TargetTalk

I'm trying to compile a list of books for pistol shooting, both International & NRA bullseye. The fundamentals should be the same anyway. This is intended for beginning shooters who have taken little more than a basic pistol safety course, but who want to learn how to actually hit the bullseye.

The best book on International pistol shooting that I'm aware of is Yur Yev, and there is also Antal and Skanaker's book. The Army Marksmanship Training manual is good, and is available on-line.

There's a bunch of other stuff out there, including books by action pistol shooters, Gil Hebard's book, etc.

Books on mental management would be useful as well. I've had a couple non-shooting books (Zen & the Art of Archery, Inner Game of Tennis) recommended over the years, but now there's also Lanny Bassham's book, which is shooting specific.

I don't necessarily want an exhaustive list, but would prefer to come up with a list of maybe a half dozen books that people have actually used & found helpful, especially for newer shooters.

Thanks!

The Pistol Shooter's Treasury by Gil Hebard at $5.00 is a MUST have.

Hi

Damn you beat me. Another good one is the USMC workbook. I'll find the shortcut tonight and edit this.

Mike

In Pursuit of Excellence (Terry Orlick) flogs the heck and back all out of any of Bassam's stuff . . .

Steve Swartz

Steve,
What Basshams book has in it's favour is it's large shooting flavour and it's size. The book is small enough to be read in a few days and re-read or cherry picked as required. Orlicks book is very good <I'm after the relaxation tapes or CD's> but it is a big job to go through it and pick out the best bits.

I'd suggest Basshams book as a great starter and if you want to seriously work on the mental stuff then get hold of Orlicks book as well.

Rob.

I think Bassham's book will be a good introduction to mental management for the newer shooters. Because it's written by a shooter, it has some credibility as an aid to shooting well, although some new pistol shooters may skip it just because it was written by a rifle shooter. A lot of folks that don't appreciate the mental part of the problem (yet) probably won't read an apparently unrelated book like Orlick's because it seems too "touchy-feely" and doesn't directly address shooting, much less, pistol.

Gwhite

For the mechanics of shooting, I thought Yur'yev's book was the most helpful. It's been a long time since I've looked at Hebard's book, but while it had some good info, IIRC, I didn't find it as helpful.

For the mental aspect, I've found the book, "Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals" by Brian Enos to be helpful. Its focus is IPSC shooting, so most of the physical practice drills and stuff won't apply at all.
However, Brian's discussions of how to approach practice sessions, emphasizing observation of how (and why) you do things while shooting, and the idea of repeated practice to the point that your actions in taking a shot become reflexive, and a few other things are all very informative.

Yur'yev's book is good but is heavy reading. It is certainly not for a beginner.
I decided to purchase a copy last year and found they are hard to come by. The NRA (in the US) which has published the last few reprints only had half a dozen left and I suspect they would be gone by now. The NRA advised me there were no plans to reprint the book again as it was now getting dated. (I think the Russian version was first published in the late 1960s).
If you want a copy use the internet to check secondhand bookshops. When I was looking there were about six available secondhand in the US and one here in Australia. (Yep, I bought it!)

"Pistol shooting as a sport" by Hans Standl is another one to look out for. Hans Standl was a top German coach from the 1960s and 70s. Some of the specifics are a little dated (like the illustrations showing those huge old Rapid Fire targets they used to use and suggestions that smoking should be kept to a moderate level :).
However it is a nice mix of practical technical aspects and psychological stuff. Good for the intermediate shooter rather than the complete beginner. Long out of print, but plenty available second-hand via search sites like http://www.bookfinder.com

Don't forget "Pistol Shooting" by Laslo Antal and Ragnar Skanaker.

Here is my (not complete) reading list; includes pistol and rifle and related topics. I find that rifle and pistol shooting books offer much useful information related to the other discipline.

BOOKS
================
Antal, Laslo and Skanaker, Ragnar; Pistol Shooting. Liverpool England: published by authors, 1985. (available from Osbourne Shooting Supply).

Cratty B. and Danek M.; Psychology and the Superior Athlete. Ontario: McMillan and McMillan.

Freeland, Albin; Uncle Al, The Life and Times of Inventor/Marksman Albin Freeland. Rock Island, Illinois: Quest Publishing, 1982.

