Book Review – How To Use the Pistol (Charles Taylor, 1875)

Back in 1875, Charles Taylor published a small book on defensive pistol skills. The book was digitized and is available for download here. Many of the concepts in the book are as relevant and applicable today as they were when the book was published. The copy that was digitized was a gift to the Harvard …

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Book Review – Defensive Pistol Fundamentals (Grant Cunningham, 2014)

Grant Cunningham’s Defensive Pistol Fundamentals is a fairly complete collection of the essential topics any armed citizen should know. From a historical perspective, it’s a time capsule of material commonly taught by many trainers in the mid 2010’s.  I read this book right after Dalton and Fowler’s 1984 Handguns and Self Defense book, which provided …

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2019 Practical Pistol Reunion – Gun Guy book review

On Sept 21-22, 2019, many of the key figures in the early days of Practical Shooting reunited for a weekend of shooting and socializing. The event was hosted by Bill and Joyce Wilson at the Circle WC Ranch. Part one of this blog post series has more details about the event and who attended. At …

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Book Review – Handguns and Self Defense, (3rd printing, Mike Dalton and Mickey Fowler, 1984)

By the start of the 1980’s, the influence of Jeff Cooper on firearms training was at its peak. Most schools, including International Shootists, Inc. (ISI) run by Mike Dalton and Mickey Fowler, were teaching the Weaver stance and promoting the use of the 1911 semiauto pistol in .45 ACP as ideal for self-defense. Their core …

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Do Aftermarket Mods Help You Shoot Better?

I’m a big advocate of upgrading sights and trigger parts on factory guns, and changing the controls and grips to make manipulation of the gun easier. One giant weak spot of the gun culture is that most of the advice that’s given to others about equipment is nothing but anecdote and opinion. “You should get …

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Gabe’s class and the Swampfox Kingslayer RDS

On October 19-20, 2019, KR Training hosted Gabe White’s Pistol Shooting Solutions class. John Daub’s AAR provides a lot of background on Gabe and information about the course. Gabe runs long days on the range (10+ hours each day), and I was performing music Friday and Saturday nights, so I attended about 14 of the …

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