Books that every gun owner/reloader should own.

[am44mag]

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

[Bent Ramrod]

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?

[lightman]

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

[JoeJames]

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

[Bazoo]

Every gun owner should have or have read a copy of this book....

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

[putnro01]

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

[Tracy]

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

[jmort]

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

[BrassMagnet]

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

For reloading, yes!

[Ballistics in Scotland]

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.

[Rcmaveric]

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.

[shooterg]

Anything by Skeeter Skelton !

[JoeJames]

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

[am44mag]

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. :D

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

[Kent Fowler]

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

[nicholst55]

Complete Guide to Handloading by Phil Sharpe
Why Not Load Your Own? by Townsend Whelen
Gunsmith Kinks (Vol 1-4) from Brownells

[DCM]

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!

[bob208]

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.

[TXGunNut]

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.

[JoeJames]

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.