I went to the gun show as a favor to a buddy, not intending to do anything but help him sell his Knoxx Sidewinder & two mags, when I stumbled on three tomes I have been meaning to acquire:
StressFire
StressFire II (Shotgun)
No Second Place Winner (Bill Jordan)
My Background
I am not a guy with "decades of experience in military, law enforcement, etc." I spent a few years at Ft Benning playing Foolish Ranger Games at the behest of Uncle Sam and on your dollars. I expended a LOT of ordnance and dollars training. Thing is, most of it was with a rifle & carbine and very little with pistols. Also, the emphasis and objectives were different from those that armed civilians (LEO or otherwise) would find most likely. I have worked to rectify that situation since leaving Uncle Sam's payroll, but I am always on the look out for enlightenment when it comes to keeping my self & family safe & sound.
Mini-Review
StreeFire is MA's 1984 book detailing, wonder of wonders, his StressFire approach to gunfighting. The emphasis is on simplicity of technique and harnessing the body's reaction to fight-or-flight level stress. My purpose is not to pan it if it does not fit my preconception or pump it if it is in line with MY One True Technique. Rather, I aim to give a brief synopsis and comment on the SF approach and contemporary applicability.
SF does pan a few older, preceding techniques, but is pretty tolerant toward Cooper & post-Cooper developments. Although it emphasizes the basic SF Isosceles, it incorporates Weaver and quasi-Weaver holds/stances as well as some modified unarmed martial arts techniques/principles. SF gives short shrift to various competition-derived techniques, but, in my experience, contemporary IPSC/IDPA competition seems to have incorporated many of SF's principles, deliberately or otherwise, making the critiques less valid.
As important as particular techniques is SF's emphasis on mindset and stress. It is assumed that stress at the time of a life-threatening situation will cause particular reactions to the participants. The SF approach seeks to use that as an advantage rather than as something to fight through. To both acclimate one to the expected stress and to gain an advantage from the effects, SF suggests maximizing one's perception of what is at stake, even on the square range. This is done by wagers, self-imposed monetary penalties for poor performance, and many other means to raise the stakes and stress while training with one's firearms.
The book is spare and not overly wordy and the illustrations do just that: illustrate execution of SF technique. It is an easy read and the lack of PC is refreshing.
What I Got Out of It
The technique was sound and entirely defensible and would make a solid base, were one to master it. The technique, however, was probably third on my (personal) list of What I Got Out Of Reading StressFire. Second-place, was a refresher on the effects of life/death, fight-or-flight stress on your person. The most important bit I gleaned out of SF was to make my trips to the range count and to up the stress level when there. Blasting rounds downrange is fun, but time and ammunition is too hard-bought and my skills too atrophied and perishable to make that the sole objective.
Conclusion
Well-worth the retail price. I would recommend it as a step after learning basic gun handling skills or as a refresher for those (like myself) who have let their skills slip. A ratio of 10:1 dry fire practice at home to range time would bring a good return on one's time investment.
Market For Classic Gunny Books
Before I finish, let me expound upon the market for these books as well as other classic gunfighting, reloading, shooting, etc. books. I am a dyed-in-the-wool cheapskate, when it comes to books. If it isn't half-price off, I am not interested (with VERY few exceptions). I have haunted used book stores, abebooks.com, ebay, etc. and you just can't find these classics at less than retail. You're lucky if you pay only retail. That is the market reality.
StressFire
StressFire II (Shotgun)
No Second Place Winner (Bill Jordan)
My Background
I am not a guy with "decades of experience in military, law enforcement, etc." I spent a few years at Ft Benning playing Foolish Ranger Games at the behest of Uncle Sam and on your dollars. I expended a LOT of ordnance and dollars training. Thing is, most of it was with a rifle & carbine and very little with pistols. Also, the emphasis and objectives were different from those that armed civilians (LEO or otherwise) would find most likely. I have worked to rectify that situation since leaving Uncle Sam's payroll, but I am always on the look out for enlightenment when it comes to keeping my self & family safe & sound.
Mini-Review
StreeFire is MA's 1984 book detailing, wonder of wonders, his StressFire approach to gunfighting. The emphasis is on simplicity of technique and harnessing the body's reaction to fight-or-flight level stress. My purpose is not to pan it if it does not fit my preconception or pump it if it is in line with MY One True Technique. Rather, I aim to give a brief synopsis and comment on the SF approach and contemporary applicability.
SF does pan a few older, preceding techniques, but is pretty tolerant toward Cooper & post-Cooper developments. Although it emphasizes the basic SF Isosceles, it incorporates Weaver and quasi-Weaver holds/stances as well as some modified unarmed martial arts techniques/principles. SF gives short shrift to various competition-derived techniques, but, in my experience, contemporary IPSC/IDPA competition seems to have incorporated many of SF's principles, deliberately or otherwise, making the critiques less valid.
As important as particular techniques is SF's emphasis on mindset and stress. It is assumed that stress at the time of a life-threatening situation will cause particular reactions to the participants. The SF approach seeks to use that as an advantage rather than as something to fight through. To both acclimate one to the expected stress and to gain an advantage from the effects, SF suggests maximizing one's perception of what is at stake, even on the square range. This is done by wagers, self-imposed monetary penalties for poor performance, and many other means to raise the stakes and stress while training with one's firearms.
The book is spare and not overly wordy and the illustrations do just that: illustrate execution of SF technique. It is an easy read and the lack of PC is refreshing.
What I Got Out of It
The technique was sound and entirely defensible and would make a solid base, were one to master it. The technique, however, was probably third on my (personal) list of What I Got Out Of Reading StressFire. Second-place, was a refresher on the effects of life/death, fight-or-flight stress on your person. The most important bit I gleaned out of SF was to make my trips to the range count and to up the stress level when there. Blasting rounds downrange is fun, but time and ammunition is too hard-bought and my skills too atrophied and perishable to make that the sole objective.
Conclusion
Well-worth the retail price. I would recommend it as a step after learning basic gun handling skills or as a refresher for those (like myself) who have let their skills slip. A ratio of 10:1 dry fire practice at home to range time would bring a good return on one's time investment.
Market For Classic Gunny Books
Before I finish, let me expound upon the market for these books as well as other classic gunfighting, reloading, shooting, etc. books. I am a dyed-in-the-wool cheapskate, when it comes to books. If it isn't half-price off, I am not interested (with VERY few exceptions). I have haunted used book stores, abebooks.com, ebay, etc. and you just can't find these classics at less than retail. You're lucky if you pay only retail. That is the market reality.
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