Freidman, W.H.; Altered States of Awareness. San Francisco: Scientific American Publication.

Gallwey, Timothy W.; The Inner Game of Tennis. New York: Random House, 1974.

Gallwey, Timothy W.; Inner Tennis, Playing the Game. New York: Random House, 1976.

Garfield, Charles A.; Peak Performance, Mental Training Techniques of the World's Greatest Athletes. New York: Warner Books, 1984.

Herrigel, Eugen; Zen in the Art of Archery. New York: Vintage Books, 1971.

Hickey, Bob; Mental Training. Eagle River, Alaska: University of Alaska Chugiak - Eagle River College Center, 1979; Eagle River, Alaska: Totem Shooters Supplies, 1979 (rev. ed.) (Available from publisher (rev. ed.) PO Box 222, Eagle River, AK 99577.)

Hill, Napoleon; Think and Grow Rich. New York: Fawcett Crest.

Klinger, Bernd; Rifle Shooting as a Sport: Basic Principles, Positions and Techniques. London: Kaye & Ward Ltd., 1978 (english translation 1980)

Klinger, Bernd; Rifle Shooting as a Sport: Training and Competition. London: Kaye & Ward Ltd., 1979. (english translation 1981.)

Krilling, William; Shooting for Gold. distributed by the author

Maltz, Maxwell; Psychocybernetics. New York: Pocket Books, 1960.

Mann, F.W.; The Bullet's Flight. Prescott, Arizona: Wolfe Publishing Co., Inc., 1909. (available from publisher)

Merkin G. and Hoffman M.; Sports Medicine. Canada: Little Brown and Company.

Murphy, Joseph; The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1963.

Nideffer, Robert M.; The Inner Athlete: Mind Plus Muscle for Winning.

Page, Warren; The Accurate Rifle. New York: Winchester Press, 1973.

Peale, Norman V.; Positive Imaging. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982. (religious slant).

Pullum, William C. and Hanenkrat, Frank T.; Successful Shooting. Washington, D.C.: National Rifle Association, 1981.

Pullum, William C. and Hanenkrat, Frank T.; Position Rifle Shooting. New York: Winchester Press, 1973.

Ross, Ellen (Editor); Smallbore Prone Rifle Shooting, (Clinic Transcript), Volume 1, Washington, D.C.: National Rifle Association, 1982.
Ross, Ellen (Editor); Smallbore Prone Rifle Shooting, (Clinic Transcript), Volume 2, Washington, D.C.: National Rifle Association, 1983.

U.S. Women's International Rifle Organization; Schiessportschule Dialogues I. Tempe, Az.: Reliable Reproductions Inc. (not currently in print).

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit; International Rifle Marksmanship Guide. (Available free from USAMU, Ft. Benning, GA 31905).

Waitley, Dennis; The Psychology of Winning. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1979.

Walter, John; The Airgun Book. Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1981.

Yur'Yev, A. A.; Competitive Shooting. Washington, D.C.: National Rifle Association, 1985. (english translation edited by Gary Anderson).

ARTICLES
===============
Daniels, Frank; "Do The Eyes Have It?," American Rifleman, March 1981, pp. 28-39.

Etzel, Edward; "Physical Fitness, The Key to Improved Performance on the Firing Line," American Marksman, August 1979, pp 12-13.

Etzel, Edward and Riesterer, Uve; "Air Rifle Shooting," American Rifleman, May 1982, pp. 46-47, 76.

Kalinichenko, N.; "How Soviets View Aiming Problems," American Rifleman, September 1970, pp. 40-43.

Keyes, Michael J.; "Weight Lifting for the Pistol Shooter," American Marksman, January 1981, pp. 4-6.

Keyes, Michael J.; "Shooter's Elbow," American Marksman, May 1980, pp. 10-11.

Nygord, Don; "Winning is in the Mind," American Marksman, December 1979, pp. 36-37.

Pullum, William C.; "Mental Training," American Marksman, November 1979, pp. 36-38.

Stidworthy, George; "Reading the Wind," Rifle, March-April 1981. illustrations, May-June 1981.

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit; "Match Pressure," American Marksman, February 1979, pp. 10-11, 24, 26. (excerpt from International Skeet and Trap Guide)

Vande Zande, Ernest J.; "How to Plan to Win," American Rifleman, April 1982, pp. 42-43, 78-80.

