I’ve been developing a new course for KR Training, Historical Handgun, that teaches the history & evolution of defensive handgun skills.  Part of that work includes reading as many old books on shooting technique as I can find.

Today’s book is Fighting Handguns, written by Jeff Cooper in 1958.

This book was loaned to me by KR Training assistant instructor Ed Vinyard, who has been assisting me with research.  It’s a reprint from Paladin Press, who re-published 4 of Cooper’s early books. As they note in the preface, the print quality of the text and photographs are not up to modern standards, but the information is well worth preserving.

Another victim of the internet age and the Amazon-ization of the book business, Paladin Press is closing up.  They are selling off remaining inventory at deep discounts until the end of November 2017.  It’s a great opportunity to get some print copies of many classic books on shooting and gunfighting. Their contribution to preservation and distribution of knowledge on these topics is significant.

CHAPTERS

• The Beginning
• Before the Revolver
• Sam Colt and the First Revolver
• Metallic Cartridges and the Peacemaker
• The Western Tradition
• Double Action
• The Autoloading Pistol
• Pocket Pistols
• Combat Pistol Techniques
• The Power of Pistols
• Odds and Ends

Fighting Handguns is great summary of the early history of handgun development pre-1950, with at least half of the book devoted to 19th century guns and the 20th century concept of cowboy fast draw.  During the 1950’s the popularity of Westerns was at its peak in television, movies, books and comics.  The chapter The Western Tradition discusses “the code of the West”:

A man pays his gambling debts first.  A man’s word is kept, even if it kills him. A man may not accept an insult.  A stranger must be fed.  A man does not shoot another in the back or from ambush.  Horse thieves hang.  A man may not be held accountable for the outcome of a fair fight.

Those are all concepts deeply embedded in the way Western stories were told in the 1950’s, but probably not as widely believed by, or as important to, those living in the Old West as scriptwriters and novelists (and gunwriters) of the 40’s and 50’s asserted.

Cooper dives deeper into the science of the “showdown”, discussing draw speed for hip & point shooting:

Experiments in modern times indicate that a totally untrained man takes between 1.5 to 3 seconds to get off a controlled shot from the leather.  An ordinary good shot takes about a second. An expert can make it in half that.  So while the sharpie might provoke a duffer into a “fair fight” the result was murder.  The difference between the world’s best gunslinger and any other ace is so slight that the loser’s bullet is on its way before the winner’s shot can affect its aim. To allow a foe to initiate action and then to hit him before he can get off a controlled round requires approximately twice his speed.  A 15% edge won’t save your life.

Cooper includes some pictures showing bad (first) and good (second) point shooting technique:

Thell Reed, famous quick draw artist and Hollywood firearms coach, writes in the forward that he met Cooper in 1957 during one of the Leatherslap matches, where they were shooting live ammo out of single action revolvers drawn at lightning speed – a practice that was replaced by the use of wax bullets and blanks to reduce the risk of injury.  American Handgunner has a good article about the history of fast draw competition.  This article from the modern Cowboy Fast Draw Association is another version of that history.

The early days of fast draw competition provided insight into human performance with handguns, and motivated the development of shooting timers – two essential steps that led to the innovations of the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Cooper shares a 1958 definition of what a “highly trained pistol man” should be able to do: hit a silhouette (probably a Colt Silhouette or B-21) 10 times out of 10 at 25 yards, from the leather (open carry), given two full seconds from the signal to the shot.

MODERN GUNS

The chapters on double action revolvers and autoloading pistols are heavy on technical details about makes and models of specific guns.  Unsurprisingly, Cooper favors the 1911 in .45 ACP and spends much of the remainder of the book making his case for the “stopping power” of the .45 (Colt and ACP).

The chapter on Combat Pistol Techniques begins with another baseline drill from Cooper:

Until a man can put nine out of 10 shots into a 6″ ring at 25 yards, using a major caliber weapon, slow fire, offhand, he is not ready to take up combat technique.

The modern equivalent of this is “The Test” from Ken Hackathorn, which uses a 5 1/2″ bullseye and has a passing score of 90 points, for a 10 shot drill fired at 10 yards, with variations at 20 yards.

