4 comments about Blue Book of Airguns, 5th Edition (Blue Book of Airguns).

1. I originally thought that the book was MORE on airgun operation, types, problems, etc. Of course it it a history of many airguns and their parent companies; to that end, it was very readable.



2. The Blue Book of Airguns is a must have for any airgun collector. It has great history of airguns that are very uncommon in the US. I dont always agree with the estimated values but the background, history and pictures of the airguns are great.
   Doug Law
   Nebraska Airgun Addict
   dlaw1940@yahoo.com



3. this is the complete airguns book i have read, before i read it i never know that there is so much brand and models of the airguns ever made in this world, thanks to DR.Beeman and thanks to amazone.com.



4. Read about the history of airguns and learn everything you ever wanted to know about various brands and models of airguns made worldwide.

No comments about Gun Engraving.

No comments about Guns Illustrated 2007 (Guns Illustrated).

2 comments about Gun Digest Book of Ruger Pistols and Revolvers.

1. As the title says, this is a decent enough book, but it does have some inaccuracies. Right off the bat, the author states that Rugers first gun was the MK1. Not so, it was the Standard Auto, or Standard Model. Now granted, the MK 1 was just the same gun with adjustable sights and longer barrel, but this is a pet peeve of mine. In another place he states that a bobbed hammer on a SP101 will keep dirt out of the action! Now, an enclosed hammer will keep dirt out of the action, but a bobbed hammer will keep no more dirt out of the action than a regular hammer model will. On page 28 there is a picture of what is obviously regular Blackhawk revolvers, but the caption states they are Bisley-gripped Super Blackhawks. No, they are not! They have the regular grip frame and hammer, not Bisley grip frame or Super grip frame and not their hammers either. The author also states that there were no Old Model Convertable Blackhawks, which is not true, and he states the .45 Colt/ACP Convertable was the first, which is not true either, as the .357/9mm was the first. Then, on the very last page he states that the serial #s for the Single Six are on the butt of the gun! No, if the serial #s were on the butt of the gun it would be a simple matter to swap the grip frame, which I am sure the ATF would frown upon. The #s are on the side of the grip frame, just like the Blackhawk. Now, some of you may think I am nitpicking, but if you are going to write a book about a subject, it would be good if you were sure of your facts! Now, that being said, most of the book is pretty enjoyable, the pictures of the Ruger factory being the highlight of the book, in my opinion.



2. I really anticipated buying this book to add to my ever-growing firearm book collection. Too bad it falls short of all I expected. No color photos, DOZENS of grammatical errors, misspelled words, an overall sloppy editing job. I respect Sweeney, I have his G.D. books on the glock and the AR-15, and they're decent, but this book just overall sucks.

1 comments about British Gun Engraving.

1. I loved the artistry of firarms engraving displayed within.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates this art form.

No comments about Browning Colt Remington Winchester : American's Premier Gunmakers - 4 Book Set (America's Premier Gunmakers).

4 comments about Do-It-Yourself Gun Repair.

1. This is a great book for people aspiring to become a professional gunsmith. It may have some usefulness for the normal gun owner as well. The detail and comments provided show this book was written by someone with an extreme amount of knowledge and experience in the subject. Unfortunately the author realizes this and wrote this book to reflect it. His egotistical lectures of exactly what the reader should do go beyond what I expected to gain from this book. Then there are the contradictions that lead me to not believe in the author's knowledge as much as I did when I started.
   
   If you want a very technical guide on how to become a professional gunsmith, this is the book for you. If you want a Do-It-Yourself Gun Repair Manual (Gunsmithing at Home) look elsewhere.



2. A great general reference. Ed did a great job with this one. I can say confidently, I enjoyed this book. Not a bad investment if you want to get a small taste of the craft. Enjoy, and thanks Ed!



