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Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights: Lessons and Tales from a Modern-Day Gunfighter Paperback – January 1, 1996

by Jim Cirillo (Author), Charles R. Grabbatin (Foreword), Ray Chapman (Foreword)

4.6 467 ratings

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Learn what it takes to survive a real gunfight from someone who's been in many - Jim Cirillo, top gun in the New York City Police Department stakeout unit. Read about the stress and intensity of an actual shoot-out and how to maximize your training, ammo and weapons to prevail.

Print length

119 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Paladin Press
Publication date

January 1, 1996
Dimensions

5.75 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

0873648773
ISBN-13

978-0873648776
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Paladin Press; 1st edition (January 1, 1996)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 119 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0873648773
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0873648776
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #990,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #82,586 in Reference (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 467 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

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Amazon Customer

Although written long ago, it's still applicable today

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

Jim Cirillo spent most of his life doing dangerous work and training to triumph doing that work.
His thoughts, training methods, and ballistics observations are as applicable today as they were when he wrote this book.

Gary J. Chenett

Great book for new gun enthusists and experienced people also

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

While this book is intense and frankly at times over my head when he gets into doing reloaded ammo, it's still contains a warehouse of info.

I was impressed that such a huge amount of info could be pressed into so few pages. Jim does a great job for newcomers to the sport and also to new people carrying concealed......

He brings it home with the point that every weapon is to always be considered loaded and also the importance of practice, practice, practice.

I have so many people I meet that will take a new shooter to the pistol range and then set up targets at 25 yards or more, most of these new shooters become quickly discouraged when they can not hit consistantly at such a long distance, Jim makes it clean most trained Police Officers can't either. Shoot at 7 to 10 yards and you will soon find yourself not doing bad at 25 yards or more but start up close were the hand gun was designed to be used.

I was trained in the Army and had to qualify with a 45 Semi Auto and many other long guns but was suprised with the 45 qualification when we
had only to shoot at 10 yards in a prone supported position in Infantry AIT....

I was even more surprised that after firing like 4 magazines that when I went to cover the holes in my target that not one damn round hit a full siloutte 6 ft. man sized target.

I had been born and raised with long guns and easily qualified expert with them but damn my ego at 19 sure hit rock bottom after shooting a pistol for the first time in my life and only hitting spaces in the air..

I had a old Drill Sergeant that like Jim that said son you blind? or just stupid. I was really angry and of course if I had not qualified that meant I would have to go back and redo many weeks of training in areas I had accomplished.

I asked him Sarge what am I doing wrong? He told me the same things Jim talks about in his book about how to properly hold a hand gun, sighting etc.

Needless to say with maybe 30 minutes of instruction my Drill Sgt. had me dialed in and I qualified expert. Read Jim's book and take heed to his knowledge and he will help you if you are having problems getting nice close groups.

Jim does wander off talking about tricked out self loaded ammo he does himself. I had to skip that, it's out of my class but I was glad to know that I am loaded in my carry gun with good hollow point roundsthat I can count on..

He has some good shoot em up stories from his and his friends Police back grounds and also some good stories about what caliber rounds are the best to use in a handgun, This helps settle the many debates you can read almost monthly in the average gun magazine.

The talk about penetration of rounds and also a practice of using a double tap firing sequence or more are also very true. We experienced this same thing many times while I served with the Big Red One Infantry while in Nam 67/68....

I am going to pass my copy of his book onto a series of friends who all have recently decided to receive their carry permits, His messages and stories are I feel vital for all shooters old and new to read.

It's a short but interesting book and again has good stories relating to the experiences of himself and many friends.

Jim by the way did organize the New Youk City Police into a very effective crime prevention unit over the displeasure of many Politico's in NYC. which is no surprise when you consider the mentality of New York State and NY City for having great disdane for any civilian having a carry permit while the Politico's always have a crew of guards all locked and cocked with them all of the time.

After all of these years many people and unfortunately many Police Officers for some odd reason think that they are the only people in America qualified to carry concealed and also do not want to admit that they are heavily short staffed and in most cases their response time to protect us in the Private sector is usually 15 minutes or much longer.
It's way to long for us to wait for help from the guys that wear the white hats. When we can take care of business ourselves as has been well proven to current crime stats.

Unfortunately Obama and the many fools following him have not a clue what it is truly like to live on the streets of America Thanks to them sending billions of our tax dollars to many nations , some our enemies , instead of fixing our ouw crime problems.

He dream cloud of disarming American Citizens I feel will never be successful, many Americans are to complacent but thankfully not stupid when it comes to their right to the Second Amendment and so called Assault Rifles but I must admit I was please to know that my Ruger 22 caliber is considered a assault weapon.
This shows the mentality of many of our leaders, Thankfully we have men like Jim who make them quickly loook like the fools they are.

Thankfully America has woke up and through out many local training programs available all over the Country we have helped bring the crime rate down and not the Police.
Buy the book it's a nice piece of work

18 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2011

Verified Purchase

I was fortunate to have shot against Jim, in several matches. In fact I even beat him in a few in the late 60's and early 70's. I beat him in Ayoob's NH State Undercover Match, I think in 1972. He wasn't happy to have lost to a virtual unknown. I also beat him in several matches held by Jeff Cooper, at Hyde Park, NY, where I came out second to Ray Chapman in the Night Shoot. I was also fortunate to have personally listened as others too gathered around, when Jim spoke of his various encounters some recalled in this book. It was like he was holding "Court" and everyone paid attention, because they knew he was the real McCoy. He believed in training the way you have to fight, and not the way most LEO's are trained. Most LEO's go through an entire career without shooting anyone, Jim was certainly an exception. Every LE Dept of any size should have a "Stake Out Squad" and smaller agencies should designate one or two of their members to form several teams, train together, and do stake outs, in their various jurisdictions. I think there would be less armed robberies if the bad guys never knew if in fact a "Stake Out Team" just might be on the premises. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to hear the way it really was, and is, from a guy who was there and did it. Jim's untimely death was unfortunate, because he had a lot left to give. I was also fortunate to have had Gunsmith Austin Behlert living in my town, and he made me some guns like the ones he made for Jim, and others of the era. I'm long "retired" but still carry, instruct, and shoot when I can. Practice like you fight. Best regards to all, Russ Thomas, Roxboro, NC russ@thomaspi.com
I forgot, but I'd rate Jim's other book 5 stars too. Buy them both, you'll enjoy them as told by a true gun fighter, who dispels sill politically correct notions that one shot stops are possible and verified by others who were there too!

5 people found this helpful

Pleasantly Surprised

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

I was always skeptical about the book, but it's been highly recommended by top notch shooters and people who specialize in self defense, so I gave it a go. And boy, did I learn a lot from it, and was pleasantly surprised to do so considering how much literature like this I've absorbed. Now, admittedly, there is a lot of things I already knew much about, but then again, having been in the military and training people in self defense myself, I wasn't necessarily new to the subject, and you know what? That's why I like this book even more, because even a guy like myself saw some insight as to how people did things back then, and amazingly, a lot of this knowledge, if not, all of it, applies today.

I saw a review on this book that claimed that it's outdated because bullet technology has improved by quite a lot today, and though I agree with the latter, his statement on it being outdated is incorrect. Because Jim explains in full detail why even a properly expanding hollow-point is not as deadly as believed, as the edges of it are not sharp, and it's still just temporarily displacing tissue for the most part, instead of cutting a .60 inch diameter hole in a person as someone can easily but incorrectly imagine after seeing how big a fully expanded 9mm's diameter can get.

Good no nonsense book, with some amazing recollections of stuff that happened during his stake out squad stint. There was this one part where the man mentioned that his two partners dumped 10 rounds of .38 special into an assailants head, only to find that the bullets entered the skin, but skidded around the skull instead of penetrating into the brain. Basically, this man survived 10 rounds of point blank .38 special to the head. Now, that's interesting.

27 people found this helpful

Reader warning - for the strong of stomach only.

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

Jim Cirillo is a legend, and if not for the politics of the day, he could have played an even bigger role in defending New York City against opportunistic thugs and murderers. He probably survived more actual gunfights than any other man in modern history, so his opinion carries no small weight. But if you are of a liberal or peace loving persuasion, his words are probably not those you want to hear. Killing bad people was, after all, his chosen profession.

His true talent was not only being quick on the draw and being able to shoot straight, but having the moral fortitude to withstand the official responses and the crises of conscience which undid so many of his colleagues.

