1 comments about Fireworks.

1. Fireworks is Cooper at his best; with tales ranging from battles and hunts to tequila making and returning home from war. Cooper knows how to tell a story right; leaving in the details that breath life into every sentence. Whether making a carbine exciting or describing some of the best history of the twentieth century, Cooper draws the reader in with his masterful use of the English language. Originally purchased for my husband, now one of my favorites!

1 comments about Rifles of the World.

1. This book makes for excellent reference material for those thinking of investing in a great rifle or simply enthusiastic about the art of rifles today.Exhaustive gun list covering most commercial rifles of today and yesterday without wasting too many pages on worthless ballistic charts.Highly recommended reference for hunters,competitive shooters,collectors or simply gun enthusiasts.

No comments about Gun: A Visual History.

5 comments about Complete M1 Garand.

1. Very good book for Garand collectors.
   
   Good illustrations and pictorials as well as useful information.



2. If you collect or are interested in the Garand rifle, this is written for you. Easy to follow and packed with facts and pictures. I refer to my copy regularly. I would buy it again.



3. JUST THE THING FOR OLD GUYS TO USE WHEN TAKING APART A GARAND & PUTTING
   SAME BACK TOGETHER.



4. "Garanditus" is a dreadful malady, contracted by the unsuspecting interested in either shooting or World War II collecting. The consequences are terrible: drained financial resources, incessant internet searches for M1s, parts, and attendant paraphernalia. You find yourself attending meetings, standing, and reciting the familiar phrase, "Hello, my name is B--- and I am a Garandoholic."
   
   Along the way, to really appreciate this hobby (whether shooting or collecting), it is required that you build up a library and along side of Duff, Canfield, and the others are the books by Jim Thompson. None of the books written by *any* authors, by themselves, will provide a complete and total compendium of knowledge about Mr. J. C. Garand's wonderful rifle. All of them do provide essential information, making the practitioner more appreciative of the M1.
   
   Some of the other reviewers have objected to Mr. Thompson's rants about gang bangers, the criminal element, gun confiscation, Arizona local government, etc. are a bit tiresome. I do not share that view. On the contrary, I found Mr. Duff's books to be chocked full of facts and history, but a bit dry and too much a relation of the history of the Springfield armory. Consequently, Mr. Thompson's opinions provided interesting counterpoint. I value *both* the books that I have by Duff and Thompson as valuable components in a necessary reference library.
   
   To be sure, Mr. Thompson does provide a great deal of his personal knowledge to his works and does so in a very literate manner. I mean, a gun book whose author uses the words "calumny" and "denouement"?
   
   The only reason I gave it a 4 is because I wish it were longer.



5. From the introductory pages, through to the list of resources, "The Classic M1 Garand" held my complete interest. Beginning with Jim Thompson's moving dedication to his friend, this book is written straight from the heart.
   As a newcomer to the world of classic rifles and firearms,a female neophyte, I was happily surprised that the information within was compiled in an efficient way. The descriptions of various types of guns and their proper care and preservation, is explained in finite detail. Mr. Thompson leaves no stone unturned covering the past 60or so years in the life of this beautiful treasure. The accompanying photographs of the author field testing his rifles, and photos of various guns and accessories are well described and captioned.
   War (and Peace) stories are spun through tbe context of the book.I love Jim Thompson's personalized style of writing, I seemed to flow with him from one chapter to the next eager to learn more. Definately an excellent choice for the gun collector and the merely curious as well. I highly recommend it. Thank You.

5 comments about Best Guns.

1. A must have for anyone interested in classic shotguns. Interesting reading with adequate technical information, but not overbearing.



2. The book has a lot of history, and is very informative on the history of double guns, and especially detailed in that of American heritage, I read a substatial amount about auto ejectors which I understand, twisted bore and smooth bore, pretty much self explainable, but exactly what is a sidelock, what is a boxlock? How do they differ? Old or new which way is the way to go? I look forward to buying a few doubles and using them. Obviously I do not need a $10,000, or even a $15,000 plus double, but I would like one I could use in the field and have something of value down the road in the next 20 or 30 plus years. I think a few informative drawings and discriptions a little more of the understanding of the workings and parts in detail would be benefical. I am not new to firearms for I have a found respect of them and their uses in more than a few areas but doubles are fairly new to me, and with that, new terminology and parts are hard to understand without knowing what to look for.