3. Most of us have come to understand the differences between performing routine maintenance and accessory installation, and chambering and fitting a new barrel. If you are standing in the midst of expensive machinery, and you know how to use the equipment with a quality result, you don't need this book. If you'd like to install your own scopes, recoil pads, replace small parts and tinker with a gun to improve its accuracy, you would probably find this book to be useful.
   
   "Do-It-Yourself Gun Repair" is presented into five logical parts: An Approach to Gunsmithing in the Home Workshop, Basic Maintenance and Repair, Disassembly - Repair and Reassembly of Popular Firearms, Advanced Techniques, and The Final Steps. The book begins by showing ways of assessing if your firearms need work or maintenance, then it move on to a chapter dedicated to determining the scope of work that could reasonably attempted. There is a chapter presenting common and useful hand tools and a brief section covering frequently used power tools. The section that follows, which addresses the work area, special tools and parts supplies is pretty sketchy. A chapter titled "Thinking Like a Gunsmith" is thoughtful, but not substantial enough in content to assist someone in acting on some of the suggestions.
   
   "Basic Maintenance" is more of a page filler. It mostly advises how to clean a firearm, something that could be found in many sources, including packaged in a cleaning kit. A follow on section covering analyzing and correcting accuracy problems is well written and, based on my own experience, would be very useful to almost anyone. "Ten Easy Gunsmithing Projects" is OK, but the projects are a little specialized and most lead to purchasing tools or material Brownells. The section isn't bad, I just believe there are more universal and common projects, and I am not taking a poke at Brownells. They are one of the best tool and material sources out there for us gun owners.
   
   There is an excellent section regarding proper scope mounting that results in centered optics and proper hardware alignment, and included the proper use of shims under mounts for the purpose of leveling. This is an area so fundamental to good accuracy and frequently people don't take the time to perform this task correctly. The section on various firearm disassembly and assembly is actually very good. The author includes popular firearms, very good illustrations and photos, assembly tips, and coverage of common problem correction for each specific firearm.
   
   Some of the information offered in other sections is not so directly useful. You are not going to learn how to checker from half a page of text and one picture of a checkering tool; artistic craft work takes a lot of talent and practice to master. There is an eight page chapter, chapter 23, dedicated to drilling and tapping a firearm for sights that is decently done, but you would need to purchase a $160 B Square Professional Drill Jig or a $400+ Foster Scope Mounting Jig to do the job, and you would have to possess the basic skills of drilling and tapping and how to properly set up fixtures. There is a good information addressing the repair of stocks and fitting a recoil pad, but they all presume prior woodworking and machine operating skills and the use of some specialized machinery and fixtures. Work of this types, to justify the cost of fixtures, needs to be a frequent requirement or it is easier and less expensive to drop the gun off with a good gunsmith. Still, it doesn't hurt to know what you are asking a gunsmith to accomplish when you purchase services.



4. it is just what it say's and no more could have more info but it will do for the money

1 comments about Ed Fowler's Knife Talk II: The High Performance Blade (Knife Talk).

1. K. T. II has more information in it that the first. As a collection of articles, it's not a how-to book so much as it is what the title implies. If you want to read about a Master Bladesmith's experiences and opinions mixed in with some good information on functional design and heat cycling methods, this is for you. As for materials, he focuses on bearing steel. He does add signifcant information to his heat treatment methods. I would like more details but totally applaud his attitude of sharing information and real world what works and why. I enjoyed the read and took some notes. You can spend the same money on magazines and not get 1/10th the value.

1 comments about The Shooter's Guide to Classic Firearms.

1. From the editors of Guns & Ammo Magazine comes an authoritative guide to historic and modern firearms in THE SHOOTER'S GUIDE TO CLASSIC FIREARMS, which offers a 'classic test' series to consider the history, technology and operation of selected world firearms. From performance specs and capabilities to history and design, color photos pair with excellent articles and history.

4 comments about Complete Guide to Service Handguns.

