What Books on your Shelf?

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"1911: The First 100 Years" by Patrick Sweeney is a REALLY great read on the history and evolution of the 1911. It basically made me go out and buy a Colt 1911:evil:


Hope to be adding some more next time I go to the book store... bookmarking this thread for reference:cool:
 
Lots and lots of books, but prominently displayed favorites are Bell's "The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter", Taylor's "Pondoro", Hunter's "Hunter"......lots of those old books including Maneaters of Kumaon and Tsavo..........many of Ruark and Capstick's writings, Hemmingways Green Hills, Roosevelts safari book........I love that old African stuff. The prize is Nuemann's "Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa".
 
Rifle in America by Philip B. Sharpe.
Complete Guide to Handloading by Philip B. Sharpe.
Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting by Ed McGivern.
Sixguns by Elmer Keith.
Gunsmithing by Roy Dunlap.
Professional Gunsmithing by Walter J. Howe.
The Hunting Rifle by Jack O'Conner.
The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns by Jack O'Conner.
Speaking of Jack O'Conner, he is/was without a DOUBT the Dean of rifles in regards to hunting.
He was a big fan of the .270 Winchester and NOT really a "Super Duper Magnum" aficianado, his theory being "Shot Placement" and not necessarily Power.
In my early years of Hunting, Shooting and Reloading, myself and my cronies based a lot of our activities on what "Jack O'Conner sez!"
 
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Most anything I read is a technical manual of some kind, other than magazines, I get all my material online for the last dozen years. Even newspapers. It saves on space and cash. There are now so many e-books that you can find most anyting you are ooking for online, we don't even have a phone book or yellow pages.
My wife may buy a novel here and there, but I have websites with just about anything i'll ever want on them.
 
Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson
Astra Firearms & Selected Competitors
Inglis Diamond: The Canadian High Power Pistol
Combat Shotguns
Crown Jewels: The Mauser in Sweden
Arms & Accoutrements of the RCMP
The Type 38 Arisaka by Francis Allen
Jerry Kuhnhausen's book about Smith & Wesson revolvers.
 
I think you should buy books that reflect your interests. I enjoy paging through the old Gun Digests a lot. They take up a huge amount of shelf space however.... essentially like having a set of encyclopedas. With Gun Digests, it is not just about the guns, there are a lot of articles that are interesting.
 
The interesting ones:

The Mauser Bolt Actions: A shop manual - Jerry Kuhnhausen
Textbook of Automatic Pistols - R.K. Wilson
Gun Digest 2000, 2005
Bannerman Catalogue of Military Goods 1927 (reprinted by DBI Books)
The Blue Book of Gun Values 2002

And Pat McManus collections for the funnies.
 
Everything that David Chicoine has published
Several of the NRA "Guides to" books
Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson Supica/Nahas
Cartridges of the World Frank C. Barnes
Standard Catalog of Colt Firearms Rick Sapp
Several of the Gun Digest books
Bunch of others, that's all I can think of right now.
 
I don't think what you're asking for is a comprehensive list of what's on our bookshelves, but rather what books ppl would recommend.

I travel weekly for work. I picked up a Kindle so that I can carry several books to read. Here are some of the more relevant ones on my reading list at the moment.

  • The Concealed Handgun Manual -- Chris Bird
  • The Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry -- Massad Ayoob
  • The Gun Digest Buyer's Guide to Concealed Carry Handguns -- Jerry Ahern
  • Primitive Skills and Crafts -- Richard and Linda Jamison
  • The Prepper's Pocket Guide -- Bernie Carr
  • Deep Suvival -- Lawrence Gonzales
  • A Walk in the Woods -- Bill Bryson
  • Lighten Up! Light and Ultralight Backpacking -- Dan Ladigin
  • Survive! -- Les Stroud
  • 98.6 The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive -- Cody Lundin
  • Hawke's Special Forces Suvival Handbook -- Mykel Hawke

For printed books, the following are in my library:

  • The Gun Digest Book of Firearms Assembly/Disassembly, Vol. 1 (automatic pistols) and Vol. 1 (revolvers)
  • Sierra Handgun Reloading Manual (3rd edition)
  • More Guns, Less Crime -- John Lott
  • Guns: Who Should Have Them? -- David Kopel
  • Standard First Aid & Personal Safety -- American Red Cross
  • A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness and Travel Medicine -- Eric A. Weiss, M.D.

I thought I had a copy of Handgun Stopping Power but I cannot find it. :(

I've loaned out or given away a few other books I deem critical to anyone choosing to carry a concealed weapon. Both are by Massad Ayoob.

  • In the Gravest Extreme: The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection
  • The Truth About Self Protection
 
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I have 2 libraries:

The first is a set of bookshelves in the basement everyone in the family uses, and has all kinds of books on it.

The second is much smaller - two 1/4 wall height bookshelves, that contain mostly non-fiction, and is my "gun library." I've got a dictionary, thesaurus, a guide to grammar/syntax and a book on literary devices, next to my copies of "Get Tough," "The Snubby Revolver," my EMT, WFR, Wildland Firefighting and Red Cross Lifeguard/First Responder/WSI textbooks, along with Wilderness First Aid, and some assorted Hemingway, Cussler, and Correia & Kupari.

I'd like to add "Sixguns" by Keith, but I'm having a hard time finding an inexpensive copy. Would also like to add some Cooper, and some of the books about hunting dangerous game.

Chris "the Kayak-Man" Johnson
 
Unintended Consequences by John Ross

This is the definitive book for afficianados of firearms and history. If you haven't read it, you're missing out.

Smith County Justice is another scary read about corruption in Tyler, TX...
 
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Peter Capstick edited a series of the classic African big game hunters' adventure/biography books. While I wouldn't go on safari even if I were able, the epoch is unique and these are great reads from a literate, bygone, era.

Not the great American novel but compelling and necessary: McBride's A Rifleman Went to War.

Cartridges of the World may be the best bathroom book ever.
 
The two WHB Smith books on Rifles and on Pistols and Revolvers. Dated now, and occasionally including some myths, but still plenty of information in there.
 
I would recommend a book by Jim Corbett, "The Leopard of Rudraprayag." He has several stories about hunting down man-eating Leopards and Tigers in India, but I think this is the best.

Will
 
Bookshelf Contents

About a foot and a half of the Shooter's Bible
Several volumes of gunsmithing guides - old and new
Gun Trader's Guide - 32nd edition
Volumes I, II and IV of Gunsmith Kinks (Brownell's)
Speer Reloading Manual -No. 12
One Ranger - A Memoir by H. Joaquin Jackson
The Foxfire Book - Vol. I, II and III
 
I have the Dummies Guide to Firearm Dremel Alterations and the Dummies Guide to Home Gunsmithing.
 
Quoheleth said:
Is Hatcher's Notebook still worth reading and having or is it seriously outdated? I know he was The Man back in the day, but how about today?

Q
Click to expand...
I find it useful as a history book. There are some interesting bits in there on the development of firearms and the like. It is outdated in some respects and the bits on the T-44/M-14/M-60/M-16 in the later written parts of the book are downright hilarious in retrospect though I suppose it would be too much to expect him to not toe the Ordinance party line.
 
ABC's of Reloading, Boddington's Safari Rifles, back issues of Gun Digest and Shooter's Bible.
 
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