Books: "Green Eyes & Black Rifles" review

Ever read one of those skimpy instruction manuals that ship with production AR-15s? Ever wish for somebody to cut through all the Interwebz BS about operating an AR? If so, then "Green Eyes & Black Rifles," by SGM Kyle Lamb (RET), is the book for you; it's a nuts-and-bolts guide to setting up, shooting, and maintaining an AR-pattern carbine.

Lamb is the founder of Viking Tactics and one of those guys who has "been there and done that." That combat experience is reflected in every chapter of the book. For instance, when describing malfunctions, Lamb goes in-depth and succinctly describes the many ways an AR system can fail. I mean, anybody who makes up a drill to clear three separate types of failures-to-extract has probably been in quite a few gunfights:



The bulk of GE&BR is occupied by demonstrations of various shooting positions. Lamb demonstrates some of the usual suspects (squat, prone, urban prone, etc.) and some that are rarely covered (the "Brokeback" prone that comes in handy when you're wearing full infantry kit). There is some light discussion of tactics, but you'll need to look elsewhere if you want a full-blown treatise on urban warfare.

Like a lot of these kinds of shooting books, GE&BR is a little rough around the edges. For the (considerable) money you pay for the book, I also wish there was a little more content with regard to hold-overs, ballistics, and shooting technique. Still, there aren't too many books like this on the market, and even fewer written by people who can shoot at this level: