So having gotten mine over a month ago... it finally came up to the top of the reading pile.
And it is a great read.
I will admit that I sort of breezed over most of the shooting fundamentals sections. Though for an old-timer like me who still does data books and dope cards off each rifle, the Weaponized Math section was utterly awesome. Everyone should read it. Twice. Or as many times as it takes to absorb it. Weaponized Math is one of the best things I have read about precision shooting. I didn't even start the chapter on Ballistics Computers. I like databooks and dope. But the weaponized math is fantastic.
The best part, however, was reading about LL's career as a Marine (and his background growing up shooting stuff as a kid in CT.) We started out with the same Crossman 760, BTW. The pictures of LL as an active Marine Scout Sniper and the back story about LL's trip from under-sized recruit to Sniper School to (what today is called MARSOC) through some of the early Iran CT operations was a fantastic read. I can't imagine some of the challenges that a pretty much babyfaced 7'6" Marine who is the "Toughest mother$#@er on this Island" must have faced. (Read the book to find out that story... it's worth the price of entry alone!)
"He can Stay." What an introduction to Marine Basic!
Also, his history of Snipers Hide Forum was terrific and the amount of credit he gives to folks here for helping companies like GAP and others was really a great nod to how great this community is... shooters and vendors alike. There is a symbiotic relationship here that probably exists on very few other sites where expertise feeds into product development which feeds into new shooters which feeds back into expertise. When LL gets upset with folks for beating up on vendors or griping crocodile tears over small businesses and trying to attack them... remember that this place is an online incubator for the precision shooting industry. We are helping to grow the companies that continue to make this sport great.
The fundamentals parts of the book, as I said, I mostly browsed. They are solid and for new shooters represent some basics that some of us were lucky enough to get in schools, on top of childhood shooting. But there was a great takeaway figure that resonated. It's that LL is training (in person) about 500 precision shooters a year. And has been for ages. Along with places like Rifles Only and his Alaska buddies... he is one of the most experienced trainers on the planet. So online training, podcasts, lessons he presents, advice he gives when he drops into threads... are worth listening to... Because they have been refined over decades of experience as a Marine shooter AND as a teacher. Doing either is hard. Doing both is really hard.
If there is one hole (and maybe I just missed it), it would be LL's career from the Iran Platform raids through starting SH c. 2000. But maybe it's there and I missed it, slipped into some of the fundamentals lessons in the same way he worked in 'bio info into the Weaponized Math chapter. Or maybe that's the next book? Please?
Well, hardly an academic book review... I didn't even add a footnote or cite works by John Plaster or Edwin Land. And I admit I am biased towards this place and its HMFIC.
The short version is... if you hang out here, buy the book, Goddammit! It is totally worth it.
Sirhr
And it is a great read.
I will admit that I sort of breezed over most of the shooting fundamentals sections. Though for an old-timer like me who still does data books and dope cards off each rifle, the Weaponized Math section was utterly awesome. Everyone should read it. Twice. Or as many times as it takes to absorb it. Weaponized Math is one of the best things I have read about precision shooting. I didn't even start the chapter on Ballistics Computers. I like databooks and dope. But the weaponized math is fantastic.
The best part, however, was reading about LL's career as a Marine (and his background growing up shooting stuff as a kid in CT.) We started out with the same Crossman 760, BTW. The pictures of LL as an active Marine Scout Sniper and the back story about LL's trip from under-sized recruit to Sniper School to (what today is called MARSOC) through some of the early Iran CT operations was a fantastic read. I can't imagine some of the challenges that a pretty much babyfaced 7'6" Marine who is the "Toughest mother$#@er on this Island" must have faced. (Read the book to find out that story... it's worth the price of entry alone!)
"He can Stay." What an introduction to Marine Basic!
Also, his history of Snipers Hide Forum was terrific and the amount of credit he gives to folks here for helping companies like GAP and others was really a great nod to how great this community is... shooters and vendors alike. There is a symbiotic relationship here that probably exists on very few other sites where expertise feeds into product development which feeds into new shooters which feeds back into expertise. When LL gets upset with folks for beating up on vendors or griping crocodile tears over small businesses and trying to attack them... remember that this place is an online incubator for the precision shooting industry. We are helping to grow the companies that continue to make this sport great.
The fundamentals parts of the book, as I said, I mostly browsed. They are solid and for new shooters represent some basics that some of us were lucky enough to get in schools, on top of childhood shooting. But there was a great takeaway figure that resonated. It's that LL is training (in person) about 500 precision shooters a year. And has been for ages. Along with places like Rifles Only and his Alaska buddies... he is one of the most experienced trainers on the planet. So online training, podcasts, lessons he presents, advice he gives when he drops into threads... are worth listening to... Because they have been refined over decades of experience as a Marine shooter AND as a teacher. Doing either is hard. Doing both is really hard.
If there is one hole (and maybe I just missed it), it would be LL's career from the Iran Platform raids through starting SH c. 2000. But maybe it's there and I missed it, slipped into some of the fundamentals lessons in the same way he worked in 'bio info into the Weaponized Math chapter. Or maybe that's the next book? Please?
Well, hardly an academic book review... I didn't even add a footnote or cite works by John Plaster or Edwin Land. And I admit I am biased towards this place and its HMFIC.
The short version is... if you hang out here, buy the book, Goddammit! It is totally worth it.
Sirhr