If Cooper’s original requirement were imposed on students taking most modern 2 day defensive pistol classes, it’s likely that 90% would be unable to meet it.  Slow fire, one handed bullseye shooting is a skill very few still practice, and even many USPSA and IDPA competitors lack the skill to meet that requirement shooting two handed.

Later in the book, Cooper notes:

Pointer shooting is not as hard to learn as sighting.  I can teach the average infantryman to stay on a silhouette at 10 yards, using pointer fire in two-shot bursts, more easily than I can get him into the bullseye at 25 yards using sights.  Work at this starting at 20 feet until you can slam that first shot within 10″ of your aiming point every time.  When this happens go to two shot bursts and work until the first shot is always within 8″ of the peg and the second shot is always closer than that. 

Cooper’s concept of two shot bursts from the pointer position evolved to the fast double tap using sighted fire less than a decade later.

The remainder of the book covers holsters, use of cover, the draw stroke (circa 1958, based on the 1940s FBI techniques) and a faithful recitation of Hatcher’s stopping power formula as explanation as to why calibers starting with 4 are best.

Gun Politics

Cooper’s observations about the politics of gun control are as valid today as they were 60 years ago when they were written.  He explains:

The (anti-gun) arguments seem to run like this: (1) Guns are dangerous and you might shoot yourself with one (2) Guns invite the feeble-minded to use them in fits of temper (3) The prevalence of guns constitutes a hazard for the police (4) Guns are used by criminals and should be prohibited and (5) You should not resist a criminal because somebody might get hurt.

Firearms in the hands of the people do make police work dangerous. Any policeman would feel better if he knew there were no guns in town except his.  This is the overwhelming reason why police officials should never be treated as experts in the field of arms legislation.  But as much as we sympathize with the policeman’s lot, we cannot pass laws for his benefit, if they encroach upon the liberty that we established this country to ensure.

Summary

This book is often overlooked among Cooper’s work, probably because some of what he advocates in this book he later rejected in favor of better and more effective techniques.  As a historical document, it’s an excellent time capsule of conventional wisdom of the late 1950’s.

I’ve been developing a new course for KR Training, Historical Handgun, that teaches the history & evolution of defensive handgun skills.  Part of that work includes reading as many old books on shooting technique as I can find.

Today’s book is a work of fiction, but historical handgun (and submachine gun) shooting technique is an integral part of the story.

G-Man, written by Stephen Hunter, is a “could have happened that way” story about the fictional exploits of the Swagger family, multiple generations of soldiers and lawmen, all gifted shooters.  The first book in the series, Point of Impact, about modern day character Bob Lee Swagger, was made into a movie (Shooter) and a spin off TV series (Shooter, on USA Network).  There are multiple books in the Swagger family universe.  Hunter has done several book signings in Texas, at Houston’s Murder by the Book, and I have several signed Hunter hardbacks in my collection.

G-Man tells the story of Charles Swagger, grandfather to Bob Lee, and his adventures working for the FBI in 1934, chasing down famous machine gun gangsters Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger, and others.  A secondary plot, set in the modern day, involves an aging Bob Lee Swagger and works in several other Swagger family members at various points.

Many of Hunter’s recent books, like this one and the Third Bullet (about the JFK assassination), are carefully researched, with the plot woven around historical incidents.  Hunter takes great care in getting the gun details right, diving deep into technical and historical nuances, working in historical figures from the gun culture.  The reader gets to learn history and gun tech as part of the story, and the story depends on those details for key plot points.

Technique and Training

Firearms training, specifically Swagger’s advocacy of two handed aimed fire, shooting at targets from different angles and positions, snap shooting against a clock, in a memo sent to FBI HQ – in opposition to the crouched hip shooting and one handed bullseye shooting that was actual FBI doctrine of that era – is discussed in detail, as Swagger trains officers working with him to turn them into gunfighters.

Hunter’s gunfight depictions are detailed, often first person point of view, with the mechanics of aiming, firing, and reloading described in depth with the perspective only someone truly familiar with firearms can provide.  (Unlike other action/thriller authors who are not only gun-ignorant but also anti-gun in their politics, such as Lee Child, the author of the Jack Reacher books, for example, Hunter is a true blue member of the gun culture: collector, shooter, historian.)

As appropriate for a book about 1934, the Thompson submachine gun in .45 ACP is used by good and bad men alike, and passage of the National Firearms Act (and its impact on legal sales of full auto guns) is woven into the plot as well.

