Book Review: Green Eyes and Black Rifles

I kind of promised this review back in January.  I wanted to read it a second time, and try a bunch of it before sitting down in front of the computer to write the review, so it's taken me a while.

The book is written by Kyle Lamb, who wrote based on experiences in combat in sandy places in the middle east, as well as from carbine classes and competition.  To quote Lamb's introduction, "[t]his book, however, is not for the competetion minded; this book is for the shooter who hopes to use ballistic tools to eliminate a threat if the need arises."  Although Viking Tactics is more that just Lamb, you might know him as "the Viking Tactics guy."

The book centers around the AR-15 platform ("America's Black Rifle"), although a lot of the information can be applied to some other carbines and battle rifles.  There really isn't anything specifically AK-47 related. 

The book covers weapon selection, including barrel specifications, buttstocks, handguards, triggers, tactical slings, and sights, optics and mounts.  I like what Pat Rogers has to say about modern weapon selection and maintenance more than Lamb, but that's not to say that Lamb is wrong.  You can read what Rogers has to say in his Keep It Running article hosted by AR15.com, and he was the expert in the What Parts Break In A Carbine Course thread in the forums of the same website.

I would say that Lamb's area of expertise in the book is more his coverage of shooting positions, particularly the more unorthodox offhand positions, shooting drills, and other tactical type topics.

Some of the topics covered are:

• Loading, reloading, unloading
• Speed and tactical reloads
• Malfunction clearance
• Proper use of tactical slings (sounds more obvious than it really is)
• Fundamentals of marksmanship (sight alignment, trigger control, etc.)
• Selecting the proper zero for your intended use, and ballistics (ballistic charts included)
• Shooting positions, including head and arm positioning
• Recoil control
• Dealing with being right-hand-dominant and left-eye-dominant, or vice versa
• Transitioning from left to right hand, and carbine to pistol
• Shooting on the move, including safe and efficient ways to turn with the carbine
• Night and low-light shooting, including the use of weapon lights and lasers
• Use of rimfire and 9mm uppers, paintguns, airsoft, and dummy guns for training

I think pretty highly of the book, as a tactical tool.  I've had it in my range bag, so that I can use it as a reference when I'm out shooting.  I also got myself a Viking Tactics 2-Point sling because it seemed to be well thought out (It is.  It works well.).

Although it looks weird, and sounds even more bizarre, I like the "brokeback prone" position shown and explained in the book.  "If it sounds stupid, but it works, then it isn't stupid."  I can use it to make some fairly well-supported shots around right-hand corners, and still be able to duck back behind cover pretty quickly, in addition to using it for shooting under things or though low ports.

Novel Review: Steven Hunter’s Point Of Impact

Okay, so I’m a bit late to the Steven Hunter party. It looks like Point Of Impact was first published in 1993. I realize now that I’ve got some catching up to do.

You may have seen the movie Shooter (2007). Mark Wahlberg (a.k.a. Marky Mark, I’m sure he’d love the reference) is a sniper who gets framed for taking a shot at the U.S. president. I had seen the movie, but pretty much had forgotten all about it.

The high point of the movie, I vaguely remember. The main character, Bob Lee Swagger, the sniper, cuts down the man who really took the shot at the president, and then mows down a squad of shooters sent by the organization that framed him, aided somewhat by the FBI agent that believes he’s innocent. It’s maybe 12 minutes of shoot-em-up without much in the way of catch-phrases or billion dollar special effects, and it wasn’t enough to make a big impact at the box office. I don’t want to say that this is a minor part of the book, but the kicker in the novel is the surprise ending, which they did put into the movie. In the movie it only fizzles, and falls flat.

Let’s not get hung up on the mediocre movie though.

The novel starts out with Bob Lee waiting for a monster buck, near his home in the Oichita mountains in Arkansas. Bob Lee lives alone in the woods with his dozen or so rifles, a 1911, and a few thousand rounds of ammo, and has very little contact with anyone. He goes into town to pick up his mail, and to buy food now and then, but for the most part he just keeps to himself up in the mountains with his dog.

