The Shotgunner's Bookshelf.....

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Dave McCracken

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Some of the best reading around is about Shotguns. Ruark's The Old Man and The Boy is an example. So are works by Havilah Babcock, Nash Buckingham, Corey Ford and Burton Spiller. These are classics and the writers passed on for decades.

Newer writers of worth include Datus Proper, Roger Pinckney XIII, and when John Geirach puts down his fly rod, him also. Steve Smith, Gene Hill and Joel Vance have also contributed good work to the genre.

For technia, nothing still beats Brister's 1975 masterwork, " Shotgunning, The Art and The Science".

Bruce Bowlen's book on wingshooting is worthy of mention.

So is Gil and Vicki Ash's book" If It Ain't Broke, Fix It".

On the "Serious" side, Ayoob and Awerback have good stuff. Someone more conversant with newer material on this is welcome to chime in.

Matter of fact, you all are.

What's YOUR picks?.....
 
Dave,

You pretty well covered it, I think. Especially from the literary aspect.

I also have Jack O'Connor's _The Shotgun Book_ and Swearengen's _The World's Fighting Shotguns_ (now back in print IIRC) as well, plus several of the manuals like J. B. Wood's _Gun Digest Book of Firearms Assembly/Disassembly, Part V: Shotguns_, the _NRA Illustrated Shotgun Handbook_ (from about 1963) and so on.

Looking forward to more suggestions,

lpl/nc
 
Dave,
Great Thread Idea!

My favorites are well known here on THR, I may have shared them before. ;)

Learning about Shotguns, chokes, loads and how to shoot:

Shotgunning, The Art and The Science -Brister

Score Better At Skeet-Fred Misseldine

Score Better at Trap -Fred Misseldine

Respect for shotguns, hunting, ethics, morals, game managment, great dogs, experiences with game or the human race:

The Old Man and The Boy - Robert Ruark.
Then read the sequel, then read everything else by Ruark. From The Honey Badger to Use Enough Gun. One will learn about hunting on Safari, to racial strife and the Mau Mau, to Honey Badgers... ;)

Hemingway of course, and works as mentioned by Cory Ford, Gene Hill... et al.

What I want to add to mine: A replacment of "Use Enough Gun", Awerbuck ( any and everthingof his ) , and Gil and Vicki Ash's book" If It Ain't Broke, Fix It".

Yes most of my reading may be dated, yes I re-read it. Some stuff is basic and correct fundamentals - hard to improve on these things. Others- well I remember a different time, takes me back, re-instills some belief systems I have, and some are sentimental.

I don't figure the smell of wet dogs, and burned powder, the sights of dogs pointing and game flushed and felled, the hold points and felled clays , the appreciaton of wood and blue shotguns and being in the woods, or on a clay's field has changed a whole lot. :)
 
For something a bit diffferent, how about Streetsweepers: The Complete Book Of Combat Shotguns by Duncan Long.

It's not exactly a favorite of mine, or really complete, but it has some interesting information.

Another is A Collector's Guide To United States Combat Shotguns by Bruce N. Canfield.
 
There are many books that I have not read, but are on 'the list' to get when I can. One of my favorites I have was given to me years ago for my birthday. "Grouse Feathers" by Burton Spiller, it's in a hardcover edition. Many touching stories in that book. I have read several of the Ruark books, mostly safari reading, but some stories out of other books. I remember reading some of the other authors in old issues of Field and Stream, Zane Grey comes to mind as well as others mentioned already.

sigh... I wish things were as simple as they seemed to be back then...
 
Let's see:

Charles Askins "Modern Shotguns and Loads" Small Arms Technical Publishing, 1927. A classic with good info on older gauges and doubles techniques

Fred Etchen "Commonsense Shotgun Shooting" Good book with trapshooting tips for just about anybody.

D. Lee Braun "Modern Trapshooting" I am always tossed between Braun and Misseldine as to which author's tips are better. Braun's barrel camera is neat here. One of them tells the story of how to determine if you are at a skeet or trap shoot. If there is a picnic, skeet. If the shooters are trading guns, trap.

Chapel's book on "Field, Skeet and Trap Shooting" is good too! dated but still there with the basics.

BTW Brister is still tops.
 
Brister is at the top of the list.

Michael McIntosh "Shotguns and Shooting" is good also. It's more geared towards SxSs, but has some good, solid info as well.

John D. Taylor "Hunting North America's Upland Game Birds".

Those are the ones on my bookshelf. I've looked at others, and will get Misseldine's books soon... however, nothing else has made the cut. I just keep re-reading Brister and learning more.
 
