Review: Gunsmoke and Saddle Leather
My expectations for “Gunsmoke and Saddle Leather” fell when I took it out of it’s shipping carton; it was too light. At 12.25″x9.50″x1.75″ and 522 pages it weights only 4 lbs 9 oz.. By comparison, the prior review, “Winchester – An American Legend, 11.50″x8.75″1.50” and 404 pages weighs 5 lbs […] [Read More]
Review: Winchester - An American Legend The Official History of Winchester Firearms and Ammunition from 1849 to the Present
Published in the latter part of 2004, R. L. Wilson wrote this title, in cooperation with Winchester, to acknowledge the marque’s 125th anniversary. A thick 404 pages, there is little word padding. “Winchester – An American legend” is filled with excellent color and black and white photographs of historical and […] [Read More]
Review: A History of Firearms: From Earliest times to 1914
The book is one of the Dover Book series on antiques and collecting. The author, W.Y. Carman is an expert in the field and served as Deputy Director of the Imperial War Museum in London. This is an easy to read book, punctuated with lots of ink drawings that milestones […] [Read More]
Review: Gunpowder
“Gunpowder” has some elements I wish were more prevalent in other firearm related books; original perspective, well documented research/reference sources and quality production. A good number of recently published firearm related books are almost entirely cliché with material extracted from the work of others without a mention of origin. Like […] [Read More]
Review: Swiss Magazine Loading Rifles 1869 - 1958
Over the past months I have made an effort to acquire military surplus firearms. My purpose is to extend my involvement and participation in firearm ownership and recreational shooting, and to expand my understanding of world history. Where social and cultural changes are slow in developing and the cause often […] [Read More]
Review: Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook 4th Edition
Lyman is….a quiet product and I am not sure why. My first reloading equipment was built around a Lyman turret press and dies and, as I recall, it did a great job producing jacketed and cast loads for the 30-30 WCF round. I’m not sure what happened to that setup, […] [Read More]
Review: Reloading for Shotgunners
Reloading for Shotgunners is a well written and comprehensive primer for anyone who wants to know more about the subject, or plans on taking on the task of loading shotshells. As is the case with most good handloading manuals of the metallic cartridge type, Reloading for Shotgunners addresses each component […] [Read More]
Review: The Gun Digest® Book of Exploded Gun Drawings
I bought the book just for the title, thinking I would find an artist rendition of some of my errant handloading projects. I did not, but what I did find was a lot more useful. I’ve taken guns apart with some frequency, unfortunately, there has not been a direct correlation […] [Read More]
Review: Mermelstein's Guide to Metallic Cartridge Evolution
I usually purchase a few firearm related books each month. Unless specifically noted at the beginning of a review, they are purchased from retail at the typical market price. A good number I didn’t review because they were lackluster in content, OK for me to read, but nothing outstanding or […] [Read More]
Review: Mauser Military Rifles of the World
When I began some project work on military surplus rifles, the most difficult part of the task was getting enough good information to make a purchase of a rifle or replacement parts. It was also difficult to get the history of various firearms in terms of where they were assigned […] [Read More]