Gun books

[merlinfire]

So I'm looking at picking up some gun books to expand my knowledge. The library and used book stores near me don't really have much on guns except political stuff. I'm looking for practical books about maintaining, building, shooting, and reloading.

I have a Lee's reloading manual for that, which is great for the recipes, but I'd like to pick up a book that covers the basics in greater depth/breadth.

I'd like to also get a book or books that teaches:

1. Proper techniques for firing rifles, pistols, and shotguns, in a variety of activities.

2. How to properly maintain a firearm

3. Possibly, how to "smith", modify, or even create firearms.

4. Explanation of ballistics and intended purposes of a wide range of cartridges and loads.


What are some of your picks that would fit these in some way?

 

[lizziedog1]

4. Explanation of ballistics and intended purposes of a wide range of cartridges and loads.

A good book about this stuff is Cartridges Of The World.

 

[Sunray]

Hi. Start with a copy of Hatcher's Notebook. About $30 at your local gun shop or Amazon. Lots of general info about headspace, etc.
Buy a copy of The ABC's of Reloading. Also about $30 at your local gun shop or Amazon.
A net search(Google) for 'Firearms books' turns up 4,910,000 results. You'll likely find hordes of books at a gun show. Amazon is a good place to look.
1. Too broad of a subject for one book. Each shooting discipline has its own techniques.
2. That'll be in your owner's manual.
3. NRA Gunsmithing Guides, et al. There will be a lot of 'smithing' books at gun shows.

 

[merlinfire]

Start with a copy of Hatcher's Notebook

I looked that up and it looks promising. I think it might have been hard to stumble upon if I didn't know what I was looking for

 

[Arkansas Paul]

4. Explanation of ballistics and intended purposes of a wide range of cartridges and loads.

The Game Rifle. It's a North American Hunting Club publication and was written by the late great Bob Hagel. If you can find one, it's great.

 

[CraigC]

Lordy, where to begin. I spent $1600 on books over the last couple years and feel like I've just begun to scratch the surface. You can never have too many. If you're into revolvers, look for books by Elmer Keith, John Taffin and Dennis Adler. If you're into cartridge conversions of percussion revolvers, Dennis Adler has no peer. If you're into custom revolvers, Hamtilton Bowen's book has no peer. For books on shooting same, look for those by Charles Askins, Julian Hatcher, J.H. Fitzgerald and Ed McGivern. If you're into rifles, look for books by Jeff Cooper, Townsend Whelen, John Taylor and Elmer Keith. If you're into traditional riflery, look for books from the AMU. If you're into adventure, particularly on the dark continent, look for those by Theodore Roosevelt, Frederick Courteney Selous, Robert Ruark and Peter Capstick. If you're into coffee table books, nobody has done more than R. L. Wilson. Many of those can be had at closeout prices.

A word of warning about vintage books. Many times originals and even reprints do not come cheap. I would suggest keeping an eye out for leatherbound books from Palladium Press and the NRA. They can be had at bargain prices from Amazon and Ebay but even their direct online special price of $30 is often much less than beat-up originals. As an example, they now have Julian Hatcher's "Textbook of Pistols & Revolvers" for $30. Originals are $60 - $120 on Amazon. I'd suggest getting on their mailing list.

http://www.palladiumpress.com/store/Scripts/prodList.asp?special=Y

Forgot to add that Palladium has two marksmanship books. I've got both but have yet to read them. The handgun book is only $15.

 

[Joe in fla]

I 2nd CraigC's recommendations but I'll add a suggestion. A lot of dealers want an arm and a leg for out of print books (not necessarily OLD books, just out of print) but if you search the internet you can frequently find them in somebody's stock at the original price. For example I just bought a new copy of 'Military Rifles of Japan' for the original list price of $42. A lot of the book dealers and E-Greed wanted $200 to $250 for it!