My favorites in no special order

SHOTGUNS
DON Zutz -The double shotgun, Shotgun trends and transitions
David F butler-the american shotgun
Bob Hinman-the golden age of shotgunning

BIRD HUNTING
William harden Foster-New England Grouse shooting
Steven Mulak-Wings of Thunder
William G Tapply-Upland Days
Cecil E Heacox- The Gallant Grouse

GENERAL OUTDOORS
Charles Fergus-The wingless Crow
Frank Woolner- My New england
 
I'm surprised not to see Pete Blakeley's Successful Shotgunning

I just read Pete Blakeley's Successful Shotgunning and enjoyed the book and learned much from it. However, I only started shooting roughly three months ago. So, I don't consider myself experienced enough to know how it rates among others. I can see I must pick up a copy of Brister's book. I also have Bruce Bowlen's Wing-Shooting Handbook which seems technically strong and Jerry Meyer's Sporting Clays Handbook (ordered online) which showed up with numerous blank pages where there should have been text.

So, I'm wondering if others read Pete Blakeley's book and did not care for it, or if they have not gotten around to it as it only came out in 2003.

Still struggling with my new 20ga at 5 stand but having a literal and metaphorical BLAST. :)

joshuap
 
For technia, nothing still beats Brister's 1975 masterwork, " Shotgunning, The Art and The Science".
Click to expand...

Good choice. I'm glad to see the book mentioned repeatedly in this thread. I own it, I think it's a fine book, seeing several others feel this way confirms it.
 
Joshua, if Blakely's book is on the same level as his excellent articles, it's a good'un. I've enjoyed his stuff in Sporting Clays and find much of worth.

Zutz is underrated as a technical writer. Shotgun Stuff is a nice primer of odds and ends.

Elmer Keith's Shotguns has some good stuff, but like Askins, he had an 8 gauge ego. I dislike One True Way approaches in Shotgunning as well as in most other endeavours. And if the truth be told, I'd hate to have shared a blind with either one, no matter how good they were.

McIntosh is a great writer. His output runs heavy on the tweeds and single malt Scotch stuff, but he doesn't take himself terribly seriously, a saving grace. And, he admitted in print that he shot as well with an old pump gun as all those British top grade doubles he eulogizes in print.

Honesty is rare in sporting literature, and much is accepted as non fiction which shouldn't be.
 
I've read Brister, Macintosh, and Ruark, and some of the others mention, and they're all good. "The Old Man And The Boy" is one of my ten favorite books of all time.

To that list I'd add Jim Fergus' "The Sporting Road".

Scott
 
My short list of 5 best books about best guns is:

Best Guns (revised edition) by Micheal MacIntosh. It's a good overview on the world's great guns.

Shotgunning, The Art and Science by Brister for all the reasons mentioned above

Spanish Best (revised edition) by Terry Wieland. If you get a desire for a Basque sxs reading this book is a must.

The Gun and its Development by W.W. Greener. This book was written a century ago and reflects the golden era of British shotgunning. It's quirky in several different ways but a fascinating if somewhat ponderous book to read.

The Shotgun Book by Jack O'Connor. It's still chock full of valuable information despite it's age.

Honorable Mention Category
The Clay Target Handbook by Jerry Meyer. I can't recall the number of people I have loaned this book. It's the definitive primer for someone who wants to get started in clay shooting.

Dishonorable Mention Category
The Italian Shotgun by Laurie Morrow. This book is a mess. It is self indulgent, poorly written and chaotic in its approach. When the author ran out of things to say (and it didn't take long) she stuffed the rest of the book with information from brochures from the the manufacturers.
 
Scott,I like The Sporting Road as well, It's kinda different but good.

My library is mostly grouse and woodcock, double gun stuff. I tend to stay away from the tech stuff, I guess Zutz's Brister's and Bowlen's are the closest thing I own.

I forgot to mention Gene Hill all of his stuff is great; I think Mostly tail feathers is my favorite from him.

Dave you mentioned Joel Vance, I only own Upland Bird Hunting but I love it. It was one of the first sporting books I picked up and I still enjoy reading it.
 
Huntsman, Upland Bird Hunting was what I was thinking of when I mentioned Vance. I'd like to see more of his work, some articles he's done have impressed me no end.

Paul, I've Greener's book also. His ego is right up there with Keith's and Askin's, but there's nuggets to be sifted out of the self promotion and commercials.
 
I just checked my bookshelf and found another good book by a different Fergus, Charles Fergus, called "A Rough Shooting Dog". Almost made me want to add a springer to my herd of Brittanies.

Dave, I also like Joel Vance, and have a copy of "Bobs, Brush, and Brittanies". I've read it a couple times already, and will certainly read it many more.

Scott
 
WH, I'll look for that one.

Paul mentioned The Clay Target Handbook by Jerry Meyer. Another good one, IMO. Kinda technical, but interesting.

