yhtomit
Member
Next to me is a copy of David Miller's book "The Illustrated Directory of Guns."
I spotted this the other night prowling the bargain aisles at my local Borders (Harrisburg, PA) a few nights ago, and decided it was worth it to go spend the $20 on my drive back to school in Philadelphia. Note: $20 is far to the right of my scale for reasonable book prices. Retail price -- which I suspect no one on Earth has paid -- is apparently just under $90. I'm amazed sometimes by how much high-quality book one can get for very little money in the remaindered shelves, and in this case $20 seems like a true bargain. It's 752 pages, copyright 2005, will "more than 2000" (I haven't counted, but don't doubt it) weapons and their specifications, and great photos illustrations. The photo illustrations for most of the guns are simple full-length ones; more side and detail closeups would be nice, but that's asking a lot when it comes to this many entries; there are some longer entries on particular gun types, history, etc, it's not entirely a catalog, just mostly.
There are a few comments listed on the book's page at Amazon (If this link works for you -- http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-D...1490525?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179808367&sr=1-1), both of which I agree with in that a) there are some errors in the text and b) though the entry on each gun is rather brief, the breadth is impressive enough I think to mostly make up for it. The dustjacket promises "full specifications with each entry," which must be taken with a grain of salt; these "full" specifications are actually just the outermost layer; in many cases the accompanying text provides more technical information, but the standard slots to be filled (with example data from p. 444) are:
NAME OF WEAPON (Jenks "Mule Ear" Carbine)
Type (percussion carbine)
Origin (see text)
Cailber (.54)
Barrel Length (24.5in)
So, that's not what I would call full specifications (weight? year introduced? capacitity? Many more possible, of course ...) but again, it's a reasonable start -- the inntertubenets and other books must be called on if you want exploded drawings or a detailed history of the AR series.
Though I've been interested in guns since young childhood, I must say that I blame THR for sparking this purchase. Lots of models that people mention sound interesting, but having a nice color photo makes clear what they're talking about. I'd doubtless know more and better about guns if I'd gotten a book like this one 10 or 15 years ago. My non-secret theory is that just about *everyone* is a "visual learner," and complex mechanical objects are a case where pictures are actually worth 1200 words at least.
I notice Jim Supica -- from whom I noticed a recent THR post the other day reflecting the update of archairgunshow.com -- listed in the acknowledgements. (Any other THR's in that list?)
Prowling online, I see that it can be had for even less -- that Amazon page above has "used and new" copies starting under $8 (which I have not further explored for condition, shipping terms, etc), and with the caveats listed above I recommend it as a visual reference, or even just a coffee table book, whether to delight guests who aren't afraid of guns, or to tweak those who are but shouldn't be. It's heavy enough that shipping might be high, though
Cheers,
timothy
I spotted this the other night prowling the bargain aisles at my local Borders (Harrisburg, PA) a few nights ago, and decided it was worth it to go spend the $20 on my drive back to school in Philadelphia. Note: $20 is far to the right of my scale for reasonable book prices. Retail price -- which I suspect no one on Earth has paid -- is apparently just under $90. I'm amazed sometimes by how much high-quality book one can get for very little money in the remaindered shelves, and in this case $20 seems like a true bargain. It's 752 pages, copyright 2005, will "more than 2000" (I haven't counted, but don't doubt it) weapons and their specifications, and great photos illustrations. The photo illustrations for most of the guns are simple full-length ones; more side and detail closeups would be nice, but that's asking a lot when it comes to this many entries; there are some longer entries on particular gun types, history, etc, it's not entirely a catalog, just mostly.
There are a few comments listed on the book's page at Amazon (If this link works for you -- http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-D...1490525?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179808367&sr=1-1), both of which I agree with in that a) there are some errors in the text and b) though the entry on each gun is rather brief, the breadth is impressive enough I think to mostly make up for it. The dustjacket promises "full specifications with each entry," which must be taken with a grain of salt; these "full" specifications are actually just the outermost layer; in many cases the accompanying text provides more technical information, but the standard slots to be filled (with example data from p. 444) are:
NAME OF WEAPON (Jenks "Mule Ear" Carbine)
Type (percussion carbine)
Origin (see text)
Cailber (.54)
Barrel Length (24.5in)
So, that's not what I would call full specifications (weight? year introduced? capacitity? Many more possible, of course ...) but again, it's a reasonable start -- the inntertubenets and other books must be called on if you want exploded drawings or a detailed history of the AR series.
Though I've been interested in guns since young childhood, I must say that I blame THR for sparking this purchase. Lots of models that people mention sound interesting, but having a nice color photo makes clear what they're talking about. I'd doubtless know more and better about guns if I'd gotten a book like this one 10 or 15 years ago. My non-secret theory is that just about *everyone* is a "visual learner," and complex mechanical objects are a case where pictures are actually worth 1200 words at least.
I notice Jim Supica -- from whom I noticed a recent THR post the other day reflecting the update of archairgunshow.com -- listed in the acknowledgements. (Any other THR's in that list?)
Prowling online, I see that it can be had for even less -- that Amazon page above has "used and new" copies starting under $8 (which I have not further explored for condition, shipping terms, etc), and with the caveats listed above I recommend it as a visual reference, or even just a coffee table book, whether to delight guests who aren't afraid of guns, or to tweak those who are but shouldn't be. It's heavy enough that shipping might be high, though
Cheers,
timothy
