Top 10 Firearm Reference Books
Just discoved a new book on eBay -- "Old Gun Sights and Rifle Scopes." It occurred to me ... there are probably a lot of great reference books I need to get. So, I am asking you - the Experts - to reveal your secrets. What are YOUR Top Ten (or less) MUST HAVE reference books you find most useful in the pursuit of shooting, collecting, hunting, buying, selling, reloading, smithing firearms? A brief word on WHY valuable would be nice, in addition to title/author. Thanks to all in advance.
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I have several. First of all, The Gun Digest book of ...(fill in the blank) by Patrick Sweeney. There is also Armed Response by David Kenik, The Handgun In Personal Defense by R. K. Campbell, and of couse my old and almost worn out copy of the Advanced Pistol Guide by The United States Army (training at Fort Benning Georgia). I hope that this helps some. 0 -
...Lord, how many rain drops in a storm? Heres some to get you started with Colt smithing/knowledge/collecting.
...IF you want TWO great books for the common man, to learn and to actually do work on Colt 1911's w/o having to have a machine shop of tools; look up Jerry Kuhnhausen's two Colt 1911 books, invaluable, and inexspensive.
...For Colt Memoribillia..Colt Memrobillia Price Guide by John Ogle is an inexspensive book, get the latest printing...though that, will be a few years old.
...Another author that has some great Colt stuff, is Charles Clawson, a few "reasonably" priced books, his others, well....get ready to spend some $$$.
...One of the better places to buy books, new & used at good prices...Abesbooks...[;)]
http://www.abebooks.com/?cm_ven=ov&cm_cat=corp-search&cm_pla=abe_brand&cm_ite=abes%20book&afsrc=1
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Too many to even think about having them all, that is why, along with finding a passion, guys like Bert specdialize in a particular manufacturer or even a particular model. Some that come to mind are: Rule, The Riflemans Rifle (Win model 70), Renneberg, Winchester Model 94 the First 100 Years. Brophy, Marlin Firearms. Supica and Nahas, The Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson. NOTHING by R. L. Wilson. McIntosh, A. H. Fox, Brophy, L.C. Smith, Carmichael's The Book of the Rifle. That is a small Start. 0 -
curious as to why nothing by R.L Wilson? I have 3 books by him and they are filled with info & pics. Is he terribly innaccurate? I hear George Madis being discounted on here all the time but never heard bad things about Wilson. 0 -
It would suffice to say I have a low opinion of Wilson and his coffee table books.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/1225/112.html0 -
The book I use most is "The Gun Trader guide". I'm not usually as interested in values as years of MFG and original configurations. It's incomplete as far covering all models from any given MFG. But has most of them.
Next 2 are "The W.B. Smith Classic book of Pistols. And the corresponding "book of rifles".
I tinker alot on vintage .22's and find that more than any other, I tend to have Savage/Stevens projects. So my 4th most usefull book would be Jay Kimmels "Savage & Stevens Colectors history".
And as a former Japanese Arisaka collector, I've nealy worn the cover off my "Military Rifles of Japan" by Fred Honeycutt.0 -
In my opinion there are so many good reference books out there that you could easily fill the top 10 spots with books that only deal with just one specific type of firearm. I think you should consider what general makes and models of firearms you are interested in and then start considering what reference books to obtain.
Comment: I have nothing good to say about R. L. Wilson and wouldn't buy one of his coffee table books, but The Book of Colt Firearms is well worth having in my opinion.0 -
quote:Originally posted by ruger41
curious as to why nothing by R.L Wilson? I have 3 books by him and they are filled with info & pics. Is he terribly innaccurate? I hear George Madis being discounted on here all the time but never heard bad things about Wilson.
Wilson is a convicted felon... he stole both money and guns from people in the collecting communinty. Additionally, his books while well illustrated, are only marginally more accurate than Madis'. He was sued into bankruptcy twice for his under-handed dealings with high-end collectors. Frankly, the man is a pure 100% slime-bag. He used to hang out at some of the same gunshows that I attend, but thankfully no more... the legal system fixed that for us[}:)].0 -
It's hard to go wrong with Gun Digest's books on specific topics (I heartily concur on Patrick Sweeney's books, but David Chicoine's and Sam Fadala's are extremely helpful if you like 19th century guns. Ed McGivern's classic "Fast & Fancy Revolver Shooting" from the guy who created the FBI and NYPD's first pistol courses. "The Rifle in America" by Philip B. Sharpe is old but an outstanding reference up through about WWII. There are one or more excellent histories on just about any brand out there, you can find some of the more obscure brand histories at Cornell Publications now. "Small Arms of the World" in it's various editions was always the definitive guide for figuring out what a military gun was. As the others say, it's both what you're interested in and what you're doing (i.e. reloading, big game hunting, collecting, building or fixing one, etc.) but I'd always start with the Gun Digest books. Just figure if you target 10, you'll likely finish with 20-50 great books as good ones lead to others. [:)] 0 -
I have lots of reference books I use for different purposes, and I am in the process of buying one today only because it is the "only book on the market" that describes a particular firearm with both detailed information and with a picture. One of my favorite authors for Winchesters is George Madis, and I have quite a few of his books. I think I might well like books about firearms just about as much as I like what little firearm collecting that I have done. My favorite book references for helping to figure value are the Blue Book of Gun Values and the Standard Catalog of Firearms, and I have Stroebel's books on telescopes and old gunsights too. 0
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