He was part of a robbery detail which was charged with hiding inside shops that robbers targetted, waiting till the robbery occurred, then emerging with guns blazing. This is essentially a combat role. His developing understanding of the tools needed for the job, and the tactics that were required, made him the most feared and effective Police officer in the city. Unfortunately there was a lot of resentment at his success rate, and disbelief that a man could withstand the corrosive effect of such an occupation on his conscience. Eventually, statistics on the racial profile of the armed robbers he sent to eternity, were used against him, and his unit was disbanded. The Police chiefs didn't want to be seen as judges, juries and executioners. This was entirely a political decision. Robberies had reduced, and the thieves had started targeting nearby cities with less aggressive police.

This is not the most polished material you'll ever read. But it shows a man in love with life, dedicated to his family and squad mates, who worked out how to live in an impossible situation, and survive with humour and integrity.

He gives you no holds barred accounts of his shootouts, tells you what equipment he used and how effective it was, and describes incidents where life and death decisions were made in the blink of an eye. Most of the maggots he despatched fully deserved their fate, they all chose to fight rather than surrender. The fact that he won the shootouts and they didn't is testimony to his skill and determination. They all had a choice.

This kind of tough guy Police isn't around any more. Things are various shades now. And more Police are dying in gunfights. Today's New York Police are among the worst marksmen in the world, they regularly shoot themselves accidentally with their Glocks, and they invariably take out more bystanders than offenders. In fact the most dangerous place in NYC is near to a cop. The police do not get enough ammunition for effective practice sessions, and they do not have a genuine gun culture. Glocks are the Toyota Corollas of the gun world (nobody who loves cars can bear to drive a Corolla), meant for the lowest common denominator. NYC residents are uniformly anti gun, they are rarely allowed to even own one. As expected the cops drawn from this population has similar tendencies.

So if you want to hear the truth from someone who was there and did the job he was set to do, this is how he did it.

But be wise, don't let children near this, and toughen up if some of the passages are hard to handle.

9 people found this helpful

Good short read with great information.

Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2023

Verified Purchase

The subject matter presented was very applicable in the world we live in today. The author has more than a lifetime of real world experience that everyone can understand and apply. Great info in a well presented format.

Excellent read for those who carry a weapon daily

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is an excellent book for Law Enforcement officers or any Law Abiding citizen who carry a weapon for self protection. You probably want to survive a gun fight, read this and I assure you will if you follow Mr. Cirillo’s advice. I recommend this book to anyone who carry a gun on a daily basis. Mr Cirillo emphasized on important points, and made it interesting enough to make it a quick read and hit the range more often.

4 people found this helpful

Great tales, mediocre lessons

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2003

Verified Purchase

This book is a compilation of articles written by Jim Cirillo. Some of these articles have been published before. This idea of compiling old articles into a book seems not to be the best possible idea, since the result is somewhat incoherent. It seems that these articles have not been edited at all when transformed into a book, because Cirillo tells two or three times how he ended up in NYCPD Stakeout Squad. The story is a good one, but once should have been enough. And there is at least one chapter which I had read before in another book.
The book is divided into three parts. You guessed it: Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights. The main portion of Guns -part consist of article on hybrid weapons (Cirillo likes to fit Dan Wesson revolver barrels into S&W frames. The problem is that Dan Wesson company has closed down years ago). In the Bullets -part Cirillo presents his patented "Felon grabber" -bullet design, and mourns that no bullet manufacturer has shown interest in producing the bullet. There is also some discussion on other hollow point bullets. The third part is the real meat of this book. There Cirillo tells about his gunfights and the ideas he has developed from his first hand experiences.
There are several problems about this book. Since there is only about 120 pages, Cirillo should have concentrated on only one topic. Now he can only scatch the surface on these subjects. Secondly, Cirillo seems to be a bit too much in love with himself. The book is filled with references of his achievements ("here are some of my police shooting awards...", "I fired this range record...", "...On my waist is the speed slide I invented, which revolutionized combat shooting", and so on. These examples are captions from preface). Third, because of the structure of the book, there is some repetition, as I mentioned earlier. Also, the text is written in layman's words. I don't doubt that Cirillo doesn't know what he is talking about, but it would be more credible if he would have used more scientifical approach.
The reason to buy this book is the third part, in which Cirillo tells tales about his adventures in Stakeout squad. It's a real shame that there is only ten pages of these stories, because the stories are witty and humorous, even ïf the subject of the stories is somewhat grim. In the third part Cirillo also introduces his "silhuette point" -system of aiming, and there is also discussions about the qualities that make man a gunfighter, realistic training and so on. However, the same problems that trouble the first two parts exist here also.
In conclusion, if Cirillo were to write a whole book of stories on Stakeout squad, I could recommend it to anyone. Sadly, in this book there is only a limited amount of good stuff.