Vande Zande, Ernest J.; "Prone to Win," American Rifleman, April 1981, pp. 26-27, 74-75.

Wow! That's quite the list. Thank you for taking the time to enter all of these. I also have a collection of articles, but they are a bit disorganized & need a thorough review & cataloging. A lot of the mental management articles get repetitious after a while. I also get some fencing & archery magazines, and they frequently have articles on this as well, including Lanny Bassham's articles in "Archery Focus". Each one may have (at most) one new tidbit worth remembering. Someday I want to try to go through the whole file and do some serious distilling.

It's too bad a lot of the "classics" are out of print. At least with the Internet you've got a chance of tracking down copies. That's how I got "the Bullets Flight".

The reading list I hope to make available for new shooters will have to (as much as possible) contain stuff that is moderately easy to get. It sounds like YurYev isn't going to make the list for that reason.

Here are some books which I've used for my research and I would recommend. There is some overlap from previous posts, but I'm too beat to weed them out.

Antal, Dr. Laslo. Competitive Pistol Shooting. West Yorkshire: EP Publishing Ltd., 1983.

Antal, Laslo and Ragnar Skanaker. Pistol Shooting. Liverpool: Laslo Antal and Ragnar Skanaker, 1985.

Bassham, Lanny R. With Winning in Mind. Wilsonville, Oregon: BookPartners, Inc., 1995.

Chandler, John. The Target Gun book of Pistol Coaching. Worcs: Peterson Publishing Company Ltd., 1983.

Coaching Association of Canada. National Coaching Certification Program: Coaching Theory Level 1 Canada: Coaching Association of Canada, 1988.

Coaching Association of Canada. National Coaching Certification Program: Coaching Theory Level 2 Canada: Coaching Association of Canada, 1988.

Crosman Corporation. Airgun News, vol. 7: Shot Talk - Airguns Defined Crosman Corporation, 1998.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly and Susan A. Jackson. Flow in Sports. Windsor: Human Kinetics, 1999.

DiCicco, Tony and Colleen Hacker, PhD. and Charles Salzberg Catch Them Being Good. London, England: Penguin Group, 2002.

Domey, Richard L. Mental Training for Shooting for Success, 2nd Ed. Pullman, Washington: College Hill Communications, 1989.

Freeman, P.C. Modern Pistol Shooting. London: Faber and Faber, 1968.

Freeman, P.C. Target Pistol Shooting: Eliminating the Variables. London: Faber and Faber, 1981.

Herrigel, Eugen. Zen in the Art of Archery. New York: Vintage Books, 1999.

Hinchliffe, K.B. Target Pistol Shooting. London: David and Charles, 1981.

Hoff, Feliks. Kyodo: The Way of the Bow. London: Shambhala Publishing Limited, 2002.

Kushner, Kenneth. One Arrow, One Life: Zen, Archery, Enlightenment. Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 2000.

Langlois, Jocelyn (Technical Director) and A.R. Todd (Technical Consultant). National Coaching Certification Program: Clay Target Shooting, Level 1 Technical Coaching Manual. Gloucester, Canada: Shooting Federation of Canada, 1994.

Langlois, Jocelyn (Technical Director) and A.R. Todd (Technical Consultant). National Coaching Certification Program: Pistol Shooting, Level 1 Technical Coaching Manual. Gloucester, Canada: Shooting Federation of Canada, 1992.

Langlois, Jocelyn (Technical Director) and A.R. Todd (Technical Consultant). National Coaching Certification Program: Pistol Shooting, Level 2 Technical Coaching Manual. Gloucester, Canada: Shooting Federation of Canada, 1991.

Leathdale, Frank and Paul Leatherdale. Successful Pistol Shooting. Wiltshire: The Crowood Press, 1995.

Moran, Aidan P. The Psychology of Concentration in Sports Performers: A Cognitive Analysis. East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press, 1996.

National Rifle Association. The Basics of Pistol Shooting. Fairfax: The National Rifle Association, 1991.

National Rifle Association. Three Gun Bullseye Pistol Shooting. Fairfax: The National Rifle Association, 1987.

Orlick, Terry. In Pursuit of Excellence. Windsor: Human Kinetics, 2000.

