Best book to learn marksmanship?

[littlepod]

I like to read books and seem to learn better through it then trying to do 10 minute video segments. I just got a book on learning to shoot in wind and only part way through but it's really enjoyable to read something comprehensive like that.

I know Frank has his new book - https://amzn.to/2MkCGf0, and there's Ryan Cleckner's book - https://amzn.to/3ds2qlq would either of those be a good way to go?

I'm reading this book on wind right now https://amzn.to/2U2jUNA along with a lot of YouTube and Online training.

 

[Jimgal62]

Both are good.

Start withLowlight.

 

[seansmd]

If you read Cleckners come back and ask questions before you buy, some of his recommendations are dated.

 

[littlepod]

I ended up buying Lowlight's. I'll give it a read along with the wind book. Thanks.

 

[Seymour Fish]

I ended up buying Lowlight's. I'll give it a read along with the wind book. Thanks.

You might also like D. Tubbs first one

 

[jeepn412]

Both books mentioned above have a lot of good information. I found Franks book to be a little more informative if you can only choose one.

 

[BikePilot]

Frank's book is awesome. Both informative and entertaining/fun.

 

[littlepod]

Frank's book is awesome. Both informative and entertaining/fun.
View attachment 7346160

All that reading and you didn't learn to flip your butt pad upside down?

 

[BikePilot]

All that reading and you didn't learn to flip your butt pad upside down?

I almost did just for the picture!

 

[Vandy321]

For those with Frank's book AND the online trainingaccess...what would you recommend getting first?

 

[flyfisher117]

For those with Frank's book AND the online trainingaccess...what would you recommend getting first?

Both. And maybe listen to his podcast.

I find them to all compliment each other. I've kind of started to take a few steps backwards and reevaluate and relearn a lot of my precision rifle shooting. I started listening to the pod cast a few months ago listening to old episodes first. When they first talked about what MPH your gun is I got lost. I think I listened to that episode 3 times and got a quick understanding but not much.

Camt to the forum and got a little help but still got lost. Got Frank's Book and it breaks it down visually so that I could see it and understand it.

There has also been stuff in the book i dont quite understand but he has an online training video that explained it extremely well and gave me a better visual.

 

[Crusty Old Colonel]

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll get Frank's book. Just getting back into long(ish) range shooting as a retirement hobby and half way through Cleckner's book. It has a lot of good information that is helpful as a refresher but I still need more. I'll check out the online training info.

 

[Leftie]

Having read both books mentioned, Cleckner's book has something in it which drives me absolutely nuts, and I think (in attempting to understand his perspective in writing it to a beginner audience) that I see where he is going with the linear vs. angular measurement sections of his book, but he never fully progresses his point to get to what Frank's book states very plainly: use the reticle as a ruler, and don't worry about converting inches/cm/whatever into your angular unit of choice... outside of a few certain caveats and instances.

I enjoyed Cleckner's book as well, and his writing style/teaching style is similar to Frank's, but Cleckner's insistence on staying with linear units of measurement when talking about projectile drop/drift was frustrating for me, and, I feel, does a disservice to readers when applying the fundamentals to create proficiency quickly behind an optic by never overtly stating that you should just start thinking/speaking in your preferred angular unit of measurement, as opposed to trying to convert every time.

I do think that both books are complimentary though, and good reads!

 

[Gil P.]

I'm interested in finding a good book as well.

I read a sample and took a look at the table of contents of Frank's book... A lot of it looks like it's not related to shooting better /learning to shoot the right way. Is there a lot of fluff in the book?

Are there others that can be recommended?

 

[BikePilot]

It’s got a few war stories, but by and large it’s about shooting, and presented really well. Definitely worth a read. I found the life stories super interesting and made the shooting bits more relatable.

 

[Det. John McClane]

I have several books. Really enjoyed Long Range Precision Rifle: The Complete Guide to Hitting Targets at Distance by Anthony Cirincione II.

 

[308pirate]

Cleckner's book has something in it which drives me absolutely nuts, and I think (in attempting to understand his perspective in writing it to a beginner audience) that I see where he is going with the linear vs. angular measurement sections of his book, but he never fully progresses his point to get to what Frank's book states very plainly: use the reticle as a ruler, and don't worry about converting inches/cm/whatever into your angular unit of choice... outside of a few certain caveats and instances.

Cleckner's insistence on staying with linear units of measurement when talking about projectile drop/drift was frustrating for me, and, I feel, does a disservice to readers when applying the fundamentals to create proficiency quickly behind an optic by never overtly stating that you should just start thinking/speaking in your preferred angular unit of measurement, as opposed to trying to convert every time.

That alone makes Cleckner's book worse than useless IMO because it just perpetuates the stupidity that we see here all the time when uneducated shooters show up to argue that MOA is better because they think in inches or some such other idiocy.

 

[Leftie]

That alone makes Cleckner's book worse than useless IMO because it just perpetuates the stupidity that we see here all the time when uneducated shooters show up to argue that MOA is better because they think in inches or some such other idiocy.

So, Cleckner's book isn't bad at explaining what a Minute of Angle is... or what a Mil actually is... or that they can be used to measure within the context of being angular units of measurement, and I actually find that the diagrams are quite useful in how he explains just the concept that constitutes how MOA and Mils are derived (found on pages 128-136). What gets stupidly confusing in his book is the flip-flopping between angular and linear units of measurement in his examples. I think it really should have been structured so that, unless a linear unit of measurement happened to be pertinent or important, every conversation about something that can be measured in an angular unit of measurement was given in MOA or Mil values, without any conversion to linear (inches/cm etc.) present. Do I think that certain things in his book could be written differently and probably improved? Definitely, but that's also a subjective answer to a question, coming from a sample size of one person.

On the other hand, Frank's book does a fantastic job at explaining something which is beaten to a bloody pulp in the forums here and elsewhere (and he does it on pages 161-165 of his book), and succinctly makes the concept operational for someone behind the rifle. He summarizes and distills what works, regardless of the preferred angular unit, because he is teaching not only each language (MOA/Mil), but also how to translate between them quickly to work through "issues" without even needing to touch a linear unit of measurement. I also really like the way that the book gives a dirt simple solution to linear units of measurement by encouraging the use of the reticle as a ruler to measure what you see, and not overcomplicating the concept.

If you compare the books to each other, they are apples to oranges in many ways. Cleckner's book is really aimed at someone who knows very little about precision rifle shooting; for people who have a background already, there won't really be much that is magically revealed as an "ah-ha!" moment. There are some good (but basic) gems though. Frank's book has gems of knowledge for people of all skill levels, and it's a relatively quick, enjoyable read that will benefit a total novice and also those of us who have had a bit more exposure to shooting rifles at distance - this is where Frank's book really shines, and one of the reasons that I hope that he writes and releases more books to compliment this one.

 

[Det. John McClane]

I was working through my bookshelf again and this thread came to mind. Another great book is The Wind Book for Rifle Shooters by Linda K. Miller and Keith A. Cunningham. It was written by and for F Class shooters, but I found it to be very helpful. The first chapter is worth the cost of admission. It takes on how to assign full value, 7/8ths value, and half value to wind, and why (very different than anything I had been taught before on full value and half value). It also has a great section on why the wind near the shooter is more important than the wind at the target, and they back up their position with math and the opinion of several world class F Class shooters. I have the 2007 version, but there is a newer edition that came out in May 2020. Fantastic read if you can find it.