A few chapters in, you’re introduced to the villain, Col. William A. Bruce (retired), a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, who is played by Danny Glover in the movie. Col. Bruce needs a shooter, a real killer. He kicks some names around with his cronies. He rejects the suggestion of Carl Hitchcock (an obvious reference to Carlos Hathcock), because he’s made too much money selling books, and giving speeches at Soldier of Fortune conventions and whatever. Bruce wants “Bob the Nailer.” Bob Lee racked up 80-something confirmed kills as a Marine Sniper in Vietnam, with a few dozen more that couldn’t be confirmed. Pardon me, make that “The ‘Nam.”

Bruce goes up the Bob Lee’s place, along with Jack “Payne-O” Payne. Payne does the dirty work for Bruce, and he comes along to Bob’s place as a bodyguard. . . with a short barreled shotgun under his coat.

Bruce gets Bob Lee to come out to Maryland to do some shooting. He’s conviced Bob that he’s representing an ammo brand called Accutech. He gives some cock-and-bull story about using lasers to make the world’s best rifle ammo. Really what they are doing is laying the framework of a frame-up. They boost Bob’s ego, and then reveal that they’re tied up with Secret Service, and they have information that the Russian that shot Bob in the hip, and killed his spotter, has been hired by terrorists, and is planning on taking a shot at the President of the United States.

So Bob scouts some of the locations that the President will be visiting, and it seems that there is only one obvious choice. Col. Bruce talks Bob into sitting behind a spotting scope the day of the President’s speech, the day that the assassination is to take place. The trap is sprung, and Bob gets shot a couple times, but escapes. They set it up like Bob took the shot, and was shot by a police officer as he was making his escape. As Bob crashes out of the house, he practically lands on Nick Memphis, FBI agent, working with Secret Service. Bob takes Nick's Smith & Wesson 1076 10mm, and his government-owned car.

Nick had been in charge of going through the “Charlies,” random whackos, people who wrote letters to the government with too many exclamation points, people who just barely made it onto the radar of the Secret Service. Allegedly, Bob Lee had sent such a letter, and made it into the “Charlies.” Having been a former FBI sniper, Nick knew of “Bob the Nailer,” and didn’t consider him a real threat, and decided not to bump him up into the “Bravo” or “Alpha” groups.

So now it looks like Bob took a shot at the President, and took Nick’s service piece and car in the process. Nick is in hell, career-wise.


I may have gotten some of the details a little wrong, but that's mostly how it goes.  If I tell you the rest, it will spoil the book for you, so I’m going to end the summary there.

I highly recommend this book. I wasn’t real sure if I would enjoy it at the start. I guess I’m kind of out of my “sniper phase,” but there is a lot of “gun culture” written into the book, besides the sniper stuff. After the shooting, you get to read the newspaper articles as Bob Lee reads them. I got a kick out the inane comments about the “telescopic-powered assault rifle.” Real pro-gun-ban newspaper articles are sometimes that bad.

The book is about 500 pages, and they’re pretty long pages too, but I never thought, “oh, just get on with it already, dammit.” Although I guess I really knew how it would end about half way through, you don’t find out how it happens until like the last 30 pages. There’s a big hint near the beginning, but after a few hundred pages I had pretty much forgotten about it.

If you’re a reader, and you have the time, pick up a copy. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Book Review: Sugical Speed Shooting

Surgical Speed Shooting, By Andy Stanford

For a little more money, you can get the 5th or 6th Edition of Combat Handgunnery, which has most of the same basic shooting information, plus a lot of good information on choosing a pistol, ammo, holsters, etc.

It's not a BAD book, and it's priced pretty well, but it can't compete with Matt Burkett's Practical Shooting Manual or Brian Enos' Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals. The book covers basic combat pistol shooting. It doesn't cover things like proper trigger reset, shooting around cover, and other more advanced techniques. It lacks a lot of the detail found in the Burkett and Enos books.

There are a few little things that I picked up from the book to try out, and the methods described in the books work well for me (it took me thousands of rounds and many hours of practice to find what works), as well as many others.

