By Lou Ann Hamblin
IALEFI Control #23-02
While there are literally hundreds of books written on the topic of shooting one would be hard pressed to find one written by a true master of the topic. While typically there are no shortcuts to honing any craft, there is one now in the world of shooting and teaching others how to shoot well.
George Harris has been at the very top in the field of firearms training for over 40 years. Most people who are in the know will refer to his efforts as a co-founder of the highly acclaimed SIG Academy but George’s contributions to the industry go back much further. While in the Army George was awarded the Distinguished Marksmanship badge for both pistol and rifle and coached the U.S. Army Reserve International Combat Team.
As an accomplished shooter practitioner George understands the emotional and physical components that can affect a shooter during the shooting process. He is craft-full in determining what happens with a shooter’s psyche before, during and after they fire a shot. He takes a deep dive into the mental factors, the visual factors and the biomechanical factors before he even touches on equipment, diagnostics and drills. You will want to steal those, trust me.
There are literally a dozen really good reasons to own and study this book. In chapter 3 (of 12 chapters) George explains the difference between doctrine-based training (lesson plan regurgitation) and objective-based, (outcome or performance-based) which displays much more respect for the learner and what they may bring to the table as an adult.
While some shooters are more interested in shooting fast rather than accurately George discusses the importance of mastering the fundamentals to include the see, feel and think tenants to shooting a good shot (chapter 8). This may prove to be extremely interest for those who are more interested in shooting fast rather than shooting well. “Only shoot as fast as he or she can produce hits.” Each area are compartmentalized and then synthesized with more meaning.
I hope the rest of you can take time and include this masterpiece in your library and share it with younger firearms instructors who may never have the opportunity to share facetime with George Harris.
About the writer: Lou Ann Hamblin is a retired police officer, professional firearms instructor, and IALEFI board member (17 years) serving as the 3rd Vice President
