths, and accessory makers. He focuses on technique more than equipment and I like that. His techniques are simple and very proven. I've been shooting pistols for several years and I've tried many techniques. But I changed the way that I do several things after trying them the way that Suarez teaches.
In particular, I liked chapter 17: Close Quarter Combat - Some New Ideas. This chapter covers gunfighting techniques at extremely close ranges. Suarez is not only one of the best firearms instructors in the country, he has an extensive martial arts background as well. In this chapter he blends the two studies very well.
I'm impressed with this book . . . impressed enough that I'm planning a trip to attend one of Suarez's seminars later this year. I would definitely recomend this book for anyone who wants to learn armed self-defense.

Gabe Suarez covers a wide range of topics: Pistol Selection, Ammunition, Accessories, Loading, Unloading, Grip, Stance, etc... It's an excellent overview of combat shooting for those just beginning to learn and a great review for those with more advanced skills.

There are numerous illustrations, a list of resources and practice drills (both live fire and dry fire).

Overall a well written book that covers a lot of ground. Suarez advocates perfect practice and dry fire training. He says..."the more you shoot, the worse shot you will become." From a personal perspective, my skills began to increase significantly after I decreased my live fire practice sessions and focused more on dry fire at home. Although it took me a while to believe in the concept; perfect practice at a slow to moderate pace WILL make you smooth and that smoothness is what makes you fast (i.e. slow is smooth and smooth is fast).

This comprehensive work covers all the shooting fundamentals such as considerations for choosing a weapon, figuring out what type of ammunition to purchase, and understanding shooting essentials (e.g., grip, stance, sight picture, safety). These pages are pithy with just enough depth for readers to understand the important ideas. The best part of the book, however, is the detailed training program which can markedly improve your speed and accuracy with a hand gun. I shot competitively for years, going through as much as 10,000 rounds per annum in practice. Believe you me, that ain't cheap. With Suarez's dry practice advice, you do not have to spend anywhere near as much I did to improve your technique. There is also a great section on extreme low light shooting, much better than I've seen in other books. This is a very well written textbook on the finer points of marksmanship and defensive handgun skills. You can implement many of these ideas and see improvements right away.

Lawrence Kane
Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

I am a beginner target shooter (action/IPSC), and although it assumed I knew some things about pistols i found the information in this book great.

Easy to translate to action shooting etc, and very practicle advice, rather than just theory. He is someone who has actually been there and done that, and not afraid to admit at the same time that he isn't the "font of all knowledge".

Good for learners and more experienced

This book is an excellent primer for the person looking to be able to accurately fire a handgun very quickly. I purchased this book as a primer for the local concealed weapons license (CWL) course for my wife and benefited from it greatly as well.

The author explains stance, aiming and firing technique as well as a wealth of introductory information.

Some of the information is beyond basic (don't point your weapon at something you don't want to destroy) but is warranted considering the target audience of the book; his chapter on failure to stop was very good.

Hitting your target with a rifle at short range is very easy, however there is a great deal more technique required for a handgun and this book will go a long way towards getting you started.

I'd recommend getting professional instruction as well, the book could use better photos and they are black and white.

Our scores at 7-15 yards have increased 70% or so since we read the book, that's after 2 range trips.

If you have had some training before in tactical marksmanship this will be a good book with some drills and such that will help you. The problem for the newbie is that physical skills are not taught well by text they are taught by doing. If you are not a trained shooter get some training first. Until then you are better off spending the money on ammo and training.

Tactical Pistol Marksmanship was surprisingly disappointing, not because the information was bad, or because it was poorly written, but because compared to Gabe's other books, all of which I've read, it was slim on new content.

If this is the only book on the Tactical Pistol you get or read, you will likely learn a lot, but you will learn much more if you get Gabe's other book by that name, or his book The Tactical Advantage,or almost anything else he's written.

If this was the only thing I'd ever read by Gabe, I might have given it a 4 out of 5. Compared to Gabe's other work though (all of which I would rate at 5), this one was disappointing.