I have read several of the author's books on self-defense with a pistol and shotgun. With these books, you can build the critical self-defense response needed in a crisis. Re-read the books often and dry-fire practice in your home ... in case a home invasion incident should happen when you least expect it in your neighborhood, much less at your residence.

A judgement call ... how to have a loaded weapon handy when the worst happens to you. Remember, an empty weapon is useless. A loaded weapon around curious children can lead to a family fatality.

Gabe Suarez does a good job of introducing the novice to; and reminding the experienced shooter of the practical aspects of pistol use in tactical deployment.

Suarez introduces the reader, briefly, to historical considerations, ammunition and pistol selection (based on experience and personal preference), types of malfunctions, grip, stance and the usual basics that can never be emphasized enough.

He almost immediately launches into the real value of the book; clearing malfunctions, speed reloads, tactical reloads, multiple target engagements (including 360 degrees) and how to practice at home.

In my personal experience, Suarez' suggestion to practice routinely at home during dry fire practice sessions has drastically improved my speed, accuracy and confidence. I recommend this book to everyone I know that carries concealed, carries for a living or just wants to shoot better and faster.

This is a great book for anyone who owns a pistol and is thinking of using it for more than target shooting and hunting. Proper self defense takes practice and training. This book is a great tool to becoming more efficient and will get you the information you need. Gabe Suarez is well known in the firearms training community and has put the tactics and recommendations into use and is bringing real world experience to you. Well laid out and easy to read. This is a must of anyone wanting to become more efficient with their pistol.

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.

I have read this book 3 times, as there is so much great information presented. Another book to underline key phrases.

This book provides an excellent overview of close quarter combat pistol tactics. I highly recommend it to both the trained operator and responsible citizen.

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).

I was looking for a book to improve my shooting and I did not think this really helped. Full of anacdotes and little war stories. Not what I was after at all. My focus is on ISSF (or bullseye) shooting and this book is about police style use of firearms.

I started to think of having a hand gun 5 weeks ago, after reading this book and starting practicing I could score 98% on a 7 yard target consistently only after 3 weeks. My wife read the book and could score 87% on her first time shooting. I gave the book to a friend and I am buying a second one.

This book is very basic and takes upon the same mentality of what I call "the purpose driven mentality". That is you take basic ideas and then imposed them on as many books as you can possibly come up with. That being said, this is a well written book that will act for your creativity if you lack it. I would recommend Kelly McCann's (Jim Gorver) defensive pistol video series over this book and just about any other out there. Mr. Suarez's material is sound do not get me wrong, but if you are like me and are on a limited budget I would rather you have a whole meal with the tapes rather then just a taco.

Since Mr. Suarez is no longer a police officer since being convicted and sentenced to prison for insurance fraud, what he has to say should be taken with a healthy grain of salt. Much, if not all of what he includes in his books and seminars is rehashed material liberally "borrowed" from other established instructors and trainers, and while being investigated for his crimes it was duly noted that at least half of his "street-shootings" involved stray dogs, not armed and dangerous felons.

Bottom line: A person with such a track record can hardly be considered suitable for obtaining such important information from. Yes, Mr. Suarez has served his time and is once again a free man, but I for one do not consort nor do business with known felons. The information in ANY of his "literature" can be found elsewhere, usually from whence he obtained the information to begin with, and most of the times written far better and of course from a reputable source.

I found it to be a very helpful book. Maybe not for the beginner but a must have among serious shooters. It is not the definitive book on the subject but one of the best, very good reading.

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.

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

A lot of this book is 'put you to sleep' basic but the chapters on "Failure to Stop" drills and dry firing make it a VERY VALUABLE BOOK for the serious defensive handgunner.

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

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 'The Way of Kata' and 'Martial Arts Instruction'

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 Martial Arts Instruction: Applying Educational Theory and Communication Techniques in the Dojo

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.

The contents of this book are largely lifted from Police training manuals, and are not suited for the average citizen, unless you happen to be in a militia or you are a member of Al-Queda. I can't imagine why ordinary gun-enthusiasts would be interested in combat with fellow citizens, clearing and entering houses with hostile foes, and all the other techniques on offer here. Suarez makes a big deal about how he is a decorated officer, but no police officer worth their salt would put out books teaching citizens to be members of a tactical SWAT team.
The author obviously isn't a police officer in good standing anymore because no commanding officer would permit someone to profit off the tactics presented here.
If you are a gun-enthusiast, you would be better off buying something by John Farnam or Andy Stanford. Their books are written for citizen gun owners, and they don't teach how to indiscriminately kill people.

This is the first book I read for Mr Suarez, I respect his views and techniques especially that he studied under the legendry Jeff cooper, this is a basic textbook, a correct one, it is the kind of training you receive the first time you handle a pistol as a policeman or military. I come from a special operation background and frankly we receive in the first 15 days of pistol training information and techniques that bypass any textbook I've read until now and I read a lot of them, which seems normal. One very advanced and real secret Mr Suarez revealed in this book is the dry practice, pass one day with delta force operators anywhere in the world, and what they do when relaxing,dry practice with their 45's, trust me I know what I am talking about.

This is one of the best books I've read on practical handgun shooting and handling. Suarez writes well and demonstrates simple and proven methods. It is important with handguns to learn the basics correctly and this book will set you on the right path. You may also want to check out Suarez's "The Tactical Pistol", which deals predominantly with tactics and is for the more advanced operator.

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.

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 ½ stars, if it were possible. Full five stars is reserved for special occasions, so I give this book "only" four.