Book Review: Combat Handgunnery, ed. 5 & 6

There are two editions that Ayoob wrote; the older version that I have (5th Edition), and the newer 6th edition, which is mostly the same, but with some updates. If you want to get serious about handgunning and/or keeping/carrying a pistol for defense, then you should really consider getting a copy, preferably the newer 6th edition. This is kind of the Bible of handgunning. If you've been around a while though, it may be a little bit of a waste of time and money.

Although not all gun nuts are convinced that Ayoob is the most qualified person to write a book like this, I think the information is logical and backed up by real-world evidence. Ayoob has been writing professionally for decades, most of which revolves around self-defense and handguns, and the writing in the book reflects that experience.

The book covers handgun selection (including revolvers, single-action autos, double-action autos, lightweight revolvers, micro handguns, and striker-fired autos (including Glocks), buying used handguns, selecting a defense load, selecting holsters, carry etiquette, shooting technique (including reloads, drawing from concealment, using cover, safety manipulation, "point shooting," and other tactics), "responsible customizing," tips on keeping you out of jail if you have to use a firearm for defense, securing handguns with safes and locks, women and young people and handguns, and it touches on competition.

Different ready positions, point shooting techniques, handgun grasping techniques, and stances are evaluated. Some common mistakes are explained.

The Maxing Qualification chapter may be very useful to those in law enforcement, and those that need to take a qualification course to get a concealed carry permit.

Personally, I found "Lost Secret #5," the smooth trigger roll, to be extremely useful in slow accurate shooting. Otherwise, the book is going to be pretty useless to those only interested in shooting paper bulleyes.

There are competition books ("Practial Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals," by Brian Enos, and Matt Burkett's "Practical Shooting Manual") and DVDs (the Matt Burkett Practial Shooting series) that go into way more detail on the nuts and bolts of shooting a pistol, but this is a real good place to start, and is a bargain at the price.

Book Review: The Glock In Competition

Contains a good bit of information on modifying a Glock pistol for competition, although you can find some of this information online for free. Springs, sights, tightening slide-to-frame fit, extending the ejector for frame mounted scopes, grip modifications, lowering the ejection port, weak points in the Glock design, and, of course, trigger jobs are covered.

The chart of what pistols are useful in which organization and class is pretty helpful. There are short reviews on the models 24 and 35. Towards the end of the book, information is given on GSSF, IDPA, and USPSA/IPSC. I found this to be a pleasant surprise, as I really don't know much about USPSA or GSSF, because there's not many of those clubs around here.

Reloading/handloading for Glocks is covered, with tips specific to different types of competition. The infamous Glock KaBooms are explained. If you don't reload, there's tips on buying factory ammunition.

The very end of the book is biographys of past and present Glock competition shooters, including The Great One of Glock, Dave Sevigny.

Competition Shooting Book and DVD Reviews

Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals
The subject matter is similar to that of Thinking Practical Shooting. The way Enos writes in the first couple chapters, it’s a bit like Asian philosophy or something. There’s a lot of talk about focus, concentration, awareness, consciousness, meditation and all the subtle differences. I found it to be really obnoxious. It’s almost as bad as listening to a hippie explain what it’s like to be high. Fortunately, the rest of the book is a little easier to digest.

There are some good tips on how to refine your draw and presentation. There are some drills that should be helpful. It may be one of the best books on shooting technique, and has some interesting insights on which targets to engage in which order in a competition setting.

I appreciate what Enos has done for the sport, and I suppose the Thinking Practical Shooting, and Principles of Performance books that I prefer would not have existed without Beyond Fundamentals. After the second read, I have decided to recommend this book, if you think your shooting mechanics may need some improvement.

There is a lot of information in the book. Although the book is not very thick, it seemed like it took me weeks to get through it, whereas I got through the other books pretty quickly. I think that there may be more material per dollar than the others.

Burkett's Videos 1-3
I waited far too long to buy these. Seriously. I might have gotten more of my match entry fees back as prize money.

