StressFire Volume 1 – 40 Years Later – Book Review [2024]

StressFire: Volume 1 of Gunfighting for Police is a classic 1984 book written by Massad Ayoob. It played a large part in overhauling police shooting techniques, but it’s a 40 year old publication now. Is there much practical value in this book today?

Who is Massad Ayoob?

Let’s get real; if you’re reading our website, you know who Mas is. If you don’t, I’m honestly shocked. He’s been a cop, competition shooter, and an instructor for 40 years longer than I’ve been alive. For our younger readers, you’ve probably seen Mas on the Wilson Combat YT channel. He’s published just shy of 100 books over his career, and still writes articles around the web today.

So what’s the deal with StressFire? Well, it’s an aggregation of techniques that Mas formulated from shooting techniques of the time (late 1970s early 1980s). He wanted something that was more consistent and easier to teach than Jeff Cooper’s or Jack Weaver’s techniques, but better than the dated stuff from the 1930s-1960s. StressFire was born from this, and blends techniques together to create a teachable, practical technique that would hold up under stress.

Well, it did catch on. StressFire was used as a foundation for many law enforcement agencies, and parts of the US military and other militaries around the globe. I’ve met plenty a cop or soldier who learned pistol shooting via the StressFire technique over the years.

Now, I’m only covering this specific book in this review. StressFire was broken into three volumes, with Volume 1 covering the handgun technique (and a little on shotgun). Volume 2 is for the shotgun, and Volume 3 (which was a video tape rather than a book) is for rifle. I’ll be hitting Volume 2 down the line, but not in this article.

StressFire Preamble

StressFire was self published in 1984 by Mas and his wife, and was sold via Police Bookshelf of Concord, New Hampshire. The cost in 1984 for a paperback copy was $12.95, ($39.15 in 2024 bucks), but I paid $8 for mine via eBay.

It’s obvious to say, but this book is from 40 years ago. This was written long before the advent of the internet. As such, it’s based on Mas’ experiences in law enforcement, competition, and teaching/taking classes. Mas is quick to give credit when he’s sharing a technique that isn’t his, and references where he learned certain things. I appreciate that he does this, especially in an era where it would have been quite easy to take credit for someone else’s work.

With StressFire being 40 years old, there’s gonna be a lot of it that is outdated. However, I’m reviewing this as a historical book, and seeing how much of the material is still practical now. Let’s dive into the core of StressFire.

What’s the Aim of SF 1?

It’s pretty simple, but with a lot of detail; StressFire aims to be a series of shooting techniques that can survive under stress.

The detail comes in how much is covered. We’ve got:

• Mindset under stress
• Coping with stress
• Body positioning and shooting stance
• Handgun grip
• Ready positions and moving with a gun
• Drawing and reholstering
• One handed and “point index” shooting
• Tank turret/traversing your body
• Shooting from kneeling and prone
• Pivoting to engage threats
• Shooting in low/no light
• Reloading the revolver and autoloading pistol

While I didn’t list every element of StressFire, I hit most of them. StressFire was meant to provide knowledge to readers, so that they could go out and practice it. Mas covers a lot of the spectrum of shooting, since this was meant for people who may not have been shooting enthusiasts, and merely carried a gun for their job.

While of a lot of the techniques are based on a combination of contemporary shooting techniques of the 1980s, much of StressFire comes from martial arts. A lot of the body positioning and stance technique comes from Aikido, Tai Chi, and Karate. In the mid 2000s, there was a resurgence of looking into martial arts to build strong shooting positioning, so it was neat to see it back in the 1980s.

So, this was meant to be a primer/training manual of sorts for the 1980s. Taking classes would be an element too, but that was not nearly as widespread as it is now. What info from the book is still valuable now in 2024?

Valuable Info for Today

There’s no sugarcoating it, parts of StressFire are quite dated. That’s not a surprise, as 4 decades have passed, and technology and techniques have changed. However, there’s still some pertinent and practical info to be gleamed from this book.

There’s a pretty strong focus on one handed shooting. This still extremely relevant, as there are a million situations in which you may need to use your firearm with one hand. You could be holding onto a loved one, or may have an injured hand. I know I don’t practice my one handed shooting enough, and I still do it more than most people.

Mas puts a decent amount of time into shooting from kneeling and prone. This info is still pretty solid, as if you are behind cover, you likely aren’t standing upright, in your standard shooting stance. Kneeling and prone shooting was a big part of LE training going back to the 1930s, but good techniques really didn’t exist till the 1970s. From there, they really haven’t changed much to today either, so I’m happy to see them in this book.

I think that one of the most relevant, least aged parts of the book is the StressFire reload.

The StressFire Reload

The two reload techniques (revolver and autoloader) are still pretty good. The revolver reload is actually the one that I’ve used for a while, and is my preferred way to reliably and quickly reload the wheelgun. Mas has a fairly old video on how to perform this reload.

