Posted: 6/11/2012 1:34:49 PM EDT
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Looking for good books for semi-auto's and revolvers for disassembly and re-assembly. I have been looking at the gun digest books but I have yet to be able to look in one and did not know if there was only disassembly in the books or also re-assembly. Also what books do you guys recommend?
Thanks. |
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IMHO there are too many online resources to even bother with buying printed manuals. I have a collection of gun books (many were my Father's) that are now little more than decoration for the mancave. I can Google my way to virtually any information, schematics, forum or video for virtually any gun I am working on from my laptop while sitting at my bench. If desired, print relevant information you find online and keep it in a binder.
ETA- The Gun Digest books do show re-assembly but are by no means comprehensive. They are also expensive. Before the Internet they were the best resource available but are now mostly obsolete. |
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Good book resources are:
The NRA Firearms Assembly books. There are two new versions replacing the older volumes 3 and 4. These are available direct from the NRA website. These are reprints of the firearms disassembly pages the American Rifleman magazine used to print. The Gun Digest books are NOT gunsmith type instructions, they're instructions as a gun writer would do it. This means there's no information on the actual correct METHOD of disassembling guns. As example, on an older model Colt double action revolver, the instructions just tell you to unscrew the ejector. Nothing is said about the special wrench needed and cautions on how easily the part is damaged. Another one I noticed in an older version of the book on rifles is the instructions on disassembling an AR says to unscrew the barrel nut and shows a picture of a punch pointing at the nut. This leaves the impression that you use a punch to unscrew it. These books are a good general guide to disassembly, but have to be used with caution to prevent damage due to key information not being mentioned. The Jerry Kuhnhausen shop manuals are the best possible guides. These shop manuals were written as training aids for new gunsmiths and cover everything possible on full disassembly, reassembly, and factory level repair. They only cover specific brands and types of guns, but what is covered is how the factory did it. The manuals on military firearms are all new info, not the usual reprints of old GI manuals. You can also get these from Midway and direct from the publisher. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/cid=0/k=shop+manual/t=P/ksubmit=y/Products/All/search=shop_manual The Gun Digest Book of Exploded Firearms Drawings doesn't address actual disassembly, but does usually give an idea of how it comes apart. The Stevespages site also has a good exploded view section: http://www.stevespages.com/page7a.htm Some older books by W.H.B. Smith show at least field stripping of many arms. The Book of Rifles and Shotguns, and the Book of Pistols and Revolvers cover military and commercial guns. These cover most guns made before WWII and at least up to the 1950's. Small Arms of the World covers military arms from most countries. It was later edited by Ezell. These three books can still be found from some book sellers like Amazon, and on Ebay. |
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Most of the common and modern guns have disassembly instructions that can be found online.
The Numrich Gun Parts catalog with the exploded diagrams has come in very handy more than once for me on obscure or uncommon guns. They are often the only source for such drawings. |