Summary

Anyone interested in reading G-Man should probably start with Point of Impact, to become familiar with Bob Lee Swagger (the print version), and Hot Springs (the first book about Bob Lee’s father Earl Swagger) before reading G-Man, to have more of the history of the Swagger family and content for events in G-Man to appreciate it fully.  G-Man does include enough information that those new to the Swagger family saga can probably follow the story — but for those likely to enjoy G-Man, reading some of the earlier books in the series will be worth it.

I’ve been developing a new course for KR Training, Historical Handgun, that teaches the history & evolution of defensive handgun skills.  Part of that work includes reading as many old books on shooting technique as I can find.

An Introduction to Modern Police Firearms was written in 1969, reprinted in 1974. It’s currently out of print and can be difficult to find. It was recommended to me by Tom Givens.   Authors Duke Roberts and Allen Bristow were Professors of Police Science at California State College in Los Angeles, and the book was written to be used as a class textbook in college level courses on policing, as well as in police academies in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

It’s a detailed time capsule of the status quo in police training of that era, covering all the techniques and drills that were already being rejected and revised by Jeff Cooper and others who were busy redefining the entire concept of defensive pistol training during those years.  The shooting skills content is essentially the same as police training books from the 1930’s I’ve reviewed in other posts.

Chapters

The book’s chapters cover these topics:

1. Introduction
2. Firearms Safety
3. Nomenclature, Maintenance and Ballistics
4. Basic Marksmanship
5. Combat Shooting
6. Courses of Fire
7. The Police Shotgun
8. Chemical Agents
9. Legal and Ethical Use of Firearms
10. Selecting a Firearm
11. Police Recreational Shooting

The book’s two appendices include use of deadly force guidelines from a 1967 DOJ report, and from the Rochester, NY police department.

Firearms Safety

The book lists 12 rules for firearms safety (consolidation of the many lists of 10-20 rules into 4 rules by Cooper, later 3 rules by the NRA, was a significant milestone.)

As with older books on shooting, the safety rules are a jumbled mix of range rules and “lifestyle rules” (as Tom Givens describes them).  The rules, with my comments in italics:

1. When reporting to the range carry personal weapons in a holster or suitable transportation device.
2. Treat every gun as though it were loaded until you have personally checked it. (This implies that there a different rules for handling an unloaded gun, which is a bad idea.)
3. Guns are to be pointed downrange only.
4. Only shooters are allowed on the firing line.
5. No guns are to be handled behind the firing line.
6. Unload, load and fire on command only.
7. Shoot only at designated targets.
8. Never leave a loaded gun unattended.
9. The only safe weapon is an empty weapon, and no weapon is empty until it has been checked.  Never lay a weapon down where someone may pick it up, unless it has been checked by you and left open. (Repeats their rule #2 with more words.)
10. When a weapon is in use, never place your finger into the trigger guard until ready to fire. (The phrase “when a weapon is in use” is unnecessary).
11. Never point a weapon, loaded or empty, at anything or anybody, that you do not intend to shoot, or in a direction where an accidental discharge may do harm.
12. On the range, never, turn around at the firing point while holding a loaded weapon in your hand. (Same as Rule #11.)

Advice from the authors to police about “display of firearms”

Children occasionally question a police officer about his firearm or ask to see it.  The refusal to allow this should be tactful, yet firm.  It is generally accepted that one of the indications of an immature, poorly trained, unstable police officer is his unauthorized display of his revolver.  This officer frequently may be observed practicing quick draw before the mirror in his locker room (KR note: a practice recommended in another police training book from this era)…He practices dry firing when assigned to desk duty and shows his weapon to every department visitor, lost child and anyone else who expresses an interest in it.

Basic Marksmanship

The authors assume that a double action revolver will be carried, and much time is spent in the book discussing slow fire target shooting performed by thumb cocking the gun, shooting it single action.  The focus of the text is on group shooting at 25 yards, same as it was in the 1930s.

The student who faces the target directly will have difficulty controlling the elevation of his shots and will have a tendency rock back and forth…if the student shooter stands at a ninety degree angle..he will probably find that the shots spread right to left.

Combat Shooting

To the authors, this means using the revolver in double action, and not aiming. In addition to the 1940’s FBI approach of hip shooting, a point-shoulder position is taught.

