Firearms Guide 4’TH Edition
(Book Review)
I recently had an opportunity to review the 4 ‘TH edition of the Firearms Guide. If you want info on guns and ammo this guide
is for you. There are a lot of listing for gun makers and models. You can go in
and in various ways look up a gun and caliber, models, finishes and other
pertinent info regarding that gun. It shows pictures and prices where
available. The gun section is broken down to types such as drillings or bolt
actions and further broken down to each maker. You can go into a specific maker
and see what they offer. One feature I love is they are getting into antique
and military guns going back to the Civil War. There are some machine and
Gatling guns listed as well I would buy
the guide just for that. In fact, they
are soliciting pictures of old guns that are not there in order to have more
info for future issues. I am going through my collection to see if I have something,
they need in order to make it more complete. Like all good publications they
are looking for various ways to make a real good book even better. There are no articles on guns or ammo but that
would be out of the scope of this book. The best way to look at this
publication is it is a super list of the things described in this piece.
Ammo is broken down to caliber and further to manufacturer.
You can pick a specific caliber and see who is making it and what loads are
offered. Pictures are also given along with prices and ballistics where
available. Bullet weights and some illustrations are also shown. Every ammo maker is listed worldwide as well
as the US. There are calibers that most
folks never heard of that is listed so if you need something odd there is a
chance that you can find it here.
There are well over
4,000 schematics from about 360 makers from every country that makes firearms.
The pictures have good definition but those from other countries are in that
language. It is a big help if you have a gun with missing parts or need
something for a particular part. In some instances, you can see what the part
looks like and possibly have one made for you. Air guns are included as well.
For those of us who like offbeat guns such as drillings they have a nice list
of them.
Looking for a gunshop
in your area? With this guide, you are in luck. They have a complete listing in
every area and show all types of sales.
They list paws shops and class 3 dealers as well. In other words it is a
complete list. I tried it in my area and found shops that I didn’t know
existed. Addresses and phone numbers are included.
Another neat feature
is they have printable targets of all kinds which will save you money from
buying targets. Like every other aspect of this book the target selection is
extensive. Since I am a writer I have an idea as to what effort is utilized in
producing such a book. I am here to tell you that an enormous amount of work
went into this product.
It is very evident
that a lot of work went into producing this book. Once you learn how to
navigate around it is easy to find what you are looking for. There are various
ways to find the desired info and they have a help section for non-technical
folks like me. It shows us how to find
info easily. It is avialable for windows and mac systems. Also the 3 Rd edition is available for $29.95 in case you want it. The list price is $39.95
and I am here to tell you that it is worth every penny you pay for it. Thumbs
Up!
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To the Board of Directors,
Gentlemen I`am writing to present you with an idea that i think you may possibly find advantageous to your company. As i`am sure you are aware there is a great interest in whats called "Cowboy Action" shooting in this country and more and more guns of yesteryear are being resurected by the companies that make reproduction firearms.
The sport is growing constantly and the gun makers are constantly looking for ways to take even more advantage of this ever growing market. Guns like the Henry rifle,Spencer carbine, Colt and Remington conversion revolvers and the Colt 1872 Open Top and others are on the market and doudtless other guns of history will be made in the future.
The arms makers try to be as authenic as possible in their copies but one thing keeps them from being "true" copies.The majority of these guns are being made in calibers that the original guns were never made in.The Henry, Spencer,the majority of early Colts were made in rimfire calibers. Ammunition that has`nt been made by American companies since the 1920`s and early 30`s.But with the resurgence in interest in the old guns of our history and boost in ammo sales that go along with it i think it is time to resurect the original ammo these guns used as well. I ask you to think about it and concider this.
The new guns are generally offered in 2 and sometimes 3 caliber options, none of which were ever used in the originals to begin with. If the original rimfire calibers were offered as an addtional caliber option and the ammo for those calibers were available i believe both the guns and ammo sales would skyrocket.
Authenticity is what it is all about with the cowboy action crowd and the collectors and other shooters of these guns.What could be more "authenic" that having a repro in it`s original
chambering rather than a caliber that never was used in the original? Not to mention the fact that if ammo were available once again people that own originals like myself would love to be able to shoot them as well.
i believe that if arrangements could be reached between the gun makers and your company in that they would make the guns with their original calibers as options and you in turn make the ammo available i think it would be a boost in sales for both. I ask both of you to do this.
The gun makers offer the guns in their original calibers as a limited trial. You in turn make a limited run of the ammo. you both market the availablity of guns and ammo and see how it works. I believe you will find a gold mine has been discovered.
About 20 yrs ago i wrote a letter to your company asking that you concider making various rimfire ammo available again for people like myself who own antiques and would love to shoot them if ammo were available.My letter made it into the hands of someone { can`t recall who}
but he was a higher up in the company at the time.
He wrote me back saying he personally thought i had a good idea and he had presented my idea before the board and they turned it down saying they did`nt believe there was enouht of a market out there
Well things have changed quite a lot since then and i think that my idea might be worth concideration once again. I hope you agree as well.
Sincerely,
Robert Heins