43 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

While there wasn't as much training and "how to" as I had expected I did enjoy the truthful accounts of actual officer involved shootings. I found Cirillo easy to follow and comprehend. Some authors on this subject become so engrossed in their theories and tactics that the everyday citizen, as I am, can hardly comprehend it and cannot integrate the author's material because it is written to those already familiar with the jargon and tactics used by trained professionals.
All in all, the author kept my attention with real-life examples and what he learned in these encounters.

Long winded, narcissistic

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

It’s 15 or 20 pages worth of content; the war stories are somewhat interesting but the author’s narcissism shows through everywhere.

It’s like listening to my 13 year old tell a story. Everyone is always (allegedly) telling him he’s the best and smartest. The amount of bragging is annoying after a while — about how he’s smarter than his superiors, his department, the chief, the former trainers at the FBI, that his patented bullet design is the best, that his training methods are so great (and that there’s a videotape coming “soon,” haha).

There are a few good insights, but they fit on a 3x5 index card. Use tactics (thanks), shoot more than once, use a caliber that’s at least 9mm, don’t assume a headshot works as expected, practice a lot, etc.

There’s one good drill: practice seeing the silhouette of your aimed pistol against a target, and then acquiring that picture quickly. It can be faster than aiming with sights at short range, but real life lighting conditions can make this kind of unreliable. Don’t worry, cirillo assures you that all of his students instantly became crack shots with this method, and his superiors were amazed and also suspicious of why his training methods were so good, and then blah blah blah classic made up narcissism stories.

The ballistics section is a joke — no citations, no real testing method. “I tested my patented bullet design in the STREETS” really falls short, especially when he emphasizes in the rest of the book how differently things can go from incident to incident.

One last thing: I just checked and I think he might be lying about the patent — the USPTO doesn’t show anyone named cirillo having any patents relating to bullet design.

I hope this saves you 4 hours. Read tom givens or something instead.

Still sound advice.

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2021

Verified Purchase

This book is old but the advice still applies in 2021. It is not how much you can add onto your handgun but how well you can shoot it under stress. As another famous officer said "there are no second place winners".

5 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

The good: Cirillo gives a great explanation of how to ...

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

The good: Cirillo gives a great explanation of how to prepare for a gunfight, what factors are most important, not at all, etc. The stake out stories alone are worth the price.
The bad: the book is too short, and despite being ~20 years old, some of the tactical information is already out of date.
The ugly: the author spends a far amount of space discussing proprietary ammunition that isn't produced anymore if it ever was commercially. While it might be the greatest stuff since the black plague, it doesn't help me at all to know about it.
Still, a good book and worth a read.

10 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2021

Verified Purchase

A little dated but still some good information. I really wish this man was still with us. We need more like him.

Chantelle Nelson

A bit dated but a good read

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2021

Verified Purchase

While dated this book deals slot with the psycho!igacl

While dated Information is used and cited this book deals slot with the psychological aspects of taking a human life very well!

Excellent read, excellent information

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2013

Verified Purchase

As I said in my review of Cirillo's other book, Tales of the Stakeout Squad,I seldom rate anything as a five. This is another one that earns all five.

The other book was written by someone else using Cirillo's words and documented knowledge. This one is from Jim himself. It is sad that Jim's life was taken in an auto accident, because he had such depth of knowledge AND an ability to impart that knowledge to others.

He uses the standard military method of 1) Tells you what he will tell you 2) Tells you 3) Tells you what he told you, but does it in a manner that is clearly informative and entertaining.

I highly recommend this book for anyone that has or contemplates having a gun for self protection. Excellent information, presented very well.

3 people found this helpful

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