At distances beyond 7-10 yards, the accuracy of hip shooting falls off rapidly.  This position is the same as the hip shooting position, except the arm is held straight, the gun is raised to eye level…and the shooter does not use the sights, but focuses on the target.

(KR note: 2017 IPSC World Champion shooter and trainer Ben Stoeger often discusses using a “target focus” on targets 10 yards and closer. The key difference between the modern approach and the techniques taught in the 1970s is that even when a target focus is used, modern shooters are looking at and aligning the sights, even if a perfect target shooting sight picture is not used.  Brian Enos referred to this as type 2 focus in his excellent book on practical shooting.  The shooters of the late 60’s/early 70s that were good at the point shoulder position were likely seeing the sights more than they were admitting to others.)

Many statements are made in this chapter that have been disproven or discredited over time, including:

• Instinctive hip shooter is accurate up to approximately 10 yards (KR: if “any hit on a B27 target is considered “accurate”)
• With practice, hip shooting is the fastest method of accurate shooting at this distance.
• It is dangerous to condition the shooter to the use of both hands..as his (non firing) hand may be otherwise occupied.
• It is important for the officer to begin firing as soon as possible..the first shot may not hit the suspect but it may distract him greatly. The period of time required for the officer to come to the point shoulder position (KR: less than 0.5 second for most shooters) could be sufficient for the suspect to shoot him.
• from an earlier chapter: When a police officer exhibits lack of skill or judgment in a gun battle, the public is willing to accept such a situation with a “you can’t win them all” attitude.
• To avoid being blinded by muzzle flash when shooting at night, the officer must be able to place his shots without holding the weapon at eye level.

Courses of Fire

This book is an excellent, detailed resource for those looking for information about how historical courses of fire were run, and their origins.  This was, by far, my favorite chapter of the book.  It included long descriptions of the nuances of the Camp Perry Police Course, National Match Course, International Center Fire Course, (FBI) Practical Pistol Course, NRA Combat Course (Police Practical Course aka PPC), with breakdown of scores required to reach Marksman, Expert, and Sharpshooter for each.

Shotgun

One chapter is spent on shotgun shooting, including hip-shooting the shotgun.

The courses of fire they recommend with the shotgun do all shooting at 25 yards with buckshot, but do not actually test hip shooting skill.

Other Chapters

The chapters on chemical agents, use of force, and recreational shooting for police officers all reflect the conventional wisdom and status quo of that era.  The shooting games recommended to police are the NRA PPC and bullseye sports, as practical shooting competitions (IPSC) did not formally exist until 1976 (and even after it began, was not considered mainstream or allowed at most gun clubs).

The chapter on use of force includes 10 hypothetical law enforcement use of force scenarios that end with questions to the reader about what actions are lawful and which are not.  These were clearly included as discussion questions for classroom use, and unfortunately no answer key is provided giving the authors’ opinions as to what the right answers were. It would have interesting to compare their views on which actions were lawful against current standards.

In the chapter on selecting a firearm, more disproven/discredited statements are made, this time regarding the 1911 semiautomatic pistol. This NRA article explains the 3 “conditions” or modes in correct detail.

• It must be carried in the holster with the chamber empty (Condition 3)
• It could be carried loaded with the hammer down, but must be thumbcocked during the drawstroke (Condition 2. In that mode the 1911 is NOT drop-safe, which the authors do not explain, which is a dangerous omission.)
• When the weapon is carried with the magazine and chamber both loaded and the hammer cocked and safety locked, it is unsafe. (FALSE. Condition 1 is safer than Condition 2) For this reason, most agencies authorizing the 1911 also require a holster which places a leather safety strap between the slide and hammer when the gun is cocked.

If you’ve ever wondered why older shooters often have incorrect ideas about operation and carry of the 1911, look no further than outdated police training from the early 1970’s, where “experts” clearly unfamiliar with, and not advocates of, the semiautomatic pistol for law enforcement use present technically incorrect and tactically poor information to their students.

They recommend that a student spend $80-100 on a handgun, and $12-20 on a holster to carry it in.  Scaled to today’s prices with 500% inflation/devalued currency since the 1970’s, that ratio becomes $400-500 on the gun, and $60-100 on a holster.  They describe a poor quality $3 holster, would equate to today’s $15 nylon gun show special.