1. Gangarosa's book is a good source of information for those who seek reference material on standard-issue service hanguns (Glocks, Sigs and etc.) as well as more exotic, yet highly functional handguns (Astra, FEG and etc.). Complete with very good pictures, the book provides fairly detailed explanations of a very wide variety of handguns. This is definitely a must for those who are interested in handguns other than (or in addition to) the garden-variety found in local sports stores.



2. This is one of the best reference works out there for information about service handguns. It is a great combination of both factual data about subjective, expert opinion about a very large selection of standard handguns. The author gives the history of the weapon, the technical data, and shooting impressions. This is one of the few resources that give all three. The photographs are very good (not glossy but still very good), and the writing is clear and concise without being dry. The information is well organized with an excellent index. Finally, the author includes "classic" service handguns no longer in production as well as current models. Every gun I have been interested in has been in this book. I have read it from cover to cover just for pleasure reading. It is that good. If you are interested in firearms, I highly recommend it. The only downside is that it only comes in paperback, and I had to buy a second copy because I wore out my first one!



3. This book appeals to two groups of people: the nastalgic, who want to read about the pistols of yesterday, and the people who want to know about the latest plastic sidearms. It covers all well known revolvers (Smith and Wesson, Colt, Tarus, etc) and semi-automatics (Colt, Beretta, Glock, Sig, Browning Hi-power, etc), plus numerous less-expensive copies of said guns. It also covers less known guns, like the Nagant, Tunulov, and Broomhandle. The only downside to this book is that some guns (like the Browning) are reviewed several times in the different sections, making it a pain to quickly access information.



4. Gene Gangarosa is one of the comparatively few gun writers with the integrity to call it like he sees it. You will not see Gene rating guns based on how "cool" they may be perceived to be by others. Thus this book reviews guns based on their quality, features, and performance, regardless of who made them. Gangarosa is well qualified to write on this topic, and although all reviews of anything that anyone writes is subjective, including this one, you will find an even-handedness in this book, as well as the companion volume, The Complete Guide to Compact Handguns which is also available on Amazon or from Stoeger Gun Books, the publisher.
   
   First of all, these trade-size paperback books cover defensive handguns. Competition, hunting and plinking guns are not what these books are about. Service Handguns covers revolvers and pistols in the 4" to 5" size, guns which are normally carried in a belt holster. The companion Compact Handguns volume covers shorter and smaller version of defensive handguns. The books are organized into four basic sections, classic revolvers, classic semi-automatic pistols, modern revolvers, and modern pistols. The sheer number of models reviewed is staggering. Guns are all photographed in B&W, and fired for function and accuracy. With gun companies that make multiple versions of the same basic model a representative one or two might be fired, but all are discussed.
   
   I rate these two books a four rather than five just because nothing is perfect. I do have some minor complaints. I would have liked to have seen expanded coverage of the biggest selling handguns such as Glock, Smith & Wesson, and SIG. But it is hard to fault an author for covering all makes equally. Second, function and accuracy varies among individual examples of the same exact model handgun. I would like to have seen that emphasized. Gangarosa is no doubt well aware of this fact, but an unsophisticated reader might get the wrong impression, right or wrong, basing judgments on examples of one. I don't want to hammer this one, as this is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of the book. Finally, I have found one or two minor inaccuracies, which are going to creep into any book. One example that comes to mind is in the section on classic revolvers. In reviewing the Ruger Security-six Gangarosa mentions the Speed-six and calls it slightly smaller. In fact the Speed-six is exactly the same size as the Security-six, using the same exact frame. The only differences in these two guns are that the Sec-six used a square butt grip frame and has adjustable sights while the Speed-six has a round-butt grip frame and fixed sights. Again, these inaccuracies are rare and minor. At the moment I can't even think of another example.
   
   These books are now several years old, and given the dynamism of the handgun world of late, they are going to be slightly out of date. However I don't see that as a drawback. You read gun magazines to get the latest info on new releases, while you buy books as solid reference volumes which you'll refer to again and again. That is the type of books we have here.