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Thread: Books that every gun owner/reloader should own.

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Books that every gun owner/reloader should own.

    I just finished doing something that I have been meaning to do for far too long. I ordered a copy of Elmer Keith's Sixguns. That kind of got me thinking, what books should every avid gun owner and reloader own? Here's a few that I think makes that list. I already own several, and plan on owning the rest soon.

    No Second Place Winner - Bill Jordan

    Principles of Personal Defense - Jeff Cooper
    (Super short, but gets straight to the point. It's WAY overpriced on Amazon right now though Don't pay more than $15)

    Sixguns - Elmer Keith

    Cartridges of the World - W. Todd Woodard

    Handguns of the World - Edward C. Ezell
    (If you are interested in firearm design, this book is incredible)

    The ABC's of Reloading - C. Rodney James

    Shooting Sixguns of the Old West - Mike Venturino

    Ed McGivern's Book of Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting - Ed McGivern

    To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth - Jeff Cooper

    After You Shoot: Your Gun's Hot. The Perp's Not. Now What? - Alan Korwin
    ______________________________________________
    Aaron

  2. #2
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    Kind of heavy on the pistol combat and pistol etc. category, noticeably thin in other aspects. Is that the only area of interest to you? If so, Shooting, by J. H. Fitzgerald, Pistol and Revolver Shooting by A. L. A. Himmelwright and The Complete Book of Modern Handgunning by Col. Cooper are a good start.

    How about The Ideal/Lyman Handbook?

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I have an autographed copy of No Second Place Winner. I got to meet the gentleman at the Tulsa Gun Show one year.

    Any reloading book by John Wooters.
    Home Guide to Cartridge Conversions by George Nonte
    Most of the books by General Hatcher

  4. #4
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    A Rifleman went to War, by Herbert McBride WWI classic sniper book by a competition rifleman
    Shots Fired in Anger, by John B. George - WW2 classic by a competition rifleman in the Pacific
    No Second Place Winner, by Bill Jordan
    With British Snipers to the Reich, by C, Shore WW2 classic
    Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers, by Julian Hatcher
    Hatcher's Notebook, by Julian Hatcher
    Hell, I was there, by Elmer Keith
    Sixguns, by Elmer Keith
    Mauser Bolt Rifles, by Ludwig Olsen
    The Lee-Enfield: A Century of Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield Rifled and Carbines, by Ian D. Skennerton
    History of Smith & Wesson, by Roy G Jinks

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master Bazoo's Avatar
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    Every gun owner should have or have read a copy of this book....

    https://www.amazon.com/Federal-Siege.../dp/0966433408

  6. #6
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    Taffin's Book of the 44
    Veral Smith's Jacketed Performance with Cast Bullets
    a PDF print out Glen Fryxell's book, http://www.lasc.us/fryxell_book_contents.htm

  7. #7
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    One of the older editions of ABCs, by Dean Grennell. This one, for example: https://amzn.to/2s6PICs
    Also, can't believe nobody has mentioned Skeeter. Here are a couple of books that I consider required reading: https://amzn.to/2LoLizI
    and https://amzn.to/2GI4K6Z

  8. #8
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    Modern Reloading
    Lymans 43, 45, 49, and 50th
    Lymans 3rd and 4th Cast Bullet
    This all I need

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by jmort View Post
    Modern Reloading
    Lymans 43, 45, 49, and 50th
    Lymans 3rd and 4th Cast Bullet
    This all I need
    For reloading, yes!

  10. #10
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    A lot has been written, much of it on this site, about cast bullet technology. But nobody has exceeded the wealth of new information in Dr. Franklin Mann's "The Bullet's Flight from Powder to Target", of 1909.

    On sporting shotgun technology Major Sir Gerald's three-volume "The Modern Shotgun". The last edition dates from the 1960s, but nothing more recent is quite as good.

    On a similar theme, the various books of Gough Thomas Garwood, extremely practical but, being in the format of reprinted magazine articles, less strong on technical detail.

    Chiefly on shotguns and smoothbore ball guns, both are in some respects exceeded by an oddity, rare and never translated or reprinted in many years, General Journée's "Tir des fusils de chasse". Leaving the content out of it, even, it reminds us that the smoothbore game gun was perfected in the lifetime of a man who fought in the war of 1870 and commanded a division in the First World War.

    On firearms technology in general, shotguns in particular, and the practices of the British gun trade, WW Greener's "The Gun and its Development".

    There are collectors' coffee-table books and company histories of Winchester, but on practical shooting of the Browning (i.e. post-1873) lever-actions and their cartridges, nothing compares with Clyde Williamson's "The Winchester Lever Legacy". Few were ever printed, and it is quite expensive on www.bookfinder.com , but its expansive and folksy style conceals an exhaustive programme of well documented testing.