Summary

Law enforcement training, military training and even the NRA’s own training programs, all governed by bureaucracies, are slow to change.  When this book was written, major changes were already occurring – in the same state in which the authors were teaching.  Even as late as 1974, when the book was reprinted, the authors make no mention of, or seem to have any awareness of, the innovations that were occurring.  It would take another full decade for the major changes in technique and philosophy would reach the typical police academy recruit.

I’ve been developing a new course for KR Training, Historical Handgun, that teaches the history & evolution of defensive handgun skills.  Part of that work includes reading as many old books on shooting technique as I can find.

The Manual of Police Revolver Instruction is a short book written in 1932, reprinted in 2014 by the Sportsman’s Vintage Press.  My review copy was loaned to me by KR Training assistant instructor Ed Vinyard.

The author, R. M. Bair, was the revolver instructor and ballistician for the Pennsylvania Highway Patrol, and the book was originally published by the NRA.

Chapters

• Position
• Grip
• Sighting
• Breathing
• Muscle Strain
• Squeeze
• Flinching
• Safety Rules
• Care of Revolver
• Dry Shooting
• Qualification and Match courses

The techniques shown are typical of other books from the 1930’s: one handed bullseye shooting, mostly shot on the Standard American Target (NRA B-6) and the Colt Silhouette (B-21).

Each chapter ends with review questions. A few examples:

1. What is meant by firing line? Line of fire? (Position)
2. How should the hammer be cocked, between shots, when firing with the right hand? left hand? (Grip)
3. What is the difference between blade and patridge type sights? (Sights)
4. How would you sight a revolver at night to hit a man-sized target at 50 yards? (Sights)
5. If you take a deep breath and hold it until the shot is fired, what will be the result? (Breathing)
6. When firing with the right hand, why should the left hand never be placed on teh hip? (Muscle Strain)
7. What will be the result when firing if the thumb pressure is not equalized with the trigger finger? (Squeeze)

The review question answers are found in the text of each chapter.

The chapter on sighting includes many well drawn examples showing the effect of incorrect aiming on a 25 yard target. In these pictures, the black dot is the bullseye center, as it appears to the shooter firing at that target at 25 yards.

15 Safety Rules

The book lists 15 different safety rules – far more complicated than the current NRA 3 rules or Jeff Cooper’s 4 rules, or the 2 rules I teach.  The 15 rules were very specific to the type of training the author conducted, both for range qualification and firearms handling on duty.

Examples:

• #1 NEVER handle, point or look over the sights of any firearm handed to you without opening the arm to be sure it is not loaded
• #4 NEVER turn around to talk to any person behind you when at the firing point without first lifting out the cylinder of a revolver or locking back the slide of an automatic pistol, and laying either one down on the shooting bench before turning around.
• #8 NEVER talk to a shooter when he is at the firing point.
• #10 The revolver should be loaded with the muzzle pointing toward the ground about a yard away from the feet. NEVER load a revolver if anyone is standing in front of you.
• #13 A shot should never be fired while the officer is running.  In the case of a running gun fight, the officer should stop and fire deliberately.
• #15 In a running gun fight where the fugitive turns to fire at the officer, the officer should fall to the ground (where he makes a very small target), grip the revolver with both hands, rest both elbows on the ground and fire deliberately.

DRY FIRE PRACTICE

The use of reduced scale targets for dry practice is recommended, as is doing dry fire practice with a partner that can observe shooter errors.  The author suggests the following:

The officer should practice drawing the revolver from the holster with the right hand, firing one dry shot at the target, and then passing the revolver to the left hand, firing the second shot, being careful to assume the proper position in each case and to see that the proper grip has been taken.  He should continue this practice with the empty revolver until it feels natural in either hand.

Similar to today, instructors had to address bad ideas students learned from entertainers that use guns as theater props.

After drawing the revolver from the holster, the officer should never raise the revolver over his head before bringing the sights into alignment with the target. This is wild west hokum, and if his adversary were a good shot it would be entirely possible for him to fire two shots at the officer before he could bring his sights into alignment.

