Customer Reviews

Tactical Pistol Shooting: Your Guide to Tactics That Work

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We just finished reviewing 10 recent tactical shooting books (2000 to 2008) for an upcoming magazine article, and Lawrence's Tactical Pistol Shooting is light years ahead of all the others, regardless of price.

If you spend $5,000 and go to Gunsite (we teach blade combat as one of the Yavapai modules), you will walk away with almost the same knowledge as buying Lawrence's book for under 20 bucks! Erik covers all the most recent topics and insights, and does it with tons of illustrations, lots of lists, and extremely practical advice for the real world. Even our seasoned NRA instructors are raving about his thoroughness.

There is NO wasted space in this book. Others spend time arguing about stance, quoting philosophy, etc. for "fill." Lawrence PACKS the book with original and unusual professional topics, including gun fighting while injured, knife fighting, and many other unexpected pearls. 8 of the other 10 we reviewed were ok for beginners, this book has enough beef for even the most experienced pro.

As a federal agent and a prior police officer, I loved this book. It is concise, well illustrated, and straight to the point. If you can only read one book, and you need to learn tactics and techniques that could save your life, this is it. This author puts out a good book, and I just wish I could train with him. The only negative, it should have been longer so that it would have more time to read. The people he list as reading and critiquing the book are real world players who have tested this stuff in combat, especially Tom Wilburn. Soldiers, police officers, and civilians will learn an effective way to protect their lives.

What saves lives in a gun fight is doing the basics well. This is one of the best books out there for teach the basics. Excellent pictures and easy to understand discriptions makes this book great for all levels of marksman. If your getting into pistol shooting or want to learn how tactical teams shoot this is a must have.

Erik Lawrence has a lot of good information in this book, and for many it does give a great overview of a lot of material. That being said, some of the techniques shown are not current. This is in no way to diminish Mr. Lawerence's military background, but some habits that one learns in the military have been proven outdated by those at say, Gunsite, Thunder Ranch, Sig academy and so on. For example, using just the forefinger and thumb to release the slide, has been essentially dropped from many a schools curricula in favor of a "saddle grip" that is with the thumb facing rearward and four fingers grasping the slide, using two major muscle groups are more efficient than using two fingers to grasp the slide. Secondly shooting over cover is generally a bad idea, as it highlights the one thing that you don't want shot, your head! Again, these could be stylistic differences, but noting the recent publication date of the text, these things have already been covered and updated prior to publishing. Positional shooting, reloads, and malfunctions are covered very well. Again a good book, but not the instant classic as some are claiming it is. Also a trip to gunsite can never be replaced by a book.

As a retired police officer from the Washington DC area with over 23 yrs on the job, 15 of which were in SWAT and law enforcement special operations, I highly recommend this book to anyone in our field who wishes to become a better, safer, and more tactically aware operator. Beware of books and author's promising the latest, greatest, advanced tactics. I've never been impressed with a lot " How To " books that get generated by former persons in our line of work, but Erik Lawrence has put together a solid collection of proven tactics and techniques that will produce results. In my unit we used to study every possible way that we could constantly improve our skill sets. What we found is that only a disciplined application of fundamentals will give you the foundation necessary to expand and grow. That is what this book delivers. Mr. Lawrence, with his substantial background and operational knowledge appreciates the same demanding approach to sharp, crisp fundamentals. Additionally, I have trained with Erik and I can promise you that his qualifications as an instructor are among the best out there. Get the book. You won't be sorry.

Steve Filyo, POIII Montgomery County Police, Maryland, retired.

As always happens, the best ideas about shooting start in the competition world and eventually trickle down from there, first by top trainers and more elite spec ops, then the general gun public and finally to the doctrines taught by law enforcement and the military.

If you want to see what ideas and concepts will be "cutting edge" in the spec ops community five years from now, go attend good formal competition shooting events today.

"Tactical Pistol Shooting: Your Guide to Tactics & Techniques that Work" by Erik Lawrence proves that. Brian Enos published "Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals" in 1990 based on his findings and success in competition shooting through the 1980's. This book, written sixteen years later, merely echoes these findings.

Basically, as a special operations soldier Mr. Lawerence was a student of a teacher that learned high level shooting from people like Enos. Later, Mr. Lawerence decided to write a book about it.

This isn't a bad thing. The whole point of organized shooting is to create a format that people can experiment and learn from. By risking only points in a match, instead of life and limb, participants can try things and have an objective measure of the results. This book is more simplistic than "Beyond Fundamentals" and more approachable by most people. The shooting advice given is sound and if you don't already have a decent text on practical pistol shooting this is a good one to consider.

Erik Lawrence's 'Tactical Pistol Shooting' is sure to be an instant classic. At first glance, the reader will immediately grasp that the principles and techniques layed out by Lawrence are based upon real-world experience. It is the first, true, soup-to-nuts guide to tactical pistol shooting.

Time and again, when writing up my forthcoming book, "Citizen Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways For Every American to Fight Terrorism", this book was recommended by police officers, professional security and other individuals (including soldiers). The book is clearly laid out in chapters on terms, mental training, fundamentals of pistol shooting and the various shooting positions. Safety is also emphasized. The book also discusses lawful personal defense usage.

A key element of the book is the type and number of drills which are clearly illustrated with photos - lots of photos. They show positions and techniques in a step-by-step basis. This is a great reference and a worthwhile investment to improve your shooting skills. In these perilous times, the Citizen Soldier needs to improve their skills. After a terrorist attack, the police and other first responders will be extremely busy. It will be up to the law abiding citizen to defend their families and communities.

This book was an immediate help in improving both my shooting skills and tactical awareness. The information it included on proper mindset and habits should continue to sharpen my thinking. It's exactly the kind of book I like, clear, concise and relevant.

This book is NOT a tactical book... It is mostly an introduction to pistol shooting. The first 60 some pages are spent talking about safety, different kinds of pistols, different parts on pistols, and other topics that anyone that has ever held a gun before already knows. The last part of the book does talk about some malfunction drills and training drills. After finishing the book, I don't think that I got much out of it and that is not because I "know everything." Quite the opposite, I know I'm very new to the subject, but spending about an hour watching Youtube videos produced by TheNSSF about handgun shooting tips, you will get the same information that is in the book.

The author doesn't spend any time talking about clearing a room, working in teams, or other tactical needs. He does put in a few bullet points telling you to stay away from corners and keep the weapon close, but for a book with the word "TACTICAL" in the title, he spends less than 2 pages talking about tactical situations. I would recommend The Modern Day Gunslinger: The Ultimate Handgun Training Manual over this book.

The only reason I'm giving this book 2 stars instead of 1 is because the book does do a good job of introducing shooting to people that have never shot before.