Setting up equipment. Although some of the holster information is found in the Bianchi book, Blued Steel and Gunleather (a book that's older than I am), I have not seen this much information elsewhere. He even suggests a couple models of football cleats for the USPSA/IPSC games.

There is some discussion of pistols for the games, although almost every pistol shown in the videos is of the 2011 type sold by Burkett’s sponsor SVI.

Although most of videos are devoted to USPSA/IPSC type matches, much of the information carries over to IDPA, and there is IDPA specific information.

Burkett dissects draws, movement between shooting boxes, stepping into the shooting boxes, shooting from barricades, shooting on the move (also covered in Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals, although slightly different technique), kneeling from standing-start and from moving, going prone, and target-to-target transitions to name a bunch. Applied to your game, these tips should cut fractions of a second off your time here and there, and improve your scores fairly dramatically.

One thing that kinda bugged me was that he made a crack about one of his students hopping into the shooting box, rather than stepping in. I swear that I’ve seen Leatham or Miculek teach exactly that on the Shooting USA TV series.

Video 3 is an interview with Brian Enos. It is about 45 minutes long, and is not broken up into chapters, which means you have to watch it all in one lump, or note the time where you left off and fast forward to it the next time.

Burkett's Video 4
The video starts out with a review of setting up gear, grip, stance, and draw, as shown in the first three videos.

Shooting from trigger reset is discussed. I wondered where that would come in.

There is more coverage of shooting multiple targets with drills on a couple plate racks.
Bonus video is of a national USPSA match. Damn! Those open class guys can really hose those targets! The stages are pretty wild too.

Burkett Practical Shooting Manual
This one’s a tough call. A lot of the same material is in the first three volumes of his video series, and it makes a little more sense in video form than in words. There are some practice drills recommended in the book that may be helpful, and some other tips and equipment information that isn’t covered in the video series. If money is really tight, and you’re good at reading textbooks, maybe skip the videos and buy the book. Otherwise, I would say skip the book and just buy the videos. If you feel like you get a lot out of the videos and want to get a little bit more of the same, then consider getting the book also.

Thinking Practical Shooting
Mostly, this book is on being mentally prepared to shoot a match, and win it. I'm having a hard time explaining what's in it without giving it all away.

Although the author says that he didn't want to make it a book about shooting technique, there is some technique discussed, and it was good enough that I highlighted a good bit of it.

I am glad I bought this book, because I can see how this information can definitely help cut down on the number of "brain freezes," mistakes, and garden variety match screw-ups. I started highlighting on my second time through the book, and by far it is my most highlighted shooting book. There is a lot of useful information here.

The book will help you to be prepared to shoot, thinking positive about your skills, and hitting
the spots you want to shoot as you go through the stage. I can see it also helping you to get jobs, women, and success in general. . . although I imagine a lot of you just rolled your eyes at that.

The book is specifically centered on IPSC, although almost all of it applies to USPSA, and a lot of it still applies to IDPA and other "practical shooting" matches.

If you are not shooting matches yet, get out there and do it, but definitely think about getting a copy of this book.

Refinement and Repetition
It’s an introduction, followed by 80 pages of dry-fire drills, with half of those pages dedicated to recording your times. I probably could have lived without this book; I could have come up with my own dry-fire drills and recorded them in a notebook or in a spreadsheet.

Principles of Performance
The first eighty-some pages are similar to Thinking Practical Shooting. Then there’s thirty-something pages of dry-fire drills (although half of the pages are for recording your times). Last are about twenty pages of live-fire exercises, again with space for recording your times.

The first eighty pages are what makes the book valuable to me. There may be some duplication from Saul’s book, but there’s a lot of other things that Saul didn’t hit on. There is an interview with Lanny Bassham, author of With Winning in Mind, that I think comes off like a sales pitch, but contains some helpful information, and I’ll probably end up picking up a copy of the book.

Perfect Practice
Like Refinement and Repetition, this is a dry-fire drill book. There’s about 120 pages of drills with maybe 1/8 of that dedicated to space for you to record your times. I could have lived without this one also. I guess that I was looking for some novel approaches to dry-fire practice, and I guess there just isn’t any.