DRILLS

During a recent private lesson, my student and I shot a few of the drills from this book.  The first one is 25 rounds and requires one handed bullseye shooting at 15, 25 and 50 yards using right hand only.  The fastest string in this course of fire is 5 shots in 15 seconds, same as required by the current Texas License to Carry shooting test. The Texas LTC test uses the giant B-27 target, scored with the 8, 9 and 10 rings (11-3/4” wide by 17-1/2” tall) counting 5 points, but this drill is shot on a bullseye target with a 3.36″ circular 10-ring.   Unfortunately, the book does not state what a passing minimum score on this drill is. 70% of possible points is typical of other similar courses from this era.

Some pics from the 15, 25 and 50 yard strings.  I’m shooting the smaller bullseye target on the right.

One challenge in shooting these older drills is par times longer than 99 seconds.  I had to dig my old PACT timer out of the storage closet, because it could handle the 300 second (5 minute) par time for the slow fire (1 shot per minute) strings.  Shooting that slowly is a very different skill from modern training. Going as slowly as I could go, my slowest time for the 300 second par time was just over 100 seconds to fire 5 rounds.

This drill was tough – one of the hardest I’ve shot in my historical exploration thus far.

I shot the drill cold without doing any dry fire runs on it, using my S&W 686 revolver, one handed, thumb cocking each shot as they did in the 30’s.  My score was 186 out of 250 possible.  I used the FBI-IP target, which had bullseye dimensions matching those listed in the book, but lacked the 5 and 6 rings the book described. I drew in a rough 6 ring, which allowed me to pick up the two 6’s and one 5 outside the printed target.

I had my student shoot another drill from the book that used the Army L (NRA B-22) target. It’s quite a bit larger, with bigger scoring rings, than the FBI-IP, but the 15 yard string has a shorter time limit (11 seconds) than the 15 seconds used in the previous test.

The drill was:

• 25 yards, slow fire (5 rounds in 5 minutes), 2x, right hand only
• 25 yards, timed fire (5 rounds in 20 seconds), 2x, right hand only
• 15 yards, quick fire (5 rounds in 11 seconds), 2x, right hand only

I had him shoot my 686 revolver, also shooting the drill cold with no dry fire warmup.  He shot over 90% on the Texas LTC test, and passed my “3 Seconds or Less” test with a score over 80%, using an M&P Shield.  On this drill, he shot 64% with a lot of low-left hits, likely due to the very different feel the grip and trigger of a 6″ barrel DA revolver (shot single action) has compared to a polymer striker fired subcompact semiauto pistol.

SUMMARY

This book is yet another example of the many books written about shooting during the early 1930’s. Not particularly influential, but certainly another record of what was considered conventional wisdom of that era.  My main takeaway from it is the collection of drills that I can incorporate into the Historical Handgun course and in my own practice, as I work toward being able to shoot 90% or better on every drill, from every era.  I plan on putting some additional dry and live fire time in on additional runs on these drills over the next few weeks, and students in the October 2017 Historical handgun “one day part two” course will shoot a few of them in that course.

I’ve been developing a new course for KR Training, Historical Handgun, that teaches the history & evolution of defensive handgun skills.  Part of that work includes reading as many old books on shooting technique as I can find.

The 1942 book Shooting To Live, written by W.E. Fairbairn and E.A. Sykes, was a very influential work, introducing many concepts that remain a foundation for modern defensive handgun training.

Fairbairn and Sykes were in charge of the Shanghai Municipal Police in the 1930’s. During this time Shanghai was a very violent city.  During a twelve year period, there were 666 armed encounters with criminals documented by the authors.   They credit their techniques with producing a record of 260 criminals killed and 193 wounded, compared to 42 police killed and 100 wounded.

Key Principles

Their 3 key principles were:

1. Extreme speed, both in drawing and firing
2. Instinctive, as opposed to deliberate, aim
3. Practice under circumstances which approximate as nearly as possible to actual fighting conditions.

This was in stark contrast to slow fire 25 and 50 yard bullseye shooting, which was still a mainstay of most law enforcement training, even in the FBI program.

Until Jeff Cooper, Jack Weaver and others in the late 60’s and early 70’s challenged the idea that there was “not time to use your sights” in close range gunfights, variations of what Fairbairn, Sykes and “Jelly” Bryce of the FBI were teaching were the standard.