The autoloader reload is pretty similar to modern reload techniques too. Essentially, it’s about making sure that you have a good grip on your spare magazine before ditching the magazine that is still in the gun. Rather than fumble the reload and lose any extra rounds that might still be in the gun, it’s about reliability. Mas also covers magazine retention, something that I think a lot of people forgo with modern guns that hold more rounds. He makes the example that the reader could be the lone officer responding to an event, and that they may need all of the ammo on their person. Darryl Bolke and Chuck Haggard discussed this at NPE Counter Robbery last year (mag retention), so I’d say it’s a point that aged well.

Both of these reloads are great, not much more to say. What’s really aged in the last 40 years since the first publication of StressFire?

What’s Dated?

There’s a lot. I won’t get into extreme detail, but it’s stuff that shouldn’t be shocking.

The guns and gear on display are quite dated. There’s a lot of 1911s, revolvers, and S&W autoloaders in this book. Again, this makes sense for a book from 1984. Hell, I carry a revolver nearly daily, and have carried 1911s in the past. However, a lot of things have happened to the gun market since 1984.

Glock didn’t exist in the US till 1986/87, kydex wasn’t popular yet, and standardized accessory rails for handguns didn’t become a thing until 15 years after StressFire’s publication. Red dots on handguns wouldn’t practically exist until 30 years after the release of this book. The guns and gear being dated is par for the course, but it does make large swathes of the book effectively without use.

A lot of the techniques are dated. The high ready (gun upward in the air) is generally considered unsafe and negligent by most instructors these days. Mas’ curved trigger finger placement technique is also something that I don’t like, and don’t think has aged well either. Some of the techniques for using a handheld light with a handgun have aged poorly too, which is one part new gear hitting the market, and another part better techniques coming in to reflect that new gear.

While not extremely dated, the “point index” technique has largely been replaced by better techniques. The advent of retention shooting techniques have made a lot of the “non-sighted” aiming from StressFire obsolete.

How about some things that fall in-between?

Here Nor There

Mas makes a point that you should know and understand different shooting techniques. He is a fan of isosceles technique, but gives examples in which you would shoot in Weaver. If you pivot your torso far to the left, right, or behind to engage a target, you naturally pull your support arm into Weaver. Darryl Bolke talked about this at NPE Counter Robbery last year, citing the example of shooting out of a car. I like that Mas understood that versatility was a skill unto itself.

I video most of my shooting. It’s one part “content machine”, one part understanding my performance. Back in 84′, Mas touched on recording yourself to improve your training. Videoing your sessions was beyond a novelty back then, so the fact that he brings it up is really forward thinking on his behalf. He has an excerpt from the book on this topic:

(Page 93)

“ Videotape is one of the greatest training aids to come down the pike. I or Ray Chapman or Jeff Cooper could tell you all day that you’re doing something right or wrong, but when you can actually see yourself do it, the lesson is instantly slammed home.”

Additionally, we’ve got a lot of photographs to show technique in the book. It’s really helpful for understanding concepts better now, and probably felt even better to have that back in 1984.

Oh, I can’t forget. Mas makes a reference to masturbation in the book (page 9). Mas refers to shooting with no stress as “ballistic masturbation”, and that we should try to induce some form of stress when we practice or train. I found this statement true, but also quite funny as I read the whole book in his monotone voice, so hearing “masturbation” from Mas made me chuckle.

Lasting Impact

Regardless of what I think now, StressFire did a lot of good. 2024 to 1984 is the same gap of time as 1984 was to 1944. I’d say that less has changed in shooting techniques since StressFire’s publication than in the 40 years before it. It was certainly much better than what was commonplace in the 1980s, and was a good read in 2024.

I read this book as a historical document, rather than as a current, instructional guide. However, I still gained value from it, and look forward to the next installment. For the price that StressFire 1 demands on the used book market, I think it’s a worthwhile read for any handgun training junkies like us here at Primer Peak.

Book Recommendations & Patreon Link

Listed below are books that I’ve previously reviewed, and would recommend to you:

• Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway – Jon Parshall & Tony Tully
• The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors – James D. Hornficsher
• With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa – E.B. Sledge
• China Marine: An Infantry’s Life After World War II – E.B. Sledge
• New Rules For War: Victory In The Age Of Durable Disorder – Sean McFate
• Black Hawk Down – Mark Bowden
• Generation Kill – Evan Wright
• Fatal Victories – William Weir

If you’d like to support me on Patreon, I’ve got the link for that here. Nearly everything that I do on Primer Peak is paid for out of my own pocket, and my content is not shilled or driven by manufacturers or companies. If you decide to donate, I’d really appreciate it, as it would allow for me to continue to bring you quality work.