Tactical Reality: An Uncommon Look at Common-Sense Firearms Training and Tactics [Paperback]

Louis Awerbuck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

Louis Awerbuck is one of America's premier firearms trainers and instructors. He firmly believes that training and tactics are the most crucial elements in determining how people respond in a real fight. This book brings together a decade of articles by Awerbuck in S.W.A.T. and Soldier of Fortune magazines on subjects ranging from creative target systems and firearms marksmanship under stress to defensive survival of a deadly-force encounter. But above all the book is intended to promote thought on surviving a fight in an increasingly deteriorating society. Tactical Reality is not for the person who looks for trouble where he could have avoided it. It is not for the man who shuns cover and takes an unnecessary bullet. It is not for the squeamish or anyone who isn't prepared to fight to defend himself or his family. It is for everyone interested in finding out how to take a realistic approach to training so that, if need be, he can turn the tactical odds in a gunfight in his favor. This book proves that you are what you practice.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English

About the Author

Louis Awerbuck is the owner/director of the Yavapai Firearms Academy, a small-arms training operation based in Prescott, Arizona. He served as Chief Rangemaster at the American Pistol Institute and is an adjunct instructor for the U.S. Department of Energy's Central Training Academy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581600518
• ISBN-13: 978-1581600513
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #893,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strong beginning, but fades at the end, October 28, 2003

By 

Seppo Vesala (Helsinki, - Finland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tactical Reality: An Uncommon Look at Common-Sense Firearms Training and Tactics (Paperback)

When I started reading this book, I thought that this is one of those rare 5-star books. The thinking was unconventional and fresh, and there was a lot of humor in the text. Then when I reached about the halfway on the book, I became fed up with the constrained humor that Awebuck seems forced to cram his text with. And the subjects became less and less interesting, also. The thinking is unconventional to some extent, but Awebuck fails to find new aspects on the subject matter, and the text ends up repetiting the same ideas.

This book is comprised of articles published in several magazines berofe, and the problems with this format are obvious: The limitations on length placed on magazine column limit the way issues can be handled, the chapters in the book are not arranged by the subject handled, which forces the reader to go through the whole book if he is looking information on certain subject, there is some repetition in the book, the author is forced to end each and every chapter in some kind of conclusion that is not required in a text that is intended to be published in book form from the beginning, on some occasions is seemed that the author was short of ideas, but the monthly column was to be written anyway, and so on.

If the book were fully edited, the column format was discarded, the repetitive stuff removed, and the size of the book would be reduced to a more practical 8,5 x 5,5 size, the book would be worth at least one extra star. Nevertheless, because of the unconventional thinking, it is far more beneficial to read this book than the third or fourth book by your favorite author.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crammed with solid information, September 1, 2001

By 

Loren w Christensen (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tactical Reality: An Uncommon Look at Common-Sense Firearms Training and Tactics (Paperback)

Louis Awerbuck is one of America's premier firearms trainers and instructors. He firmly believes that training and tactics are the most crucial elements in determining how people respond in a real fight.
Tactical Reality: An Uncommon Look at Common-Sense Firearms Training and Tactics brings together a decade of articles by Awerbuck in S.W.A.T. and Soldier of Fortune magazines on subjects ranging from creative target systems and firearms marksmanship under stress, to defensive survival of a deadly-force encounter.
Tactical Reality is intended to promote thought on surviving a fight in the harsh reality of the street. It’s not for the squeamish or anyone who isn't prepared to fight to defend himself or his family. It is for everyone interested in finding out how to take a realistic approach to training so that, if need be, he can turn the tactical odds in a gunfight in his favor.
Here are just a few of the many article contained in this large volume.
· You are what you practice
· Reaction time
· Ballistics: The magic bullet
· The mark of a smart shooter
· Pros and cons of various body positions
· Your back-up weapon
· Making your training realistic
· What to do in a no-shoot situation
· Using a high-intensity flashlight
· What to do when attacked on your motorcycle
· And many, many more

Awerbuck writes with a conversational style, like a couple of buddies over a brew. This buddy though, knows what he’s talking about.
Good book. I recommend it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What's right and what's wrong in the world of personal defense and tactical reality., July 26, 2006

By 

Michael Chesbro (Rainier, Washington USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tactical Reality: An Uncommon Look at Common-Sense Firearms Training and Tactics (Paperback)

Tactical Reality is a book comprised of articles published by Louis Awerbuck in S.W.A.T. Magazine over the past several years. Louis Awerbuck was Chief Rangemaster at the original Gunsite Ranch until 1987 where he attained the title of Shooting Master. He also served in 1 Special Services Battalion in the South African Defence Force, and is now the lead instructor at the Yavapai Firearms Academy in Prescott, AZ.

Mr. Awerbuck certainly knows of what he speaks, and his knowledge is reflected well in his book Tactical Reality. Each article / section in the book discusses some aspect of dealing with a tactical engagement, or preventing, preparing for, or avoiding the engagement in the first place.

The articles read well individually (as was the intent when originally published in S.W.A.T. Magazine), or in series from one to the next as you read Mr. Awerbuck's concepts and ideas of what's right and what's wrong in the world of personal defense and tactical reality.

Your mind is your primary weapon, and Tactical Reality gets you thinking outside the box and off the black silhouette paper target in your training.

Tactical Reality is a worthy addition to any library.