In periodical literature, my favorites include Shotgun Sports, Sporting Clays, and Shooting Sportsman, though the last has too little on stuff that doesn't require a Dun and Bradstreet rating.

Nothing against tweeds,single malt Scotch( My revered ancestors' greatest contribution to civilization's march) or fine doubles, but most of our realities have other landmarks.
 
Sorry for the bump.

This past weekend (1/30) in the local paper (The Carroll County Times, Maryland) the local Outdoors writer Lonny Weaver had a 3/4 page article titled "On Shutguns and Shotgunning". In it he discussed his favorite shotgun books. Of his three favorite books, two are mentioned in this thread, Zutz (The Double Shotgun) and O'Connor (The Shotgun Book). His third book was Game Shooting by Robert Churchill. He appeared to enjoy Churchill's arguement that 25 inch barrells were a good choice for all around shooting. Churchill was writing early in the 20th when guns were longer. I am not sold on this idea, but might have to give it a try. (I still prefer a longer gun for just about everything except social work. Thank you Beretta.)

The article is not posted online. I have dropped the author a note asking for an electronic copy with permission to repost.

Back to your normally scheduled thread.

paul....
 
Churchill had a problem after WWI.Lots of customers and potential customers lay dead in Flanders Field, casualties of 20th Century technology and 19th Century tactics. There were more good shotguns out there than there were shotgunners.

So, he developed an employee's idea for a fast handling double with 25" barrels. He shot the thing at live pigeon matches and won. People started ordering the new XXV as it was called and buying his book.

Basically, he convinced many folks they NEEDED the XXV. Kinda like the media blitz for the 3.5" Maggie Numb.

However, he was a world class wingshooter and intelligent . His system of swing through shooting is a good one for many kinds of shots.

00, if you can get permission, please post it on a new thread. Thanks!
 
Daniel Schindler's, "Take Your Best Shot" & To The Target.

Michael Keyes "Mental Training for the Shotgun Sports" is a great book.

Kelem
 
Well, I just ordered:
"The Old Man and the Boy"

"Shotgunning: The Art and the Science"

"The Orvis Wing-Shooting Handbook (Orvis)"

That oughta keep me busy at lunch :)
 
Drive,

Unless I miss my guess, you'll find Ruark addicting. He wrote a lot of outdoorsy stuff, fortunately, but not everything of his is oriented toward hunting and fishing. Don't just buy his books on name recognition alone, do some homework to see if you really want the title you're looking at.

Every time I get down to Southport, NC, I make it a point to go by the little yellow house near the waterfront. It's still there, and it's still yellow, though it isn't in the family any more.

Every boy in America should grow up like that...

Enjoy the book-

lpl/nc (who did pretty much the same things growing up in Alabama, just with a different set of old men)
 
Brister was gifted! He wrote other works and I wish I had my collection - now lost.
I actually met Brister , total surprise, next day I shot a round with him, and he signed his book for me. This in itself is a story, I was assisting a young man with a gun problem in the parking area, single mom with her son whom was in learning stages... folks I was with had gone to the clubhouse, guess who asked if I needed assistance and needed a part if he had one? :)

Misseldine, I met over the phone. A friend of mine knew him and shot with him. I never had the honor to make it down and take him up on his invite, conflict in scheduling. Again - signed copies.

These signed books of Brister and Misseldine did not survive a fire, along with other works. I cried. In that fire was a box of Brister's Books and Ruark's TOMATB. I had plans to hand these out to some folks and this act had to be delayed. That hurt a lot.

Ruark,
I have to see that area he grew up in - something I have promised myself.

One needs to , in my opinon, read the bio's of author's to better appreciate the times brought up in, how raised, and the "Flavor" of the Country and Times - includes travels.

Something of Value and its sequel Uhuru , are Ruark's works that I found very informative, and one can still learn lessons applicable to today's times.

Just as one does from Heinlein and Ayn Rand.

There is more to responsible firearm ownership than firearms.

Firearms, in this thread more particular - shotguns symbolize so much. WE learn the Shotgun, not only how to shoot, how to train, how to practice - we educate the mind [mindset] as to why. History is a great teacher - if we listen. We have much to learn from author's now passed - from their timeless works.

Sometimes the firearm mentioned in reading is not the tool of focus, just part of the tool box.

~

Based on the Mau-Mau uprisings against British colonialists, Something of Value took its title from an old Basuto proverb:

If a man does away with his traditional way of living and throws away his good customs, he had better first make certain that he has something of value to replace them. -

Something of Value- Robert Ruark
 
Brister, obviously. My dad gave me the book when I was pretty young and I've read it many times since.

I also like Leon Measures' Shoot Where You Look. Not the greatest writing style, but it gets the point across and has helped me greatly.
 
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