'Hatcher's Notebook' is one of THE best books out there on a wide variety of gun related subjects. I highly recommend it. Brownell's 'Gunsmith Kinks' series are great books about machine work and gun smithing. Roy Dunlop's book 'GunSmithing' is full of information about barrel threads and sizes and other specific information that's hard to find anywhere else. Pope's 'The Bullets Flight' is THE best book ever written about ballistics IMO. P.O. Ackley's 2 volumes, 'Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders' are full of information about reloading, wildcat cartridges, the strength of various actions and a wide variety of technical subjects. I highly recommend them. All of these books are classics and every serious shooter should have a copy. There are also a lot of other really good books such as Brophy's 'The Springfield 1903 Rifles' but they may not be relevent to every shooter.

 

[CraigC]

Thanks! I've got Dunlap's gunsmithing book and another by Perry Frazer. I added a couple of yours to my want list. The only "The Bullet's Flight" I found was by Franklin Mann, is that the right one? Nice to see that I can get a Palladium Press leatherbound edition of it for only $30.

I agree that it certainly pays to shop around, a lot, and jump on a deal when you find one. I found the Palladium reprint of Elmer Keith's "Sixgun Cartidges & Loads/Big Game Rifles" on Amazon two years ago for $40. Now they're anywhere from $80 to $200. I've paid as little as $10-$15 for some of my leatherbound editions. Even less for Askins' original hardcover books.

 

[Boberama]

Cartridges of the World is missing a few oldies, though.

 

[CraigC]

Forgot to mention Phil Sharpe.

 

[Roan]

I'm surprised they haven't been mentioned yet for shooting techniques, I would recommend Stressfire and Stressfire II by Massad Ayoob for pistols and shotguns respectively.

 

[Hendiadys]

I recommend: "Understanding Firearm Ballistics"
by: Robert Rinker

And it's in paperback.

 

[Boberama]

The Rifle in America, by Phil Sharpe.
Gives a nice picture of a more innocent America. No 2nd Amendment mentioned anywhere in the book. No ARs, CCWs, etc. It wasn't an issue. And hunting was still for food.

 

[Boberama]

Ed McGivern's Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting.
Hatcher's Notebook.
Baker's The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon.
George's English Guns and Rifles.
Montesquieu's The Persian Letters.

 

[ArmedLiberal]

I second the recommendations on Hatcher's Notebook. Just got my copy a couple of weeks ago and it's excellent. Hatcher worked in Army Ordinance and assisted with the development of arms and ammunition all through the first half of the twentieth century.

Also agree with ABC's of Reloading and Cartridges of the World. CoW has been updated with new editions for fifty years. If you want more info on older cartridges dropped from recent editions just get an earlier edition. Amazing how you can search thousands of bookstores with one click of the mouse nowadays.

 

[GCBurner]

Small Arms of the World is something I go back to for reference on military surplus firearms regularly.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

What is your area of interest? If you're a 1911 guy, I'd certainly want Jerry Kunhausen's book on the 1911 .45 pistol. There are good books, specific to certain guns or types of guns.

One cannot have too many reloading manuals.

That reminds me, Col. Cooper said "one cannot have too many books, too many wines, or too much ammunition."

And that reminds me that anything written by Jeff Cooper is worth having. I still have my copy of Cooper on Handguns from the 1970's.

For getting into reloading, Dean Grennell's "ABC's of Reloading" is probably in its zillionth printing, and is still great. Hats off to the late Dean.

I agree with CraigC: Lordy, where to begin! And thanks, Craig, for pointing out there's a Palladium Press, as well as a Paladin Press.

I have big paperback copies of several of the NRA Firearms Assembly books, as well as a nice Exploded Diagrams book.

My copy of Blue Steel and Gunleather is getting old. Does anyone know if John Bianchi did a recent update?

Remember, you can always throw out some of your furniture and build more bookshelves.

 

[BluesDancer]

For shooting techniques, I'd say books by Gabe Suarez. Most of them are on Amazon.com