Its pretty simple...there is only one pistol shooting book you need and this is it. Hands down the best i have read. Pictures are detailed and excellent quality. The books is written in a clear and concise manner that is easy to follow. Its not filled with "cool" tactical ninja crap. Everything in this book is functional and will make you a better shooter.

I got this along with a couple of Ayoob books as I'm trying to get into pistol shooting a little more in-depth. I was pretty disappointed with this book.

Good: lots of pictures and step-by-step, simple explanations of shooting stances, grips, malfunction drills, etc. The pictures were the main substance of the book - without them it would have been maybe 40 pages of normally spaced text. They did work well to demonstrate the techniques being taught. However, if you are looking for visual explanation, there are videos available that I think work much better to show how a procedure is carried out in reality. This would be a handy book for your range bag though, to be able to refer to and quickly check on a drill you want to do, as it's mostly in the pictures.

Bad: The text is pretty simplistic and while not being closed-minded per se, it doesn't present many different opinions on how to do certain things. It reads a lot like a police manual where procedures must be followed precisely as shown because everyone is issued the same equipment, and that's how the instructor/boss wants you to do it. For example: I just got through the section of Combat Handgunnery on the grip, and Ayoob presents multiple styles of grip along with a ton of explanation on why you might choose one or the other (different guns, different safeties, differently sized hands, different situations). The same section in this book spends two short pages and three pictures explaining the single correct way to do it, with no real acknowledgement of the different circumstances that different shooters will face. It basically assumes you are shooting a Glock and the grip shown would not necessarily work for some other guns. The same "one right way to do it" attitude comes through often in the book.

Bad continued: There are lots of drills and positions shown, but no real 'tactics', and for a book with this title, I felt ripped off. I was expecting some room/house clearing, entry techniques, etc. There's a quick section on transitioning from your carbine to a sidearm, and a little on using cover, shooting while moving etc., but nothing about how or where (not) to move while shooting and why.

Bad again: The text of the book is quite poorly edited with quite a few misspellings and some pages that appeared to be half copy/pasted in the wrong place, etc. I'm a bit obsessive about this but it was pretty distracting. Though I didn't notice any dangerously wrong text, it seemed to be rushed to print, and just somewhat unprofessionally presented.

Finally, I should emphasize that aside from all the pictures, there is really not very much information in this book. It has wide margins and double-spaced text, so don't be fooled by the page count. Pretty much all the information in this book is in Combat Handgunnery, and aside from the many full color photos, I can't see any reason to have both. No I'm not an Ayoob fanboy by the way, there just seems to be much more information in his books than this one. I might exchange it for the Suarez book and see if that has what I'm looking for.

Good book to have for any novice that is seeking a beginners guide to tactical pistol shooting.

Great overview of tactical shooting. Has the most illustrations of any similar book I've seen on the market. The chapter on "Shooting While Wounded", for example, contains 40 pages of text and pictures.

Some of the pictures are repetitive and the chapter on "Pistol Nomenclature & Terms" could have been greatly shortened or eliminated all together. Most people reading this type of book already know terms such as - slide, trigger and muzzle.

Overall a worthwhile book to read and keep around as a reference.

This book answers a lot of the "little" questions about pistols. The author describes in detail how to grip, draw, aim and other things. This book has an interesting first chapter. It covers mindset. It also covers things like nomenclature, safety, shooting positions, reloading,low-light conditions, drills,etc. In contrast to the title, it is not a tactical book. There are individual movement techniques but not a lot of tactics. There is shooting behind cover and shooting while wounded but no slicing the pie or room entry. Overall, it's a great book for beginners to learn with. There are too many books out there that take you from step one and then straight to step ten. This one doesn't do that.

What I liked:
* Lots of great pictures and illustrations on proper presentation, weapon malfunction clearing, shooting techniques, etc.
* The combat triad: Gun Handling, Marksmanship, and Mindset.
* Survival Stress Management - teaches you to be aware of your surroundings at all times. If all possible you must avoid dangers by not placing yourself into a place or situation you cannot get out of. Be prepared, not paranoid is the motto.
* I like the shooting fundamentals about the dominant eye, etc. I always thought I was right eye dominant, but after applying the techniques described in this book, I found out that I was left eye dominant.
* There is a great emphasis on safety. A bullet once fired, cannot be taken back. There is no do-over. You must be 100% sure of your target before you take a shot.
* The shooting techniques are really displayed nicely because of the pictures. It makes it easier to follow weapon malfunction drills, shooting positions, combat marksmanship, low light shooting, etc.
This is a good reference book for pistol shooting. The book shows techniques that work, no sugar coating and no exaggerated Hollywood style shooting. The author is very knowledgeable and is experienced in his trade.

I've been drilling thru much of this material over the past few weeks after a long layoff and I can see a difference in the smoothness and speed of my dry fire work, which has translated to the range/combat courses. The author has excellent graphics (the new version is even better) to assit in making his points and explaining techniques. All the basics of handgun presentation and marksmanship are covered here for the new shooter or someone coming back after a layoff. And he pours out a lot of information on operating wounded, far more than most other defensive handgun texts. The author also provides very good methods for diagnosing problems with accuracy in your shooting, and provide excellent dry-fire drills for smoothing out your chops. I'd love to attend a pistol course with this guy, and have been watching for one near me.

With this book and Suarez' Tactical Pistol Marksmanship you have everything you need to get up to speed on real-world defensive handgun use. Nothing else is required except practice and perhaps having an experienced shooter check you out from time-to-time. Kind of like golf. You can read the books and go a long way on your own, but you need to have someone check your stuff periodically.

As somebody rather new to tactical pistol shooting (I have spent most of my time with a carbine) this book is a great starting point. The easy to read instructions regarding technique coupled with the clear photographic representations of each lesson make each concept easy to grasp. Furthermore, the book goes onto more difficult scenarios that a tactical shooter must address, plan for, and practice to be successful in a real life scenario. Worth the read for sure.