Handgun Combatives

Rating:
Summary: If you are here, buy this book!
Review: Excellent book. Very informative and easy to follow for the most part. If you are thinking of buying your first gun or if you have been shooting for years, this book is well worth your time.

Some techniques explained would have been greatly clarified if photos were included for all techniques instead of only the more basic ones.

Most of the book is fairly clear, but a good editor could have made this a five star book.

Rating:
Summary: A simple and reliable approach to defensive handgun use
Review: My copy of this book has highlights, sticky tabs, and notes in the margin. I like his thoughts on training regarding simplicity of technique. Spaulding eschews complex, difficult, or fancy technique. Instead, he focuses on what he can guaranty will work and how to recover when Murphy's Law takes effect and the guaranty fails. I started to say that although he covers some basics, this was not a basic level book. Now that I think about it more, I think much of this book is pre-basic defensive handgunning. It addresses the question what are the goals and objectives of our training before jumping into training techniques. To this end, I particularly like chapter one: "Developing the Combative Mind," chapter two: "NLP Skill Development and the Way of the Jedi," and chapter ten: "Technique, Physiology, and the Continuous Motion Principle."

One thing that seems to distinguish particularly good books on this topic is how well it addresses extreme close quarters combat (fistfight distance). Many of the books of this genre ignore the topic even though the odds are high that if you ever have to use a gun to protect yourself, it will be at nose-to-nose distance. Spaulding devotes a seven page chapter to the topic. His advice on this topic is similar to his advice throughout the rest of the book . . . a simple and reliable approach.

Rating:
Summary: A simple and reliable approach to defensive handgun use
Review: My copy of this book has highlights, sticky tabs, and notes in the margin. I like his thoughts on training regarding simplicity of technique. Spaulding eschews complex, difficult, or fancy technique. Instead, he focuses on what he can guaranty will work and how to recover when Murphy's Law takes effect and the guaranty fails. I started to say that although he covers some basics, this was not a basic level book. Now that I think about it more, I think much of this book is pre-basic defensive handgunning. It addresses the question what are the goals and objectives of our training before jumping into training techniques. To this end, I particularly like chapter one: "Developing the Combative Mind," chapter two: "NLP Skill Development and the Way of the Jedi," and chapter ten: "Technique, Physiology, and the Continuous Motion Principle."

One thing that seems to distinguish particularly good books on this topic is how well it addresses extreme close quarters combat (fistfight distance). Many of the books of this genre ignore the topic even though the odds are high that if you ever have to use a gun to protect yourself, it will be at nose-to-nose distance. Spaulding devotes a seven page chapter to the topic. His advice on this topic is similar to his advice throughout the rest of the book . . . a simple and reliable approach.

Rating:
Summary: Destined to be a classic
Review: This book is destined to be a classic of combative firearms usage in the same way as Jeff Cooper's PRINCIPLES OF SELF DEFENSE or Bill Jordan's NO SECOND PLACE WINNER. Dave Spaulding has distilled his over 25 years of experience on the streets into a concise manual that addresses in detail not only the technical aspects of firearms selection and combat technique, but the essence of combat survival: the survival mindset. Buy this book if you have any interest in surviving a lethal confrontation.

Rating:
Summary: Common sense discussion of all aspects of combat handgunning
Review: This is a very good book about using handguns in combat. In the book, the author not only tells about the technical stuff (correct grip, stance and so on), but he discusses the tactis and mental aspects as well. The author has reviewed many established models of operation, and has found that the most common way is not always the best way to conduct business. ... Spaulding also gives answers to questions raised, ...

In the book, Spaulding goes though the usual stuff of selecting the handgun and holster, but in my opinion, Spaulding gives advise that is a way above average. Usually, in similar books they only advise which guns and accessories are good, but Spaulding advises how to select gear that is good FOR YOU. In other words, he tells how to select gear that is both of good quality, but is also suited to your individual needs and physique. It is odd though that after the chapter on gun selection, there is seven chapters (about 50 pages) before Spaulding goes to holster selection.

Spaulding does a good job of presenting proper shooting stances (actually combat stances, because shooting a gun in a range is a totally different ball game than shooting in combat), getting a good grip (he gives an interesting trick that helps you to determine the proper grip that was totaly new to me), and so on. He also discusses extreme close quarters shooting, shooting in the dark, the problems with automobiles and so on. He also stresses that your practice should reflect the conditions of real life, not those of a shooting range.

The only real problems with the book are those of production. It appears that Looseleaf law publications have tried to save printing costs by limiting the number of photographs to a minimum, and printing the captions as small as possible. There are hardly any diagrams in the book, which would have helped to understand the text better. Also, the text is printed in a dense format, and because of that the book is a little stenuous to read.

In conclusion, I would say that this book is of very good quality, and there is some very useful stuff even for experienced shooters. It should have a place in the bookshelf of every person interested in his survival in a armed confrontation.