Product Description

Learn what it takes to survive a real gunfight from someone who's been in many - Jim Cirillo, top gun in the New York City Police Department stakeout unit. Read about the stress and intensity of an actual shoot-out and how to maximize your training, ammo and weapons to prevail.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #181401 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 136 pages

About the Author
As a member of the New York City PD, Jim Cirillo survived more gunfights than Wild West legends Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and "Wild Bill" Hickok combined.

Customer Reviews

Great tales, mediocre lessons
This book is a compilation of articles written by Jim Cirillo. Some of these articles have been published before. This idea of compiling old articles into a book seems not to be the best possible idea, since the result is somewhat incoherent. It seems that these articles have not been edited at all when transformed into a book, because Cirillo tells two or three times how he ended up in NYCPD Stakeout Squad. The story is a good one, but once should have been enough. And there is at least one chapter which I had read before in another book.

The book is divided into three parts. You guessed it: Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights. The main portion of Guns -part consist of article on hybrid weapons (Cirillo likes to fit Dan Wesson revolver barrels into S&W frames. The problem is that Dan Wesson company has closed down years ago). In the Bullets -part Cirillo presents his patented "Felon grabber" -bullet design, and mourns that no bullet manufacturer has shown interest in producing the bullet. There is also some discussion on other hollow point bullets. The third part is the real meat of this book. There Cirillo tells about his gunfights and the ideas he has developed from his first hand experiences.

There are several problems about this book. Since there is only about 120 pages, Cirillo should have concentrated on only one topic. Now he can only scatch the surface on these subjects. Secondly, Cirillo seems to be a bit too much in love with himself. The book is filled with references of his achievements ("here are some of my police shooting awards...", "I fired this range record...", "...On my waist is the speed slide I invented, which revolutionized combat shooting", and so on. These examples are captions from preface). Third, because of the structure of the book, there is some repetition, as I mentioned earlier. Also, the text is written in layman's words. I don't doubt that Cirillo doesn't know what he is talking about, but it would be more credible if he would have used more scientifical approach.

The reason to buy this book is the third part, in which Cirillo tells tales about his adventures in Stakeout squad. It's a real shame that there is only ten pages of these stories, because the stories are witty and humorous, even ïf the subject of the stories is somewhat grim. In the third part Cirillo also introduces his "silhuette point" -system of aiming, and there is also discussions about the qualities that make man a gunfighter, realistic training and so on. However, the same problems that trouble the first two parts exist here also.

In conclusion, if Cirillo were to write a whole book of stories on Stakeout squad, I could recommend it to anyone. Sadly, in this book there is only a limited amount of good stuff.

Solid material, but too much technical data
Before I begin: I'm a cop, I carry only the guns I'm issued, and I have tremendous respect for Jim Cirillo and his experience.

That said, this book is solid, but there is still too much discussion of the relative merits of different calibers, loads, and accessories. This book is of greatest interest to other cops who want to learn about deadly force situations. The material that's in here on those subjects is good, but there's too little of it. I really don't care about .44 Special versus 9mm, etc. Most cops have very little latitude about picking their firearms. Cirillo's discussions of different shootings he's been in are great - but give me more.

What the market needs, but lacks, is a book dedicated solely to combat case studies and breakdowns of different shootings, the tactics employed, what worked and didn't, etc. This was a step in the right direction, but we're not there yet.

Don't let this put you off, I own the book and I recommend it to anyone else, but I can't give it more than 3 stars.

A valuable summary of lessons learned in the NYPD
I liked this book. In contrast to Marshall & Sanow ("Street Stoppers" & "Handgun Stopping Power"), this book is less statistical and more empirical. Cirillo has a lot of advice to give. The stories of actual gunfights are vivid and clear; he makes his points well.

There was a bit of self-aggrandizement, but I guess that all falls into the category of "I've earned my right to an opinion" -- which he has! I have no trouble believing the stories he tells, and his opinions are clearly discernable from his facts.

I think this book might be more relevant to law enforcement officers than to citizens. It's really more about police stakeouts (eg - tactical ambushes) than being accosted in daily life. However, there's plenty here for the average citizen and CCW permit holder. I recommend it, not as a "bible" for self-defense, but as a good addition to the shooter's library.