    On big game hunting, WDM Bell's "Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter" and "Karamojo Safari" and anything by Jim Corbett, the hunter of maneaters. Both are modest men in their fashion, and convinced that the shooting is the least part of it, giving more importance to understanding the prey and the native peoples they had to work among.

    On gunsmithing anything by Roy Dunlap is good. But my favourite is the two-volume "Introduction to Modern Gunsmithing" by James Virgil Howe, of 1934. It is from a bygone age, when the gunsmith had to make for himself tools and components that are available off the peg nowadays. But to may mind that is an advantage to the amateur, who often wants to make something good enough for one-time use, and not to pay a lot of money for something that can spend years earning its keep in the hands of a professional.

    On a similar theme, the various books of Gough Thomas Garwood are extremely practical, and he brings an engineer's knowledge to the problem. Being in the format of reprinted magazine articles, he is briefer on technical detail than Burrard.

    Chiefly on shotguns and smoothbore ball guns, both are in some respects exceeded by an oddity, rare and never translated or reprinted in many years, General Journée's "Tir des fusils de chasse". Leaving the content out of it, even, it reminds us that the smoothbore game gun was perfected in the lifetime of a man who fought in the war of 1870, and commanded a division in the First World War.

    On .22 rimfires, Richard Arnold's "Book of the .22" is a first-class review of the situation in the 1960s. I prefer, though, AG Banks's "AG's Book of the Rifle" and "Random Writings on Rifle Shooting", from the 1940s. They are extremely good on the development of short-range indoor rimfire target shooting, and the suitability of the .22LR for use on German parachutists.

    On the developmental history of rifles in general, LF Fremantle's "The Book of the Rifle", by a man who played an important part in turning James Paris Lee's work and the Swiss experiments into the .303.

    On wound ballistics and stopping power, Vincent di Maio's "Gunshot Wounds" is an up to date and scholarly account by a medical examiner. But more accessible to the general reader is "Gunshot Injuries" by Surgeon-Colonel Louis La Garde, whose career ran from the Sioux wars to the First World War, and who participated with Col. Thompson in the Chicago stockyard trials which led to the .45ACP. It is of great value if you just want something dead, but also could serve as a better discourager of armed violence than a college credit in peace studies.
    Last edited by Ballistics in Scotland; 05-26-2018 at 12:55 AM.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by jmort View Post
    Modern Reloading
    Lymans 43, 45, 49, and 50th
    Lymans 3rd and 4th Cast Bullet
    This all I need
    Thirds on that.

    I also second Doctor Mann's book. Reading it now.
    "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
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    Anything by Skeeter Skelton !

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    Ordnance went up front, by Roy Dunlap, is very good. Forgot to mention it.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bent Ramrod View Post
    Kind of heavy on the pistol combat and pistol etc. category, noticeably thin in other aspects. Is that the only area of interest to you? If so, Shooting, by J. H. Fitzgerald, Pistol and Revolver Shooting by A. L. A. Himmelwright and The Complete Book of Modern Handgunning by Col. Cooper are a good start.

    How about The Ideal/Lyman Handbook?
    I will happily shoot anything you hand me, but most of my interest is in revolvers and C&R milsurps.

    Looks like my library is going to get bigger...
    ______________________________________________
    Aaron

  15. #15
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    The Home Guide to Cartridge Conversion, George Nonte. Excellent reading

  16. #16
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    Complete Guide to Handloading by Phil Sharpe
    Why Not Load Your Own? by Townsend Whelen
    Gunsmith Kinks (Vol 1-4) from Brownells
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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by putnro01 View Post
    Taffin's Book of the 44
    Veral Smith's Jacketed Performance with Cast Bullets
    a PDF print out Glen Fryxell's book, http://www.lasc.us/fryxell_book_contents.htm
    The last 2Excellent resources for caters!
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  18. #18
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    one book every shooter reloader and muzzleloader should own and read. the lyman reloading manual. it covers it all there would be a lot less repeat questions.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master

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    My library reflects my interests in reloading and old Winchesters. I also have several MV books and the requisite book by Uncle Elmer. Seems more and more of the books I like are out of print. Doesn't make them too hard to find, just expensive. Every year that passes makes it harder to build a reference library if you like the old guns.
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  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by TXGunNut View Post
    My library reflects my interests in reloading and old Winchesters. I also have several MV books and the requisite book by Uncle Elmer. Seems more and more of the books I like are out of print. Doesn't make them too hard to find, just expensive. Every year that passes makes it harder to build a reference library if you like the old guns.
    I agree; some of the books I bought back 20 or 30 years ago are either higher than a cat's back or unavailable: Hatcher's Notebook, Shots Fired in Anger, A Rifleman went to War. Some are available, however, in Kindle format and for example A Rifleman went to War is @$3. Seems like Shots Fired in Anger is @ $9.
    Last edited by JoeJames; 05-29-2018 at 05:20 PM.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check