Shooters Bible - 104th edition

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monotonous_iterancy

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I recently received a copy of the new Shooters Bible. I see that the price tag is $30. I'm questioning whether or not it's worth that. I know that older editions are collectors items, and the company that used to publish them got bought out, so someone else publishes it now. I don't know if that affects quality or not.

Basically, it has 3 articles, a section detailing new products in color gloss with some specs and MSRP, older current production guns in black and white on plain paper, some bullet specs, ballistics charts. That's basically it.

It kind of seems like a trade expo in book form.

So what's up with these books? I've never had one before.
 
All of those books are just suggestive/guidelines to values in the gun market, to include the BB of Gun Values. Use them with a pound of salt, any gun is worth what someone is willing to pay. Sometimes you do well, sometimes not when it comes to buying and selling, "horsetrading" works well for me.
 
Yeah, back in the 60-70s books like that were very useful---almost the only place to get much info on what was out there (a LOT less than today)---I just don't see much use for them these days as there is far more info on the internet---but that's all we had! I must admit to breaking-out some of the older books when it comes time to take apart an older 22.
 
Gun Digest and Shooters Bible were pretty useful with interesting articles and information back in the pre-Internet era. Back then you had a number of gun magazines but not many books which featured ammunition tables, prices and specs on most guns, and resource guides to manufacturers and importers. Relevant back then if you were looking for firearms related information; not so much so nowadays with the Internet.
 
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In the '40s-'50s the Shooter's Bible was one of Mom's "count on it" Christmas gifts to Dad, I seem to remember $4.95 but maybe it was less(?) Some of my toy pistols were traced out of them onto masonite and cut out with a coping saw.
 
I have a 1967 and a 1970 Shooters Bible.

They are printed on the front cover $3.95.

Invaluable references today for what was available and MSRP on them at the time.

I haven't bought a new one in the last 20+ years though.

rc
 
"Shooters Bible" has nothing of interest in it for me. From what I've seen, they want a lot of money for info that is outdated even as it is on the shelf for sale, and they include nothing that can't be found online in greater detail, for free.
 
True, the internet provides much more than the ol' Shooter's Bible could ever hope to these days.

It costs money to print something on dead trees and ship it across the nation. Alas, another printed reference material is obsolete. :(
 
Shooters Bible and Gun Digest were great references on new guns and they also contained some excellent articles. I have a collection of Gun Digests between 1950 and 1995 or so that comes in very handy when looking up older discontinued firearms and the various options that were available. But sometimes due to the time lag between printing and reality, some things are not accurate or have been just copied from the previous year's book and placed in the new edition. Pricing is almost always the previous year's catalog price.

Gun Digests are available on CD now and might be a great addition to a collectors resource materials for a small price relative to chasing down every single year's book.

For new gun buyers or young shooters, owning a couple Gun Digests is a good resource as interests change and frequently there is a picture of the firearm which is handy.
 
I prefer Gun Digest to Shooters Bible. It generally has more and better articles. I think it still has value even in today's internet age. I can quickly scan a section (e.g. revolver, lever/pump rifles) and look for a specific caliber or barrel length. To do that on the internet would require going to a bunch of different sites, finding their catalog, hoping the catalog is quick to search, etc.

There are also many other shooting products and URL summaries, so I've found a lot of companies and products I didn't even know existed.

The GD comes on in July/August (so the 2014 GD will be hitting the shelves soon). Know that when you get it, and certainly it could still be outdated when even if you get it right away. It also may show things the manufacturer decided not to make or miss a few offerings they should have listed.
 
I was gifted a Shooters Bible (#104) and it is page after page of wrong info. Totally worthless. I seeing a "regift" in somebones future.
 
What wrong info was that? I have not had that experience. Their "info" in the guns section is based on catalog data from the manufacturers.

That said, historically, Gun Digest tended to have more accurate information and that is why I have invested in a pre-2000 library of GD's.
 
What wrong info was that? I have not had that experience. Their "info" in the guns section is based on catalog data from the manufacturers.
Click to expand...

Page 4 claims that the new Arsenal SGL 21-94 only holds 5 rounds. An AK with only 5 rounds? Really?
 
monotonous_iterancy said:
So that's not a typo? Is Arsenal going by NJ rules or something?
Click to expand...
A lot of AK vendors were shipping 5 round mags with the gun, their lawyers probably insisted on it. Colt used to include 5 rounders with all their AR's. I bet Bushmaster wished they had...
 
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