TargetTalk

Can somebody speak for the quality of the following shooting-related books written in French? I plan to buy them to gain knowledge related to ISSF Standard Pistol.

"Traite De Tir A La Cible" by René Amitrano 1970
"Le Tir Aux Armes De Poing" by Jean-Marie Bresson 1977
"Le Tir Sportif Aux Armes De Poing" by Carmona Valery 1980

Thank you in advance.

I have the book from Valery Carmona.
It is interesting to read but the methods, shooting technique and training, are now totally out dated.
If you are looking for guidelines for the Standard Pistol there are certainly better books in English.
Btw Varlery Carmona was a police officer that ended his career in the French Secret Service (protection of the French president)
Best regards and good shooting,
Guy

The following is a terribly amateurish review for one of the above listed books :

Le Tir Sportif aux Armes de Poing
Valéry CARMONA

REVIEW
Valéry CARMONA has won many titles in France and internationally. He had an active role in the development of the Manurhin MR73 on which there’s a closing chapter on his book. The author starts his book writing about Zen and shooting, gun origins and their related ballistics, a description on body physics in the Yur’ Yev style, safety rules, then goes on with an extensive chapter on the basic principles of precision pistol shooting. On a personal note I really appreciated the way he explains the grip. After that, CARMONA goes on explaining five different pistol disciplines: Air Pistol, Free Pistol, Standard Pistol, Centerfire, and Rapid Fire. He explains the guns available for each shooting course –as in 1980 in France–, the shooting technique, some training tips, and a summary of the UIT –current ISSF– rules as of 1980. The book ends with some sketchy chapters on physical training, diet of the shooter, a description on relaxation methods, and motivation for the mature shooter.

AFTERTHOUGHT
I found this volume most interesting, however my experience is limited to Standard Pistol. In my humble opinion most of Valéry’s work is still valid today, yet we must be aware of the current ISSF rules. There are a few chapters on the book –including the part dealing with body position–which may be seen with a different eye nowadays, but I am going to let the reader of this book figure this up by himself. After all, some things are personal and that is why we have so many good titles to read about pistol shooting. I want to end with a quote from this hardback: “All the flowers of the future are the seeds of today”.

BOOK DETAILS
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Jacques Grancher (1980)
Language: French
Book Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 inches

The following is a rather amateurish review for one of the above listed books:

Traité de Tir à la Cible
René AMITRANO

REVIEW
AMITRANO will show the way to the new shooter in UIT shooting sport–these days ISSF. The author will introduce the reader to the history of organized shooting in France, an abstract of their gun law as of 1971, an introductory list of guns available at the time of publication of this book, an overview on how the different types of guns work, gun care, a description of the different elements composing a “range experience” ranging from calling the shots to the description of a rifle sling, an explanation of the expected pattern of shots and how to center the sights accordingly, why bad shots happen with special emphasis on optical aberrations, short introductory chapters on the different disciplines for, both, rifle and pistol shooting, and abstracts of the UIT rulebook.

AFTERTHOUGHT
This work gave the novice a very clear idea of what to expect from UIT-style shooting at the time this book was released for sale. One could still expect to get a fairly good idea about the current ISSF disciplines by reading this book for as long as we keep in mind there has been several updates to the ISSF rulebook, advances in gun design, etc. The reader will easily feel the age of this book and the knowledgeable shooter will find the coverage of the different techniques rather superficial. Do not hesitate to buy this book if you spot a good deal when buying something else from the same seller, but do not specifically go hunting for this book alone unless you want a neat work covering the development of shooting sports in France up to the early 1970s.

BOOK DETAILS
Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Editions Crépin-Leblond (1971)
Language: French
Book Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 1 inches

SAMPLE PAGES

The following is a rather amateurish review for one of the above listed books:

Le Tir aux Armes de Poing
Jean-Marie BRESSON

REVIEW
Mr. BRESSON wrote some nice introductory chapters in his book talking about the development of the handgun from the 15th century onwards. The picture of a Unique DES-69 on the cover of this book can be a bit misleading since the author concentrates on the 10m and 50m pistol disciplines of the UIT [now ISSF], but most of its content can be adapted to the rest of the pistol sports. Particularly, the chapter regarding the gripping of the handgun has been developed quite extensively—with special emphasis on the hand anatomy and the contact spots in the stock. There is also an extensive chapter on what the author believes it is the best compromise for a shooting stance, and the book also includes a chapter on sight picture.

AFTERTHOUGHT
While it is interesting to read about the handgun developments starting from the 15th century this is not what I expected to find on a « how-to-shoot » sports book. Also, it says nowhere in the book title this work is aimed specifically at 10m and 50m ISSF disciplines which would have been nice to know about before acquiring this volume. The chapter about the grip is rather interesting in how the author explains in great detail the different contact spots between the shooters hand and the anatomic grip. It is my personal opinion that a few things in the grip and stance chapters are outdated nowadays, and the chapter on sight picture could have been more developed. But if you already have a firm grasp of your favorite ISSF discipline or you already own a bunch of good instructional books, then you may consider acquiring this book just to see how he explains the grip—despite being somewhat outdated.

BOOK DETAILS
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Editions BALLAND (1977)
Language: French
ISBN-10: 2715801203 / 2-7158-0120-3
Book Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches

SAMPLE PAGES