3. More McIntosh. I don't know who has the definitive work on shotguns, but this one must be close. Especially loved the section on spagetti shotguns. I can tell you up front that, for American guns, he prefers Foxes, but if you have read his works, you already know that.

   This is just more McIntosh. And that is good, even though he has ruined my life. For years I've just considered guns to be tools like drills and saws .... tools to be used but not pampered. Then I discovered McIntosh, and Italian shotguns, and life has not been the same since.

   I've been shooting Japanese. Totally reliable. Never had a problem. But it's like driving a Toyota. I want a Ferrari.

   Michael is to blame.




4. I agree with the reviewer from Seattle -- this book is strictly about high-grade shotguns such as Parker, L.C. Smith, Fox, the Winchester 21 and many others, and has nothing to do with handguns. Overall it's a good book for this type of shotgun.



5. The above review is a bunch of baloney by someone who has never read the book. This book has nothing to do with handguns at all. It's about shotguns, and specifically about the two barrel variety. - - This happens to be an excellent book and a great resource for someone contemplating the purchase of a nice double gun. - -

1 comments about Antique Firearms Assembly/Disassembly: The Comprehensive Guide to Pistols, Rifles & Shotguns.

1. This could have been a great reference book as it seems to have alot of information packed in it,Antique Firearms Assembly/Disassembly: The Comprehensive Guide to Pistols, Rifles & Shotguns but without a Table of contents or an index, finding the information you are looking for is dependant on a large portion of serendipity.

5 comments about Hatcher's Notebook, Revised Edition (Classic Gun Books Series).

1. One of about a half a dozen MUST have books if you have firearms and hand load for them.
   
   Steve Adams
   AdamsQuailHunter on GunBroker & Ancientguns Forums



2. the data in this book in fundamentally timeless. Yes, some deals with specific firearms and/or circumstances, but even there, many lessons for GENERAL firearms use are still lurking.
   
   This is one of the most valuable reference manuals in my library and has been read many times over during the years.
   
   Even more important is EW Mann's "The Bullet's Flight" and it was written at the turn of the century! Some types of knowledge don't "wear out."



3. BUT... you can't be scared off by technical stuff. Hatcher has a way of explaining it for the layman, but most of the book is just insights into firearms technology as seen by an insider. Great read. Buy it before any other gun book. May I also suggest Hatcher's other masterpiece, Book of the Garand.



4. I'd read snatches from the book in our local Public Library from time to time. Finally decided to treat myself to the luxury of having it on hand all the time. Whilst it may be considered to be a little outdated now (2007) it's still a classic and an absolute mine of knowledge. Provides a fascinating and factual account of the development of modern 20th Century Small Arms, ranging from bolt action rifles, automatic pistols, Machine Guns and Sub Machine Guns. Add to this the development of modern smokeless powders, primers and the treatment of steel, then you have a veritable fount of information that is still relevant today.



5. The classic gun crank's book. If you have the slightest curiosity about any aspect of firearms design, ballistics, or history, Hatcher's been there & done that. One of those books you can pick up, open to any page, and start reading.

5 comments about Antique Guns: The Collector's Guide (Shooter's Bible) (Shooter's Bible).

1. I recently ordered this for my husband. He saw an ad for it in one of his gun magazines. I looked it up on Amazon, and it was much cheaper.
   
   He refers to it often and thinks it is one of the best that he has.



