Ralph Friedman was an officer with the NY Police Department in the 1970’s and 1980’s, during the gritty, high-crime era made famous by so many movies and TV shows of that era. Friedman was promoted to detective after five years on the job and his extraordinary career has been commemorated with 219 awards, including the …
Very few books have been written about the history of fast draw competition, and the few that have been written are out of print. As part of my research for the Historical Handgun book, I’ve been trying to track down copies. As I wrote in a previous entry about this topic, Bob Arganbright’s book has …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: Fast Draw Yesterday Today (Blasgen, 2009)’ »
Sociologist Dr. David Yamane‘s most recent book, Concealed Carry Revolution, tells the history of concealed carry laws, particularly their expansion over the past 30+ years. The book is a standalone volume that will eventually be part of a larger book on “Gun Culture 2.0“, which differs from traditional gun culture in that it emphasizes concealed …
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Firearms trainer Mike Conti has written a three-book fictionalized history of the life of famous FBI agent and gunfighter Jelly Bryce. “The Legend Begins” was book 1 of that series (reviewed previously), which continues in FBI Odyssey (book 2) and The Man In the Mirror (book 3) Bryce was an influential figure in the history …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: Jelly Bryce: FBI Odyssey/The Man in the Mirror (Conti, 2015/2016)’ »
Earlier this year Tom Givens sent me a signed copy of a book published by the Snub Gun Study Group – a group of trainers and shooters interested in the history and modern use of the short barreled revolver. More about this group can be found here. They also have a downloads page, including a …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: The Snubby Chronicles (various, 2021)’ »
This book was recently gifted to me from Gary G – a shooter who has been around the competition and training world since the mid 1970’s. This book, written and published in South Africa by trainer and IPSC competitor Gerry Gore, is a great time capsule of the state of the Gunsite/Jeff Cooper training circa …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: Handguns for Self Defence: A South African Guide (Gore, 1981)’ »
Back in February 2021 I hosted Ben Stoeger at the KR Training A-Zone Range for three 2-day classes, each focused on a different level of student. Ben was using his new book Practical Shooting Training as the student manual for the courses. Ben has written a lot of books and revised some of them as …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: Practical Shooting Training (Stoeger & Park, 2021)’ »
During the recent Historical Handgun class Tom Givens and I co-taught, Tom mentioned a book I hadn’t heard of: “The Search for An Effective Police Handgun”, by Allen Bristow, published in 1973. This book came out prior to his more complete Modern Police Firearms book (previously reviewed on this blog). It’s basically a collection of …
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Firearms trainer Mike Conti has written a three-book fictionalized history of the life of famous FBI agent and gunfighter Jelly Bryce. “The Legend Begins” is book 1 of that series. Bryce was an influential figure in the history of shooting training. His techniques became the core of FBI firearms training, which were taught to law …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: Jelly Bryce: The Legend Begins (Conti, 2014)’ »
In 1917, WWI veteran and British gunwriter Hugh Pollard published “The Book of the Pistol and Revolver”. Pollard wrote for magazines and authored shooting books from 1912-1945. He was a soldier, possible spy, firearms expert, widely published author, sportsman, social butterfly (son of a surgeon), forensics and ballistic expert, historian and collector. This particular book …
Continue reading ‘Book Review – The Book of the Pistol and Revolver (Pollard, 1917)’ »
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The folks at ConcealedCarry.com have released a new state-by-state gun law book called “Legal Boundaries by State”. It’s available as a print book, but also as an e-book that comes with lifetime updates. In my opinion the e-book version is more useful. Load it into the reader app on your phone, and you will always …
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Read about the latest news from KR Training and find training classes to improve your defensive firearms skills.
This controversial work of fiction was written in the late 1990’s, after the assault weapon and magazine capacity bans were signed into law by Bill Clinton: after the Waco/Koresh standoff, the Ruby Ridge standoff, and the Oklahoma City bombing. Anti-government sentiment within the gun culture and the right was strong, and the militia movement was …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: Unintended Consequences (Ross, 1996)’ »
On Valentine’s Day, 2018, a school shooter attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The attacker’s trial is still in limbo, 3 years later. The attack was noteworthy for several reasons. Law enforcement response was terrible. Slow and ineffective, with officers remaining outside the school, not entering to stop the shooter, who stopped …
Continue reading ‘Book Review – Why Meadow Died (Pollack, 2019)’ »
The Modern Technique of the Pistol was written by Gregory Morrison, as part of his PhD work. It compiles many of the techniques and concepts taught at Gunsite in the 1980’s. The book is available direct from the Gunsite Pro Shop. The contents of the book are listed below. It covers the standard topics found …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: The Modern Technique of the Pistol (Morrison, 1991)’ »
Another artifact from Bob Hanna – notes from classes he attended at the American Pistol Institute (aka Gunsite) in 1980 and 1981. Here’s their recommended twice-a-month practice drill. API dry practice drill. Another practice drill. The advanced practice drill. Turning draws were emphasized a lot more in courses (and matches) in the 1980’s than they …
Continue reading ‘1980 American Pistol Institute (Gunsite) class notes’ »
Claude Werner, a.k.a. the Tactical Professor, has a distinguished background as an analyst in the military (Special Operations), as a market research director for real estate and major accounting firms, and as a firearms trainer at the elite Rogers Shooting School. Several years ago he began to study what he called “negative outcomes” involving armed …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make (Werner, 2019)’ »
KR Training student Bob Hanna recently gave me his copies of class notes from training he attended with the late Chuck Taylor. Taylor was one of the early traveling trainers who spun off from Jeff Cooper’s American Pistol Institute (Gunsite), bringing that curriculum to a national (and international) audience. In 1980, Taylor had just started …
Retired Texas Ranger Joey Gordon is a regular contributor to the Texas State Rifle Association monthly magazine. His articles feature stories about guns used and owned by Texas Rangers. Many of his articles have been compiled into a glossy book available from TSRA as a fundraising item. A couple sample pages from the book’s chapters, …
Continue reading ‘Book Review: That’s The Way I Remember it (Gordon, 2019)’ »