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Posted: 3/15/2012 7:10:02 PM EDT
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I am looking to learn more about firearms. Just in a general scale. The history, creation, variations, of various types of firearms. I always see all these guys on T.V. and guys at guns shows and various other places that seem to know about 20X more than I could dream of about firearms. How do they do it? What are some good books to read to get a broad scale of knowledge? I get that I will not get everything in one book. I would just like to start somewhere on some books thats would help me out. Any ideas? Thanks.
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Military Small Arms of the 20th Century? It is a start anyway.
I just read up on guns I like or find interesting, for example the SKS, just go to google and type in SKS and it will bring up loads of info. Or you could search for something like German infantry weapons of WWII etc. |
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To be fair, the guys on TV these days, and a lot of the people at gun shows just recirculate myths that have become lore. In this modern internet age, where source info has been uploaded for decades now, there is PLENTY to be learned. Lots of people bash on Wikipedia, but really for firearms it's a great place to start due to many of the sources being cited, and the volume of linked information. I.E. you can go from reading about say, sniper rifles, to the physics behind precession, to ballistic coefficients and so on in a huge stream of conciseness fashion. Instad of waiting and tracking down a bunch of books, you can read a learn when your brains engaged. It's pretty cool. |
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Start with "Hatchers notebook" followed by "Small Arms of the World" . Quoted:
Military Small Arms of the 20th Century? This is decent, but I"m with B44T...Ezell and Smith's "Small Arms of the World" is even more valuable than MSA20th. I obsessed over this book in my dad's gunshop when I was growing up. Now, I'm among the the most knowledgeable minds in the firearms industry. 
It's a great reference, and has been updated a few times. If you can locate the version from the late 60's, it'll be a reference to treasure. |
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http://world.guns.ru/main-e.htm
Here is a good website to start with. As others have said Small Arms of the World is also an excellent place to start. |
| I felt just like the OP did about 3 years ago. Then, I became obsessed, found some good blogs, and knowledge just started coming. I am certainly no firearms whiz, but my own knowledge has been advanced exponentially. Also, you find those folks who have real world experience on these sites, and all they give are pearls. |
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Start with "Hatchers notebook" followed by "Small Arms of the World" . Those are good. However, I would start with "Military Small Arms of the Twentieth Century". The earlier editions had better introductory and explanatory sections than the later ones. |
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Start with "Hatchers notebook" followed by "Small Arms of the World" . Quoted:
Military Small Arms of the 20th Century? This is decent, but I"m with B44T...Ezell and Smith's "Small Arms of the World" is even more valuable than MSA20th. I obsessed over this book in my dad's gunshop when I was growing up. Now, I'm among the the most knowledgeable minds in the firearms industry.
It's a great reference, and has been updated a few times. If you can locate the version from the late 60's, it'll be a reference to treasure. I have the 12th ed. from 1983 What was better about which earlier edition? |
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Here's a couple of titles to look for in the used section
Bob Bristor: Shotgunning, The Art And The Science Jack O'Conner: The Complete Book Of The Rifle And Shotgun Herbert W. McBride: A Rifleman Went To War These titles are a bit dated, and the technology is old. However, they give excellent general info and back when I was growing up, they were concidered required reading. The McBride book could be concidered the best account of Sniping in WW1. |
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Quoted:
Military Small Arms of the 20th Century? It is a start anyway. I just read up on guns I like or find interesting, for example the SKS, just go to google and type in SKS and it will bring up loads of info. Or you could search for something like German infantry weapons of WWII etc. Military Small Arms of the 20th Century is a great book. I bought it when I was about 14 or 15 and learned a ton of information from it. I read like thing like it was holy bible and cant even explain the amount of knowledge I gained from it. I actually have it sitting right here next to me in my barracks room. Thats how much I love that book. |
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I've been buyilng old Gun Digest annuals (back to the 60's) for $1,00 at used book stores;
when I was younger I'd just thumb thru them looking at prices & new stuff; now I'm reading the articles that talk about load development, new gun technology & why old stuff still works. A very good site for general knowledge about hunting rifles, calibers ect. is Chuckhawks.com; some people think he's full of himself, but I think the data he puts out is generally ok. go prowl the hunting forums in Outdoors, the other gun forums in Armory; there's years of expirence available right here if you look. |
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aside from all books mentioned above, have a look at these:
Standard Catalog of Military Firearms Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms Collector Grade Publications books Scott Duff Publications books North Cape Publications books Gun Digest Publications books Bruce Canfield publications books |
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Subscribe to Small Arms Review Magazine. Each month they have articles on things you have more than likely never heard about. SAR is no longer a monthly magazine. They switched to a quarterly print magazine with a larger weekly/ monthly digital magazine 2 months ago. Even so, I have been a subscriber since 2001.....contains tons of great well researched information. one other book that I find very informative on firearms history development is "Cartridges of the World" I would get the last 3 or 4 editions, because there are very good historical articles as well as reference data....I think they are on revised Edition 11 now. advntrjnky |
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Read every possible source you can about firearms. Keep as much as you can for future reference. I am far from an expert but I have been reading and researching since probably age 6 or 7. That puts at least 35 years of my own personal research. Think of it like anything you want to become better at, you have to put a lot of time in effort into it.
I have always been interested in firearms or at least as long as I can remember. As a child I was so interested that I would draw pictures of internals as well as my own designs. It is this love of all things firearms that makes me read everything I can, even to this day. This knowlegde never really translated into a read job but I have maintained it to this day. It helps me repair my own guns as well as build safe projects for myself. All guns, for the most part, are basic designs based on only a few principles. It is when you get into the particulars of certain firearms that the knowledge is vast. Most people that know me say I am very knowledgeable about firearms but I don't think I am. I do aknowledge that I have more knowledge than the average person but far from scholarly knowledge levels. Dolomite |
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Quoted:
Read every possible source you can about firearms. Keep as much as you can for future reference. I am far from an expert but I have been reading and researching since probably age 6 or 7. That puts at least 35 years of my own personal research. Think of it like anything you want to become better at, you have to put a lot of time in effort into it. I have always been interested in firearms or at least as long as I can remember. As a child I was so interested that I would draw pictures of internals as well as my own designs. It is this love of all things firearms that makes me read everything I can, even to this day. This knowlegde never really translated into a read job but I have maintained it to this day. It helps me repair my own guns as well as build safe projects for myself. All guns, for the most part, are basic designs based on only a few principles. It is when you get into the particulars of certain firearms that the knowledge is vast. Most people that know me say I am very knowledgeable about firearms but I don't think I am. I do aknowledge that I have more knowledge than the average person but far from scholarly knowledge levels. Dolomite The good thing about the firearms hobby is that, no matter how much you know, there is always more to learn! |
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