2. This book is a waste of paper:
   I just received and opened it: The introduction lets you understand you're going to learn the different guns. Page 1 is full of photos of diverse handguns. One is dubbed: "French Flintlock Pistol". The photo shows a back action percussion lock. Hmmm. I jump to "Swiss Military Rifles" (I'm a Swiss collector). Two rifles are listed: First a Mod. 1871, cal 10.5 mm. The caption is a Mod. 1869 and the right caliber is 10.4 mm. Second a 1891, cal 7.63x54 Russian caliber Mod 1891... same as Moisin Nagant. From 1889 to 1890, the Swiss Army caliber was 7.5x55. From 1889 to 1957, the rifles were Schmidt Rubin or derivates. There NEVER was a 7.63x54 cal. Moisin among the Swiss Military Rifles. I shut the book down. I had to put a star to review the book, but it's worth none. It's for sale, new, quarter price.



3. Very interesting, but not exactly what I was looking for. Still a very informative book.



4. Any who buy, sell or trade in antique firearms needs to know identification, firearm specs, and how to value one: Shooter's Bible Presents Antique Guns: A Collector's Guide provides everything needed to do all of this. Color photos introduce the topic, but the heart of the title isn't color: it's black and white photos paired with caliber, barrel, weight and model specifications. Year of introduction or making and current valuation creates an important collector's reference.



5. Any who buy, sell or trade in antique firearms needs to know identification, firearm specs, and how to value one: Shooter's Bible Presents Antique Guns: A Collector's Guide provides everything needed to do all of this. Color photos introduce the topic, but the heart of the title isn't color: it's black and white photos paired with caliber, barrel, weight and model specifications. Year of introduction or making and current valuation creates an important collector's reference.

4 comments about The Last Fighting General: The Biography of Robert Tryon Frederick.

1. For a man whose character and accomplishments were monumental his story should have been handled by a writer with experience for well written prose and narrative. I struggled reading this book with its stilted, cumbersome and sometimes difficult and unbelievable phrasing. I've rarely encountered words such as humongous or pertinacious among others used in historical narrative. Nobody talks like this.
   The author should have used, or at least someone from Schiffer should have suggested an editor to clean this up. I was suspect of the author's background where the inside jacket reads "...After attending university," What university? Any prior contributions to journals, magazines or other publications? A noble effort by Hicks but certainly not the paean Frederick deserves. Perhaps his story will be rewritten by an author with credentials and a knack for writing clear, succinct and cogent narrative.



2. A rich and rewarding look at the founder and commander of the First Special Service Force, and perhaps the most decorated senior ground commander of ww2.General Fredericks early life is well recorded and his combat history is covered well. This is a must have for FSSF and SF historians and recomended for the serious reader of ww2 military history.



3. An outstanding biography on a true American hero. This is one of the best biographies (possibly THE best) that I have ever read. Not only is the story of General Frederick extremely compelling, but Ms. Hicks does an excellent job in conveying both the professional and personal sides of this great man. I highly, highly recommend this book for any fan of military history, or for that matter, anyone interested in reading about a man who lived life with honor, and who was committed to helping their fellow man.



4. Excellent book.I have most of the books on the Devil's Brigade.
   This is truly a book worth 5 stars!

4 comments about Big Book of Pocket Knives: Identification & Values (Big Book of Pocket Knives).

1. This was an Xmas gift for my husband who collects knifes, he really likes it.



2. This book is almost useless to me. Its listings of various cutlery companies is wanting. The cutlery companies that are included in this book only list only very old or vintage knives and are not in any particular order. I cannot find but only a few knive values when searching for a specific knife. For me, it is a waste of money and paper.



3. I bought this book based on another customer review. About the only pictures are on the front cover. This book is NOTHING more than various knive ads and catalogs from long past. There is no related history or collector insights. Indeed there is very little original writing in this book at all. Major modern manufacturers are not covered (Buck for instance) and like I said, there is very little additional information other than the catalog reprints. Knife values are kind of strange. My recent sales are as much as 4 times what is listed. Most are 2-3 times what is listed. I have noticed that other knife books are a little low also. There is no real help with identification in this book either. The only thing I liked about this book was the cover.



4. Ron Stewart and Roy Ritchie's Big Book Of Pocket Knives provides an excellent reference for any who would collect pocket knives, with close-up black and white photos of the knives accompanied by written descriptions and values. A "must' for avid collectors.