Porter, Kay. The Mental Athlete. Windsor: Human Kinetics, 2003.

Pullum, Bill and Frank T. Hanenkrat. Successful Shooting. Washington: National Rifle Association of America, 1981.

Rotella, Dr. Bob, with Bob Cullen The Golfer's Mind. New York, New York: Free Press, 2004.

Sogen, Omori. An Introduction to Zen Training. Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 2001.

Standl, Hans. Pistol Shooting as a Sport. Translation by Anita Pennington. London: Kaye and Ward, 1979.

Suinn, Richard M. Seven Steps to Peak Performance: The Mental Training Manual for Athletes. Toronto: Hans Huber Publishers, 1986.

Todd, A.R. (Technical Director). National Coaching Certification Program: Rifle Shooting, Level 1 Technical Coaching Manual. Gloucester, Canada: Shooting Federation of Canada, 1984.

United States Army Marksmanship Unit. Advanced Pistol Guide. Camp Perry, Ohio: Civilian Marksmanship Program.

United States Army Marksmanship Unit. The Marksmanship Instructors' and Coaches' Guide. Amsterdam: Fredonia Books, 2002.

Yur'Yev, A.A. Competitive Shooting. Seventh Printing, English Translation Edited by Gary L. Anderson. Fairfax, VA: National Rifle Association of America, 2000.

You may also want to pick up Gary L. Anderson's "Marksmanship". I'd also suggest "Precision Archery" by Steve Ruis and Claudia Stevenson.

There are tons of good books out there if you're willing to seek them out.

Patrick Haynes
Bibliophile and Shooting Aficionado
http://www.targetshooting.ca

mikeschroeder wrote:Hi

Damn you beat me. Another good one is the USMC workbook. I'll find the shortcut tonight and edit this.

Mike

http://www.brianzins.com/

It's under downloads. The workbook provides a very good serial method of working your way from beginner to Nationally Ranked Bullseye Shooter. We're planning to work one up for 3-P Air Rifle.

Mike

Thanks! This and the Army Marksmanship Guide will probably be the cornerstone of my recommended reading list. It's up to date, free, and focuses on bullseye pistol shooting, which is what most folks in the US will start with & have better access to competitions in. I'll probably include Bassham's book, and maybe Hebard's. There are lots of resources out there, but for beginners, accessibility & price may be more important than having "the best". The trick is to get them started reading. Once they find something helpful, hopefully they will track down other resources on their own.

Gwhite

Although it is a very hard read, I highly recommend Hickey and Sievers Successful Pistol shooting. Many will go AuggGGH! but let me tell you, read it, and I mean read it cover to cover. It is repetitive, talks about stuff for kids training, can be boring ...but PooF! the lights go on and stay on.

I spent an afternoon with Frank Briggs, the Coach at the USAMU in Benning and he said things that made my lights go on. He knew Sievers and spoke highly of him. The next day June 2004, I shot a 573 to win match 1 of the USASNC and set a Sr Natl record. I later bought the book, struggled with it but came to a new appreciation of training. Yield and overcome.

best regards

Holy cow guys, how in the hell did we forget Ed Hall's writings !?!?

He may not be a published author but Ed has certainly done a masterful job of putting together some excellent articles on the subject in very clear, concise language suitable for novice and masters alike. In fact, many of my fellow BE shooters have been urging him to get his material published.

But, Ed insists on giving it away.

Go to: http://www.geocities.com/ed_ka2fwj/articlesand.html

F. Paul in Denver

Dittos on Ed's work!

Off-topic digression warning-

**CAUTION: EMBARRASSING EMOTIVE CONTENT AHEAD**

My dad taught me a very important lesson once: people in general (wrongly) perceive the value of a thing to be directly related to the price they have to pay for it.

Ed (and others) put out high-value information, at cost to themselves (at least in terms of time and effort), for what?

A royalty? A percentage?

No.

It's hard to explain . . . and I don't want to speak for Ed . . . but there is a "karmic" reward in being an acolyte of the sport; the pure quest of the true enthusiast.

Hey, not to go all "Jerry McGuire" on you here, but whether you are a 520 shooter or a 590 shooter, there is more to this beautiful obsession than who gets to stand on the center platform. I would like to think that many of you all can "tap into" that thought. Why do we do this?

And no, I haven't been drinking!

Steve