As trainer Tom Givens points out in his instructor training courses, the duty and carry pistols of that time had tiny, hard to see sights, compared to the higher visibility sights that became common in the 1970s and beyond.  Similarly, the amount of light, and reliability, of flashlights of that era were significantly less than what became available in the 70s and later years. As Fairbairn observes in the book:

In any case, the sights would be of little use if the light were bad, and none at all if it were dark, as might easily happen.  Would it not be wiser, therefore, to face facts squarely and set to work to find out how to best develop instinctive aiming to the point of getting results under combat conditions?

Semi-auto vs. Revolver

Fairbairn favored the semiauto, referred to in the book as an “automatic”, over the revolver, for these reasons (which remain valid today):

1. It is easier and quicker to recharge.
2. It can be fired at far greater speed.
3. It is easier to shoot with.

The authors write “that a beginner can be trained in the use of the automatic in a third of the time, and with the expenditure of less than half the ammunition required for the revolver.  Furthermore, once trained in the use of the automatic, men appear definitely to need less subsequent practice to maintain the standard of shooting which has been attained in the course of training.”

Unlike most gun writers that extolled the virtues of the double action revolver for beginners for decades after Shooting To Live was published, the authors were responsible for training over 1000 officers with less than 100 rounds available for annual training per officer per year.

Techniques

The authors recommend an hour of dry fire practice before any live fire is performed, gripping the pistol in one hand, using a thumbs forward technique.  (The conventional wisdom in one handed shooting is to drop the thumb to make a full crush grip, which provides more grip pressure on the gun than “floating” the thumb.)

They taught a technique of starting with the pistol at a low ready position, arm fully extended, raising the pistol to eye level, but not taking time to find the sights, and firing.

Raising the pistol to eye level made it possible to use a rough form of visual alignment of the pistol (the back of the slide, the top of the slide, or even the front sight by itself without alignment with the rear sight) with the target.

This technique was taught by the US Army, as shown in the 2nd half of this video.  As you’ll see from the film, standards for acceptable hits were low compared to the 6″-8″ center mass hits expected in the modern day, and many had difficulty getting rounds on paper at all — but this technique produced better results than hip shooting techniques favored by the FBI.

The use of the fully extended arm ready position influenced the low ready positions used when two handed shooting became common. This article by Ralph Mroz is a good summary of different ready positions, with pros and cons.

One of two handed positions they recommend looks like the modern thumbs forward grip, with thumbs lower on the frame than is currently taught, and the other is a precursor to a Weaver stance, with bent elbow, but with the support hand grabbing the dominant hand wrist, as opposed to gripping the pistol itself.

Fairbairn and Sykes show other positions for close quarter shooting, that will look familiar to students of the 4-count draw stroke.

This video from Paul Gomez shows the modern manifestation of the idea of shooting from positions 2, 3 and 4 of the draw – same as Fairbairn/Sykes quarter hip (2) and half hip (3) positions, with Paul showing a 3/4 hip technique as “also shooting from the 4 position”.

Handgun Loading

Fairbairn and Sykes advocate carrying on an empty chamber, and racking the slide as part of the drawstroke. The pictures in the book show a shooter loading with gun down at waist level, finger on trigger, using a “pinch” method to manipulate the slide.  None of those techniques are considered acceptable at most (any?) modern schools.

They felt that the tiny thumb safety on the automatic pistol was too difficult to manipulate as part of the drawstroke.   Cooper, Weaver, and others, who began using timers and stopwatches and man-on-man shoots to understand what techniques produced effective first shot hits fastest, proved that it was faster to start with a round chambered, taking the safety off while drawing.  The development of larger safeties that were easier to manipulate were definitely a factor in that evolution.

Training Drills

Fairbairn and Sykes advocated firing multiple rounds each time the pistol was brought to target – a technique that is still taught today.  They used live fire shoot houses with realistic mechanical moving targets, incorporating no-shoot targets (with penalties for hitting the no-shoots), psychological and physical stress on trainees, ball and dummy drills to teach trigger press and malfunction clearing under stress, and many other concepts and techniques still in use today.

Summary

In addition to contributing to the evolution of shooting technique, Fairbairn (and Col. Rex Applegate) also contributed to the evolution of unarmed self defense, as shown in this video of them teaching their techniques in this vintage film.

Shooting to Live is definitely one of the top 10 most important books written on defensive pistol, with significant influence on the change from one handed long range slow fire bullseye shooting to what is considered standard training today.  Highly recommended.