4 comments about Heckler and Koch: Armorers of the Free World.

1. I bought a hardbound edition of this book and did not read beforehand the reviews about this book. Well, this lousy book begs for a lousy review.

   I was surprised to see a stupid book about a very excellent firearm. Its incompleteness is extensive. This is basically a disinformation book (maybe counter-intelligence material). Pictures are drab and unclear. No wonder this book describes H&K as Armorers of the Free World. There is NONE around.




2. I was very dissapointed with this book. It is full of mis-placed photo's , regurgetated info from other worthwhile books, and basically poorly edited. The examples of the authers own HK91 are a cheap clone.There is nothing new in this book and it is poorly written.



3. I must say that I'm genuinly supprised to see that anyone's willing to publish a book so full of mistakes. Not only a great number of caption texts of pictures are misleading and contain errors but there are may faulty statements in the actual text of this book. Most of the mistakes are obvious to anyone familiar with HK weapons (something the author clearly is not) but this leads to serious lack of credibility regarding the things the author writes about the history of the company. I will not be buying any more books by this author and I can not recommend this book to anyone. If you know HK weapons, this book has nothing to offer to you and if you don't then you are better of finding the information from better sources.



4. To use a Heckler & Koch firearm is to discover a company whose products are incredibly rugged and well designed. This book is a great history of H&K and it's development as well as a history of the arms. It is no wonder that H&K is the arm of choice for those with serious business, from law enforcement to special ops. Every model is covered from sporting rifles to the USP pistols, from the exotic MP5 and the Mark 23 to the small P7. A good book for the H&K enthusiast.

No comments about The Birmingham Gun Trade.

No comments about Gun Digest; 37th Anniversary; 1983 Deluxe Edition.

No comments about Civil War Pistols of the Union.

5 comments about A Collectors Guide to Swords, Daggers, and Cutlasses.

1. I have never seen a published nonfiction book by an author more ignorant of his subject.
   
   Many other reviewers have pointed out Weland's inaccuracies on land swords, and it falls to me only to point out that his chapter on sea swords is no better.
   
   Page 58: a captured "vessel could be dismantled and sold off to help pay the expenses of the successful navy." Of course, money from sold captures did not go to pay the navy'e expenses, but was given as a reward to the captain, officers and crew who made the capture, as an incentive for performance.
   
   Page 62: "[B]y the time cutlasses had appeared, the hey-day of pirates was long past." This would certainly come as a surprise to such famous Golden Age pirate captains as Bonnet, L'Ollonais, Kidd, and Fly, all of whom are documented in contemporary sources as using cutlasses. Not to mention the judges of the Old Bailey during the same time period, who frequently found themselves judging assault, robbery, and murder cases involving cutlasses.
   
   Page 63: Weland informs us that swords that are not curved are "useless for cutting." While a curved blade is indeed ideal for cutting, Weland's exaggeration would consign to uselessness such famous cutting weapons as the Scottish basket-hilted broadsword, the two-handed sword, and the medieval military longsword, all of which had straight edges.
   
   Page 69: Weland misidentifies the Dutch writer Alexandre Esquemeling as a Londoner.
   
   But the crowning error is right at the beginning. On page 9, in describing the parts of a sword handle, Weland completely misidentifies the ricasso! This is an error as fundamental, and as discrediting, as a driving instructor misidentifying the turn signal.



2. Not only is this rife with errors as other reviewers have mentioned, but it completely glosses over Asian edged weaponry and labels it as "mediocre" and "uninteresting".
   
   The book should not be sold as a guide or as a handbook or as anything short of an incomplete and inaccurate school report on European weaponry.



3. If this is the first book on collecting swords that you get, make sure that you get a second and a third before you even -think- of going shopping. If this were the only guide that you were to bring with you into the world of sword collecting, there is a good chance you will embarrass yourself in front of even slightly knowledgeable dealers. Throughout the book, the proofreading is poor; that is, if it was proofread. Numerous captions are incorrect, and the authors research and conclusions are questionable at best. Conversely, this book does have some excellent photographs (many of which I have never seen elsewhere). Given the inexpensive price, it is worth purchasing for that reason alone.



4. This book should have been titled a historical analysis of Swords, Daggers, and Cutlasses. It gives a working basic knowledge of edged weapons. However there is no pricing information to be found in this book.
   It has many excellant pictures of edged weapons. However it gives a limited perspective of each catagory which leaves the reader salivating for more.



5. This book is decent, but I question its accuracy. Its best section is on cutlasses and naval weapons. The pictures are good, but woefully mislabled. (E.g..- the lables for a page with five daggers is supposed to read clockwise from the top. In fact, the labels are completely mixed up.) Also, some categories lack even sketches of the weapons (e.g.-the Indian bhuj) and his verbal description makes no sense. Overall the book will fill out a weapons library, but I would recommend Anthony North's "Swords and Hilt Weapons" for starting out.

1 comments about Classic Sporting Rifles.

1. Most books on British firearms deal with shotguns only, very rarely that we see a book on 'Best' British rifles, this is one of them.

   Covering most of the makers of double and single rifles, discussing their features, availability, history and pros/cons.

   Writer is very knowledgable of the subject, his style is pleasent and absorbing, if only the pictures were of a higher quality, I'd have given it 5 instead of 4 stars.

   Get it, you won't regret.

No comments about The Gun Digest Book of Modern Gun Values: The Shooter's Guide to Guns 1900-Present (Gun Digest Book of Modern Gun Values).

1 comments about Amazona: The Art of Chris Achilleos (Book Club Edition).

1. Chris Achilleos is better know in Europe than in America. He is truly one of the most creative artists alive today. His most famous work is the cover for the original Heavy Metal movie. One of his older books is listed on my Listmania for science fiction art.

No comments about Daggers and Bayonets.

No comments about The Gun Digest Book of Deer Guns: Arms & Accessories for the Deer Hunter.